„Oh bugger, that's another one with maggots." Claire frowned and lowered the drench pistol, holding the nervous lamb in place. "How many more to go, Bec?"

The young overseer scrutinized the group. " 'bout thirty!"

"Have you noted them down on your list?"

"Yeah…sure…" Becky replied with a hint of doubt, which went unnoticed by Claire, who was too absorbed in the problem.

Tess felt a little useless. She was supposed to keep the individual sheep in place inside the small channel to the paddock, while her sister took care of the swift examination and the drenching, but all too often, she lost control of the stubborn animals. Once again, one of them managed to usher the others back, creating a general rumbling against the fences. Becky had to intervene once more, before things could spiral out of control.

Claire looked up annoyed, trying to slip a strand of brown hair behind her ear with the back of her hand. "Tess, for crying out loud, how am I supposed to isolate this one if you can't keep the others still for thirty seconds?"

"I couldn't have seen it coming, it's not like they walk around with a sign saying 'I'm a rebel', you know!"

"This isn't rocket science, they're just sheep! Stop fussing around and show them who the boss is."

Tess grimaced, mimicking her sister's facial expression while Claire had already turned her back on her. Jodi couldn't help laughing, but stopped when she received a warning glare from her mother.

Meg had already hoisted the lamb into one of the bowls, holding it down with some effort. It was struggling unusually hard, making it difficult for her to set the knife the right way. "Come on, Jodi, make yourself useful here, I need a hand."

Her daughter was sitting on top of the fence, trying to look busy by counting the sheep that came out at the other end of the channel. "Mum, actually, I'm-"

"Which end do you want?"

"Gee, now that's a hard decision, between the part that kicks and bites and cutting off the part with the maggots..."

"Just shut up and get off your bum, will ya?" Claire said sharply.

"I love the warm tone in the country" Tess commented sarcastically.

Jodi rolled her eyes, got off the fence and starting holding the bleating lamb, trying to keep it from struggling too hard. She looked away in disgust while Meg cut off the tail. "Ew, I'm never, ever gonna do that."

Meg smiled sweetly. "No, honey, you still have troughs to clean, anyway."

"Great. You know, I could be having the time of my life with Craig right now, bathing in the sun, swimming in the creek, just the two of us…" Her voice had adopted a dreamy tone.

"…bonking in his dad's car with the shifter in your back…" Becky muttered.

"Becky!" Meg exclaimed, throwing her a disapproving glance.

"What? I'm just telling her she's not missing out on anything. A guy who cancels last minute isn't worth the trouble anyway."

Jodi pouted. "He had good reasons, all right? How was he supposed to know he'd have to babysit his nephew!"

Becky shook her head with a smirk. "His nephew. Right."

Meg lowered her drench pistol angrily. "Stop it! I'm sure he had his reasons, Jode, but we can't change that now."

"Innocent until proven guilty" Tess agreed. "Maybe there was a deeper reason why Craig and you weren't meant to be together today, one that you can't know right now."

"You think? Then why-"

"Stop it, all of you!" Claire exclaimed all of a sudden. "Could we please just leave all that nonsense and get on with our work? And I mean all of us." She glared at Jodi, who was leaning against the fence, doing nothing again. "You'll get your day off another time. I'm off to get more drenching solution now."

"Alex was right, she sure is having a bad day" Tess commented after her sister had left for the shed. Claire needed to lighten up.

Becky shrugged, ushering more sheep into the channel. "PMS."

The sheep were getting even more restless, when Tess noticed a motorcycle approaching them. "Back already?" she called with a grin. "Missed me too much?"

He dismounted the bike and came over to them with a smirk on his lips. "Oh, you mean it's not night yet?"

"Hi, Alex!" Jodi flashed him a big smile, pulling her shirt down to straighten it.

He nodded at her. "Jode."

Tess didn't miss the girl's annoyance at his curt greeting. Annoyance, or rather, disappointment. "So what's up?"

"I'm here to pick up the chainsaw we let you borrow. And I forgot my jacket this morning."

"The chainsaw should be in the shed, next to all of the posts and the little tube/wire things we never use."

"I'll get your jacket for you" Jodi offered with a smile, walking back towards the house.