Screw Pile Developments

Hundeerde — Headwall Valley

Morning — Breakfast

Headwall Station comprised the whole valley on both sides of the Grey River, all the way from Veldmeer to the Headwall homestead at the headwall cwm. It was a peak big-sky midsummer day, the sun rising high and warming everything that it touched. The rings were just faintly visible if you squinted.

Just as the last piece of toast had been snaffled by Angus and disputed by Fergus, Grandma Bella announced that it was a much too nice a day to spend indoors or around the house. The day would be perfect for a picnic at the swimming hole halfway down the valley road. Angus had declared at the earliest opportunity, with his mouth full of toast, that he would be the ‘life guarderer’ and would keep everyone safe while they were swimming.

Harry and Rupert, at the far end of the table, couldn’t swim, and had reached a quiet agreement between themselves that Angus’ ability to keep them safe was dubious at best.

Rebecca, with Charlie’s eager help, agreed to pack a huge picnic lunch. Daan was dispatched to ready the two Hundeerwagon multi terrain vehicles to take them all down to the picnic site.

The loading of the Hundeerwagons was not without incident. Angus and Fergus got into yet another dispute as to which Hundeerwagon they would travel in, and it took Daan a solid seven minutes to sort them out. The rest of the boys piled in, along with Grandma Bella and Grandpa Jake. The picnic things were carefully loaded, supervised by Rebecca. Daan and Marta took charge of one Hundeerwagon each, as they headed back down the eight kilometre winding river road of the station.

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The Valley Road — The Swimming Hole

Halfway along the road back to Veldmeer was the swimming hole. It did not have a name, it was just — the swimming hole. The pool was fed by a smaller fall, with a stream running cold and clear out to join the Grey River. A large flat-topped boulder sat near the edge of the pool. Angus immediately commandeered it as his ‘life guarderer’ post. It was the perfect and proper position of command.

The boys were more than ready, or mostly ready in the case of Harry and Rupert, to go straight in. They peeled off their clothes, leaving haphazard piles on blankets spread across the grass by the shore.

Angus took up his position on the rock and took his ‘life guarderering’ very seriously. He waved his arms about frequently, and shouted various incomprehensible instructional missives to the boys. Daan had very sensibly provided some black tyre inner-tubes for those boys less confident in the water.

Angus folded his arms importantly.

Truth was, Angus was one of those not confident in the water.

Rebecca, Marta and Grandma Bella sat on a blanket watching the boys blowing off a week’s worth of cooped up steam. Grandpa Jake and Daan had already raided the cooler for a can of something cold.

Harry, still in the shallows with his inner tube, shouted over to the three sitting on the blanket.

The three Hundes on the blanket smiled at Harry indulgently. Marta, who had not swum for at least twenty-four of her thirty-four years at Headwall, called cheerfully back.

Rebecca’s tail thumped once on the blanket in amused agreement.

The swimming went on for quite some time, the boys climbing in and out of the water and up and over the rocks and jumping in. The adults were content to sit, watch, and talk in the warm summer sun.

Raven, who had started out swimming just as enthusiastically as the other boys, drifted away from the main group and moved nearer to the small stream that fed the Grey River.

Without conscious thought, he started to pick out small stones from the stream, carefully choosing which to keep and which to put back. He selected three from one small pool, and then two more, and then another three. At some point he realised what he was really doing.

Three for the pups, two for Grandma and Grandpa, and then three more for Daan, Marta and Rebecca.

His new family.

Rupert shouted out from the pool, interrupting his thoughts.

Raven just smiled and waved back.

He continued to look at the stones he had collected in the palm of his hand.

And then, without quite meaning to, he thought of his family from Earth. His mother and his father. His brother and sister. Grandma and Grandad. Cousins. Soon he found himself picking out even more stones, one for each of his missing family members, all lost in the Great Collapse. Raven then thought of the twelve stones he already had from the river at Headwall and the one stone from Barking Green, safely back in his pants pocket lying on the grass.

Twelve boys here — and Red.

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Lunch

Rebecca’s picnic hampers were opened and the promise of food quickly lured the boys from the water. Everyone sat on blankets laid out on the grass, among the summer flowers and the odd bee going about its busywork.

Raven sat on a blanket, a sandwich in one hand and his stones in the other. He laid them out carefully on the blanket; he now had quite a number. Daan had noticed him laying out his stones and came over to sit beside him.

Raven looked up in surprise, a slightly confused look on his face.

Raven returned all the stones carefully to the pocket of his pants. It was time for another swim.

Angus had finally decided to get in the water and was up to his knees. Fergus noticed immediately and bounced in and capered around Angus, splashing him in the process.

Angus lifted his arms and paws up trying and failing to stop Fergus from getting his fur wet.

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Late Afternoon: Headwall Station — The Workshop

Everyone had returned to Headwall, tired, well fed and happy. Charlie enlisted some of the boys to help carry the empty hampers back into the kitchen. Rebecca was already starting to think about dinner; nothing complicated tonight, it would be burgers all round.

The light of the valley was starting to turn golden and catch the falls when Daan called Raven over to the workshop.

He showed Raven the tumbler.

He showed Raven a container holding what looked like a very fine powder, but it had a slight gritty feel when he rubbed it between his fingers.

They put the stones into the tumbler, along with a scoop of the polishing powder and some water. The tumbler was connected to a gear from the waterwheel drive.

Samson was also there watching the process keenly. He watched as Raven added the very last stone to the tumbler; the one from Barking Green. He came over and stood beside Raven.

Raven didn’t answer, but he returned just the slightest nod in agreement.

Daan engaged the gear from the waterwheel, and the tumbler began to turn.

Daan smiled and shook his head.

Over the next two weeks, Raven would come every day and sit quietly in the workshop, often for an hour or more—

watching the tumbler turn.