Down by the tiny store, a camel train was just setting out loaded with the the quarterly supplies of a cattle station way out west. How calm
and imperturbable the turbaned Afghans looked as they strode off beside
their lurching beasts.
Mary gazed to the far horizon, to where the sky met the plain, and did
wonder what lay beyond. She wondered too, if ever the railway line may
creep further north to Alice Springs, and then maybe Darwin. Then Mary
decided that she would be a long time dead by then, so looked back to
her immediate affairs...across the yard, to where a man was hammering,
sweat trickled down his temples. He screwed up his eyes as she watched,
wiped his forehead with the back of a hairy hand, swore at the flies,
and gazed longingly at the pub. It was nice of him to build the wash house, especially when he could have been over at the pub drinking beer.
Lots of people had built things for her, being considerate of her comfort in many ways. It was nice to know her work was appreciated.
The tall thin man who had planted the garden, working well into the evenings, when he could have been on the road.
And the big brown well sinker, with a hand like a ham, who had railed
in the veranda, and nearly swallowed a nail when she brought him some
morning tea.
Quite "Old Dad" with the feathery white whiskers who had enlarged the
kitchen, and chopped off the roosters head.
The copper for the wash house came all the way from Adelaide, the men
over at the pub had passed around the hat. They would not be thanked.
All these little things as well, went on to make her life more bearable.
Mary retreated indoors well content. It was cool inside, and she had'nt much to do, the patients were practically convalescent, and she had
finished the cleaning and mopping, and then sorted the next weeks washing. Only the dinner to get ready for the patients.

But, in the afternoon she was kept busy. Two children came in with sore eyes from sandy blight, a stockman had received a nasty kick from a horse, and a an Afghan had to be treated for camel bite.
An hour later, three men came slouching along, with an uneasy glance backwards, as they shouldered one another in through the gate.
Mary diagnosed the symptoms, and was out on the veranda before they
could slink away.
"Come in" She called.
In shamefaced manner, they crept up the path.
"Toothache" she smiled sweetly.
They all nodded in surprised recognition of her discerning faculties.
She waved them into the surgery with a wordless indication towards the chair. No one volunteered, so she grasped the bushy bearded one, and
he baulked at the forceps. She manhandled his head under her arm, and
yanked the molar out. Then the others took their turn.
They slouched away, holding the bloody spit, and the swearing until they had cleared the gate.
Well satisfied with herself, she began the task of cleaning up after the three men, had a wash, fed the fowls, then served the patients evening meal.
Then slept very soundly, thankful for a quite night!