Judith Wright

A tall lonely farmer leaned on his unstable, dilapidated, wood fence and thought about the last time he had looked into a fellow human's eyes. The western sun gave the terra firma around him a headache-orange glow while the clouds produced random shadows around his dead land. No Ute was ever the result of his wallets substance: instead two dead horses once provided a way to town. The depressing hands of the ticking clock counted 30 years of his life in solitude. In the distance his eyes caught sight of a moving black figure approaching his run-down house.

The farmer didn't know what to do. Adrenalin from excitement pumped through his elated body as the black figure slowly shaped into a creature with two arms and two legs. He stumbled down the dusty road to greet his company. As his lungs struggled to inhale he stood before a woman with light blue eyes hidden behind glasses asking whether he was alright. Her modest beauty, parallel to an angels, lifted the western sun just enough to completely brighten the farmer's lonely heart. The top left of her blouse illustrated a Telstra logo which was accompanied by a lost expression instantly verifying her presence and reason for visiting him. He invited her into his house where he kept a simple map of the surrounding roads. Before long she was sitting in front of a slice of corn meat harmonised with baked potatoes telling stories of the city life.

The night became the length of a short day and eventually she fell asleep on the farmer's couch. The farmer watched her throughout the night riddled with excitement and hope. The eastern sun rose and, like a heavenly ocean wave, drenched his land with golden light. Her blue eyes opened and she proffered the farmer a friendly smile. She combed her soft hair with her hand and stood to greet the morning. She thanked him for everything and made her way slowly through the door. The farmer didn't understand and out of desperation to keep her company asked if she would care to live with him on the farm.

She smiled her last smile and said, "I'm very sorry. I have another life." The farmer touched her soft hand and pleaded for her to stay, but she continued for the exit. He rushed to lock the door and started explaining how he was slowly becoming insane from loneliness. "Perhaps God has sent you here for me?" he questioned. The woman leaned on the wall and answered with a statement concerning how much trouble she would be in if she didn't return to the city.

The desperate farmer disassembled his brain to construct a fool, proof plan. His mind turned irrational and eventually a thrilled smile consumed his face as if an idea had struck him. He approached the woman slowly and said, "You can't get into trouble if it wasn't your fault." The woman curiously watched the farmer run outside the room. More and more sweat from concern and fear started to accumulate on her brow every second he was gone. Her eyes soon became fixated on a piece of paper with a hand written poem on the