Home town and healing hearts

Julia’s car eased over the hill on the outback highway. She could see the chimney stack on the horizon, the sun setting behind it. Tears came to her eyes, the sun stinging them, and memories that she had pushed aside for years came tumbling into her mind as she headed home to the mining town of Mount Isa in north west Queensland.

“Nice of ya to make it,” Julia’s sister, Heather, said as she walked through the door carrying a suitcase.

“Sorry, I left as soon as I could,” Julia said, already regretting not going to a hotel.

“Well we need you to put in for the funeral.” Heather got up from the kitchen table, roughly grabbed Julia’s smaller bag, and started walking down the hallway to Julia’s childhood bedroom.

“Yeah, I’ve got the money. Just give me a sec. I’m exhausted,” Julia replied setting her things down on the bed.

“We’re all exhausted, Jules. The funeral is in the morning and they said we need to pay beforehand.” Heather’s eyes were red, and her face was splotchy. She really did look exhausted.

“Just give me the invoice. Where’s mum?” Julia asked, looking at the photos on her walls.

“Out the back.”

Julia went out the back door to see her mother. She felt a small shock seeing her hair now totally grey and realising just how long it had been since she’d seen her family.

“Jules!” Her mother pulled her into a tight hug with a sob. She had a smile on her face as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, mum. I should have been here,” Julia said with tears building in her eyes.

“Oh, love, Frank wanted you to pursue your dreams, he was so proud of you.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Let’s get a cuppa.”

“You didn’t have to pay it all, Jules. I have money, too,” Heather said as they walked into the church the next morning.

“Yeah, I know. I wanted to do something to help. You have a family and have done all the work.” Julia was fanning herself in the already stifling heat.

“Thanks,” Heather said begrudgingly. “I miss him. He would have hated all this fuss. Seeing him lying on the grass…”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Julia interrupted.

“Of course, you don’t.” Heather shook her head and walked to her seat.

The funeral passed in a blur. Julia said a few words but could not recall what they were afterwards, only remembering the feeling of her tears falling on to the back of her hand on the lectern.

She spent the wake talking to all the people that she could barely remember from twenty years ago and the new ones that she’d never met but still wanted to tell her how much Frank had meant to them. He’d owned a hardware store and was well-loved by most of the town.

Julia had asked Heather to pick her up to go the hardware the next day. Not wanting to sit around the house, she thought that she would be able to push through the pain in her heart with some manual labour in the shop.

“Can you look at our Facebook page, today?” Heather asked.

“Yeah, sure but I’m happy to just pack the shelves and stuff. Don’t feel like you need to get me doing that,” Julia said, staring out the window.

“You’re a big marketing exec, Jules. We don’t know what we’re doing with that stuff and it’d be helpful if you can have a look before you piss off back to Melbourne for another twenty years.”

“Sure. I’ll sit down and go through it all.”

“John can show you what we’ve been doing. You met him yesterday.” Heather looked at her like she should remember.

“Sorry, sis, I met a lot or people yesterday.” Julia shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess. He works at the mines, week on, week off, and does a couple of shifts with us on his days off. I think he does it for the staff discount, but he knows tools.”

John was a tall thin man in his mid-forties, Julia guessed. He had a ponytail, a well-trimmed beard and looked like he had just gotten out of the shower.

He showed her the Facebook page on the old computer in the back office and the advertising they had done on the radio and various other places.

“I don’t know much about this stuff. I just take a bunch of photos when I’m at work and between your sister and me we just post them up, but we don’t seem to be getting much traction.”

“Yeah, that happens. I’ll take a look.”

After lunch she started to pack some of the shelves, while mulling over some ideas for the business.

“Julia Goulia,” she heard from behind her.

Julia closed her eyes for a moment knowing exactly who it was and calming herself enough to talk.

“Hey, Steve, how’s it going?” she said not looking up from what she was doing.

He leaned onto the shelves to push his large frame into her line of sight. “Same ol’, same ol’. Still at the mines. Doing pretty well for myself really,” he said smugly. He looked the same just with a few grey hairs and some lines around his eyes.

“Good for you.”

“So, how long you here for?” he asked.

“Just a week or so,” she said curtly.

“I’ll pick you up and we’ll go out for tea tonight.” It was a statement and Julia felt her chest tighten. He grinned and she noticed that he’d lost an eye tooth and the rest didn’t look in good shape.

“No thanks.” She turned back to her work.

“Come on Jules, it’s been a long time. You know I’m sorry for all that shit. You should’ve gotten over it by now.” His tone was condescending, and she thought she might be sick.

“I’m over it but I don’t want to go out with you.” She looked him dead in the eye and he stood up straight.

“There’s nothing wrong with friends hanging out.”

“I’m not your friend, Steve,” she said.

“Hey, Steve’o, time to go,” one of his mates said as he walked past.

Julia closed her eyes and shook her hands out, trying to bring herself back down to earth. She’d remained mostly single since leaving home, finding it hard to trust people. All her relationships were over in a matter of months, with any disagreement sending her spiralling into panic and ending it.

“What was that all about?” John asked, walking over with a box to unpack nearby.

“Just a guy from school,” she said going back to stacking the shelf.

“If he turns up again, let one of us know and just head out the back and have a coffee,” he said.

Julia nodded.

There was much more to do than Julia had anticipated, between helping at the shop and helping her mum sort out the house. She also spent a lot of time with her sister and her young family. Getting to know her as a friend and realising they enjoy spending time together. Heather’s two children were lovely and Julia loved making them squeal with delight chasing them around the backyard.

Two weeks turned into a month and Julia didn’t feel the pull to escape.

Until Steve turned up at her sister’s house when they were having a staff barbeque.

He got out of a taxi and walked up to the gate. “Julia!” he yelled.

The group were sitting on the front patio while Heather and her husband cooked on a moveable barbeque they’d put on the grass.

“Leave Steve,” Heather said, pointing down the street.

“No! I want to talk to Julia,” he slurred.

“I’ll call you a taxi, mate,” Heather’s husband added.

John glanced at Julia and walked towards the gate.

Julia felt something inside her shift.

She knew that she had to deal with this. She couldn’t live her life in fear any longer. She loved her family and didn’t want to run away because of someone from twenty years ago.

John was calmly trying to get Steve to leave when Julia approached the gate.

“You need to leave, Steve,” Julia said.

Steve grabbed her by the top of her arm. “I knew you’d come back to me, and here you are,” he said, his breath rancid with alcohol and his eyes red.

“Take your hand off me,” she seethed.

“Let her go, man,” John said, putting his hand on Steve’s chest.

“Call the cops,” Heather said to her husband behind them.

Steve looked from Julia to John and back again, letting her arm go and taking a step back. “I see what’s going on here. Have a nice life,” Steve said, adding, “she’s always been high maintenance, good luck with that.”

“Just go,” Julia said.

“They’ll be here any minute,” Heather called out.

Steve started walking down the street, the police driving up a few minutes later. Heather spoke to them and they left to have a chat with Steve.

Julia’s hands were tremoring, but she didn’t feel like she would cry. She had a sip of her beer but excused herself to go inside.

John came looking for her a few minutes later, sitting next to her on the lounge in silence.

“Thanks,” Julia said.

“All good,” John replied.

She put her hand on his and squeezed. She felt at ease in a way she hadn’t in years.

Julia decided to stay on in Mount Isa. Living in her childhood bedroom for the time being to support her mum through her grief. She worked at the hardware store and found that she enjoyed it.

She started seeing John outside of work and while he had baggage of his own, they found support and understanding in one another that Julia had never experienced before.

* * *

❤️ And subscribe to keep up with all my fiction!