Page 49 of Where the Wattles Bloom

‘Nah, I feel better already.’

It was true, her cheeks were back to their full cold-air flush and her eyes were sparkling. ‘Okay, what’s next?’

She turned to the ride that was directly behind her, a beatific smile spreading across her face. It made Lachlan want to ralph just looking at it as the multiple car-shaped cages, suspended from an oblong frame, flipped and turned erratically.

‘Gotta go the Zipper, I reckon.’

Lachlan sighed. ‘Of course.’

*

Even in the fading light, Rowena looked worse coming off the Zipper. Her colour had surpassed pale and gone to green. Her hair had clearly been at the mercy of the g-forces, being flung hither and thither, coming to rest in tangled disarray around her head. But it was when she placed a steadying hand on his forearm that he knew she was really shaken up.

‘How are those ear crystals?’ he asked, trying and failing to keep a note of amusement out of his voice.

‘Disturbed,’ she mumbled. ‘Very disturbed.’

‘You want to sit for a bit?’

Seemingly incapable of talking, she just nodded, and Lachlan led her through the throng to the bleachers that circled the central ring. In a couple of hours they’d be packed for the fireworks, but for now, in the early evening light, they were mostly empty.

‘Here.’ He offered her one of the two water bottles he’d bought while she’d been flung around fifty feet in the air. They sat as she took it, a hand’s breadth between them.

She swigged down several gulps, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Thanks.’

‘Better?’

‘Yep.’

Once again, her colour returned quickly, but she didn’t seem to be in a crashing hurry to return to sideshow alley.

‘So,’ she murmured, looking out over the trampled grass of the empty main ring, ‘this is where they judge the bull with the biggest balls?’

‘Yep.’ Lachlan nodded. ‘His name is King Kong if you’re interested.’

She laughed. ‘That seems apt for a well-endowed animal.’

‘It does, doesn’t it? Second place getter is called Excalibur. The third, Tutankhamen.’

Her lips quirked. ‘I’m sensing a theme.’

‘Uh huh.’ Lachlan’s lips also quirked. ‘The most well-endowed ram, on the other hand, is called Barry.’

Turning her head, she stared at him. ‘Barry? Someone called their sheep Barry?’

‘A ram,’ Lachlan corrected with a grin. ‘A ram with giant testicles.’

‘Did the owner not get the memo about the name thing? I mean, surely Rambo is just begging to be used? Or … Rameses at the very least.’

Lachlan laughed. ‘I think given his own choice, Douggy would probably have preferred Rambo. But he lets his daughter name the sheep and that little girl has him wrapped around her finger. He won two years ago with Gary.’

They both laughed then and they were sitting close enough that their arms rubbed. The nearby cacophony of sideshow alley faded to nothing. It was just him and her and, man, if it didn’t feel good.

Her laughter abated and she raised her water bottle. ‘Cheers to Douggy’s daughter. And cheers to Barry.’

‘To Baz,’ Lachlan agreed as he tapped his water against hers before taking a swig. ‘So,’ he said, his breath catching at the rich sparkle of her green eyes, ‘back into the fray?’

She shook her head. ‘How are you at the laughing clowns?’