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Bed and Breakfast
The river was dry. Charlie
couldn’t remember the last time water had flowed along it.
She couldn’t remember the last time it had rained either and
the tanks were almost dry. She’d have to order water in
again and that cost money, something she didn’t have a lot
of. How much longer could they hang on? The property had
been in her family for five generations so the thought of
selling made her feel physically sick. But everything was
dying. And since her brother decided he wanted nothing more
to do with the farm and left, she’d been struggling. Her
parents were too old now to do the day to day work and it
was hard to hire help. People were leaving the country, not
moving to it. Charlie had been praying for a solution but,
so far, none appeared.
The following week Charlie had to drive to a town, three
hours away, to pick up a part for the tractor. On the way
back she saw a sign on the side of the road advertising a
bed and breakfast. Why it hadn’t occurred to her before she
didn’t know but that was the answer. She’d read lots of
stories about city people wanting a country experience.
People could stay for the weekend and even help out if they
wanted to. The more she thought about it the more excited
she became and it had been a long time since Charlie had
felt excited about anything. Now all she had to do was
convince her parents.
“No,” her dad said. “This is a working farm not a rest camp
for people who wouldn’t know a horse from a cow.”
“Considering we don’t have any cows that shouldn’t be a
problem,” Charlie said. “I really don’t think we have a
choice, Dad. Half the sheep are dead and the ones left
aren’t that far behind. If we get paying guests we can buy
more feed and get more water brought in.”
“Charlie, I hate the idea of people who have no appreciation
for the land taking over the place.”
“They won’t be taking over, Dad. We’ll be in charge.”
“But it won’t feel like our place.”
“Yes it will. This will still be our house and the rooms you
built will still be here.”
“If we don’t do this, John, we may not have the house at all
for much longer,” Anna, Charlie’s mum said. “This is the
only solution any of us have and, at least, we’d get to
stay.”
“And it will only be on the weekends,” Charlie said.
“I’m being outvoted, aren’t I?” John said.
“You’re not being outvoted,” Anna said. “But I don’t think
there is anything else we can do. I don’t want to lose this
place either.”
John nodded. “All right.”
“It’ll be okay, Dad.”
“He’ll be fine,” Anna said after he’d gone. “He’ll get used
to the idea. I think he’s proud of you for coming up with
it. We have to do something and if it works it means we get
to stay and that’s all he wants.”
So the three of them got the house ready and Charlie got all
the approvals and placed the first ads. The day the ads
appeared they got three calls and all of them made bookings.
And then Charlie started to worry. Could they do this? It
was a great idea but now they had to turn the idea in to a
reality. They didn’t have any experience in looking after
paying guests. What if they were unreasonable and demanding?
What if the house wasn’t nice enough? What if the food
wasn’t good enough? Charlie had prepared as much as she
could. There was nothing else she could do. She just hoped
the first guests were nice. It would make things easier for
her dad too.
And they were. They had no idea about the country and all it
took to make their weekend was for a kangaroo to hop across
the paddock in front of the house. Charlie had set up the
breakfast table on the front veranda because the view across
the hills was pretty, even if it wasn’t as green as it once
was. But it was the kangaroo that captured the guests’
attention. After that, nothing could go wrong and everyone
went home happy.
The next guests were a different story. Nothing was good
enough. The country wasn’t country enough. They didn’t see
enough animals. The bed was too hard. The meals weren’t big
enough and they had no interest in seeing how the farm
worked. But they still paid their money and that was what
Charlie needed.
By the end of the third month the bank balance was starting
to look better – not good enough that they could stop
worrying but a lot better than it was. Even Charlie’s dad
was more comfortable with what they were doing. And then
Scott came back. The minute things started to improve he
turned up for his share. He’d been like that his whole life.
Wanted everything for nothing. Charlie was furious. She
wanted to tell him to go back to the city but her dad was
excited to have him home.
“You know what he’s like,” her mum said. “Scott can do no
wrong in his eyes.”
So Scott stayed but did nothing to help. And then one day
the money was gone. Charlie had gone to buy food for their
next guests and her card was rejected because of
insufficient funds. For a minute she thought it was a
mistake but she knew it was Scott. He’d left that morning,
saying he was going back to the city for a while. Charlie
had been glad at the time. Now she wanted to go after him
and drag him back. He still had access to the farm account
and her parents would never take money out without telling
her. Charlie wanted to cry – all their hard work for nothing
– but she had guests coming that day so she put the food on
credit and went home to tell her parents. Her mother didn’t
say anything – she just left the room and went for a long
walk. Her father wouldn’t believe it at first but then he
was furious.
“He is not welcome in this house ever again.”
But at that moment they were in a worse position than they
were when they started. Charlie started praying that the
guests would keep coming. And thankfully they did. Many of
the guests they’d had in the first few months had told their
friends. Word-of-mouth brought them more business than any
of their ads. It took them six months to get back to where
they were when Scott took the money and another seven before
they could stop worrying.
It was at the beginning of that summer that the rain came
and by Christmas the river started flowing again.
Dining Room Table, Clos Des Iles Chambres d'Hotes, Bed and Breakfast
Photographic Print
Karlsson, Per
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