chapter 5 chuck and leila continued

Chuck and Leila were up early the next morning. Chuck cursed himself for not wearing a hat the day before because he had caught the sun on the top of his head due to his thinning hair. It was not bad enough to slow him down, but he was going to have to be very careful with the sun in the next few days.
Yash took them into the stables and showed them how to muck out. Leila was not keen to join in. It was poo, after all! She was happy to watch Chuck, though and make sure he did it correctly. He had managed to clean two stalls while the rest of the hands cleaned four or five each... as well as checking the horses in the nearby fields and making sure all the horses were fed and watered according to their personalised regime.
Then it was time for their human breakfast.
Breakfast on the homestead was a long drawn out meal. People came and went all the time between 07.30 to 10.00. Some only had a bowl of cereal or a slice of toast with coffee, then were off out, only to return later for something more substantial. Others sat down and had a leisurely, filling breakfast of three courses!
Chuck indulged, while Leila was more cautious. She drank more coffee and chatted more than ate.
It was after nine when they headed back to the stables to learn how to do some grooming. Chuck wished he’d not eaten so much. His waistband was tight and he had to let out his belt by a hole to get more comfortable.
Leila didn’t mind most of the grooming bit. She was not sure about picking the horses’ feet up. She was sure she would get kicked! Nevertheless, they managed to groom two horses between them without too much of an incident.
Then, it was time to get ready for church.
Chuck still had one smart pair of trousers in his bag and Leila had a summer dress. It seemed like a strange thing to do to be going to a church service in the middle of nowhere, but then again, it might do them good to sing a few hymns and pray a bit.
The church was just a small chapel tagged onto the main house. It was made of wood and painted, but open to the rafters which gave it a grandeur unusual in such a small building. There was only room for three rows of pews at either side of the aisle. Each pew was only big enough to take five people at a maximum. There was no choir stalls or organ, but instead there was a state of the art sound system and a screen where the words of the hymns could be projected, which avoided the use of expensive hymn books. The altar had a richly embroidered cloth over it and was set out for a communion service.
Yash was Hindi, so he said he would not be at the service, but they recognised others they had met around the stables or at mealtimes. Chuck and Leila took a seat at the back, out of the way.
They all settled down and were solemnly silent when music started to play through the speakers.
The minister entered. He looked to be in his thirties. There were no long flowing fancy robes. He wore his dog collar with a bright blue shirt and a pair of slacks. He had done away with much of the traditional service. The hymns they sang were mostly modern, or modern interpretations of classic hymns.
His sermon was about the story of the Good Samaritan. He likened it to how they were in the outback, how they all were. They all had to help out their neighbours when they were in need.
There was one traditional section that surrounded the communion. Chuck was wary. He belonged to a different church. Would it be sacreligeous if he had communion in the Church of Scotland... in Australia? Then again, these people had made him and his girlfriend so welcome, there couldn’t be any harm in it.
Andy had a woman helping him at the altar. He presumed she was his wife. She had a pleasant face, but spoke with a strong French accent. He had to be the Swiss woman Yash had mentioned. For hygiene purposes, the communion wine had been pre-poured into tiny plastic thumblefuls. The thimble like glasses were placed in a specially made wooden tray that held all the tiny glasses without risk of spillage. Andy gave out the sacrament and said a blessing to each person, followed by his wife, who handed each person their thimble full of blessed wine. When everyone had received their communion, Andy started tidying everything away, while his partner collected the glasses and placed them back in the rack.
Nothing seemed unusual about the ceremony at all. The communion wafer tasted of nothing and melted on the tongue. The communion wine tasted like... wine - maybe a smooth merlot.
Nevertheless, by the time he reached his seat, Chuck’s lips had started to tingle. Maybe he was allergic to something, he thought.
By the time it got to singing the last hymn, he felt so wobbly and dizzy that his could not stand up. By the time everyone was filing out, he collapsed on the floor, barely able to move.
Leila was quick to follow.