Farts Like Gold: 11

The quad kicked up a cloud of dust as Brendan and Lucy drove off. Kathy turned her face to the side. She and Amber followed the quad.

The planting bags meant that there wasn't much room on the seat for two people. Brendan rode standing up until they got to the end of the block. Lucy braced her hands on her thighs and moved forward and back as the quad went over bumps.

"Can you shove back at all, Lucy?" asked Brendan as they left the block and turned onto the cutline which joined it with the next one. "My legs are killing me."

Lucy pushed her feet against the pegs and forced herself back against the bags. Brendan sat down on the seat. Lucy reached up and grabbed hold of the Brendan's belt loops on either side of his waist. The quad trail down the cutline was smooth. Lucy rested her forehead against Brendan's back.

The first block they came to was finished and pretty much cleaned out. There were still some planters in the second block but Brendan noticed everyone was closing fast. He stood up as they drove through that block. Lucy continued to hold onto his belt loops. He sat down as the block turned to cutline, and then stood up as they went into the third block. He drove to the far edge of the block and stopped by a tree cache sheltered in the trees.

Alistair and Cameron were about 50 metres from the road following the treeline. Lucy watched as they bobbed up and down sticking trees in the ground. As the quad came to a stop, she pulled on Brendan's belt loops and stood up on the pegs behind him. Brendan braced himself with the handlebars as Lucy leaned into him and swung her leg over the seat. She grabbed one of the bungie cords on the back and leaned back with her full weight to unhook it. She pulled her planting bags off the pile and yanked her shovel out from beneath the others. She jammed her shovel in the ground, and took her planting bags to the tree cache. She reached under the tarp and dragged one of the boxes out with one hand. She knelt by the box, opened it up and began packing bundles of seedlings into her bags.

Brendan unhooked the bungies on the front of the quad and got out Lucy's daypack. He strapped Amber and Kathy's daypacks back in and then walked to the back of the quad. He pulled Lucy's water bottle off the pile and put it and her day pack by her shovel on the side of the road. He tied up the back rack and then walked to the side of the cache.

Lucy had finished bagging up. She shrugged to lift up her bags as she cinched the belt tight around her waist. Brendan picked up the empty box she'd left and broke it down as he stepped out of the forest into the block.

"Ready to meet your new partners." He said.

"You know me," Lucy said. "Always keen to make new friends."

Brendan headed off towards where Alistair and Cameron were planting. Lucy walked off at a slight angle, her eyes scanning the ground. Brendan looked back as he heard Lucy scuff the ground with her foot. He shook his head as she threw the shovel into the ground, bent over and slid a seedling into the cut the shovel made as she twisted it slightly and pulled it out.

Lucy stepped forward as she straightened, looking for the next place to plant a tree. "I'm not going to dead-walk all the way back there. We'll meet up when they're on the way back."

"You'll end up with a back wedge," Brendan said. "Plus I've got to go set up Kathy and Amber."

Lucy planted another tree. She looked up and smiled. "It'll go faster if you spot their line for me," she said. She bent over and planted another tree. "Besides, Amber and Kathy won't be at the cache yet. They're walking." She planted another tree.

Brendan laughed and walked a few feet ahead of Lucy and stood by one of the trees on the outside planting line left by Alistair or Cameron. He couldn't tell who was on the outside from where they were. "Well, plant fast," he said.

Lucy didn't say anything. She walked ahead three steps, kicked the duff away with her fourth step, and slammed her shovel into the ground. It didn't go in quite far enough so she stomped on the kickplate with her foot and bent over with a tree in her hand as her foot slid off the shovel. She slid the tree in along the shovel blade and moved on. Brendan kept pace with her, watching for Alistair and Cameron's trees as he walked. They went at a decent walking pace. Brendan kept moving, pointing out the trees. Lucy made quick strides between planting spots, pausing every three or four steps to clear a spot and stick a tree in the ground. Every now and then Brendan would dip down to check how well the trees were planted.

>> Farts Like Gold: 12