A BOUNCE CALLED RUTH

 A BOUNCE CALLED RUTH

Ruth came home to her human wrapped in a “grease rag” a dirty old towel used to clean truck engines. All that was visible were two large, silver lined big ears.  “Oh, a rabbit” exclaimed the human.  “No, roo” said the man, “found it beside a dead doe on the road at the top of the stony ridge.  Thought you might like it”, and he disappeared into the dark night.

The human quickly found a soft, clean pillowcase and put the little joey inside, then she carefully put the pillowcase inside her dress next to her heart so the joey would be warm and comforted.  After a little while the joey stopped shivering and fell asleep.  The human rummaged in her cupboard and found a nearly full tin of low lactose infant formula and a special kangaroo teat for a small, green cider bottle that she carefully washed and made a warm drink for the little joey.  The joey was hungry and drank nearly all the milk.  Then the human carefully toileted the little joey with a cotton wool pad.  As she did she noticed that the little joey had a pouch on her tummy and knew she was a little doe.  “I will call you Ruth” whispered the human.  The little joey snuggled against her human’s chest and went back to sleep.

Every three hours Ruth woke up for a drink of milk and toileting.  The next morning her human found an old woollen cardigan to wrap Ruth’s pillow case in and put her into a small leather bag which she hung from the head rest of the passenger seat in her trusty little truck.  Bounce, bounce, bounce they went all the way on the long dirt road into a town called Bourke where Ruth’s human worked.  During the work time Ruth’s bag hung on a door knob in her human’s office and no body noticed there was a new person in the room.  Every three hours Ruth had a drink of milk from the green glass cider bottle.  Her human bought another big can of formula and more kangaroo teats from the Chemist and a six-pack of cider from the store.  In the evening Ruth and her human went bounce, bounce, bounce on the rough dirt road all the way home.  Her human stayed up until 10PM which was most unusual for Ruth’s night feed and ten went to bed with Ruth lying snugly on her chest.  Ruth had to wriggle hard with her tail at 2AM  to wake her human but she managed and a sleepy human warmed up her milk and opened a cider, Ruth drank her milk and her human drank her cider, then Ruth was gently toileted and they both went back to bed until 6AM.

On Saturday Ruth and her human went into town to do the shopping and on Sunday they stayed at home.  Soon Ruth started to grow grey fur all over her body and her tail grew very strong indeed for turning in her bag and waking her sleepy human.  Now sometimes Ruth looked out of her bag as it hung on the office door knob and she began to make friends with the other people in the work building.  Then Ruth grew some tiny teeth and started nibbling.  At home she still spent a lot of time tucked into her human’s dress and her human bought a touch lamp to put beside her bed for waking up at 2AM.  Sometimes Ruth’s human did “fieldwork” which meant a very long bumpy drive in a work car and a lot of walking through the bush.  Now Ruth was big enough to come to morning tea on the back verandah of the Bourke office.

At last Ruth was old enough to stand a little while on her back legs balanced by her strong tail but it was nearly six months before her first hop.  But once Ruth learnt about hopping she became very busy.

Then one Sunday Ruth was sick, she wouldn’t drink her milk.  Her human was very worried and phoned the Vet.  “Bring her in immediately”, said the Vet.  So bounce, bounce, bounce they went into town in the trusty little truck.  The Vet examined Ruth and Ruth was quite normal so they went all the way home.  But the next Sunday the same problem happened again – and again there was nothing the matter with Ruth.  “Oh, I know” thought Ruth’s human on the way home, “Ruth needs a drive in the trusty little truck every day”.  And so that is what they did.

As Ruth grew up she became very clever, she learnt that if she licked the touch lamp by the bed her human would wake up instantly, but she was also sometimes naughty. One night during her 2AM feeding time she watched her human drinking her cider, then quick as a flash she swept her tail across the table and knocked the little cider bottle over. Splash! The cider was spilt over the table and quickly Ruth started licking it up as it dribbled over the edge onto the floor.  Her human was a little bit cross, a little bit worried because although cider is made from apples it probably was not at all good for small joys and happy because Ruth was so very clever.  Now the 2AM feeding time became a routine, Ruth drank her milk and tried to knock over the cider bottle with her tail and her human tried to stop her.  It became a game of tail against eyes.  Sometimes there was a  drippy mess.

Ruth’s human had a garden with vegetables, herbs and roses. One climbing rose was growing on a trellis and Ruth’s human hung her bag on it so Ruth could have fresh air and sunshine and still see her human.  The rose bush growing on the trellis had very beautiful flowers and Ruth found the rose buds were most delicious.  She ate a lot of them before her human noticed.  Her human laughed a lot at Ruth’s choice of green food and also realised that Ruth was now old enough to eat grass and leaves.  So then there was an experiment, apple peel, woody herbs, grass of different species, rose leaves and soft leaves from native woody shrubs.  Ruth ate the rose leaves first, then the apple peel, marjoram leaves and thought the other things not delicious at all.  “Hmmm”, thought her human, “we need some nutritional education”.

One day Ruth’s human had to attend a big conference.  They went in the work truck on a long sealed road all the way to Walgett.  Along the way Ruth’s human looked for a safe “kangaroo stop” as Ruth still need feeding every three hours.  Near a creek crossing she found the perfect place, a small track leading down the bank and out of sight of the road.  Ruth and her human had a peaceful rest before they went on to the meeting.

Ruth’s human was a little bit worried because she would have to share a room with someone she hadn’t met yet.  A very kind lady called Dorothy from the Dubbo office who lived on a farm said she would love to share with Ruth.  In the afternoon when very many people had arrived there was a cricket match.  Ruth’s human quite likes cricket so she took Ruth into the bush near the cricket field and Ruth hopped about after her milk and nibbled new sorts of green plants that don’t grow “Back o’ Bourke”.  It was a nice time before a big party. Ruth’s human didn’t go to parties very often and Ruth had never been to a party.  After some discussion with Dorothy their room mate Ruth’s human went to the party for a little while because it was a little bit important to be there and Dorothy looked after Ruth until it was time for Ruth’s bottle.  Ruth and her human snuggled into the hotel bed and tried very hard to be quiet.  They were both fast asleep until 2AM and found that their new friend Dorothy had gone to bed so quietly they didn’t wake up.  That night they were so very quiet indeed and there were no tail games.

In the morning there was a very big meeting.  Ruth had never seen so many humans all together but she wasn’t afraid.  Her human was though because the chairs were made of plastic and there were no knobs on them to hang a kangaroo bag.  In the end Ruth was hung on a door knob and her human sat on a chair at the end of the row as near as possible.  People talked and talked and talked about the problems with the farmers and not enough water in the desert rivers and a lot about new government rules. Ruth and her human slipped away at morning tea time and Ruth had a hop on the green grass of the cricket field.  Afterwards the talking continued and Ruth’s human needed to go to the toilet.  She waited until she thought Ruth was asleep and went quickly out of the meeting.  Almost immediately there was someone calling “Ruth is out, she is looking for you”.  Poor Ruth, it was the first time she had lost her human.  “Where is her pillow case?” ask Ruth’s human.  “In her bag” came the reply.  “Please bring it quickly” Ruth’s human asked.  So there was Ruth looking for her human and there were too many people in the way.  Then she saw her human with her pillowcase and Ruth bounced, hop, hop, big hop and a tumble into the pillow her human was holding.  Safe, safe thought Ruth and her human held the pillowcase very close to her heart all afternoon.  The next day Ruth’s human thought it was time they both went home so they did.

Ruth was growing up and she could go to the toilet by herself now so after morning tea bottle her human put her in the office garden which really didn’t have any delicious things to eat in it.  And there were twelve boring wooden stairs to bounce up to get to the verandah. One hop, two hops and a very big bounce of ten whole steps and she was there.  Ruth was growing up to be very strong indeed.

Now it was time for Ruth to have a much bigger carry bag so her human cleaned a brown leather backpack.  It was very roomy and comfortable.

Sometimes Ruth and her human went camping by a billabong on the Paroo River.  One morning very early Ruth woke up and decided to explore all by herself.  She slipped out of her bag which was inside her human’s swag and with a little wriggle she was out on the soft red sand.  The desert air was very still and sweet smelling with gum leaves and water.  Hop, hop went Ruth up the red sand and hop, hop along the sand ridge.  Because Ruth had grown up with her human she didn’t know about the dangers in the bush or that a fox was following her.  Fortunately her human woke up because there was a cold space where Ruth should be.  Carefully, carefully she looked at the ground and found two little hop marks, then two more.  Quickly she took the pillowcase from Ruth’s bag and ran up the sand hill and down the other side.  What a terrible sight at the bottom of the red sand hill.  A fox was holding Ruth’s head, her little legs were kicking wildly but not reaching the fox.  Ruth’s human shouted and flapped the pillowcase at the fox.  He had never seen a mother kangaroo like this one before.  In his astonishment he dropped Ruth and she tumbled into her pillowcase.  Her human held her tightly to her chest.  The fox backed away his tail down.  Ruth was put into the trusty little truck with her bag hanging in the passenger side head rest with the door closed while her human broke camp.  Everything was packed into the tray back, Ruth’s bottle was warmed up and after she had finished they drove home both a little bit shaken by their close encounter.  The Fox went hunting again but thought he would be more careful about small joeys in future.

After their adventure with the fox Ruth’s human thought she would like to retire somewhere green and peaceful with misty mornings and frosty nights.  She found a small farm advertised for sale in the New England Highlands near a city called Armidale where there was a university.  “Perfect” thought Ruth’s human so they went to have a look.  It was perfect.  There was an old wooden house with a modern extension, an outside laundry and a meat house, a wood shed and a big stable.  There were seven old pine trees, a dam with a wild duck swimming on it and a windmill.  Ruth hopped around a yard with a high metal fence and a Photinia hedge, she nibbled some old rose bushes and found the grass was soft and different.  There was also another strange smell.  Ruth’s human carried her up to the top of a high hill where the mountain gums grew.  From there you could see a very long way to the dark blue hills.  Ruth’s human drove into Armidale and paid Mr. Elders a deposit for the little farm then they drove the very long way back to the desert house on Cuttaburra Creek.

Uncle Duncan came down from Queensland to look after the little farm but every fortnight on a Friday Ruth found that they were going on a very long drive.  They stopped every three hours, under the big, long wooden bridge on the Barwon River, in a little way-side truck turning place with tall trees beyond Walgett where a patch of kangaroo grass grew, under the Salmond Gums near Inverell and after it was dark and Uncle Duncan had put the outside lights on they reached the little farm.

Ruth still slept in a pillowcase on her human’s chest but she was growing bigger and heavier and naughtier.  Soon she would not need milk anymore and her human thought the little farm would be a good, safe place for Ruth to grow up.

Ruth found that in the big, long warm kitchen sometimes in a glass dish there would be a big round fruit that was quite delicious.  All she had to do was roll it out of the dish, across the bench and it would fall on the floor and break, then she could eat it.  Sometimes she also took the hard dog biscuits from Keo’s dish (Keo was her human’s kelpie cross dog).  When Ruth was frightened she would stand in Keo’s shed or under the clothes line and hang onto her human’s nightgown.

In the farm house there was a very big room with glass sliding doors.  Ruth learned how to open the doors and she liked to sleep on the sofa if the inside door was closed and she couldn’t sleep on her bed.  On sunny days she lay outside in the grass.  Her human planted  lot of new roses in the winter time and some other plants with dark green leaves and very delicious flower buds – they were called Rhododendrons and Ruth’s human never saw them flower.  In the summer time Ruth sometimes slept on the cool cement floor of the meat house (it wasn’t used anymore for hanging meat).  In the autumn the little apples fell from the old trees in the orchard.  Ruth’s human planted new baby apple trees and Uncle Duncan had to build special little fences around the baby trees because Ruth decided that baby apple tree leaves were delicious to.

Then one Sunday Ruth’s human went away in the trusty little truck without her.  Ruth hopped to the edge of the fence and waited and watched until it was nearly night time, then went back to the farm house.  Uncle Duncan put down a dish of rockmellon, apple slices and three Keo biscuits.  Ruth ate it all up.  Uncle Duncan stayed a long time in the big Music Room with the sliding doors open and after Ruth stretched out on the sofa and went to sleep he went to bed.

The next day Ruth stood by her human’s nightdress that was hanging from the clothes line and at night she slept on the sofa in the Music Room.  Uncle Duncan made another nice fruit dish for her.  But the next day she hopped up the high hill and looked and looked at the dark blue hills.  Up on the high hill she could smell that strange, mysterious smell again.

Very, very early in piccanni daylight Ruth hopped up the high hill again – and there was a very strange animal, taller than her human, even taller than Uncle Duncan with long upright ears, grey fur and a long tail  He was quietly eating grass, hop, hop, then he stood up tall and sniffed Ruth.  Ruth was not frightened as she had been with the fox on the red sand hill but she was curious.  Then by the Music Room sliding door Uncle Duncan was calling “Ruth, Ruth”, so she hopped down the hill for breakfast.  That night in the moonlight Ruth hopped up the hill again and there were several strange grey human-like creatures with long tails eating grass.  They looked at Ruth and Ruth looked at them.  Strange, she was curious but not frightened and went home, hop, hop, hop.  Ruth was missing her human but she didn’t know that every night her human phoned Uncle Duncan to find out how Ruth was coping.

The little farm had two neighbours, one lived in a big, brick house and had a lot of black Angus cattle in their paddocks.  The other was a retired bank manager and his wife who lived on the edge of the valley.  Sometimes Ruth visited Mrs. Bank, she would rattle the metal screen door to the kitchen and Mrs. Bank, after being most surprised the first time Ruth came visiting, would come outside and sit on her verandah chair.  Mrs. Bank also grew roses which was a good thing because Ruth still liked roses very much indeed.

One day Ruth’s human came home with a surprise – a small grey kangaroo like Ruth.  He was quite large and fitted nicely into Ruth’s old brown leather carry bag.  His name was Oswald after the place he was found.  Ruth thought Oswald was very interesting; she was also accustomed now to the wild kangaroos who visited the high hill at the little farm very early in the morning.

Ruth was now taller than her human.  In the next summer her human was watching Ruth from the kitchen window – Ruth was cleaning her pouch.  Her human was surprised then very happy because Ruth was preparing her pouch for her very own joey.  She had mated with the big buck kangaroo but had stayed at home on the little farm.

This is really the end of the story.  Later, after Ruth’s joey was born she “mobbed up” with the wild kangaroos but frequently she came home to the little farm.