The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots Read Online Free PDF Page A

giving everyone the finger before turning away and jumping off the bus to wait for the next run. The men all laughed at him and the guy sitting next to Lena nudged her in the ribs.
    ‘Don’t worry, love, I’ll look after ya.’
    She smiled weakly and he grinned till she thought his teeth might pop out and smack her in the face.
    Lena swore on her favourite handbag she’d never be late for the management ute convoy again.
    On her sixth day on site, Lena realised her life had finally come down to two options:
    1. Take it.
    2. Leave it.
    ‘What’s wrong this time?’ Robyn demanded, when she made yet another emergency call to Perth from her dusty cubicle.
    ‘No one here will listen to me. My opinion is worth less than the new cleaner’s – and she just pushes red sand from one side of the office to the other.’
    ‘Maybe she should be using a vacuum instead of a broom.’
    ‘Robyn, focus .’
    ‘ Okay .’ Her best friend’s voice was sulky. ‘But I really don’t know what you expect me to say that I haven’t said already.’
    Lena sighed. She couldn’t exactly blame Robyn for being irritable. It was her third phone call to her in as many hours – only one down from her daily average. She knew she was being annoying but couldn’t seem to stop herself. Every time she heard Robyn’s voice, it was like getting a little slice of Perth back. It was balm to a battered soul.
    She was just so homesick.
    Homesick and angry.
    Carl’s data entry job was anaesthetising her brain – which wasn’t the only thing that needed a work-out. Her legs and arms ached from sitting in the same creaky chair for twelve hours straight, day in, day out. Robyn had told her to complain but who would listen? Carl was always out. Gavin was unreliable. And The Tone was everywhere.
    Lena knew she was considered the dud they had all been lumped with. Foremen, painters, welders, boilermakers, scaffolders. It didn’t matter who they were. They didn’t trust her. She was like the child no one wanted to babysit.
    A nuisance.
    The two women in the office, whom she thought she could befriend, were polite but uninterested. They were both hired locally, didn’t live in the camp and already had their family and friendship networks firmly established.
    Talking to Robyn was like coming up for air.
    ‘Robyn, I need you.’
    ‘You don’t need me,’ Robyn said. ‘You need to make a decision. Either take the punishment or come home.’
    ‘You know I can’t come home.’
    ‘Why the hell not? It’ll be much easier –’
    ‘I don’t want to take the easy road this time,’ Lena snapped. She gripped the phone cord tightly as she saw Kevin sitting across from her, his black brows drawn together in confusion. ‘But I thought this was what you wanted me to do.’
    ‘Lena? Lena? Are you still there?’
    Lena blinked. ‘Sorry, Robyn.’
    ‘No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest anything. I only meant –’
    Lena bit her lip. ‘I know what you meant. But I can’t come home because if I fail on the Pilbara it will mean Kevin was right.’
    ‘You can’t fail if you haven’t had a chance to do anything.’ Her friend breathed in sharply then added, ‘Listen, if you’re going to be stubborn about it then you might as well go all the way.’
    Lena sat up hopefully. ‘All the way. What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean, rebel.’
    Lena frowned. ‘What?’
    ‘ Rebel ,’ Robyn repeated. ‘Or come home. One or the other: just don’t ring me again until you’ve made a choice.’
    ‘But –’
    There was some rustling of paper. ‘I’ve gotta go, honey. The boss wants me and she doesn’t look happy.’
    Lena listened to the dial tone for a full ten beeps before slowly replacing the receiver.
    Rebel.
    How did she do that?Go on strike? Take a long lunch break? She snorted. That would probably be more torturous for her than anyone else. She generally ate lunch at her desk – there was no cafe just down the street or lunch bar across the road.