The Orchard at the end of Tuesday

original art work on canvas 60 x 50 cm framed in oak The Orchard at the End of Tuesday There was once an orchard out where the red dirt starts and the bitumen gives up. Two naked men snuck in at noon — stupid really, because noon hides nothing and the flies find you anyway. They grabbed what they could and tried to look casual. Hard to pull off without pockets. The cows didn’t even look up. The sheep stared though. Sheep always do. They’ve got that way of making you feel guilty even when you’re not — and these blokes absolutely were. Above it all, a coolabah threw its shade across the afternoon. Blue and wide and unhurried, the way things are out there. The heat came through anyway. It always does. They ate the apples on the way back across the red dirt. Tasted exactly like getting away with it.