A BRIGHT FUTURE
By Jenny Dobson 
August 1997
"I still don't get why I had to drive!" Maggie Doyle complained.
PJ Hasham grinned at her from his place in the passenger's seat. "You handle the 
long distances better than me."
"Great, I'll remember that." She rolled her eyes at him. "Well, you're driving 
back!" She turned her eyes back to the road, and for a while the two of them 
were content to just sit in companionable silence as the scenery flew past them.
For once they both had a full weekend off, and had decided to take advantage of 
it, and after much discussion and a fair bit of argument, had decided on the 
snowfields. Unfortunately, the fact that they only had the two days meant that 
they had to leave at a completely inconsiderate hour of the morning, in order to 
get two full days on the slopes.
They'd been on the road for three hours and the sky was just starting to lighten 
at the horizon. 
"How much further do you reckon?" Maggie wanted to know.
PJ looked at the digital clock on the dashboard. . .6:13. "'Bout another hour to 
the hotel, I reckon. Then there's another 45 minutes or so to the mountain." 
Maggie nodded and rubbed her eyes. "I cannot believe what time I had to get up 
this morning!"
"Yeah, me either." PJ agreed.
Maggie glanced at him, "Actually, I'm surprised you're in such a good mood at 
this time of the morning. Last time I had the pleasure of your company first 
thing in the morning, you weren't in the greatest of moods." she grinned at him, 
as they both remembered that morning in the mine, and what had followed that 
particular conversation.
"Yes, well that time, I was in pain and I was hungry. Not a great combination 
when you add it to the time of day it was."
Laughing, Maggie fixed her eyes on the highway ahead of the car, and the two of 
them stayed that way for the next hour, just watching the scenery pass them by, 
and the sky lighten.
* * * 
It was nearly half past 7 by the time they pulled into the motel car park, the 
sun was still not completely over the horizon, and by that time, after over 4 
hours at the wheel, Maggie was delighted that she could finally get out of the 
car. Popping the boot, she jumped out of the car and grabbed her stuff, before 
leading PJ into the reception. 
Before long, the manager was leading them through the grounds, to their room. 
The motel was set out in individual cabins, each with it's own ensuite, bar 
fridge and phone.
Before leaving, the manager turned to them, to explain the timetables of the 
motel.
"Ski hire opened at 7, so head over there whenever you like, and also, breakfast 
is served from 6-8, and dinner is from 6-8." Smiling, the manager turned and 
left them to it. 
Entering their room, they looked around what was to be there home until late 
tomorrow night. The room was very cramped, but in a way cozy. There was one 
double bed, and 2 bunk beds. The far corner contained the tiny ensuite, and the 
television was stuck up on the top of the wooden closet. 
Standing in the middle of the room, PJ dropped his bag on the floor. "Ok, Mags 
you can have the double bed if you want. I'll take one of the bunks."
She turned to look at him, "You sure? You're bigger than I am, I could take the 
bunk..." 
For a moment they stared at one another, and for a split second, Maggie realised 
just how dangerous it was going to be, sharing the tiny room with PJ that night. 
But this close to the snowfields, it was expensive to hire a room for just one 
night, and neither of them could see the point in reserving two, when each room 
held 6 people.
Maggie reluctantly turned away first, and opened her bag. "I think we should get 
some breakfast, then head over to the ski hire, then get changed." 
PJ stared at her for a moment, but the electricity of a few seconds earlier had 
disappeared, and he finally nodded. "OK."
By 8 am, both of them had eaten, and been fitted out with a complete set of 
skis, boots, and stocks. Lugging them over to the car, they threw the boots and 
stocks in the boot, and tied the skis to the temporarily attached roof-rack.
Wandering back to their room, they had a proper chance to examine their 
surroundings properly, now that the sun had risen fully. Beside the car park, 
they noticed that the swimming pool seemed to be encased in a huge bubble, to 
keep the heat in, and Maggie silently decided to try it out that night, having 
never swum inside a bubble before.
Back in their room, PJ suggested that they get changed and head up the mountain 
as soon as possible. Maggie agreed, and bent over her bag. When she straightened 
up, she had produced a one piece, powder blue ski suit. Smiling at PJ, she 
disappeared into the ensuite to change.
When she reemerged a few minutes later, she was transformed. PJ couldn't take 
his eyes off her. The puffy snow suit fitted her perfectly, and despite the 
puffiness, didn't make her look like a marshmallow, instead hugging her in all 
of the right places. On her head, she wore a felt headband, to keep her ears 
warm, made of the same colour as the snow suit. 
The blue in the suit and headband complemented her brown eyes perfectly, and set 
off her golden hair. PJ swallowed thickly. He too was having second thoughts 
about sharing a room...
About an hour later, PJ swung the car into the car park situated half way up the 
mountain (Maggie had flat out refused to get behind the wheel of that car 
again). The rest of their journey up the mountain would be made on the chairlift 
connecting the car park with the summit. 
After pulling their ski boots on, and removing the skis from the roof of their 
car, they clumped awkwardly across the slush covered car park in the bulky 
boots, which were most definitely not designed for walking in, over to the lift 
ticket office.
"Welcome to Mt Buller!" exclaimed the cheerful girl at the office, as she handed 
each of them a 2 day lift pass.
"Thanks." the two of them smiled in return, then turned and threw their skis on 
the ground, clicking their boots into the stiff bindings.
This was the point at which things became infinitely more difficult, as although 
each of them had skied before, it had been a VERY long time ago.
Grabbing onto one another, they slowly and carefully made their way over to the 
chairlift, and actually managed to get onto it without incident.
Sighing with relief, they pulled down the safety bar, and settled in for the 5 
minute ride to the top.
Upon reaching the end of the line, and navigating their way to safety, Maggie 
stopped to look around for the first time at their surroundings.
The first thing she noticed was that the temperature had dropped dramatically in 
comparison to the other end of the lift, and the entire area was completely 
covered in a healthy layer of fluffy, white powder, as opposed to the car park, 
which had boasted a modest layer of grey slush only a few centimetres thick.
Maggie took all of this in, and the crisp alpine atmosphere brought back 
memories of childhood trips with her family to this part of the world. 
Remembering those trips also made her remember that as a child, she had been 
quite a skier, and she instantly became visibly more confident.
Pulling away from PJ, she used her stocks to slide herself over to the top of a 
nearby beginners run, which had a sign at the top, stating that the run's name 
was "Burnt Hut".
Maggie turned to PJ and through the biting wind, yelled, "Coming?!" before 
pushing herself off down the run.
PJ, left standing on the flat at the top, was given no choice but to struggle 
down after her.
15 minutes and 9 spills later, PJ pulled up at the bottom of the trail to find 
Maggie grinning at him.
"What kept you?" she teased. She'd managed to make the run in only 5 minutes, 
falling just once.
ÒOh, uh, I was just taking my time, you know, enjoying the view..." He trailed 
off, and his companion's smile became even wider.
"You know, that's funny, because from here, I could see someone who looked 
suspiciously like you, fall three times in the last 50 metres."
PJ opened his mouth to defend himself, but Maggie was done torturing him, and 
before he could say a word, she'd grabbed him by the elbow and was propelling 
him towards the chair lift.
When they once again found themselves standing at the top of Burnt Hut, Maggie 
nearly fell over herself when PJ challenged her to a race.
She looked at him skeptically, "Are you sure?" she asked uncertainly.
"Thanks for the confidence in my skills, Mags," he teased her, "I have skied 
before, you know. ItÕs just been a while."
Maggie nodded dubiously, unsure about the whole thing, then suddenly shouted, 
"Go!" and pushed herself over the steep incline which began the trail.
"Hey!" PJ yelled, "Cheater!" and chased after her.
To Maggie's surprise, sometime on the chairlift after that disastrous first run, 
the skier in PJ seemed to have found his way to the surface somehow, and he 
caught her easily.
Not willing to be beaten by her friend, Maggie put on another burst of speed, 
and pulled away from him again, blonde hair streaming out behind her.
The lead was swapped many times after that. PJ would close the gap between them, 
and pull ahead, but as soon as he did, Maggie would inch her way back and take 
the lead again.
Until about 50 metres from the end of their race, that is. At that stage, 
without any warning, Maggie stopped weaving her way through the snow, and aimed 
herself directly down the mountain.
She sped away, and PJ gave up, knowing there was no way he'd ever be able to 
catch her.
But just as she was about 15 metres away from their agreed finishing point, 
Maggie's left ski hit a large bump in the snow, causing her to lose her balance. 

The unexpected loss of control at such a high speed sent her sailing through the 
air, and crashing to the ground, right in the middle of the slushy area 
surrounding the chairlift.
Taking her eyes off her dislocated skis, which were lying a couple of metres 
ahead of her, she looked up just in time to see PJ sail past her, to finish in 
first place.
Laughing, he retrieved her lost skis, and bent over to haul her out of the 
churned up snow.
"Spectacular fall, Mags!" he told her.
She glared at him. "It's alright for you," then her face cleared, and she 
grinned up at him. "Well, even if I didn't win the race, I definitely get 'best 
fall of the day'!" 
Laughing PJ agreed, "But letÕs go back up to the top so we can get some lunch 
and dry you off!"
Putting puffy arms around each other, they skied to the chairlift together.
After a quick lunch and a short trip to the bathrooms, to dry off sodden gloves, 
Maggie and PJ were ready to hit the slopes again. 
This time they abandoned the security of the familiar Burnt Hut, instead 
crossing the mountain to another longer, busier beginners run, named Burke 
Street.
This trail was steeper, straighter and longer. They'd come onto it halfway down, 
but by the time they reached the very bottom, theyÕd need to take 2 separate 
lifts to reach the top again.
The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, and was spent in friendly 
companionship. Occasionally the two of them would let go completely, flying to 
the bottom amidst a cloud of powder snow, and other times they would lazily 
weave their way among the other skiers, taking their time to reach the end.
By the time 5 pm rolled around, both Maggie and PJ were completely exhausted, 
dragging themselves back to the mountain-carpark chairlift.
An hour later, PJ pushed the door to their room open and stepped aside, allowing 
Maggie to precede him into it, and promptly collapse on the soft double bed.
"Aaahhh," she groaned. "Feels wonderful."
PJ shut the door and tossed the car keys onto the coffee table. "You want the 
shower first?" he offered.
"No, I can't move. You take it first." 
PJ nodded and disappeared into the small bathroom.
When he emerged again a short while later, Maggie was fast asleep on the bed, 
exactly where she'd been when he'd left.
Smiling, he quietly approached her and crouched down beside the bed. Studying 
her as she slept, he was amazed at how young and innocent she looked. 
Tentatively, he reached out a hand to brush a stray lock of hair away from her 
left eye, but quickly snatched the hand back. There was no way he could risk 
touching her right now. Not when he still had to spend the entire night here 
with her.
Not wanting to risk waking her by moving her, he simply threw a blanket over 
her, and hurriedly left for the dining room, hoping that the temporary distance 
he was placing between them would give himself a chance to collect his thoughts 
and make sure his self-control was firmly in place.
He polished off the delicious roast they were serving that night, then just sat 
for a while, lost in his thoughts.
He thought back over the years he had known Maggie - that initial meeting on the 
highway, that incredible first kiss, and finally that night in the mine when 
everything had been changed - and sighed.
Every memory strengthened his conviction that they were meant to be together. 
"But it isn't what she wants." he murmured sadly.
Deciding that it was safe for the moment to go back to their room, PJ loaded a 
second plate up with food and headed back.
Opening the door, PJ realised that Maggie had woken during his absence. 
Her hair wet from the shower, she was now sat cross legged on the bed, watching 
the television perched high up on the closet.
She was wrapped up in the blanket he'd placed over her earlier, and was drinking 
small containers of UHT milk, the kind they give you on aeroplanes.
"Hey!" she looked away from the tv to grin at him. He noticed she looked a hell 
of a lot better for her short nap.
"Check out what they give us!" she exclaimed, holding out the tiny container for 
him to see.
Nodding, he raised the plate. "I brought you dinner."
He could almost see her mouth watering as she eyed the plate. "Oohh, I'm 
starving!!" she groaned as she took the plate off him.
Five minutes later, the meal had been completely destroyed, and they were 
settling in to get the next day's weather and snow report.
"And in the Victorian Alpine Regions," the newscaster was saying, "you should be 
expecting heavy snowfall overnight, and a low pressure system will be arriving, 
bringing with it, unusually low temperatures."
"Alright!" yelled Maggie, "More snow!"
PJ agreed, but his reply was cut short by a large yawn. "Anyway, I think I'll 
turn in now," he said. ÒWe've still got a whole day's skiing tomorrow, and I 
don't suppose you'd want to drive back to Melbourne tomorrow night, would you?" 
he asked hopefully, then ducked as a well aimed pillow flew in his direction.
"Watch it!" she told him, then stood up and disappeared into the bathroom to 
brush her teeth and change.
A few minutes later she emerged wearing a pair of large, navy blue pyjamas, and 
PJ took his turn in the bathroom.
By the time he was done and padded out of the bathroom, dressed in a pair of 
tracksuit pants and a t-shirt, Maggie had already switched off the heater, and 
the temperature had dropped noticeably.
Climbing into the lower bunk beside the double bed, PJ quietly wished Maggie 
sweet dreams. He waited for her reply, then laid down. He was fast asleep as 
soon as his head hit the pillow.
Maggie on the other hand wasn't so fortunate. Her snooze earlier had fooled her 
body into believing it had already slept, and she spent an uncomfortable hour 
tossing and turning.
The time spent wide awake provided an excellent chance to think in peace, which 
was something she hadn't had a chance to do chance to do since they'd arrived. 
Their close proximity in a situation away from work had thrown her emotions into 
turmoil, and she was quickly becoming sick of pretending that she wanted only to 
be friends.
Acting normal was also proving to be exhausting work, and she wasn't sure 
exactly how much longer she could keep it up.
Sighing, she hoped to herself that she'd be refreshed after a full night's sleep 
and be able to keep up the charade all day tomorrow. Once back in the safety of 
Mt Thomas, she was hoping that things would return to normal.
Turning once more, she finally fell asleep.
The next morning, the alarm clock went off at precisely 6am, dragging two groggy 
police officers from their warm cocoons.
PJ smiled at Maggie as they prepared for the day, and she gave him a strained 
smile in return. After finally dropping off to sleep last night, her dreams had 
been haunted by PJ, and many of them would have earned at least an R rating in a 
movie. She vaguely remembered PJ wishing her sweet dreams last night, just 
before he fell asleep. She laughed wryly to herself, "If only he knew..."
By 6.30 they were ready to head over for breakfast, and opened the front door. 
During the night, there had obviously been a major snowfall overnight, just as 
the weatherman had predicted.
The path directly outside their front door was covered in a perfect few 
centimetres of pure white snow, and the grassy area beyond the path, even more 
so.
Entering the dining room, they were met by a young waitress.
"I wouldn't even bother trying for the slopes until later today," she informed 
them conversationally.
"Why's that?" PJ wanted to know.
"Oh, you haven't heard yet." she replied, "They got pretty close to a metre of 
snow up on the mountain last night, and nearly half a metre a few minutes from 
here. All the roads leading up to the mountain are completely blocked. They've 
got the ploughs out clearing them, but there's a lot of snow and it'll be a few 
hours before they're done."
PJ nodded and thanked the girl, before he and Maggie made their way to a table.
"Well," he said, sitting down. "I guess thatÕs the end of our skiing plans this 
morning."
"Yeah. So what're we gonna do?" Maggie wondered.
PJ picked up a card lying on the table. "Well, it says here that they're gonna 
show videos in our rooms, so I guess we could just sit around and watch those."
Maggie didn't look to impressed by the idea, but she had nothing better to 
contribute, so she just answered, "Whatever." then stood to get herself some 
breakfast. 
Another hour saw them heading into large dome covering the pool. During 
breakfast, Maggie had occupied herself with coming up with alternative 
activities for the two of them, not prepared to waste the day sitting watching 
movies. Finally, it had occurred to her that her exhaustion the night before had 
prevented her from taking a dip as she'd planned.
PJ was noticeably less enthusiastic about the change in plans, but Maggie 
eventually wore him down, claiming that if he didn't come with her, she'd look 
like a complete loner, and he didn't want that, right?
Fortunately for the pair, most of the other guests seemed to have decided that 
videos in their rooms sounded like a good idea, and Maggie and PJ had the entire 
pool to themselves.
Maggie lowered herself into the water and closed her eyes, savouring the warmth. 
PJ watched her for a moment, smiling, before becoming serious and sliding into 
the water beside her.
"Maggie, I think we need to talk." he told her.
Her eyes opened a fraction, and she looked suspiciously at him. "PJ, do we 
really have to do this now?" she pleaded. "We're on holiday."
"Exactly." PJ replied. "That's why I want to talk about this now. If we leave it 
until we go home, something will come up at work - as it always does - and we'll 
never get around to discussing it."
Maggie let out a sigh and opened her eyes fully. "OK, I know you're right. Let's 
talk. She turned around to face him, and for the first time it really hit her 
how close together they were seated.
Their eyes locked, and she attempted to continue, but eventually she gave up, 
even now trying to convince herself that her sudden inability to speak was 
caused by her over tiredness.
All of a sudden, PJ realised that he had to do something. He'd been trying to 
stay away from her all weekend, but suddenly he felt that if he didn't touch her 
soon, he'd go insane. He leaned forward and kissed her softly.
Pulling away, Maggie turned her face to whisper in his ear, "Not here. Let's go 
back to the room."
"Are you sure?" he queried. They both knew where the morning was heading.
"Absolutely." she replied, then took PJ by the hand and led him from the pool 
enclosure.
Once back in the privacy of their own room, the towels were thrown into a 
corner. PJ moved to relieve Maggie of her bathing suit, but before doing so, 
halted. Waiting.
Surprised, Maggie raised her head and saw the silent question in his eyes. She 
smiled. Such a gentleman. She could tell he was almost overcome by trying to 
hold onto what was left of his tattered self control, but he wouldn't lay a hand 
on her unless he was invited. Still smiling, she have him her acquiescence by 
snaking one hand around his neck and pulling his face to hers...
Afterwards as they lay in each others arms, the phone rang. PJ got up to answer 
it, as Maggie listened sleepily. 
A minute later he hung up the phone. "That was the reception. Apparently the 
ploughs are done and all the roads up to the mountain are clear."
Maggie nodded. "OK."
PJ came over to sit beside her on the bed. "So, what do you want to do? We could 
head up the mountain again, or," he grinned charmingly at her, "we could just 
stay here for the rest of the day."
Maggie laughed. "No prizes for guessing which option you'd pick." she teased 
him, "But we came here to ski, so I think we...we should...do that..." She 
barely got the sentence out before her eyes slid shut.
PJ smiled gently and murmured, "I guess that answers that." Climbing into the 
bed beside her, he pulled her into his arms, and fell asleep as well.
It was several hours later when they woke. PJ awoke first and just lay watching 
Maggie sleep, until she stirred as well a few minutes later. 
For a second she looked confused, but then she had evidently remembered where 
she was, as her face softened into a smile. 
"Hey there." PJ whispered.
"Hey yourself." she replied.
He planted a kiss on her forehead. "I could definitely get used to you being the 
first thing I see when I wake up." he said hopefully.
Maggie caught the edge in his voice, and correctly interpreted it to mean that 
he was worried about what would happen when they went home. "Me too."
PJ's face relaxed and he pulled her tighter to him. "Thank you."
"No problem," she whispered. "What time is it anyway?"
Looking at the clock on the nearby table, PJ replied, "It's nearly 5pm."
Maggie looked surprised, and a little sad. "I guess that means we're gonna have 
to leave soon."
PJ's expression mirrored hers. "Yeah, I guess we should get moving."
A short while later, both were freshly showered, changed and packed. Lugging 
their gear over to ski hire, they checked it in, and struggled over to 
reception, on paths which were just beginning to become icy in the fading light. 
Handing over their key, they signed the bill, and trudged out to the car park. A 
light snow was just beginning to fall, and they stopped for a moment beside the 
car. 
Sighing, they eventually climbed into the car and PJ started the engine for the 
long drive home. "So, was it worth it?" he wanted to know.
Maggie took his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder briefly. "Definitely." 
PJ smiled, and putting one arm around her, pulled the car onto the highway 
running by the motel.
By the time PJ dropped her off at her house, it was nearly 10pm. Sighing again, 
she picked up her belongings and let herself inside. They'd decided on the way 
home that for tonight at least, it would be best if they went to their own homes 
for the night.
Throwing her bags in the hall, she heard the tv on in the living room. Sticking 
her head through the door, she greeted Dash, who was parked on the sofa. Seeing 
her roommate, Dash jumped up and dragged her fully into the room. 
"So how was it?! I'll be you had a fantastic time! So did you ski the whole 
time?" she exclaimed.
Maggie lowered her head to conceal the light blush creeping across her cheeks. 
"Well, we skied all yesterday, but we didn't ski today, because of the heavy 
snowfall last night. All the roads were blocked."
"Didn't they have the ploughs working?" Dash enquired.
"Yeah, but they didn't get finished until lunchtime, so we decided there was no 
point in going up for just the afternoon." 
Dash studied her silently. Maggie didn't know it but Dash could see the blush 
staining Maggie's features, and she suspected she knew the real reason why they 
hadn't ventured to the slopes that afternoon. She kept quiet though. They were 
good friends and Dash was confident that Maggie would tell her when she felt 
like it. Besides, Dash grinned, they were roommates and it wouldn't be long 
before she became aware of something going on between her two colleagues and 
friends.
"Well, Mags, you've had a busy day...You should probably get some sleep." Dash 
flashed her a cheeky grin and disappeared into her own room.
Maggie had caught the meaning behind the grin, and stared after her, wondering, 
not for the first time, how she managed to pick up on everything.
A short time later, Maggie climbed into bed, and soon dropped off to sleep. 
Tonight her dreams were once again haunted by PJ, but also by the prospect of 
their bright future together.
FINE