July 19, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about Fannie Hooe. Although she is a legend in the Kewenaw, feel free to go where the prompt leads.
The bush is a harsh place. Isolation and loneliness go hand in hand. Jack Cater was a drover, his wife Jess died having their third child, and Jack was heart broken.
Her sister Marie came to help, and she too found the bush life oppressive. It was the long periods on her own with two children not her own. When Jack came home, he looked to her to give him comfort.
One day she left with the children. Jack couldn’t understand why and scoured the landscape thinking she’d fallen down a mineshaft. But there was no sign of her.
Written for: https://carrotranch.com/2018/07/19/july-19-flash-fiction-challenge/
Morpethroad 
What happened to the third child?
‘Jess died having their third child…….’
I took that as she died in childbirth and the child lived
Sorry Teresa for the confusion, you are right as it reads but I was assuming the child died along with the mother….I had in my head my great grandfather whose wife and first child suffered that sad ending. 99 words can get you into trouble…
Oh, Michael, you wrote the bush version of a Fannie Hooe! The isolation, loneliness and expectations could be something a woman would want to escape. And give the children a different life.
I think this is a very accurate description of how the bush can effect people. Jack loves it and Marie finds it lonely and isolating.
Thanks Robbie for many women it was a terrible ordeal
I love where the prompt took you! Well done. 😀
Thanks Colleen.