Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [101]
Minnie had a daughter and a husband, Alf, an Aboriginal Asian. Alf was never sure which half was more dominant so he drifted between both worlds. He worked as a diver till a bad case of paralysis partially crippled him and forced him to stay ashore, where he worked in the bakery run by his Chinese relatives. He delivered bread by horse and cart early each morning and spent the rest of the day sitting in the shade with cousin Wally down at Kennedy’s camp on the knoll above Dampier Creek. Minnie’s daughter, Mollie, was cared for by relatives and occasionally spent time helping her mother at Olivia’s. Niah and Maya often visited when Olivia was at work and along with Rosminah and Hamish, it was a jolly group that gathered in the back garden of the Hennessy bungalow.
But increasingly Niah felt resentful of Tyndall’s close association with Olivia. He dismissed her complaints about time spent with Olivia pleading ‘business’ and ‘responsibility’. Niah felt insecure about her position in the household and about the fact that Tyndall was separating her more and more from Maya. He took the little girl everywhere with him and talked to her at length as if she were an adult. Yet he shared little with Niah. They weren’t a threesome anymore. Niah’s role as unofficial mistress of the household was diminished and she felt no more than Maya’s nursemaid and Tyndall’s bedmate.
The times Niah saw Olivia and Tyndall together at the shed, in the office, about the luggers, she instantly recognised the rapport and friendship between them. She also tuned into an undercurrent, a chemistry that bound them, and which neither recognised or seemed aware of. They could share things she could never share, the only hold she had on Tyndall was at night in his bed. And Maya, of course. For as long as she had Maya she had Tyndall.
Niah didn’t voice her complaints—she had few to share her feelings with—but it was obvious to Minnie what was fermenting inside the young woman.
For many weeks Niah held her peace, then one evening she left the bungalow while Tyndall and Maya were at Olivia’s. She had arranged to meet Minnie at sundown by the foreshore camp.
She knew Tyndall and Olivia would be sharing their evening sundowners so had slipped out before preparing dinner. The older woman cast a sympathetic glance at Niah. ‘You got troubles, eh?’
‘Yeah, Auntie. I bin feeling sick inside for a long time now.’ In the way of Aboriginal communities, Minnie had become ‘auntie’ of Niah soon after their Aboriginal links had been recognised. Minnie was from the same clan, but through marriage had become a town dweller. Niah tried to explain her dissatisfaction with life despite having a caring benefactor.
Minnie listened, particularly noting Niah’s concern about Tyndall’s obsession with the child. She began idly to draw in the sand with her finger the pattern of the pendant Niah wore.
‘Why you draw that one, Auntie?’
‘That one woman’s business sign, Niah. B’long our mob. Ceremony for girls is comin’ soon and you ’n’ Maya orta go, be in ceremony, eh?’
Niah smiled at Minnie, her eyes bright. ‘How will I get there?’
‘Wally is down at Kennedy camp. He take you when he go back. Long walk but.’
‘That will be good. When will he go?’
‘Dunno. When he ready. You pack few things.’
Niah walked in the twilight back to the bungalow feeling contented and purposeful.
She greeted Tyndall a short time later with a happy smile and took Maya to give her dinner, telling her how they were soon going walkabout and trying to explain what it meant in reply to the girl’s eager questions.
As the wet season came to an end Tyndall again raised the idea of looking for fresh pearl banks and giving the new lugger a run. He suggested Olivia come along with Hamish. At first, she hesitated, as the young boy had never been to sea. She told Tyndall she would discuss it with Hamish.
‘Captain Tyndall has asked us to go on a trip up the coast for a few days, how would you feel about that?’
‘On the boat? Staying on it all the time?’
‘Yes. You might get seasick. Or bored.’
‘No, no.