The Plantation - Di Morrissey [109]
Julie opened the little box. Inside was some tissue paper, which she carefully unwrapped, around a yellowed piece of paper. On it was a drawing of two young people, one a little boy, the other a young girl. They were sitting on some steps, eating bowls of rice with chopsticks. They both looked thin, their clothes were threadbare and they wore no shoes. And yet between the two was clearly a bond, almost an intimacy, as they watched each other eating. Written on top of the card were the words ‘Happy Birthday, Marjorie’.
‘Bette made me this birthday card. The drawing is of Philip and me. I don’t know how she got the paper. That sort of thing was impossible to get. In a way, it was a dangerous sort of present too, because the Japanese didn’t like the prisoners keeping any sort of record of camp life. People couldn’t have diaries or make drawings or any anything like that. After Bette gave me the card, it was sewn into a little pillow that I had, to keep it safe. The Japanese never found it, so here it is.’
Julie looked at the card. She looked at the drawing and although she realised that the children were thin, she also saw that they were both full of vitality.
‘It’s hard to believe that I’m holding something drawn by my great aunt and that the picture is of my uncle. It was all such a long time ago. Have you any idea why they ended up in the camp in Sarawak?’
‘No, I never heard the reason. Bette seemed so much older than me, even though she was only nine years older, so I didn’t talk to her as an intimate. Anyway, people didn’t often talk about their lives before the camp, it was usually too painful.’
‘I’m sorry to bring back bad memories,’ said Julie quickly.
‘That’s all right. It’s just a part of my life I’ve put behind me and rarely think about. But occasionally, when I think about those days as a POW, I try to think about the good things, and the good people. Those women were quite amazing, how they held us all together, how we helped each other, shared what little we had. Of course, there were occasions when someone had something they just didn’t want to share and it was often Bette who came to the rescue with some suggestion to solve matters.’
‘You were a young girl growing up in a POW camp, that must have been hard,’ said Julie.
‘It was,’ sighed Marjorie. ‘And your aunt helped me there too. She was very clever. Quick witted. It’s a shame we didn’t keep in touch after the war. But we were all anxious to get back to our lives, catch up on what we had missed. I kept in contact with Philip and he came to stay with my family in the UK when he was at school, but by the time I finally made it back to Malaysia to stay with Philip and Stephanie at their place on Langkawi, Bette was long gone. I enjoyed myself on Langkawi so much, that I kept coming back to Malaysia regularly and I eventually bought my own place in Penang after Philip and Stephanie were killed. I’ve always felt a bond with their boys and when I stay out here they take me under their wing.’
‘So other than Philip you’ve had no contact with anyone else from the camp?’
Marjorie paused. ‘I know it must seem strange to you, especially after we went through so much. But I was a teenager and I wanted to be reunited with my family and pick up my life back home and my mother felt the same way. We just wanted to start over.’
‘No, it doesn’t seem odd. My grandmother, Philip’s mother, did much the same thing. She never told my mother or me anything about this whole episode. The rift between my great aunt and my grandmother must have been very deep.’
Marjorie nodded. ‘Sad when sisters fall out. Everyone around them suffers too. I just hope Bette had a happy life.’
‘I wish I’d known her,’ said Julie sadly.
‘Yes, a very special person.’ Marjorie paused as if deciding something, then said, ‘Would you like to know more about life in the camp? What it was like for us all and how Bette had to fight so ferociously for Philip?’
‘I would like that, very much,’ said