The Plantation - Di Morrissey [139]
‘I hope so. You remember how prickly your grandmother could be? Let’s hope that her sister isn’t the same. By the way, your mother missed you while you were away, so it’s been good she’s involved in this bypass thing.’
‘What’s happened with the bypass, Dad?’
‘The committee has hired a lawyer and he’s found out that there could have been an earlier bypass plan, but he doesn’t know why it was scrapped.’
‘That’s interesting, I suppose, but will it give us any ammunition to fight it here?’ asked Julie.
‘No idea, but you let your mother handle this, she’s really got her teeth into it.’
Caroline called them to the verandah where she had morning tea set out.
‘This looks lovely. Didn’t see any pumpkin scones in Malaysia,’ said Julie.
‘Did you like the food?’ asked her mother as she poured the tea. ‘Mother always had a fondness for spicy dishes. And she made a wonderful mango chutney.’
‘I loved it!’ said Julie, feeling happy as she thought of the meals with Christopher. ‘Do you remember any special dishes?’ she asked her mother.
‘I can’t say I do,’ she replied. ‘I was too little. Now, fill me in on your adventures. Was David Cooper helpful? How was it living in the jungle with the wild men of Borneo?’
‘Yes, he was helpful. So many people were. Especially a very nice RAAF pilot, a friend of the Elliotts. If it hadn’t been for Christopher getting me into Rose Mansion and meeting Carla we’d never have found out about Bette.’
‘A pilot?’ asked her father.
‘He’s working at Butterworth. Some liaison thing with the Malaysian Air Force,’ said Julie.
‘What happened to David?’ demanded Caroline. ‘I thought you’d see a lot of him there.’
‘He had to spend more time with the villagers, which I didn’t want to do. It was a bit uncomfortable in those longhouses,’ said Julie. ‘Actually, Mum, I found David a bit, well, overkeen, a bit pushy. He irritated me.’
Her father smiled at his wife. ‘Oh dear. You can forget about that one, dear.’
‘Dad, he was absolutely not my type. But, I have to say that the experiences I had in Sarawak were very interesting. I think he’s still very keen to help you with the bypass, Mum.’
‘We could still use him, so I hope you didn’t upset him too much,’ said Caroline.
‘Mum! It’s okay. I went off to do my own thing and he had his work. You can catch up with him when he gets back to Brisbane.’
‘So what’s your plan?’ asked Paul, to change the subject.
‘I thought we should write to Bette. Break our existence to her gently, let her take her own time, rather than ring her out of the blue,’ said Julie.
‘Very sensible,’ said her father. ‘Besides, you have to go back to work, you can’t go gallivanting all the way up to Cairns, just now, can you?’
‘I think we should make contact with Bette as soon as we can. She is getting on,’ said Caroline.
That evening with her parents, Julie went through the whole sequence of events from when she first arrived in Malaysia. She brought out her laptop with her downloaded photographs and showed pictures of Shane and Peter, Martine, the big house at Utopia and other parts of the plantation.
Caroline was thoughtful. ‘I can’t recall any of this. I have some vague memories, but none of this looks familiar.’
‘I’m not surprised. The plantation would’ve been very different in your day. But we should all go there,’ said Julie. ‘We could stay in Penang at Rose Mansion with Carla, see Marjorie, then go to Utopia. And I’d love to show you Langkawi Island. I’ve made so many new friends there …’
‘Yes, looking at your photos, I can see it all looks very beautiful, but I have to say that I would love to meet Bette first,’ said Caroline.
‘Yes, I agree, but really you should go to Malaysia, it’s part of our family, it’s your heritage,’ exclaimed Julie.
‘You seem pretty keen on the place,’ said Paul.
‘I feel I’ve just scratched the surface,’ said Julie. ‘I didn’t go to Malacca, which everyone tells me is really interesting and has beautifully restored historic architecture, or to the east coast and swim in the South China