Four Fires (15 page)

We know the Templetons must be home because the garage door is open and the pumpkin-carriage Holden is parked inside. Sarah's beside me holding Colleen and she's that mortified she's got her head buried in Colleen's blanket. The door opens and it's Mr Templeton.

He doesn't say anything, just nods his head in the direction of the interior. You can see from his tight-lipped expression that he's not that thrilled at our appearance at his front door. He leads us into the lounge room, a big room, nearly as big as our cottage, with windows that look out over the lake. There's no Dora Templeton in sight.

Probably upstairs pissed.

Philip Templeton indicates the sofa and various armchairs, which look brand new almost and which are enough to accommodate us all and then some. He still hasn't said a word. When we're seated, he nods at Sarah. "Sarah, Mrs Maloney,' he says, the rest of us he ignores.

'You know why we're here,' Nancy says.

'Yes, I think so,' Philip Templeton replies.

'Where's your boy? He ought to be here,' Nancy's tone is not real polite.

'I'm afraid he's gone away, he's with his uncle and aunt in Manildra in New South Wales.'

'How very convenient,' Nancy says, then she kind of sneers, 'Your missus? She gone to Manilda too?'

'Manildra,' he corrects her. Then adds, 'I'd prefer to sort this mess out on my own. Dora is upstairs with a migraine.'

'Hmmph! That what they call it nowadays?' Nancy quips.

'I resent that, Mrs M'aloney,' Philip Templeton says, lifting his voice.

'righto, then. Now there's something for you to resent. I have a resentment as well, Mr Templeton. Sarah tells me she told your boy
Page 95

a week ago about her pregnancy and you haven't seen fit to get in touch with us.'

'Well, ah... we had to see what our legal position was.'

'Legal position?' Nancy looks genuinely confused. 'How about your moral position, Mr Templeton? Or don't that come into it? Let's not

beat about the bush, your boy knocked up our Sarah, what are you going to do about it? He going to marry her or what?'

Philip Templeton actually laughs, 'Whoa, steady on, not so fast, Mrs Maloney. It's not quite that easy.'

'And why is that?'

'Well, for instance, we may need to explore other avenues, don't you think?' .

'No, I don't, Mr Templeton! What other avenues have you got in mind?'

'Well, I'd rather not say, I mean with all your children here, it's not something I'd like to discuss in front of them.'

'We're a family, Mr Templeton, a poor one and, you may think, not a very important one, but nevertheless a very loving one. We're about Sarah. What are you saying, she shouldn't be here?'

'Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I don't think she should be here.'

'With us it's one in, all in, we've got nothing to hide from the world.

nor from each other. You already know my husband is a drunk and a trim.' Nancy now stabs a finger at him, 'So go on then, what other avenues?'

Nancy's got on her courtroom manner, like she'd done the time me and Bozo got heat up at school by Brent Middleton and his

she had a go at Brent's dad, Hamish, and Vera Saggy Tits Forbes.

'Well, adoption, for instance? We thought, that is Mrs

and I, we . . .'

'Don't go any further! You expect my daughter to be traipsing around town for the next seven months with swollen ankles and her belly sticking out for all to see and, then, give away her baby when it comes and, after, simply get on with her life like nothing happened? Is that what you're proposing?'

'Well, it is a solution. I'm sorry but the female is the one who'

Page 96

carries the baby, not much I can do about that, Mrs Maloney.'

'I

'

see, and what does the male who made it happen propose?

'What do you mean by that?'

'Well, it seems he's told my daughter often enough that he loves her,' Nancy says, then repeats, 'So, what does he propose?'

'lie's set his mind on going to Duntroon.'

'Duntroon? What's that?'

'It's a military college in Canberra, he is to become an officer cadet.'

'You mean the bloody little coward ran away, couldn't face up to his responsibilities, is that it?'

'No, that isn't it! It's been our plan for a long time. I'm not going to have him ruining his life because this has happened.'

'It's okay to ruin Sarah's life, is it?'

'I have no opinion on that. All I know is they don't allow married cadets at Duntroon.'

'As far as I know, there are no unmarried and pregnant students allowed in Medicine neither.'

'What-do you mean by that?'

'My daughter has applied for Medicine. She wants to be a doctor.'

'A doctor?' Philip Templeton seems genuinely puzzled, 'But she's a girl, you mean a nurse?'

'No, a doctor! I'll grant you she's a girl and a very pretty one too, glad you noticed. What's more she's very bright, which is not what I hear about your son.'

'I don't know where all this is leading, Mrs Maloney.'

'That should be perfectly obvious to you, Mr Templeton. If my daughter remains unmarried, her life is ruined. She can't take up her scholarship, she's permanently shamed as an unmarried mother even if she gives up the child for adoption. She says she loves your son and he has repeatedly told her that he loves her. And now she's carrying his
Page 97

child. Doesn't that mean anything to you?'

'Love my son? They're school children for God's sake! They're still wet behind the ears. What do they know about love, eh? Infatuation, yes, I can understand that. I'm told Murray is quite a catch. It's a high school romance, Mrs Maloney! Puppy love! Whether your girl says she loves him is neither here nor there. I'm not going to ruin my boy's life because she saw her opportunity to compromise him and grabbed it with both hands.'

Nancy's been pretty good so far, but she has her limits. 'I beg your pardon!' she shouts at Philip Templeton and starts to rise. 'Say that again, you arsehole!'

Oh shit, Nancy's going to slaughter him. He's a big bloke but his gut spills over his belt and hangs halfway to his knees, he's what Bozo would call 'gone soft', and Mike calls 'solar perplexus'. Put Nancy's great ham fist into that stomach and he'd take off out the picture window and across the lake at a thousand miles an hour like a balloon with the air escaping.

It is at this very moment that Dora Templeton walks into the room.

She takes two faltering steps, steadying herself on the banister of the stairs, and already you can see she's pissed. She's got a fag sticking out the corner of her mouth in a very unladylike manner, one side of her hair is flat, sort of like she's slept on it. Her skirt is unbuttoned and has slipped halfway down past her waist.

One time in the garbage we found this sort of stretched pink rubber thing and Nancy said it's called a step-in or a girdle and that women wear it around their bums and tummy to pretend they are not as fat as they are. It sort of squashes the fat bits in behind the rubber, like giant strips of Elastoplast wrapped round them. Well, she's wearing one of them things and it's sticking up out of where her skirt has slipped down but the fat's escaped over the top of it so she's got this spare bicycle tube of white flesh around her waist. Anyway, she looks pretty well rearranged, her lipstick is sort of smudged in one corner of her mouth and she's squinting, one eye closed because the cigarette smoke is getting into it.

'What's going on, Philip?' she calls out. 'Who are these people? You didn't tell me there were people coming.' Then her eyes widen, 'Oh, hello, Sarah!' And then she catches on about what's happening,

'Brought your little family, have you?'

'Hello, Mrs Templeton,' Sarah says, all meek and mild with her eyes turned downwards, not looking.

Nancy, who is halfway up on her way to punch Philip Templeton,
Page 98

falls back onto the lounge.

'Go back upstairs, Dora,' Mr Templeton orders.

'No,' Dora Templeton says firmly, 'No, I don't think so, Philip.' The cigarette is wagging up and down at the corner of her mouth, her eyes still squinting from the smoke. 'No, I don't want to. I "know what this is about. It's about Murray, isn't it? I told you we should have sent him to Geelong Grammar. Wouldn't have happened then, would it?'

'Dora, will you please go back upstairs!'

Dora Templeton folds her arms and looks at her husband. 'No,' she says, then after a moment she uncouples her arms and takes the ciggie from her mouth. She gives her husband this little half-smile. 'No, Philip, Murray is my son too, I have every right.'

'Dora, I'd rather do this my way. Now please!' You can see he's cranky as hell but doesn't want to show it.

He walks across to his wife and takes her by the elbow. But she pulls away, 'No!' she exclaims.

'Dora, I have to insist, my dear. You're not well.'

'I'm purrfect-ly well!' She staggers backwards and grabs a hold of the banister. Philip Templeton is quick for a big bloke and he grabs her by the back of the shoulders and tries to push her up the stairs. But she's not having it and puts her foot against the second stair so he can't budge her. He's embarrassed, she's making a fool of him, but he's still trying to keep his temper.

'Dora, I won't ask you again,' and gives her a shove. She loses her balance and goes down, clutching on to the third stair. She drops her cigarette and it hits the edge of the stairway and falls to the carpet below. 'Let go of me!' she screams. Her hair is hanging down over her eyes. He steps back, you can see he's pretty angry and he's gone red in the face and his jowls are shaking.

'I've got something to say and I'm going to say it!' she shouts up at him and then gets to her feet. She's swaying a bit and her eyes are trying to focus. She looks up at Sarah again, who has Colleen still asleep in her lap and raises her arm and points. 'Get rid of it! We don't want your Catholic bastard, you hear! Get an abortion, you little slut!'

'Dora!' Philip Templeton roars, 'Shut up!' He tries to grab her arm but she's too quick for him and pulls away.

'Well, that's what we decided, wasn't it? We'll pay to get rid of it!'

Page 99

Turning back to us, she shouts, 'We'll pay for the abortion! Thought you could trap us, did ya? Thought you'd marry my son, did ya? Well, you can't, see. We don't want your Catholic filth in our family!' Then she starts to laugh hysterically.

That's when Phil Templeton hits her. It's a slap, but it comes from a fair way back and lands across her mouth. Dora Templeton drops back to the carpet onto her knees, cupping both her hands across her mouth. 'Now shut up, will you? Shut up, woman!' Templeton yells out.

Dora Templeton's hands come away from her mouth and I see that there's a trickle of blood running out one corner. He's slapped her pretty hard but it don't shut her up, she starts up again, pointing at Sarah once more. 'You Catholic bitch, you thought he'd be a good catch, didn't yap Well, I'm his mother and he's mine, not yours! Go away, get out of my house!'

Philip Templeton pulls her to her feet and he's leading her up the stairs and, this time, she's not resisting him. 'I need a drink, a little drinky-poo!' she shouts, laughing. 'Where's my glass?'

Halfway up the stairs, Philip Templeton looks down at us. 'I don't want to see you here when I come back down. Come and see me in my office, we'll sort something out.'

'It's not that easy, Mr Templeton,' says Nancy, her voice now calm.

Like what we've just seen happen has taken away her nerves.

'If you're still here when I get back, I'll call the police,' Mr Templeton says, 'You're trespassing in my house.'

'Mr Templeton,' Mike says suddenly, 'you're trespassing into my sister's life.'

Templeton ignores Mike and then Nancy says, 'You go ahead, Philip Templeton, call the police. We'll be waiting down here for Sergeant Donovan to arrive.'

Templeton continues up the stairs, pushing his wife ahead of him.

We wait until we think they must be upstairs, maybe in the bedroom, then Bozo says, 'crikey, that Dora, she'd make a Maloney look respectable.'

He gets up and walks to where Mrs Templeton has dropped her cigarette at the foot of the stairs. There's smoke coming up out of the thick floral pile and he goes to stamp it out, but hesitates because he's barefoot. He walks over to this big vase with pink gladioli in it and takes the flowers out and pours water onto the burning cigarette and jams the flowers back in the vase.

Page 100

'You should've left it to burn, Bozo,' Mike says, 'Burn the bloody place down.'

Sarah, who is crying softly, pleads, 'Let's go, Mum. Please can we go home!'

Nancy turns to look at her, 'No, darling, we only get one go at this.

He'll have a lawyer and witnesses in his office. Now is the time to get at this bastard. We're going to wait and, with a bit of luck, he'll call Big Jack Donovan.'

'Mum, then everyone will know!' Sarah wails.

'Maybe. But at least one of them will know the truth and Jack's no fool.'

A short time later Philip Templeton comes down the stairs again.

Putting his wife to bed or whatever he's done has calmed him down, given him time to gather his wits. Tm sorry about that,' he apologises to Nancy. 'Dora's very highly strung.'

'Dora's very pissed!' Nancy says. She's not going to let the bastard have an inch. 'But that doesn't change what she said, Mr Templeton.

We're Catholics and what you've suggested we do is a mortal sin.

Besides, it's illegal. When is Big Jack Donovan coming? Perhaps you or your wife would like to repeat your offer to pay for an abortion for Sarah when he gets here, eh?'

Philip Templeton shakes his head. 'I didn't call him. You're right, Dora is drunk. Understandably, she's been under a strain. There's been no suggestion about an abor'

'Don't insult our intelligence, Mr Templeton!' Nancy interjects.

'Can't we sit down and discuss this like sane people?' Templeton asks. 'What's happened is terribly unfortunate, we'd be happy to pay for Sarah to go away and have the baby away from prying eyes.'