The Birthmark (16 page)

Time dawdled and still Lily hadn't returned. The sound of a car pulling up out the front jolted Lorelei back to the present. A horn tooted.

‘Lorelei! You there?' came Daphne's voice.

Lorelei waddled over to the kitchen door and made her way outside. A rusty sedan idled under the fig tree. The driver was Eide's sister-in-law, Ruby, and in the back sat Lily and the white girl.

Daphne called to her from the passenger seat, ‘You coming with us? Eide's real sick. She's flying out tomorrow. We're going to the hospital to see her now.' She gestured to the back seat, ‘We've got Lil with us.'

All her fury drained at the sight of them. There was no way she was going to tell her daughter off now, not with her sister so sick and hospital visits on everyone's mind. Lily had fooled her again. Lorelei snorted and wiped at her face.

sixteen

Yamek District
11 March 1943

A Tevuan Elder visited the camp one evening just as the air cooled and the sun was low in the sky.

‘The Tevuan Chief has given instructions,' he said, ‘all girls of marriageable age in Tevua must get married. It's his plan, to make sure girls are protected, that they each have a man providing for them.'

‘How will they marry when we must keep to the curfew and there is so little food?' one of the camp residents asked.

‘There will be no feast. If couples are willing, then the boy will go and stay with her at her home. The union will be recognised. Every girl who has reached womanhood is encouraged to find a husband.'

What about Edouwe? thought Tepu. She must have been his age or older. She would be forced to marry. If only she would marry him, Tepu, and not some other boy. The idea of her with someone else made his stomach knot. No,
he
would ask Edouwe. But how would he find time alone with her? Even before the war, custom demanded a chaperone. He needed to gauge her feelings. If she refused his offer he would surely die inside. But if he didn't move quickly, he would probably miss out.

Tevua International Airport
Mawendo District
Thursday 1 July 2004

‘What time's the flight?' Amos asked Lily.

They sat together in the parked Landrover waiting for Decima and her family to arrive. They'd left Lorelei sleeping at home. She'd been up all night at the hospital with her sister, Eide, so that the rest of the family could get some sleep before the flight out.

Amos sat behind the steering wheel with a can of beer lodged between his fat thighs and a cloud of cigarette smoke wafting about his face.

‘I think it leaves at one o'clock,' Lily said. She wished it wasn't going at all. Lily hated the airport. It was one of the hottest places on the island because the tarmac reflected the morning glare back into the atmosphere. By midday the heat stole your every breath and tears of sweat rolled down your face. But worse than that were the goodbyes. A lot of people never came back, especially teachers and sick relatives.

She wished her mother would fly away forever. She wished it were Lorelei, half dead on the aeroplane, flying to Melbourne. The stupid bitch thought she loved Hector. Dumb shit Hector, as if she would run off into the forest and screw him! As if she would screw anyone. Except maybe one day. One day she might. Her thoughts drifted to Jonah.

Jonah, Jonah, Jonah—would he be there today? She couldn't think straight. Too much was going through her mind: Jonah's invitation, her mother's threats, Decima going away, Eldon always hanging around the house, and the ghost. Don't leave me, Decima, she thought. How can I be safe without you? She shifted in the seat, trying to get comfortable, but the heat and anxiety made her feel sick.

‘It's too hot in here,' she said, opening the door of the Landrover with a creak. ‘I'm going over to the departure lounge.'

Amos snorted and opened his door as well. ‘I'll be over at The Jade Horse,' he said pointing to the nearest restaurant. ‘Come and get me when you're ready to go home.'

Lily dropped from the Landrover and scuffed over to the shade outside the lounge area. She slid her purple hand into the small of her back and leant against the wall. The red bricks were cool against her arms.

Within minutes a parade of passengers walked past. Chinese men with enormous matching suitcases rushed through the doors. An old European man in a suit hobbled along, raking his fingers through his thin yellowed hair. His sharp nose looked lumpy and raw from the sun. Some barefooted Gilbertese women padded past, wearing smocking blouses and colourful
lava lavas
. Strands of black hair, which refused to be pulled back neatly, framed their chiselled features. A Chinese woman and her baby followed. No arse—why did some women have no arse? Eventually a green sedan pulled into the front carpark. As Decima's family tumbled out, Lily wandered over to help. She picked up the nearest striped canvas bag and lugged it towards the airport doors while Decima babbled away in her ear.

‘I can't wait to go. The last time I went to Australia I was ten. I bet it's different now.'

‘I don't want you to go,' said Lily.

‘I know, but don't worry, I'll bring you back a present. Something special, something blue. You still like blue, don't you?'

‘Or some magazines,' Lily said, thinking of her special blue box. There were always pictures of hands in magazines: hands with rings, hands holding drinks, hands of celebrities, beautiful hands. Lily smiled and nudged her friend.

Decima's younger sisters brushed past them, racing for the air-conditioned haven of the check-in area. They were both dressed in brand new clothes and looked so clean their skin almost shone.

‘Where's your mum?' Lily asked Decima.

‘They're bringing her from the hospital by ambulance.' ‘Is she any better?'

Decima looked at her impassively. ‘I think, I hope…' ‘She'll be fine. You'll be with her.' Lily's voice sounded flat and she wished she hadn't asked. She sighed and squeezed Decima's hand.

Decima tried to smile but Lily sensed she would cry instead. She let her walk off towards the check-in counter.

Later, as they sat together waiting for the boarding call, private fears overwhelmed them both. Lily had no idea how to comfort her friend; she had no words to say but empty ones. They hugged their goodbyes at the departure doors gave each other a feeble high-five. They both knew they mustn't cry.

After the plane faded into the sky, Lily walked up the steps onto the balcony at The Jade Horse. It was the best Chinese restaurant on the island because it had air conditioning, toilets, décor, music and, best of all from Amos's point of view, beer. The balcony was a shady oasis that filtered out the harsh rays from the runway. Lily hesitated while her eyes adjusted to the shadows. Sweat trickled down her neck and the back of her knees.

Amos was drinking with a couple of friends. Some plastic meal containers and a big plate of half-eaten rice littered the table in front of them. As Lily came closer she saw a fly crawling on the remnants of the mound of rice. Amos brushed it away. They still hadn't noticed her. Dumb drunk bastards.

‘
Neko
,' Amos called to the young Gilbertese waitress. A thin girl with a toothy smile approached warily and stayed just out of arm's reach from the men. She held a pencil and pad as her defence: to stab customers and shield herself from their advances.

‘More beer,' Amos said, lunging to grope her hips. She saw the move coming and expertly sidestepped.

Unbalanced, Amos teetered on the edge of the seat and flung out his arms to steady himself. One arm landed in the leftover rice. His friends howled with laughter. The waitress rolled her eyes in disgust.

Lily shook her head and approached.

‘The plane's gone, Dad. Can we go home?'

He looked up at her with surprise and made an effort to appear sober. ‘Ah, Lily, my girl,' he said in a serious tone, picking rice from his forearm with his stubby fingers. ‘Not yet, not yet. You see I've just met my old friends here and we're drinking together.'

‘Home, don't go home. Come and join us,' one of the friends said with a sleazy glint in his eye.

Lily stood self-consciously in the shadows. The stupid arseholes were like pigs wallowing in mud. She didn't want to go near their party. She kept the same distance the waitress did and choked back her distaste. Still, his drunkenness would suit her plan perfectly. Now she could simply walk to the end of the runway and meet Jonah. She hoped she wouldn't be too early or too late.

‘Don't worry, Dad, I'll get a ride home later,' she said. She walked out into the glare of the airport carpark once again, away from their drunken guffawing.

seventeen

Yamek District
26 March 1943

Tepu and Tarema woke to the hum of US bombers and the thudding of blasts in the south of the island. Again they were targeting the runway. The brothers scrambled round the edge of the camp to see what was happening. The black sky filled with streaming coloured lights. With each blast an orange glow expanded on the horizon and Tepu imagined another Jap plane exploding into flames. Flashes of red trailed upwards as the Japanese guns answered and the battle continued into the night.

‘The Americans must win. The bombs will blow the Japs off our island!' exclaimed Tarema.

‘We should go back and stay with mother in case the planes drop bombs close by,' said Tepu. He wished this was the night when the Japs were all killed and there would be no more digging, no more bowing and no more hunger.

But the next day the marines came once more and escorted Tepu and the other men back to work.

Pago Volleyball Court
Pago District
Thursday 1 July 2004

She's here, Hector observed. My girl, Lily. Still hanging off that jerk Jonah. Why did the girls like him? There must be something about football players. If you're strong enough to play football, then you get the girls. If you're a skinny little runt with a busted face, no one wants to know you.

Football sucked. It was a stupid game. Besides, it was too hot to run around an oval of crushed coral when the sun grilled the island. Those guys wanted to turn black. They probably thought if they were black their dicks would get bigger, like those black guys on the X-rated movies.

Volleyball was a better game. For a start no one wanted to punch your head in, and you didn't have to stay out there for hours at a time. Plus there was always shell on the team, plenty of girls to look at.

Hector had scored a place on the Dragons team today. They were sitting out this game, having lost the previous one to the Sharks. So the Sharks played on and the biggest shark of all was pretty-boy Jonah, who was showing off on the court in front of Lily.

Hector sat by the net on the sideline trying to give Jonah the evil eye. He had to make sure the Sharks lost. That would be sweet justice. He hoped Jonah would go back to Pago in his so cool Bob Marley T-shirt and shades, and step in dog shit on the way. Arsehole.

Lily wandered over towards Hector and sat beside him. He felt the blood rush to his cheeks and he didn't know where to look.

‘How are the chickens?' she said.

‘Taste good. What's happening?' he asked.

‘I just saw Decima off. She's gone to Melbourne. I thought I'd come here to look for some fun,' she said.

‘What kind of fun?' he asked winking at her.

‘
Suh!
' she scolded him.

‘There's no fun in Tevua, you know that,' he said.

She smiled but looked away quickly. He saw her gaze fall on Jonah. Lily was out to catch her own shark, Mr pretty-boy from Pago.

‘Hope Sharks lose,' he said.

‘They won't,' she said, her eyes on Jonah. He was serving now, holding the ball in one hand, as if it were merely a cushion. He spat to one side as he prepared himself for the big bash.

Bounce, bounce, bounce—Jonah was almost ready now.