The Birthmark (8 page)

She watched her mother unpacking the old Landrover. Lorelei pulled out two folding chairs and wrenched each one open in turn. Stupid things, Lily thought. She remembered how her dad had sat in one once, how it stuck to his arse when he tried to get up. God they'd all laughed. Sometimes he was such a clown. Now he just looked pissed off with Lorelei. They'd already been arguing and it was only mid-morning.

‘Come and get this fire organised,' she screamed at him. She was hauling bricks out of the back of the Landrover.

Amos grunted at her. He had placed two eskies on the edge of the clearing and was emptying bags of ice into them.

A car's engine revved from the track beyond the clearing. Lily turned to see an old white sedan park in the grass underneath the beach almonds. The rusty doors opened and her uncle Eldon emerged from the passenger seat. He ran his hands through his spiky hair and called out to Amos.

‘Hey, birthday boy, you'd better get a beer into you before the party warms up.'

Lily felt sick when she saw Eldon. He was probably still drunk from the night before. He was always drunk and usually dragged Lily's older brother Rongo along with him. Rongo had just turned eighteen and thought it was cool to spend most of his time drinking, so he didn't mind. This time though, Eldon had hitched a ride with Joachim, their mutual drinking partner. Joachim, who was as fat as a wild boar, eased himself out of the driver's seat, then fumbled on the dashboard for a cigarette lighter.

‘Did you get the tomato sauce and the tongs?' Lorelei shouted. ‘That's what I told you to go back and get.' She waddled over towards the car, the hem of her
mu-mu
catching in the long grass.

Eldon lifted a slab of beer out of the back seat and balanced it expertly on one shoulder. He ignored his sister as he carried it past her, over to Amos and the eskies.

‘What kind of sauce is that?' she shouted, following him.

‘Don't worry,' he said waving at her dismissively, ‘we sent Rongo to get the sauce. Here, have a beer.'

Eldon ripped the edge off the carton and pulled out a can for her. She snatched it from him, ripped the ring-top off and threw it in the grass. After a long guzzle she wandered back to the Landrover and continued building the barbecue.

Lily looked down at the sausages. She hated these gatherings. Apart from Decima, there was never anyone to talk to. Why was she cursed with brothers and mostly male cousins? Every cousin on Amos's side of the family was a boy. It was better on her mum's side. Lorelei and Eldon had three sisters. One died young from hepatitis, but Eide, Decima's mum, and her sister Gertrude went on to have ten children between them. Auntie Gertrude lived in Tonga with her husband so Lily never saw them. But Auntie Eide had six children and number four was Decima. Numbers five and six were both girls and still at primary school, so they didn't hang around with Lily and Decima too much.

Decima was the only girl her age and, because Auntie Eide was sick, her family wouldn't be coming until later in the afternoon. By then everyone would be so pissed they wouldn't be able to talk without a fight erupting. Last time Rongo and one of her cousins were taken to hospital because they'd smashed beer bottles over each other. This time Lily wished someone would hit her uncle Eldon.

The sound of another vehicle disturbed her thoughts. Rongo lurched through the grass on Lorelei's scooter. A plastic bag containing the missing barbecue tongs hung from the handlebars. Behind Rongo another battered Landrover entered the clearing. It was crammed full of Amos's relatives from the other side of the island. A good time to escape, Lily thought. She walked quickly to the track that led to Leper Beach.

Trees spread their branches as far as the water's edge. Coral pinnacles stood at both ends of the bay. They were like rocky columns that formed the sides of a giant window in the sand, no more than fifteen metres wide. The leafy canopy above formed the rest of the window.

Lily sat on the shore, digging her toes into the sand. The beach was in shadow. Even though it would soon be midday the air was cool and she shivered. She looked out at the calm waters rippling over the reef and tried to relax.

It was so hard. Every time she saw her uncle Eldon she was sick with shame and disgust. She didn't want to be anywhere near him, she didn't want him even to look at her.

She remembered the night it had happened as if time didn't count. The pain was so real it consumed her with hatred each time she saw him. Eldon had woken her, whispered to her to be quiet and pinned her down. The stink of beer and cigarettes had clogged every part of her. She had tried to jerk to the side.

‘Don't move,' he'd snarled.

She'd struggled. ‘Get off me,' she'd gasped, but that's all she'd said. He whacked her, just like Lorelei always did, where her lip was already split and tender. The scab burst, opening like a mango turned inside out. She'd felt the blood in her mouth and tasted it.

His hand pushed in between her legs and she'd wriggled to one side in a desperate attempt to get away, but there was only the wall. There was no escape.

Instinctively she had gone outside her body as she'd lain there—to float somewhere on the edge of the reef. There was an old wooden boat anchored a few metres out from the reef. She'd looked into the depths, the big blue-black emptiness that heaved and swelled, and felt herself sinking into the gloom. But the sensation of drowning had overcome her and she'd gasped for air as Eldon rolled off her.

Now here at Leper Beach tears hung in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks, but she brushed them away. There was no one who could help her. She dared not tell even Decima. The shame would be too much. Be brave, she told herself. You mustn't cry. You must never cry, even when you fall down and you bleed, you mustn't cry.

Blood, why was she thinking of blood? It had been in her dreams again last night: her drowning, sinking in the blood-soaked sea. There had been wailing too and a whisper of it remained when she opened her eyes. Someone had been screaming with pain, crying out for help and there was nothing she could do because she was sinking into the depths and her purple hand burnt. It prickled unbearably when she woke.

Lily shuddered at the memory. Somehow she knew the vision in her mind belonged here, at Leper Beach. It was a mystery how such a nightmare originated from this tranquil place. She felt the beach was special and always came here whenever there were family barbecues at the clearing nearby. She tried to imagine who the lepers were and what happened to them.

The slapping of thongs along the path jolted her back to the present.

‘What you doing down here girl? You've got work to do,' Lorelei said.

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm coming.'

She wished she could just disappear. The stupid barbecue was all a farce anyway. Dad didn't want a party. He'd rather be in the arms of his Gilbertese girlfriend or getting pissed somewhere miles away from Lorelei.

‘Your cousins are here now. They're asking where you are.'

‘I just wanted to see the beach, I like it here.'

Lorelei paused in the shadows. ‘Some of our relatives lived here once, long ago.'

The idea took a while to sink in. Lily turned to look up at her mother. ‘You never told me that—do you mean they were lepers?' Lily said.

‘Yeah, an old great granny, she was a leper, and her husband. No one alive knows anything about her anymore. She stayed here at the leper hospital with a granddaughter, one of my aunts. They all died during the war. Someone once told me that my auntie drowned. I'm not sure if it's true or not.'

‘What were their names?'

‘She was Edouwe. I've forgotten the old woman's name.'

‘How come you've never told me before?'

‘Didn't think you were interested.'

There was a heavy silence while Lily gauged her mother's mood. ‘Ma, sometimes I think I hear voices in my dreams, of wailing women. You don't think it's her do you? Edouwe, I mean.'

‘Shit, girl, where do you get these stupid ideas? You've been spending too much time with that thief Hector and his crazy
ibu
. You stay away from them, girl. That old man Riki is strange. He doesn't talk to anyone, turns and walks away when people go near. He's rude, he's no good. You keep away.'

‘But Hector says…' ‘No! Hector, too, my girl. He's a thief. You keep away. Stay at home where you're safe.'

Lily rolled her eyes. Yeah, at home with you knocking me round all the time? Stupid, fat witch, always telling me what to do. Stuff her—Hector was harmless.

‘Come on, Lil, I want you to get the rice out and cook the breadfruit.'

Lily wanted to say, ‘Why don't you do it yourself, you lazy bitch', but she saw the can of beer in Lorelei's hand and she didn't want to tempt fate. She stood up, brushed sand from her shorts and led the way back up the path to the clearing.

Joachim and Rongo were at the barbecue, turning sausages and chicken wings and waving the smoke away from their eyes.

Lily walked to the back of the Landrover and pulled out a big basin of breadfruit. She covered each fruit in foil then carried the basin over to the barbecue ready for

Rongo to cook the breadfruit in the ashes.

The next chore was the rice. It was one of the first things packed in the Landrover and she had to stretch out along the length of the vehicle to pull it towards her. She sensed a person behind her. She froze.

‘Want some help?'

It was Eldon.

Her body was strung like a fishing line about to break. She leapt back to stand up straight and felt his body behind her, pushing up against her buttocks. He wrapped one of his chunky arms around her waist and pressed her against his groin.

‘
Ngaitirre!
' she snapped, elbowing him in the chest and breaking free of his hold. As she spun around she yanked at the Landrover door to slam it against him, but he saw it coming and braced himself.

‘What's the matter? I just asked if you wanted some help,' he whined, his brow wrinkling in earnest. He held his hands awkwardly across his fat belly as if he didn't know what to do with them, his stubby fingers patting and tapping nervously. Looks just like a dog that's been kicked, she thought.

‘Get the rice out,' she snarled, backing away towards the barbecue. She could feel herself shaking and her breath was coming too fast. She knew she'd have to calm down, but she was furious. Safe, hey Lorelei? She snorted out her rage as she neared the barbecue. Stuff them! Stuff them both. One day, she swore to herself, one day she'd kill the bastard.

seven

Yamek District
30 December 1942

Tepu left the camp straight after he'd eaten, when night was already creeping into the sky. He made his way through the forest alongside Baringa Bay. To his left was the Ring Road and the beach. He dared not walk on the track for fear of patrols. Out on the beach he'd also be easily spotted from the pillboxes that lined the coast every mile or so.

Inside his trouser pocket the stone felt warm against his thigh. He trusted it to guide his feet, make his footsteps unheard, make his progress swift. Whenever he carried the stone his senses strengthened. He could hear not only the surf crashing on the reef but also the whisper of the retreating waves speeding back to the sea. Underfoot in the forest he felt the squelch of humus between his toes and knew by its consistency which part of the forest he was in. He saw clearly the forms and shapes of trees, fallen logs and rocky outcrops. All would have been merely vague shadows to him before. He was thankful for the stone's powers.

Tonight was a self-imposed test. Could he make it to the leper colony and back without being caught? It was a half hour walk along the track during daylight. He hoped to make it there and back again through the forest in less than two hours.

As he crept through the jungle he was alert to any sign of a Japanese patrol. High above him in the walls of the escarpment to his right was the Baringa Bay lookout, a bunker that many of the officers used. The track that led to the bunker was somewhere nearby in the forest. Voices rang out from the cliff top, muffled by the thick vegetation. Tepu was sure it was Japanese officers relaxing after a day's supervision in the sun.

He edged his way forward silently as he neared the section of jungle where the path to the bunker began. The forest was thinner here but there were lots of coral pinnacles to hide behind. Tepu knew, however, that they were hiding places for the enemy too.

A noise ahead made Tepu freeze. Someone cleared his throat and spat.

Should he go on? He couldn't just slink away without trying to reach the leper colony. Tepu took a deep breath and rested his hand against the stone in his pocket. It was still warm. The heat calmed him, helped him to think clearly.

He peered into the darkness. The silhouette of a sentry leant against a pinnacle, but Tepu knew there would be others stationed nearby. They never stood alone.