The Birthmark Page 14

  twenty-one

  Yamek District

  20 April 1943

  In the early morning of the second day Tarema stopped breathing.

  For the first time since the Japanese invaded, Tepu cried. No matter how he thought about it, he felt responsible for his brother’s death. He hadn’t kept watch over him, hadn’t protected him. His own inability to provide for his family had prompted Tarema to take more risks. Each week his little brother had managed to steal something from the Japanese stores. He stole to keep them alive, Tepu and their mother. But this time he’d been caught.

  The struggle against the Japanese seemed futile. Each day they broke the spirit of the islanders, broke it with starvation, violence, death. And now it seemed to Tepu the Japanese had won. He sat hunched by the lean-to, listening to his mother’s weeping.

  The chatter of a black sea tern startled him. He looked up. The ancestor bird was perched on one of the pinnacles that formed the wall of the lean-to. Its eyes shone with an eerie green light.

  ‘Use the stone,’ the bird rasped. Then it faded from view.

  Tepu clutched at the black stone in his pocket. Its warmth radiated up his arm. He would do as the bird said. He would use the stone to avenge his brother and he would plan carefully.

  Baringa Bay

  Friday 2 July 2004

  Lily trudged along the sand towards the channel. Was he there already? Would he be there at all? He probably wouldn’t even show up. Her fears churned over and over in her head until she began to feel sick.

  The tide was coming in, waves rushed up the wrinkled brown flats of the reef and hurtled themselves at the exposed coral pinnacles. They were like playful children ambushing their petrified grandfathers who gazed out to sea. Some pinnacles were sharp gritty demons, tall and imposing, while others were no more than broken boulders. They stood proudly in the salty stink of rotting sea slugs and the steady creep of green algae. Perhaps the pinnacles were the frozen forms of her ancestors, or drowned souls returning to their homeland. She often imagined that the wailing in her recurring nightmare was actually a pinnacle calling out to her—perhaps her long departed ancestor, Edouwe. What had happened to her? She’d probably never find out. Her mother and her aunties didn’t seem to know much to pass on.

  The channel was deserted. Lily walked up to the ramp and saw there were no cars at the parking bay either. She sat on some rocks in the shade of a twisted tree that leant over the beach. She, waited and wondered about Jonah and why he was different from other guys. She loved how confident he was and how he went off on his own and mixed with anyone. She loved the gap between his teeth and the muscles of his arms. She loved the way he touched her, held her, kissed her and she hoped she’d get to experience it again. She hoped yesterday wasn’t just a dream, or some kind of ghostly experience like she’d had in the night. She wanted it to be true and real and alive.

  ‘Are you going to swim?’ came Jonah’s voice, snapping her out of her trance. And there he was, walking down the ramp, so cool in an old blue T-shirt and a pair of black shorts. In all the time she’d been waiting, the tide had come in a long way and most of the reef was under water. Jonah walked straight into the swell. ‘Come on!’

  She followed him out into the sea, gasping as the water rose about her thighs and then her buttocks, until finally she sank into its depths with only her head bobbing above the waves. Lily reckoned Jonah had gone out to where he could just touch the bottom. She swam out to meet him, then floated on her back beside him, lifting her toes to break the surface.

  ‘I love floating in the waves like this, don’t you?’ she said.

  He grinned at her and she noticed he kept looking at her chest. She looked down and saw her T-shirt clinging to her breasts.

  ‘Bastard!’ she shouted and splashed water at his face. ‘Shut up!’ he laughed, lunging at her, but she pulled away from him.

  ‘People will see us here,’ Lily said.

  ‘You’re the one who wanted to meet here.’

  ‘Well let’s go into the shallows, so no one can see us from the road.’

  He swam over to the side of the channel, then crawled along the reef like a sand hopper in the incoming tide. Lily waded through the shallows wringing out her T-shirt as she went. She slid into the water in front of him where he lay on his belly, propped up on his elbows with his legs pointed out to sea.

  She smiled at the admiring pair of eyes in front of her. ‘I wondered if you would really come here today. I thought you were joking.’

  ‘I wanted to come. I wanted to see you.’

  ‘You don’t seem to want to see me at school,’ she said. ‘School!’ he snorted. ‘School’s different. We’re on holidays now, it’s time to play.’

  ‘We play at school too, don’t ever do much work. It’s just a big waste of time.’

  ‘Yeah, I know, school’s crazy, isn’t it? But we have to get serious now to do the scholarship exams.’

  ‘So you’re Mr Serious at school, are you? Too serious to talk to me?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, laughing.

  ‘You must like school.’

  ‘No, I hate it. But my dad wants me to sit for the scholarship exam. That’s the only reason I go.’

  Lily smiled. ‘Imagine if you won a scholarship, where would you go?’

  ‘Australia, I guess. My cousin got one a few years ago. He’s studying in Melbourne.’

  ‘Bet it’s better than Tevua.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  A white form brushed past Lily’s arm in the swell. She recoiled. ‘Suh! A nappy,’ she shouted and tossed the swollen white shape up onto the rocks.

  ‘I thought it had bitten you,’ Jonah said.

  They both laughed and Lily saw in his eyes that nameless quality that was nervousness and desire, and she grew in strength because of it—he was just as scared as she was. They sat in silence for a while as the waves lapped at them. She wondered what to say next and what was going through his mind.

  ‘Do you believe in ghosts, Jonah?’

  ‘Ghosts?’ He looked at her earnestly. ‘Yeah…what sort of ghosts?’

  ‘Any kind. Do you see them?’

  ‘No. But my uncle did once.’

  ‘Where?’ she asked as she dug her hands into the sand and began to make small hillocks that eroded with each wave.

  ‘You know the story about the giant pig that walks around Yamek? He saw it once, on his way home from a nightclub.’

  ‘Do you believe him?’

  ‘I don’t know. I think so. I think there are things out at night, devils and spirits and things we can’t know. Have you seen a ghost?’

  She took a long time to answer him, wondering whether he’d think she was crazy or not. ‘Yeah. I have.’

  ‘You lie.’

  His words ate away at her confidence. ‘No, not now,’ she said softly and she turned her face towards the sea, away from his doubting eyes.

  ‘What kind of ghost?’

  She gritted her teeth, wondering whether she should say any more but her words spilled out nervously, ‘It’s a man, I think he’s a soldier…a marine from the war.’

  Jonah sat up. His voice was calm and serious. ‘Where was it?’

  ‘At the pillbox and near my house. I’ve seen it twice now. I saw it last night.’

  He looked at her, wide-eyed. ‘You lie.’

  ‘True, I saw it last night,’ she said, but she’d heard the doubt in his voice again. It was all her fault for spoiling the conversation.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, standing up, squeezing the water from his shirt. ‘It’s too hot here, we’ll turn black. Let’s go to Leper Beach.’ He turned to walk away.

  ‘Now?’ she said, panic rising in her chest.

  He looked back. A smile appeared on his lips. ‘Yeah, now,’ he said.

  twenty-two

  Yamek District

  24 April 1943

  Work had finished for the day and the marines had left Tepu and the other labourers on the bo
rder of Yamek and Baringa. The islanders walked as a group down the hill towards the camp.

  All the women were gathered on the beach. Many were wailing and comforting one another. Even from the distance of a few hundred feet the men knew something was wrong. They quickened their pace.

  ‘What’s happened?’ they shouted as they neared the huddled women. But the women saw Tepu, bent their heads and continued weeping.

  Tepu’s mother was not with them. A feeling of dread surged through him. ‘Where’s Mother?’ he said in a shaky voice.

  Nobody spoke but two of the women pointed out to sea. Tepu followed their gaze. The waters were rough, smashing against the reef as if to devour it. Then suddenly all the women spoke at once:

  ‘We were collecting ebon on the reef ...’

  ‘We called to her, but she didn’t hear us…’

  ‘…just kept walking...’

  ‘…jumped into the sea…’

  But one woman’s words cut straight at Tepu’s heart. ‘It was as if she wanted to die.’

  He searched the women’s stricken faces. Their eyes pleaded with him for forgiveness, as if her suicide was somehow their fault.

  Tepu walked away stiffly.

  Now he was alone.

  Baringa Bay

  Friday 2 July 2004

  Hector ran onto the Ring Road at the top of the small hill that separated Anbwido from Baringa. Huge tomano trees sheltered him from the sun but still he blinked at the glare of the road. His mind was murky like the water off the reef on a choppy day. He couldn’t think far ahead. He didn’t know why he’d come this way, instead of going back down to the Lotus Restaurant near Lily’s house. He’d gone straight past the path that led down the hill to his home because he didn’t want Ibu to see him like this.

  He knew he had to tell someone but he wasn’t ready yet. He looked down at his hands and saw they were shaking. His chest heaved, his throat burned. He moved across the road and headed for the channel. That’s what he needed. A swim would cool him down, clear his mind and stop his body from shaking.

  The heat from the afternoon sun drilled into his scalp. He pulled the neck of his T-shirt up over his head to shade him, then jogged down the side of the road towards the channel.

  He heard voices below him, laughing. He moved onto the grass and slowed to a walk, breathing deeply to stop his puffing. Then he looked through the low wall of creeper and bushes down onto the beach.

  Shit! What was she doing here, with him? A wave of jealousy swelled within him and he paused, wondering whether to disturb them or not.

  Jonah stood up and began to walk through the shallows towards Leper Beach. Lily followed. Hector knew if he didn’t stop her now the two of them would be pumping like dogs soon.

  ‘Wait, Lily!’ he called out, scrambling over the top of the bushes and down the rocky beachfront.

  She looked up at him and shouted, ‘Shit! What do you want?’

  She’s snarling at me, Hector thought.

  Jonah looked as though he’d eaten something sour.

  Hector ran along the sand, then stopped on the beach in front of them, just out of the water.

  ‘Have you been spying on us?’ she said.

  ‘No…’

  ‘Ngaitirre!’ she cried. ‘What are you doing creeping round here?’

  ‘I can come here if I like! You must be doing something no good if you’re so pissed off,’ Hector said.

  ‘Bastard! I ought to bust your other eye, you little shit!’

  ‘You couldn’t catch me!’ he shouted, running back to the rocky embankment.

  ‘Jonah can!’ she shrieked, turning to Jonah and pulling at his T-shirt.

  But instead of chasing Hector, Jonah grabbed Lily roughly and tripped her up, pushing her over in the water.

  ‘I caught you instead,’ he said laughing.

  Hector laughed too. Lily’s mouth gaped ready to scream and her wet hair clung to her face. She looked ridiculous with all the fury taken out of her.

  ‘Arseholes!’ she shouted, then giggled along with them, pulling herself up out of the water.

  Hector relaxed on the rocks, confident that he’d spoiled their party and that she wasn’t going to murder him. The image of the skull in the forest came back to him and he knew he must tell her about it. He’d have to wait for a better time though, when Jonah wasn’t hanging around.

  The noise of an old Landrover at the boat ramp made them all turn. Hector recognised it at once as a group of Jonah’s neighbours and he smiled to himself. Jonah was trapped now. He couldn’t ignore the newcomers and if he stayed with Lily it would be obvious to them what was going on.

  ‘I’ll see ya later,’ Jonah said quietly to Lily, then he waded through the water to the channel and up the boat ramp where he was immediately offered a can of beer.

  Hector jumped down from the rocks and walked to the edge of the water again. ‘Come on, Lil. Let’s go back.’

  ‘Piss off,’ she said coldly.

  ‘But Lil, I’ve got something to tell you…’ ‘Just get away, you shit, I don’t want to talk to you about anything.’ She turned away from him and walked off towards Leper Beach once more.

  He followed a few metres behind. ‘But Lil, it’s about the ghost.’

  ‘Get away!’ She stooped, picked up a lump of coral and threw it at him. ‘I mean it, piss off and stop following me!’

  ‘I’m not following you.’

  ‘Well, what are you doing right now?’ she screamed and he could see her eyes bulging out at him. ‘I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to talk to you. Just get away, Hector. Just get out of my life!’ She hurled another lump of coral at him and then ran off further down the beach.

  ‘You stupid shit!’ Hector whispered after her. How was he going to tell her now?

  twenty-three

  Anbwido District

  May 1943

  Numb with grief, Tepu toiled each day for the Japanese. The work was an outlet for his pent-up anger. He worked without rest in the hot sun till his head hurt and his skin burned black. The pain was punishment for neglecting his family, he reasoned. Losing them was the ultimate test of endurance.

  At the end of the week when rations were issued, Tepu felt ashamed that he still had the same amount as when his mother and Tarema were alive. After a few weeks his feelings of guilt subsided and his sense of injustice grew. Night was a useful tool for Tepu. He used it to plan his revenge. Hours before dawn he would walk all the way to Anbwido, dodging any patrols. He used the black stone to heighten his senses, especially his vision, and he learned how to call like a noddy, attracting the birds in night flight. Their noisy chatter was a perfect diversion when patrols loomed too close.

  Filled with hatred, Tepu spied on the Japanese. His focus was Egirow. Determined to find where he went and what he did, most nights Tepu spied on the Japs from the safety of the forest. As dawn stretched into the sky he would flee back to the border of Baringa and Yamek where the work gangs assembled.

  Tepu’s nightly research was lonely but rewarding. One morning as he was about to emerge from his hiding place amongst the pinnacles he was startled by footsteps approaching down the Witch Track.

  He sunk to the ground and watched at ankle height: Egirow hurried uphill with black boots and sword flashing, then slunk into the scrub to his left.

  Tepu waited, then followed at a safe distance. A smaller overgrown track led him to a clearing peppered with dry beach almond leaves and stunted ferns. Uphill to the right was a stand of pinnacles at least ten feet high. Tepu crouched in the cover of the undergrowth to the side of the clearing and waited.

  Egirow emerged from the cluster of pinnacles, strode past Tepu’s hiding place and headed back down the track.

  At last, Tepu had found it—Egirow’s secret place. He crept over to the pinnacles for a thorough look. Inside the cluster was a space just big enough to curl up in, and on a natural ledge lay a book and a small metal tin. Tepu smiled to himself.

  An
bwido

  Friday 2 July 2004

  At home in her room Lily pushed the bolt across on the wobbly catch, then pressed her back against the door and slid down to the cool of the lino. The movie of what happened at the beach kept replaying in her mind. What was Hector doing? He must have been following her. The stupid bastard had interrupted everything. Now she had no idea when she’d see Jonah again. There was school of course, but she didn’t want to see him at school, she wanted to spend time with him alone. Dumb shit Hector. Ngaitirre!

  She looked around her room and saw the mattress had tipped to one side, twisting in the middle, but not quite falling to the floor. Lily knew something wasn’t right. She always leant her mattress up so that it never tipped. Someone had been in her room last night, when she’d slept at the bunker. What had the arseholes done? Tried to steal my things? She crawled over to the clothes chest and saw the hilt of the sword poking out from behind it. She sighed with relief, but what about her blue box of hands?

  She opened the chest and found the little blue box sitting just where she’d left it. She picked out her favourite item, the piece of coral. How could it be like that, she wondered, so perfect, when my own hand is so weird? Or perhaps the coral was deformed too? It had even twisted into a type of thumb, where one of the tendrils had grown lower and slanted inwards, opposite the others.

  Perhaps that’s what God does, she thought, picks us up in our sleep and turns us over in his hands. Maybe he looks at me and says, ‘hmm, pretty half dead for a human, but I guess she looks like a good piece of coral.’

  She smiled at her fantasy and put the coral back in the box. She placed it on the floor and pulled the mattress down beside it. Then she took out a bed sheet from the wooden chest and turned off the light. She lay on the mattress with the sheet wrapped around her, reliving the scene at the beach. She was furious that Jonah had walked away, but knew he had no choice. That arsehole Hector, she’d murder him if she got the chance.