Tears of the Moon (33 page)

She didn’t approve of, but tolerated, his occasional drinking bouts, accepting that in Broome the male-to-male way of doing business often involved a bottle.

They had become an effective business team but she had also come to treasure his emotional support and friendship. Tyndall continued his habit of dropping by for a sunset drink on Olivia’s verandah as he’d done when Conrad was alive. Now it was Olivia and Tyndall who discussed business, made plans, and exchanged bits of news about people and events in the town. Occasionally some news from abroad and the southern cities provided fresh subjects for conversation but for most of the time the world beyond the magical waters of Roebuck Bay was barely acknowledged.

Niah and Ahmed seemed more laterally attached to Tyndall while Olivia had gradually become the core of his functioning life. Olivia came to rely a lot more on Minnie, who ran the house and watched over Hamish along with his amah, Rosminah, a young Malay.

Minnie had a daughter and a husband, Alf, an Aboriginal Asian. Alf was never sure which half was
more dominant so he drifted between both worlds. He worked as a diver till a bad case of paralysis partially crippled him and forced him to stay ashore, where he worked in the bakery run by his Chinese relatives. He delivered bread by horse and cart early each morning and spent the rest of the day sitting in the shade with cousin Wally down at Kennedy’s camp on the knoll above Dampier Creek. Minnie’s daughter, Mollie, was cared for by relatives and occasionally spent time helping her mother at Olivia’s. Niah and Maya often visited when Olivia was at work and along with Rosminah and Hamish, it was a jolly group that gathered in the back garden of the Hennessy bungalow.

But increasingly Niah felt resentful of Tyndall’s close association with Olivia. He dismissed her complaints about time spent with Olivia pleading ‘business’ and ‘responsibility’. Niah felt insecure about her position in the household and about the fact that Tyndall was separating her more and more from Maya. He took the little girl everywhere with him and talked to her at length as if she were an adult. Yet he shared little with Niah. They weren’t a threesome anymore. Niah’s role as unofficial mistress of the household was diminished and she felt no more than Maya’s nursemaid and Tyndall’s bedmate.

The times Niah saw Olivia and Tyndall together at the shed, in the office, about the luggers, she instantly recognised the rapport and friendship between them. She also tuned into an undercurrent, a chemistry that bound them, and which neither
recognised or seemed aware of. They could share things she could never share, the only hold she had on Tyndall was at night in his bed. And Maya, of course. For as long as she had Maya she had Tyndall.

Niah didn’t voice her complaints—she had few to share her feelings with—but it was obvious to Minnie what was fermenting inside the young woman.

For many weeks Niah held her peace, then one evening she left the bungalow while Tyndall and Maya were at Olivia’s. She had arranged to meet Minnie at sundown by the foreshore camp.

She knew Tyndall and Olivia would be sharing their evening sundowners so had slipped out before preparing dinner. The older woman cast a sympathetic glance at Niah. ‘You got troubles, eh?’

‘Yeah, Auntie. I bin feeling sick inside for a long time now.’ In the way of Aboriginal communities, Minnie had become ‘auntie’ of Niah soon after their Aboriginal links had been recognised. Minnie was from the same clan, but through marriage had become a town dweller. Niah tried to explain her dissatisfaction with life despite having a caring benefactor.

Minnie listened, particularly noting Niah’s concern about Tyndall’s obsession with the child. She began idly to draw in the sand with her finger the pattern of the pendant Niah wore.

‘Why you draw that one, Auntie?’

‘That one woman’s business sign, Niah. B’long our mob. Ceremony for girls is comin’ soon and you ’n’ Maya orta go, be in ceremony, eh?’

Niah smiled at Minnie, her eyes bright. ‘How will I get there?’

‘Wally is down at Kennedy camp. He take you when he go back. Long walk but.’

‘That will be good. When will he go?’

‘Dunno. When he ready. You pack few things.’

Niah walked in the twilight back to the bungalow feeling contented and purposeful.

She greeted Tyndall a short time later with a happy smile and took Maya to give her dinner, telling her how they were soon going walkabout and trying to explain what it meant in reply to the girl’s eager questions.

As the wet season came to an end Tyndall again raised the idea of looking for fresh pearl banks and giving the new lugger a run. He suggested Olivia come along with Hamish. At first, she hesitated, as the young boy had never been to sea. She told Tyndall she would discuss it with Hamish.

‘Captain Tyndall has asked us to go on a trip up the coast for a few days, how would you feel about that?’

‘On the boat? Staying on it all the time?’

‘Yes. You might get seasick. Or bored.’

‘No, no. It’ll be fun. Oh yes, do let’s go.’ His enthusiasm was infectious. ‘I promise to be good,’ he added for extra emphasis.

‘We’ll make it a short trip and you have to do everything Ahmed and Tyndall tell you, absolutely. Understood?’

Tyndall explained the situation to Niah. ‘Too cramped for you and Maya to come. And I want this to be a special event for Hamish. He misses his father and I’d like him to learn to know and love the sea. Just be a short trip.’ He lifted Maya and spun her around in the air, making her giggle. She reached out and grabbed at his earring which always intrigued her. He hugged her to him. ‘You be a good girl while I’m at sea.’

‘Me come to sea.’

‘Maybe next trip.’ He kissed her hair and brushed his fingertips over Niah’s cheek.

The
Conrad
slid away from the jetty and Hamish waved to Niah and Maya till his arm was tired.

Niah had helped with the preparations for the trip but said little. Olivia tried to make her feel less rejected. ‘Niah, I know you would like to come, but I just think it would be too hard on board with both children. Not just for space but for safety reasons. It’s for Hamish really.’ She looked into Niah’s large eyes and saw a depth of feeling that shook her slightly. A flash of envy, a quizzical questioning, but slowly she smiled with an openness and warmth that Olivia had never seen before. She returned the smile feeling comfortable that Niah understood. But what Niah saw and understood was something Olivia had yet to recognise.

After the
Conrad
was out of sight Niah decided to take a ride on the little train that ran from the wharf to Chinatown, and held Maya’s hand as the old grey horse pulled the open rail car along the street. She got off close to the foreshore camps.

A dusty track wound above the mangroves to a small hillock where there was a makeshift camp.

An older man rose to his feet and lifted an arm in greeting. ‘Hey girl. Me is Wally. Minnie said ya’d be along.’ He grinned at Niah and rested his hand on Maya’s head. ‘We gonna take girlie meet family, eh?’

Wally had brewed a billy and handed Niah a mug of hot tea and proceeded to tear off chunks of a freshly made damper. ‘Corned beef orright?’ he asked. Niah and Maya nodded and he sliced slabs of the pink meat and put it on the damper and handed it to them.

‘How far do we walk?’ asked Niah.

He shrugged. ‘Long walk. We go tomorra, orright?’

‘All right,’ said Niah, and she felt confident and purposeful for the first time in ages.

They walked slowly back to the bungalow and Niah packed the small dilly bag she planned to take with her.

The following morning, at first light, she said goodbye to Minnie, who enfolded her in a strong hug, kissed Maya and reassured Niah this was the right thing to do.

Niah nodded. ‘My heart tells me too. This Dreaming, important for Maya.’

‘Important for you, too, Niah. You need proper family now.’

Wally was waiting for them. ‘G’day. Gimme bag.’ He took the dilly bag from her and they strode out.

A little later, when the sun had risen properly, Wally paused at a point on the track and signalled for
Niah to wait. He went to a hollow log nearby and retrieved a spear, woomera and a large hunting knife.

The small party walked through the morning, rested in the shade during the hot midday and resumed walking in the stillness of afternoon and the coolness of twilight. Wally sometimes carried Maya, or she trotted ahead of them in little energetic bursts. They camped and caught food as they travelled, Niah learning much about the bounty of a land that appeared so barren. She slept peacefully beneath the stars, usually by fires in sandy creekbeds, with her daughter cuddled close.

The
Conrad
bobbed and rolled as the lugger tacked for a starboard run. The spray blew into Hamish’s face and he shouted with laughter and licked the salt from his lips. He was holding tight to the tiller under Ahmed’s strong hand. Olivia and Tyndall exchanged a warm grin at the boy’s delight. Unlike his father, Hamish had taken to sailing with gusto. The weather had blessed them. At night they sat on the deck, the sea calm, and taught the boy how to spot the constellations and steer by the stars. Tyndall’s knowledge of ships and sailing blended with Ahmed’s mystical approach to the sea, the wind and the stars, and fascinated Olivia as the men talked to the boy.

Later, swinging in his hammock rigged in the small cabin Ahmed and Yoshi shared, Hamish listened in awe as they talked of the wonders beneath the sea, its strange creatures, great dangers and their many diving adventures.

After several camps, Wally announced one morning, ‘This country bilong us mob.’ He grinned at Niah, ‘Feet can feel ’im. You smell ’im. You listen good, hear ’im songs bilong you.’ He paused and looked at the ground as if sensing some distant vibration. ‘Mob comin’ t’meet us,’ he said with satisfaction.

When the
Conrad
returned to Broome, Tyndall left Ahmed in charge of mooring the lugger and escorted Hamish and Olivia to their bungalow.

They were all pleased with how the boat had performed, and plans were afoot to dive further up the coast as it had looked promising. The trip had also successfully distracted Hamish from the loss of his father. Olivia doubted if his infatuation with becoming a pearling master would last, but she was grateful to Tyndall for taking them with him. She too had found the solitude and peace at sea healing and restful.

Tyndall waved goodbye at their gate and hurried home to Niah. He was a little surprised to find the house empty, even of staff. He bathed and changed, reflecting on what a happy time it had been for young Hamish who, once he had his sea legs and learned the shipboard rules, had really taken to life at sea. They’d taught him to fish and given him small chores like winding ropes into neat circles and polishing the compass brass. Tyndall looked forward to the day when Maya was old enough to do the same.

He heard some movement in the staff quarters and called the amah. ‘Rosminah, where has Niah gone?’ he asked.

‘Walkabout, tuan.’

‘Round town? When is she coming back?’

‘Gone big walkabout. Said she goin’ to see her people. Take Maya her country.’

Tyndall was stunned for a moment. ‘What do you mean walkabout?’

When the full impact sank in, Tyndall sat with his hands hanging between his knees. He now saw how he had neglected Niah and even Maya and had been too absorbed in the business. He didn’t blame her for seeking family contact. But he missed them and hoped they would soon be back, for this was their home.