by Birch, Tony;
‘Gee,’ he said, ‘you people out here, I think time has passed your mob by. This is a certificate of exemption. It means that I can go anywhere I like, when I like. Even across the border. With some rules, of course,’ he offered as a cautionary note.
Odette had indeed heard of the exemption certificate, although she’d never seen one or met a person who actually carried one. As far as Odette knew, nobody from back home had sought an exemption from the Act.
‘And what are those rules?’ Odette asked.
Jack listed the orders he was subject to, counting on his fingers as he went. ‘To start with, to get the certificate I needed to provide testimonials to the Welfare Board from reputable people. White people. I can live where I want and I can have a drink,’ he added, winking at the smiling Sissy. ‘But I can’t give grog to a blackfella. That’s rule number one, just about. And …’ Jack hesitated and looked at Sissy.
‘And what?’ Odette prompted him.
‘And … I can’t fraternise with Aboriginal people,’ he said, lowering his voice. ‘Unlawful association, they call it.’ He looked away, unable to hide his sudden shame.
Sissy tapped Odette on the arm. ‘I need to go to the toilet.’
‘Go on,’ Odette said. ‘Be sure to be straight back here when you’ve finished.’
Although Jack appeared strong and proud, Odette couldn’t understand how he could allow himself to be shamed in such a way. He sensed her look of disapproval and became annoyed.
‘What’s with you, woman?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you be looking at me that way. I know what you’re thinking. Well, you can get this over and done with and say what’s on your mind and I’ll be on my way. You reckon I’m some kind of traitor, don’t you?’
The policeman, overhearing Jack’s raised voice, looked across to their table.
Odette understood the danger of causing a scene. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t mean to judge. Maybe I don’t understand.’
Jack leaned across the table. ‘Damn right, you don’t. I have a job to do.’
‘I’m sure you do,’ Odette said.
‘Do you know what that job is?’ Jack insisted.
The policeman turned his full attention to Jack.
‘I really don’t need to know,’ she whispered, trying to calm him, but Jack was determined to put her in her place.
‘I survive the best way I can. That’s my job. I was one of six kiddies. I seen three of them taken away, and a sister who ran off before they could get hold of her. They went for all time. I had a big sister left, but the others, I don’t know what happened to any of them. I’ve kept my wife and kids together through everything these bastards have put us through,’ he said, looking directly at the policeman, before waving a finger in Odette’s face. ‘You can try this little trick of your own, disguising your granddaughter, passing her off as a snowflake. Well, let’s see how far that one gets you. That’s a dangerous game, Sister. And all the pressure, it’s on that child more than it’s on you.’
‘She told you?’ Odette hissed. ‘I can’t believe it.’
Jack waved her protest away. ‘She didn’t tell me anything. She’d die for you, that kiddie. Five minutes I sat with her, and I can see she has a mighty big heart in her, and that she loves you as much as a child can do. She didn’t say a word to me about any of that business, not a word.’
‘How do you know then?’
Jack’s anger faded from his face quicker than it had arrived. ‘Because I see so much strength in that girl, and I see it in you. I might look like a silly old boy in front of these white buggers but I know love when I see it.’ He sat back. ‘All of us, we have to do anything we can. And none of us needs to be judged. Me or you.’
The Immigration officials and the policeman moved to their table. ‘Your name, please?’ one of the officials asked Jack.
‘John Harold Haines,’ he answered.
‘Which train have you been on today, John?’
‘None as yet, sir. I’m about to catch the train to the capital.’
‘You purchased your ticket here?’ the second officer asked.
‘Yes, I did, sir,’ Jack answered, responding in kind to the civil tone of the officer.
The same officer showed Jack the photograph he’d been passing around the cafeteria. ‘Have you seen this man about the station area today?’
Odette looked across at the picture of a blond-haired, thin-faced young man.
‘No,’ Jack answered, barely glancing at the photograph. The official asked him to take a closer look, which he did. ‘No, I haven’t seen anyone who looks like that. What’s he done?’ Jack asked.
‘That’s nothing to concern yourself with, Sir. Thank you for your assistance.’
The uniformed policeman watched Jack closely. After the Immigration officials moved to the next table, he questioned Jack. ‘What’s your name?’ he demanded, with none of the politeness of his associates.
‘I just gave it to them fellas,’ Jack answered, as nonchalantly as possible.
‘Maybe you did,’ he said. ‘And I’m asking you again.’
Jack repeated his name. He was asked his age and address.
‘Do they call you by another name,’ the policeman asked, smiling, ‘other than John?’
‘My friends call me Jack.’
‘Jack?’ The policeman smiled. ‘Or is it, Jacky?’ He smirked.
Jack winced. ‘No. Jack.’
‘Well, Jack, you’re a long way from home if you’re heading back to the city. I presume you have permission to be here?’
‘I don’t need permission,’ Jack said defensively. He picked up the exemption certificate from the table and handed it to the policeman. Odette could see Sissy walking back towards the table from the toilet. The slightest shake of Odette’s head was enough of a warning for her to turn and walk in the opposite direction. She sat at a table on the other side of the room, alongside a white family.
The policeman inspected the exemption certificate. ‘Well, Jack. It looks like you’ve been given the keys to the city.’ He laughed loudly. On cue, Jack joined in, relaxing, until the policeman suddenly asked, ‘Who’s this?’ He snapped his fingers, without bothering to look at Odette. ‘Is this the wife?’
‘No, no,’ Jack continued laughing, awkwardly. ‘I don’t know the lady.’
The policeman leaned forward. ‘Come on, Jack. I saw you talking with her earlier on. It looked like you were having a lovers’ blue. A secret rendezvous at the railway station?’ He winked. ‘You must be a bit of a romantic, Jack.’
Jack nervously shifted in his seat. ‘No, it’s not that way at all. We’ve just been sitting here having a social talk.’
‘Really?’ The policeman turned to Odette. ‘And you would be?’
Odette reached into her handbag and handed him the travel permit.
‘You’ve got a sick relative?’ the policeman asked.
‘That’s right,’ Odette said. ‘My cousin.’
‘They give you free rein just to visit a cousin, when you people have so many of them.’ He frowned. ‘We’re going soft. This citizenship talk. The Commies have you lot behaving uppity.’ He looked at the permit a second time. ‘Bill Shea,’ he sneered. ‘Didn’t know that barge-arse was still on the job. He’s soft as butter, old Bill.’ The officer handed the permit back to Odette. ‘This document is only good for a week. I don’t really care if you want to cat about with old Jacky here, even at your age, but make sure you’re back in Deane before your seven days is up. I’ll make a point of ringing old Bill myself, to check that you’re back where you’re supposed to be. In your place.’
The policeman took a notebook and pencil from the front pocket of his tunic and wrote a reminder to himself. He grabbed Sissy’s empty chair, placed it alongside Jack Haines and sat next to him. ‘These exemption certificates, for them t
o be valid, Jack, you know you have to stay out of trouble, don’t you?’
‘Of course, I do,’ Jack answered. ‘I keep a clean sheet. I’ve been in no trouble with the police.’
The policeman placed a firm hand on Jack’s shoulder. ‘You be sure then not to associate with Aborigines, of any caste, starting with your lady friend here. If you’re caught hanging around the blackfellas, you’ll find yourself reclassified and you’ll be back with the mob. Do you understand what I’m saying, Jack?’
Jack nodded. ‘I do.’
The policeman noticed a half-drunk tea cup and toast crusts on a plate next to Odette. ‘Looks like we have a third for lunch. Who’s sitting here?’
‘Nobody,’ Jack answered quickly. ‘The dirty dishes were here when I sat down. They’re too busy here today for them to clear up.’
The policeman gave Odette a final look before walking away. Jack got to his feet, eager to be on his way. ‘We both best get moving or we’ll miss the train.’
Odette was shaken by the interrogation, particularly the humiliating manner in which Jack had been treated. ‘Yes, you’re right.’ She stood and picked up her suitcase. ‘And I need to fetch Sissy.’
‘I’m really sorry about all of this,’ Jack said.
‘For what?’
‘For that copper speaking to you the way he did, showing you, a decent woman, no respect.’
‘I was just thinking the same about you, Jack,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry about how I behaved to you before. I have no right to judge you, no right at all. I can see you’re a good man. Whatever you need to do to care for your family, it would be the proper thing. And that policeman, I’d have been surprised if the man treated me any differently than he did. I don’t have the time to take blame out on a fella like him.’
‘But he was rude to you. How’s he without blame?’
‘Because they’re the ones we deal with every day of our lives. Police. Not the Welfare or the ones who write the rules for the government. Think if you were police, Jack, knowing that one day you’d be told to go into a house and take kiddies away from their family. If you were to treat people with any decency, you couldn’t do that job. This fella giving us a hard time, he needs to be angry at us. Maybe even hate us. The only way they get by.’ Odette looked across the cafeteria for Sissy. ‘I best go,’ she nodded to Jack. ‘You look after yourself.’
As she stood, Jack gently squeezed her arm and walked away.
Sissy fell in behind her grandmother as she walked past on her way to the toilets. A woman stood at the sink in front of a mirror, applying lipstick. One of the cubicles was locked and the door on a second cubicle was slightly ajar. Odette knocked gently at the door and waited for a response. She heard nothing and pushed the door open. A teenage boy was huddled in the corner. Odette recognised his face from the photograph the Immigration officer had shown Jack. He was petrified. She closed the door and called out to Sissy. ‘Come on, let’s be going.’
Sissy was curious about the liquid soap dispenser over the sink. She’d never seen one before, and wanted to wash her hands to test it out. Another woman walked into the toilets and opened the door where the runaway was hiding. She screamed with fear and ran from the toilets and into the cafeteria calling for help. The Immigration officers and the policeman ran into the room, found the runaway boy and dragged him out of the cubicle, forcing him to his feet. He was quickly handcuffed and led back through the cafeteria, crying out in a foreign language.
Odette waited with Sissy until the commotion was over before they walked back to the train. In the compartment Sissy rested her head against her grandmother’s shoulder. ‘That boy back there,’ she said, ‘the one the men took away. What did he do that was wrong?’
‘I don’t know, Sweet. Maybe he did nothing wrong. You don’t have to do a lot wrong to find yourself in trouble,’ she said. ‘Not in this country.’
‘Nan, I don’t want to call you Auntie again. It’s not the same. I don’t want to do it.’
Odette patted the small of Sissy’s back. ‘You will have to sometimes but only when it’s needed. And I think you’re smart enough to know when that has to be without me having to tell you.’
‘I will?’
‘Yes, you will. You’re as smart as they come, Sissy, and you’re going to have to trust yourself to know what is best for you.’
‘We’re in trouble, aren’t we, Nan?’
Odette actually laughed, surprising her granddaughter. ‘Trouble? Our people have been in one sort of trouble or another from the first day we set eyes on a white person.’
Sissy soon fell asleep and Odette looked out of the window at the changing landscape. The open country was gradually replaced by undulating forest. Odette thought about Jimmy Brown. Jack Haines said he was a born runner. Odette’s own family had been the opposite. They’d refused to run, sometimes at great cost to themselves. Odette herself had always felt secure staying put. She believed her strength came from the old people who’d passed on. Without their presence, she was certain she’d have given up her struggle long ago. Now, for the first time in her life, she was experiencing what it felt like to be a long way from home, with hundreds of miles still to go. It was a terrible lonely feeling.
Chapter Thirteen
The train entered the outskirts of the city. Streets, factories and houses came into view. A tall chimney in the distance spewed dark smoke into the air. Odette and Sissy had seen nothing like the view outside the train window.
‘Is this the city, Nan?’ Sissy asked.
‘I guess so,’ Odette answered warily. ‘It must be.’
‘It looks ugly,’ Sissy said.
‘It sure does.’
Minutes later the train pulled into the capital’s central station. Sissy insisted on carrying the case. As they stepped from the train they were confronted by a wall of moving passengers. Odette had never encountered so many people in the one place. She made the mistake of coming to a halt on the platform and was swept along by the crowd. Sissy reached out for her grandmother. Odette grabbed hold of the suitcase handle and Sissy was carried along with her. Announcements from each of the twelve platforms blended into a singular inaudible garble. Sissy lost her grip and was twice separated from Odette. They were eventually marooned together on a wooden bench next to a booth selling cigarettes, newspapers and sweets. Odette landed on the wooden seat with a thud. Sissy fell beside her, a little stunned.
‘This is crazy, Nan.’
‘Too right. It’s the craziest place I’ve ever seen.’
Each time Odette considered standing and making a move the crowd gathered momentum. She heard someone calling her name, looked up and was relieved to see the smiling face of Jack Haines, bobbing up and down among countless others. He manoeuvred his way across the platform to the bench.
‘It can get pretty wild, this place,’ he shouted above the noise. ‘But don’t you worry, it will slow down soon enough. This lot have just got off work for the day. They call it the rush hour here in the city.’
‘It’s living up to its name,’ Odette observed.
‘You get used to it,’ Jack said. ‘I don’t mind it anymore.’ He leaned forward and spoke into Odette’s ear. ‘I never asked you, why have you and your young granddaughter come all this way?’
Odette looked across to Sissy. The girl was in a trance, spellbound by the passing crowd. Odette stood up and lowered her voice. ‘I’m hoping to find my daughter,’ she said. ‘Sissy’s mother. I haven’t seen her in over twelve years and it’s urgent that I find her. I’m worried for Sissy. I’ve been ill of late and I’d like to find her mum so that she can take care of her.’
‘Is that the only reason?’ Jack asked. ‘I saw the way you looked at that copper.’
Odette had little energy to explain the threat that Lowe posed to Sissy. ‘That’s the main reason I’m here,’ she said. ‘I need to find my
daughter.’
‘Do you know where she lives?’ Jack asked
‘I don’t know much at all. I haven’t heard a word from her in close to two years when I last had a letter from her. And that didn’t tell me much. All I have is the name of a café where she was working at the time.’
‘That’s it?’ Jack frowned.
‘All I know is that she was working in this town.’
Jack gestured towards the passing crowd. ‘Well, finding her won’t be easy. First up, this is not a town, it’s a city. A big city at that. They say there’s nearly two million people that live here. Do you understand what you’re up against?’
‘I do now,’ Odette answered, her voice straining.
‘Does she spend time with other Aboriginal people, your daughter?’
‘I know nothing more than what she’s written to me. I don’t think she wants to be found, to be honest.’
The comment did not surprise Jack. Those who wanted to escape the shackles of the Act, could apply for an exemption certificate like he had. Others passed themselves off as white if they were fair enough, or sometimes Indian if they were coloured, others disappeared completely.
‘Your daughter,’ he asked, ‘is she fair-skinned, like your granddaughter?’
Odette turned to Sissy, who was standing and studying the crowd, wide-eyed. ‘No. Lila is more my colour, not quite as dark as me.’
‘Okay. You give me her full name and I’ll ask around. If she’s got friends inside the community someone will know her and most likely where she is. Where will you be staying while you’re here?’ he asked.
‘I don’t really know,’ Odette said. She felt silly, not having considered where she and Sissy would be staying. ‘I’ll need to find a boarding house, I suppose.’
‘You two could come home to our place,’ Jack offered. ‘My wife, Alma, she’d love to have the company. I drive her mad when I’m home. I reckon she’d fall in love with your granddaughter quick smart.’
‘I thought you didn’t mix with Aboriginal people, because of the exemption rules,’ Odette said. She immediately regretted the comment, considering the generosity of Jack’s offer. If Jack was offended, it didn’t show on his face.