CHAPTER EIGHT
Alinta watched as strangers approached Mel on horses. It was a man and a woman, and as they rode up, Carmen went out to meet them. She watched them interact, unable to hear their conversation over the noises of the wagons and the many animals behind their long train. She finally heard that they were Harold and Fabiola, and Carmen seemed happy to see them.
As they came over the top of a rise, Alinta could see a little valley and many more of the white man’s structures they had seen on the trip. It was like a little town. She was surprised to see an Aborigine village on one side. Familiar with the shapes of their huts and the color of their skin, she wondered at them living so close to white men. She watched as the men in their party herded the large flock of sheep into wooden structures helped by the dogs. Mel told her the wooden structures were called pens. The horses and oxen were herded into other pens, and the dogs were kept away once all the animals were in their pens.
Carmen directed Mel and Alinta to one of the structures. The primitive woman was curious because it wasn’t at all like the store she had been inside so long ago. There was a porch, and Mel enunciated that word, so Alinta would get it. It was broad and shady with vines crawling up the wooden support posts. Inside was a living room, another couple of words that Alinta didn’t understand. Aboriginal people didn’t have living rooms, nor did they have kitchens or bedrooms. It fascinated Alinta when Mel showed her a bed. She didn’t understand what a bed was used for until Mel lay on it and patted the bed beside her. These white people seemed to have a lot of things that they didn’t need to make. Sleeping with a rolled-up blanket on the ground was good enough. Still, she would oblige Mel, who asked instead of ordering her about. Alinta wanted to please Mel.
Wagons pulled up at the house next door, and Mel went over to help unload Carmen’s things. There was too much for the house, and the rest of the things were taken to a barn. Barn, that was also a word and a concept that Alinta didn’t understand. They seemed to use that same word for both structures that held animals and things. They also used the word shed sometimes, and this confused Alinta even more.
She watched only, as Mel wouldn’t let her help carry things into the house or the barn, then she watched as the men filled the carts and wagons with great big bales. They were the same things Bradley and the other men had been hauling. To see them loading those up brought back bad memories, and she was grateful she wasn’t expected to help with this chore or go near the men doing the work.
“I need you to stay here in the house,” Mel explained to her that night. They had brought Mel’s things into the living room, and she was sorting through them. They both heard the dogs settling down for the night under the house. Mel and Alinta had just finished feeding them. The dogs had nothing to do now that the sheep were in the pens.
“I no go with Mel?” she asked, hurt and wondering why Mel was leaving her in this house. She looked around, wondering what she had done wrong that would make Mel leave her alone here.
“No, I’m just going away for a few days,” she tried to explain, knowing the simple woman didn’t understand. Then she got an idea. “You watch my things?” she asked, gesturing to the many pack saddles and other things she had pulled from the wagons and stacked in the front room.
Alinta grasped that immediately, proud that Mel would ask her to guard her property. She took pride in that responsibility. Mel explained she could get food at the kitchens but might want to cook it here. She showed her how to start a fire in the stove but cooking on the stove was too much for the woman to grasp. Mel also showed Alinta where to fetch the meat to feed the dogs.
Alinta watched as Mel rode away with Carmen and Fabiola the next day, wondering at the white man’s ability to handle those animals they called horses. She saw that women could do it too and wondered if she would ever get over her awe of the large animals.
Alita ended up making a fire out behind the house in a ring, cooking mutton, damper, rice, and peas for her meal before giving the dogs meat for their food. The dogs watched the nearly feral woman warily. They had not interacted with her much, but Mel had ordered them to stay, and they would obey. Each dog had come out and squatted or lifted its leg, but now, the feces were building up, and the flies were terrible. One of the Aborigines came. Although he was unable to speak Alinta’s tribes’ language, she showed Alinta with pantomiming what a shovel was for and how to bury the feces or throw them farther away from the home paddock. Alinta understood and took her duty seriously.
Another of the villagers came by to try and talk to Alinta, but she didn’t speak their language either, and they looked curiously at each other, noting the differences that indicated they were from different tribes.
Alinta was curiously relieved to see Mel return a few days later.
“How are you feeling?” Mel asked upon seeing the pregnant woman.
“Fine,” she admitted, one of the few words she truly knew the meaning of, although she had learned a lot.
“Baby making you sick?” she asked, concerned but hoping that the woman had rested. Mel saw how neat and orderly the supplies were in the house and wondered how hard she had worked. Mel had made it clear weeks ago on their long trip out here that she understood Alinta was with child.
“Baby fine,” she said, rubbing her rounding belly.
“Good, good,” Mel said, nodding.
Mel arranged for another couple of villagers to come and try to talk with Alinta. Although they didn’t speak her language, using pantomime, they were able to ask if she wished to stay with Mel or go back to her own people.
Alinta made it clear she didn’t want to go back, and her people wouldn’t want her. “Mr. Mel no want me?” she asked.
“I want you,” Mel stated clearly, then said, “If you want to go with me, you can. If you want to go back to your family, you can. If you want to stay here, you can. It’s your decision.” She understood Alinta’s hesitation now as she tried to make herself understood.
“Alinta’s decision?”
Mel nodded, smiling encouragingly.
“I go you?”
“Only if you want, but I’ll be roaming, and that won’t be good for your baby,” she told her.
“You want Alinta go you?” she asked, and the Aborigine, who was trying to help, gestured some more, making himself understood. Here in the white man’s station, the men were to be obeyed, and he was getting exasperated with the white Yank giving the young woman a choice. Did she not understand how big a decision that was for the young girl?
“Yes, but only if Alinta wants to go with me,” Mel responded.
“Alinta want go Mel,” she said imperfectly, looking relieved.
Mel smiled, nodding, and Harold, who had watched, amused, nodded to the aboriginal elder, who had tried to interpret for them. Mel wasn’t sure he had helped, but she wasn’t sure he hadn’t helped either. Mel thanked him, and Harold sent him on his way.
“So, you are going to take the woman as your own?” he asked in an almost insinuating tone.
“No, she isn’t my own,” Mel objected. “She is my friend, and she’s welcome to come with me while I search for a place of my own. She was born here, but I feel as though I belong too. Maybe we can find a place together.”
CHAPTER NINE
Alinta watched as Mel took her horses to a man working with the white man’s stone, iron they called it. It still bothered her to watch, and she unconsciously rubbed her neck in remembrance of the collar she had once worn. The big, beefy man was putting metal on the bottoms of the horse’s feet. It smelled terrible as the white man’s stone caused a burning smell to rise from them. Alinta didn’t understand when Mel called them shoes because she had also called those leather things she wanted Alinta to wear by the same word, but Alinta nodded and tried to sound the word.
Next, Alinta watched as Mel packed and repacked the supplies she had kept so neatly for her. She worried that she had done something wrong, but Mel didn’t say anything to her. Mel seemed re
stless as she waited, and Alinta wondered why they were waiting here in this house. The dogs under the house were restless too. When Carmen and Fabiola returned, she saw that Mel was relieved. As they ate dinner together, she once again tried to use the fork the way Mel had shown her. She preferred her fingers but saw that was frowned upon, so she would try for Mel’s sake. She wanted the woman to be proud of her. She was eager to please Mel in return for rescuing her from Bradley. At dinner they discussed things that Alinta did not understand about where she would be going. She had no concept of words like ‘south’ or ‘north’ and only caught a couple words she understood. She understood the word Cobdogla but only because she recognized their attempts to say an Aborigine word.
The next day, Mel spent a lot of time with the other men and the dogs. They were doing something with the sheep. Some went in one pen, others into another pen. Alinta didn’t understand it, but it was fascinating to watch the commotion. The sheep stirred up a lot of dust, and she tried to stay upwind of it, so it wasn’t blowing in her face as she watched them work and tried to understand what they were doing.
The following day, she was surprised when Mel hoisted her onto one of the horses and handed her the lead ropes to the other horses that were loaded with the many packs Mel had sorted. She was proud that Mel trusted her with this important task. Alinta had no idea that her horse was following Mel’s because it chose to and not because of anything she did to control it. Mel, her dingo-like dogs, Carmen, Fabiola, and several of the men Alinta had heard were called vaqueros helped push the sheep along. It looked like a lot, but not nearly as many had come along the track from so far away. At least half were headed north, although Alinta didn’t grasp the concept of this direction. She only knew that her horse followed Mel, and she kept going when the large woman veered off to check the flock for strays when a dog didn’t do it for her.
They traveled like this for a couple days, approaching an odd set of domed hills. On the far side the sheep slowed to graze, and Alinta watched as Fabiola, Carmen, and the other men left them. She was feeling slightly ill from the motion of the horse, but she wouldn’t stop helping Mel because she knew it must be important. Mel seemed to keep the sheep at a slower pace, which helped her nausea. Mel helped Alinta down from the horse for their noon break to eat and rest and again when they made camp at night. Mel also taught her more English words. She now understood that the language the whites spoke was called English. She learned words like saltbrush and mallee seed, also giving Mel words in her own language if she knew the plant. She liked the word billabong, but Mel also called it a spring. These kinds of double words confused her, but she didn’t stop learning their many words.
Mel showed her how to hobble the horses, explaining it was so they couldn’t wander too far away from their camp. As they gathered wood, Alinta was delighted to use her walking stick to turn over some of the wood and find grubs. Mel was delighted when Alinta helped weave branches to make a hut. For her it was simple to weave it so it would shed the rain. For once, Alinta became the teacher, and she beamed with delight as Mel praised her and thanked her. She wasn’t used to the concept of thanks but was learning it was important to the white man.
Mel made more of a concerted effort to show Alinta how to cook, and Alinta was pleased. She wanted to learn how to make the white man’s food but hadn’t liked it when there had been so many people watching her. Now, it was just the two of them, and she was much more willing and eager to please her rescuer. Mel allowed her to regularly use one of the sharp white man’s stones, a knife he called it. It amazed her that it was sharper than the stones she had chipped over the years. No wonder her father had coveted the metal. She had learned it was not stone, although she still thought of it as the white man’s stone. It was called metal, and that was the word she would use from then on. They cut mutton, not only for their own consumption but also for the many dogs that accompanied their large flock of sheep. When Mel had shown her how to cover up the carcass to keep the flies out, Alinta nodded wisely. Then, Mel presented her with a knife of her own including a sheath to keep it in. Alinta was surprised that Mel would give her such riches.
She was also fascinated by the sharpness of the metal. It always seemed to stay sharp, but she had seen Mel sharpen hers on something she called a whetstone. It sounded close enough to the words ‘white man’s stone’ that Alinta could make the comparison. “Careful there,” Mel cautioned her as she tested the blade.
The meat, the rice and peas, and the spongy bread that they called damper, were cooked in what they called pots or the wider ones they called pans. Again, the valuable metals were shaped into useful things that the Aborigine stared at in wonder. These white people were clever, and their tools were way beyond anything her people had. No wonder people had coveted them. Standing up, she stretched to help her aching back and heard Mel gasp. Alinta looked around, wondering if she had missed seeing something. Alinta knew she sensed things way before the white woman did, but when she didn’t see anything that might have caused Mel’s dismay, she dismissed it.
After dinner she helped clean those pots, pans, and plates. She put them out on rocks to dry as Mel had showed her. Stretching again when she was finished, she felt the baby bump as she looked about thoughtfully. She was so pleased to be here alone with Mel. She thought about when Mel had the Aborigines talk to her, making it clear that she had the choice to go with Mel or not. She herself didn’t understand the other Aborigines’ language, and when she thought Mel didn’t want her to go with her, she had been panicked. Finally, she was appeased when she realized Mel did want her. It had never occurred to her that Mel was giving her a choice. She didn’t understand that it was her choice. She had hoped that Mel would be her mate once she was far from Bradley and men like him. She would do everything in her power to be the best mate to Mel she could be. She’d learn everything that Mel would teach her, and perhaps someday, Mel would tell her that she wanted her to be her mate. In the meantime, she would show she was willing to do whatever Mel wanted of her. For now, that consisted of learning to cook and any other tasks she wanted her to do.
She watched as Mel took her firing sticks—guns she called them—and walked around the temporary fold she had made using sticks with rope strung between them. Mel had explained that it wouldn’t really hold the animals, but they thought it did. Alinta wondered how Mel knew what the animals were thinking.
As Mel relaxed by the fire, she smoked from a pipe. Alinta knew what these things were since some of her people did the same, mostly the elders. Mel cut a notch in a stick she kept, explaining it was to help keep the date. Alinta nodded but didn’t understand what that meant. If it was cold, you shivered or put on more skins, and if it was hot, you took the extra skins off. She knew white people used clothes, not skins, but the concept was the same. If it was dark, you slept, and if it was light, you worked or moved. She didn’t understand the concept of days or dates.
She watched as Mel disrobed, taking off her boots, which were like shoes but longer. These boots went to Mel’s knees. Then she removed her pants and below them there was what she called summer underwear. Alinta wondered why the summer would need underwear but had accepted the words. Mel’s long shirt, not much different than the ones Mel had provided Alinta, hung down to her thighs, although they were longer on Alinta, hanging down to her calves just like a dress.
That night, Alinta sensed a tension in the air between them. She was aware that Mel had stared at her frequently that night. She wondered if she had done something wrong but didn’t think she had because Mel hadn’t become angry while explaining things she wanted Alinta to learn. Alinta wondered what it would be like to be held by the big and strong Mel. The woman had held her at various times on this trip, but Alinta craved it now. While thinking about being held by Mel, Alinta fell into a dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER TEN
Alinta woke as soon as Mel started to move around. After getting dressed, she hurried to start their breakfast, and while that was
cooking, Alinta went off into the brush, out of the way to take care of her necessities. The damper was heated by the time she returned, and she fried some of the leftover meat from dinner the night before.
She watched as Mel walked around the sheep. The sky got lighter, but it was overcast with ominous rain clouds. The dogs stirred and greeted Mel, and she talked to them, praising them for watching the sheep. There were more of them than Mel had kept under the house back at Carmen and Fabiola’s station, and they had come along the trail with them. As Alinta watched, when Mel got to the far side, she unlimbered the fire stick and shot, then she shot again. The noise was loud in the still air of the morning. Alinta could hear the yelping of a dingo. The sheep surged slightly, but the dogs held them at bay. The sound of the gun scared Alinta too. She didn’t go anywhere near the guns that Mel kept.
Alinta hurried to finish preparing breakfast for them, placing the food on tin plates with a fork and a knife. After breakfast, she washed the dishes in water and laid them out to dry.
Mel let the sheep out into the large field near their camp and left the dogs to watch them as he began to haul deadfalls from the woods and chop down any dead trees. Alinta rushed to help, but Mel wouldn’t let her lift any of the heavier trees, explaining that it would be too hard on her baby. Alinta was able to help dig up some of the plants that Mel indicated she wanted to replant around the large fold she was building. Alinta didn’t quite understand what a fold was, having only seen the rope ones, but she got the idea as it took shape, remembering the pens back on the other station. The walls were rising through a combination of dead trees, split rails, and plants. Although Mel wouldn’t let her lift anything heavy, she found she could weave sticks, smaller trees, and plants between the rails that Mel was raising, and Mel was pleased with this help.
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