by T. H. Moore
Oodgeroo heard Elaina’s sniffling and looked over. “Oh, I am so sorry.” She placed her hands over her mouth in embarrassment. “I didn’t realize your husband wasn’t aware of your condition. We have four children of our own, and I’ve been midwife to over ten mothers here in my village. Babies are a regular part of our lives.” She brightened before she grabbed Charles’s hand. “She will bring forth a child seven or eight moons from now. Place your hands on her belly. Feel how swollen she is. Don’t worry. You’ll grow used to it. But it is peculiar at first. The first child always requires the most adjustment.”
To maintain appearances, Charles smiled and placed his hand on Elaina’s stomach. He couldn’t detect any swelling, but when he felt Elaina’s warm body, a chill washed over him, forcing him to withdraw his hand.
Chapter 19
AFTER THREE DAYS RECUPERATING IN the Yolngu hut, Charles had enough strength to venture outside. He had noted how eager Oodgeroo was to introduce Elaina and him to the villagers, so he decided it would be a good idea to see if they could make some more friends in the village.
Mandawuy was starting to look upon them with suspicion, and was becoming less content to not have any answers. Every day that Charles dodged his questions, he could see that Mandawuy was feeling less secure about having them remain with him and Oodgeroo. Charles knew it was just a matter of time before they would have to flee.
But Charles had also learned that his wife, Oodgeroo, enjoyed the attention her guest brought her in the village. She also relished in feeling needed. Mandawuy was the protector but his wife was the boss of the family, so they remained, and he played to her ego to ingratiate themselves. The longer he and Elaina could stay in the village, the stronger they would be when they left.
On this day, he had asked Oodgeroo to escort him for his first outing. Elaina had wanted no part of the spectacle, and remained inside. It had seemed that the moment she acknowledged her condition, her morning sickness came on with a fury. Up to the day prior, unaware of her condition, her only concern was to survive Katingal, but now, so cared for, she grew weak and was unable to digest even the blandest porridge that Oodgeroo prepared especially for her.
After making sure Elaina was comfortable, Oodgeroo emerged from her hut ahead of Charles, smiling and swinging her hips. The moment Charles, with his burgundy-hued skin, crossed the threshold, the villagers gathered to see him. But from how they eyed him, murmured among themselves, and kept their distance, it was clear to Charles that rumors had been circulating about these strangers in their midst.
What made Charles feel nervous more than anything was how the parents shielded their children and guided them away. He felt his heart racing as he wondered if somehow they had figured out who he was and the crimes he had committed.
But then he only needed to glance at his hostess, who remained near him beaming with pride, to know that he was being paranoid. Had it not been for Oodgeroo and Mandawuy, Charles and Elaina would have been rotting away, their carcasses picked over by the scavengers of the Northern Territory.
Charles considered the part that luck had played in the hand he was dealt. He wondered whether Oodgeroo and her husband would have saved him had he been alone. Maybe Oodgeroo’s clairvoyant detection of Elaina’s pregnancy was what had drawn her to save them from perishing in the outback. Maybe that was what had made the fugitives seem more human, the notion that they were bringing new life into the world.
The notion overwhelmed him to where he felt as if he was carrying a weight too heavy to continue walking. He squatted and sat on the ground.
“I thought you wanted to walk,” Oodgeroo said.
“My legs aren’t feeling so strong, but this fresh air is incredible.”
Oodgeroo shrugged and sat on the dusty ground next to him. She proceeded to point out, name, and describe the character of each villager. They conversed in her native aboriginal tongue, a language Charles’s supercharged brain had been able to learn quite quickly. His fluency helped assuage her concerns about his and Elaina’s past.
She pointed to a crowd of children running in circles and tried to explain the complicated tag-like game they were playing. The movement of their long limbs and lean bodies mesmerized Charles. The sharp pain piercing the back of his head returned.
“What games did you play when you were their age?” Oodgeroo prodded.
“My childhood was more scholarship than play after I was sent to boarding school in West Africa,” he said.
“You attended Sankoré?” she asked.
Charles was shocked that the reputation of his school had traveled to the nomadic lands of the aborigine. “Study. Eat. Sleep. Study.”
“Many of our world leaders attended your school,” Oodgeroo said. “Such an opportunity!”
“Yes, I guess. But I was young when they sent away there. It felt more like a punishment and that my parents were ashamed so they discarded me. Although, I did ultimately make quite a few influential acquaintances.”
“Your parents must have wanted what was best for you.”
“Right, the best for me. Well, they didn’t attend my graduation. They sent a letter of congratulations, along with my birth certificate and the business card for a lawyer. I haven’t seen or spoken to them since.”
Oodgeroo’s maternal kindness had disarmed him. He never opened up to others about his childhood, and certainly never spoke of this grief.
“They said I was a mistake,” he continued. “That I was sick. A burden to them. I would be a burden to the whole family. So they disowned me. Put some money in a trust fund and walked away.”
Oodgeroo placed her hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!” Charles snapped and jumped up.
“Your parents’ lack of love is not your fault,” she said gently. “Every child is deserving of love.”
“Yes,” he said, turning to watch the children again. “I couldn’t agree with you more.” His anger had flared up, consuming his reason. Charles had let his guard down, and he was resolute not to let it happen again. He wondered just how resolute Oodgeroo’s convictions would remain if he were to tell her what he wanted to do to those children, just how he wanted to love them.
The children’s game soon brought them closer to where he and Oodgeroo were standing as they chased one another into confusing circles, exploding into laughter when one would tag the other. Charles’s demon danced within. He could see the outlines of the girls’ bodies through their lightweight cotton dresses, their developing curves as they bounced and ran over the hard ground.
One girl came to be his object of desire. Her perky nose and smooth forehead shone in the sun, and her long, lean, brown body made him ache. He pressed his teeth together against the pain in his head as he watched her fall after her feet tangled with another’s. She sat for a moment a few feet in front of Charles and Oodgeroo and laughed into her hand.
Charles stood to offer her a hand.
Before the girl could take it, Oodgeroo stepped in front of Charles and reached down to pull the child up.
“My daughter, Abaroo, is so clumsy,” Oodgeroo said, smiling with pride. She and the girl wrapped their arms around each other.
“I didn’t realize you still had a child that lived at home,” he said.
“She’s been away with her grandmother, preparing for her womanhood ceremony tonight. It’s a very sacred ritual. So sacred, she should be spending every moment preparing,” Oodgeroo teased. “Where is your grandmother, child?”
“Sleeping. She and the other elders are resting in preparation for this evening. I promise, Mother, I’m ready and won’t dishonor you.” Abaroo bowed her head and looked at the ground.
“I know you won’t, because you’re going to return to your grandmother and continue your preparations. Your time for play has ended. Now go.”
“Yes, Mother.” Abaroo turned and ran off toward the
edge of the village until she passed out of sight.
The scene had caught the attention of the villagers, and Charles felt exposed. Oodgeroo’s pride in her daughter might have blinded her from noticing, but had the others seen his desire for Abaroo?
“Don’t let their eyes bother you,” she said. “You are my guest until you and Elaina regain enough strength. Your wife must not exert herself.”
“Oodgeroo, your charity is appreciated very much. You and your husband saved us, and for that, we will be forever grateful.” Charles felt the stares fall upon him again. “Perhaps we should return to your home and see how Elaina—”
“Oodgeroo!” came the voice, interrupting Charles. “Please, come here.” An elder male of the village summoned the woman from the entryway of a nearby hut.
Charles had been so taken with the teenagers’ play that he hadn’t noticed this stern man appearing. Hearing the elder’s call, Mandawuy emerged from his hut. Oodgeroo looked at her husband, her forehead pursed, and together they walked to greet the elder.
Charles watched the trio. The elder was explaining something, and his hosts listened, nodding. Everyone’s faces were tight and drawn. When the elder gestured toward him, Charles knew he had been found out. The tenor of their conversation was far too dire to be about ordinary circumstances. His skin flushed cold.
When the elder finished talking, he went into his hut, and Oodgeroo and Mandawuy came back toward Charles. Without looking at him, she continued to their hut and disappeared through the threshold.
Mandawuy stopped in front of Charles. Still seated, looking up at Mandawuy, Charles lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the sun awaiting his host’s message. “It is time for you and Elaina to leave. Your presence has disrupted our village.” He bent down to look Charles in the eyes. “Do you think we are a stupid people? Do you think because we have remained a nomadic tribe and shun what your people call ‘civilization’ that we are ignorant?”
The seriousness of the moment was undeniable. “No, Mandawuy, of course not.”
“We know what you are, Charles. You and Elaina.” His nose flared.
Charles’s blood felt electric in his veins.
“One of the customs of my people is to help those in need,” Mandawuy said. “But I knew what you were when we found you, and to my mind, you and your woman did not qualify for what is expected of this custom. Had I encountered you while alone, I would have left you for the buzzards. But my wife has a good heart, better than anyone I know, and she has a strong faith in humanity. That is why you are alive now. But her heart is sometimes too good. Only Eloah knows what evils you’ve committed to earn your exile to this continent.”
“Mandawuy, I—”
The aborigine raised a hand to silence him. “Our elders don’t care for any of you outsiders, as you have plundered our lands and erected a city to confine the worst of mankind. If it were possible, we would have fought you all off just as the indigenous people in the western continents. Instead, we have chosen to remain true to ourselves, and we live alone, at peace. The elders and I don’t know, nor do we care, what your crimes are, but we do know that nothing good will come of you two remaining here.”
Charles stood motionless, shocked into silence.
“Our customary obligation to provide help has been fulfilled,” Mandawuy continued. “You have to leave our village.”
“Understood,” Charles said. He stood, went into the hut, and sat on the floor beside Elaina, who was curled into a ball in their corner of the main room.
Mandawuy followed and disappeared into the back bedroom with Oodgeroo. Charles could tell from the tone of their whispers that their discussion was a heated one.
Elaina groaned in her sleep. He nudged her until she woke. She looked up at him angrily. Her face was very pale, her eyes unfocused.
“They know we’re fugitives,” he said. “They’ve always known. Their hospitality has come to an end. They’ve asked for us leave the village. Now.”
Elaina’s face fell. She turned away and curled back into a ball. “No,” she whispered. “No.”
Charles sat with her a moment, staring through the open doorway, catching glimpses of the villagers going about their business.
Eventually, Mandawuy and Oodgeroo’s argument died down and they were quiet. It was apparent how much they loved one another, how much respect lived between them. Charles looked at Elaina’s soft curves through the coverlet. The lust brought on by the young girl that had started in his stomach and had grown inside him returned as he listened to the children playing outside the hut. A throbbing migraine shot up from the base of his skull, matching the pulse in his genitals.
He leaned forward to cope with the discomfort, and instinctively gripped her arm.
“For Eloah’s sake, Charles, you’re hurting me!” she exclaimed, pulling her arm away.
He noticed that when he touched her, the pain dissipated.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s my head.”
He reached out and caressed her arm. She didn’t seem to mind his touch, for she lay back down. He thought of Abaroo, and desire regrew in his stomach and groin. His head pulsed with pain. He squeezed Elaina’s arm, and she reached to hold his hand. His headache subsided, but his body remained aroused.
Elaina moved away from him and avoided his eyes. “I thought you weren’t attracted to grown women.” She laboriously got to her feet, grimacing, and wrapped her arms around her chest.
“What does that have to do with us having to leave,” Charles said. He stood and began to gather some blankets, tools, and containers for water.
Elaina, understanding at last that they were leaving, found a burlap bag and filled it with food. He nodded, and she followed him out of the hut without a word to their hosts. They walked through the village, aware of people’s eyes on them, saying nothing.
When they reached the boundaries of the village, Elaina touched his shoulder and said, “I need to stop.”
“Just a while longer,” Charles said. “Let’s put as much distance as possible between us and the village.” When he looked back and saw her heading in the wrong direction, he said, “Where are you going? That’s not the way—”
“Shut up, Charles! I don’t feel well, and I have to pee.” She squatted in the brush, out of his sight.
“What’s the matter?” he said, approaching her. “I can hear you crying.”
“What are you doing? Stay over there.”
Charles stopped in his tracks, but could see a silhouette of her backside that ignited an aching lust for his travel companion. He sneered at himself and pushed the thoughts of her away by shifting to images of the teenage girl, her nubile body so taut and unspoiled.
He realized then that he could still get to her.
Elaina was rummaging through her sack of provisions, pulling out a rag that she used to wipe herself, followed by more winces of pain.
“Resting for a while isn’t such a bad idea,” Charles said. “We have plenty of provisions, and we’ll make better time traveling by daylight. I’ll set up camp. You get some rest, and we’ll continue at dawn.” He began to roll out their bedding.
Elaina looked at him as she gathered herself and threw the rag to the ground behind the brush. She pulled her clothes back on and returned to help Charles create a makeshift mattress and pillow on the ground as they had done the past few nights in the hut.
Charles organized the remaining supplies around Elaina and sat next to her. He watched over her, letting the rise and fall of her ribcage, the in and out of her breath, and the warmth emanating off of her comfort him as she fell into sleep.
Then he sat up, his hands resting in his lap, his eyes closed, taking deep breaths as the wind swirled around him. He detected a certain scent on the wind and waited, inhaling deep, to let it come to him fully. It was smoke, and moments late
r, the wind pushing at his back, he knew from what direction it was blowing. He opened his eyes, looked behind him, and searched the horizon.
His sight adjusted to the light, and then he saw it: a thin stream rising into the distant sky. He checked to make sure Elaina was asleep, then stood and began to walk in the direction of the smoke.
As he continued, the line of smoke grew thicker, and he began to hear the steady beats of a drum. He closed the distance to thirty-five yards and found some brush to hide behind. He remained still, barely breathing, as he watched the group of women both young and old. He counted four older women and nine younger girls, all in the midst of building several small shelters from sticks and mud.
He watched them until the older women left the girls to continue their work while they sat beside the fire and pulled leaves from satchels tied around their waists. When the girls completed the shelters, they joined the elder women near the fire and tossed the leaves into the flame.
“Sit and inhale the smoke, children,” one of the women directed.
The girls did as their elder instructed, though they all began to cough. One by one, each girl was led to the periphery of the fire’s light.
“Each of you lie down in the hollow we’ve prepared for you,” the woman said. “Tonight you begin your journey into womanhood. Here will you remain with us and do as we say. Your journey will span two moons before we release you to claim your husband and perform whatever duties he bids you. Behind you are the days when you ran about as you pleased. Behind you are the days when you could sleep when the sun was highest in the sky. Never again will you sleep at night until those elder than you are at rest first. For two moons, we will prepare your food. You will remove honey from your diet for four moons. At the first light of the next day, you must rise and eat the food we prepare. When you hear a bird call, you must shake yourself all over, and make a noise like this.”
Charles watched and listened, entranced, as the old woman made a ringing noise with her thick lips.
“You will do that every time you hear a bird sing. You will do that whenever you hear the people in this camp begin to talk, laugh, or sneeze. If you fail to do so, your hair will streak grey before you bear your first child. Your sight will become blurry, and your bodies will grow weak.”