The Plantation

by Di Morrissey

  ‘Yes. She lives in Cairns. All our family like to visit her there often.’

  ‘Cairns! Why Cairns?’ asked Julie, amazed by this news.

  ‘She said she liked the climate. After all her years in Malaysia, she said that she couldn’t live any further south than Cairns. It would be too cold for her anywhere else, even Brisbane. She still lives independently, in an apartment. It’s very nice.’

  ‘Is she still painting?’ asked Julie, her voice almost a whisper.

  ‘Yes. She likes to paint Australian flora, especially the orchids that grow in North Queensland. I’ll write down her details for you.’ She rose and left the room.

  Julie turned to Christopher. ‘Pinch me. I don’t believe this. Wait till I tell Mum. She’ll be over the moon.’

  He gave her a quick hug. ‘I’m really happy for you. I suppose you’re going straight up to Cairns when you get back?’

  Julie shook her head. ‘I’ll have to talk to Mum. I just hope that it’s not too late and Bette will see us.’

  ‘Nonsense, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to meet you and your mother,’ said Christopher.

  Julie nodded. ‘Maybe we’ll phone her. Or send her a letter.’

  Carla returned with a piece of paper and handed it to Julie who glanced at the address.

  ‘Yes, I suppose we should write first, let her get used to the idea. I hope she’ll agree to see us.’

  ‘Por Por is a very lovely lady,’ said Carla. ‘You’ll like her. Perhaps you could come back and see us another time. Stay here, of course. I’ve written my phone and email on the paper as well.’

  ‘How about I take a photo of the two of you?’ said Christopher.

  Julie handed him her camera and he took a shot of the two women with their arms around each other.

  ‘Well, we don’t want to hold you up any longer,’ said Christopher. ‘It’s been very interesting.’

  ‘So the wedding’s off?’ asked Carla with a smile.

  ‘’Fraid so. I’m going back to Australia. Christopher is here, working at Butterworth,’ said Julie.

  Carla shook Christopher’s hand. ‘Do call me and come for tea sometime. I’ll give you a proper tour of the treasures of Rose Mansion. They seem to interest you.’

  ‘Thank you. I’d like that.’

  ‘So would I,’ said Julie. ‘And I’ll bring my mother, next time. If that’s all right.’

  Carla gave her a brief embrace. ‘Please do. We’ll keep in touch.’

  Christopher glanced at his watch as the elderly Indian opened the boom gate for them. ‘Only an hour in there. It felt as though we were in there for ages.’

  ‘I know. It seems like a dream. I can’t believe that Bette is still around. I’ll call my mother and tell her the news as soon as I get back to the hotel.’

  ‘I hope you’ll have the opportunity to meet your aunt and that she turns out to be all that you expect,’ said Christopher.

  ‘I’m really grateful that you got us into Rose Mansion, or I’d never have known any of this,’ said Julie.

  ‘You can buy me a drink tonight if you like.’

  Julie smiled. ‘Happy to, see you at my hotel around seven.’

  *

  When Christopher arrived at Julie’s hotel that evening, he knocked on her door.

  ‘Chris, come in. I’m talking to my mother. I have some nibbles and a bottle of wine on the table.’

  Clutching the phone to her ear, Julie pointed to the wine, standing in an ice bucket, beside a small plate of hors d’oeuvres. Chris poured her some and handed her a glass before picking up an olive and gazed out the window at the city skyscrapers around them.

  Julie was trying to interrupt the flow of conversation at the other end of the phone. ‘I know, I know. It’s staggering. I agree, we should write to her first. Listen, Mum, I have to go, I have a friend here . . . of course. Yes, I took photos of the Rose Mansion, well, the outside. Yes, and Carla. Okay, I’ll call you tomorrow before I leave. Yes . . . it’s extraordinary. I love you too.’ She put down the phone. ‘Sorry, Mum was so excited about the news and wanted details, so I told her all I knew. I’m ready for this glass of wine. Cheers.’

  They touched glasses.

  ‘Have you told Shane and Peter?’ asked Christopher. ‘I rang the boys, but they weren’t there, so I spoke to Martine. She was really happy for me and said she’d tell them.’

  ‘I’m pleased for you too.’ He raised his glass. ‘This has been quite a trip for you.’ He sipped his wine. ‘I hope we can keep in touch. I want to know the next episode in the saga of Great Aunt Bette.’

  ‘Of course! I’ll keep pestering you with emails.’ Julie suddenly realised that she would soon be leaving Malaysia and, while she was sure that she would eventually return, she now realised how dismayed she felt about leaving Christopher. ‘I suppose you’ll be leaving Malaysia at some stage.’

  He shrugged. ‘I won’t be here much longer, but your life isn’t your own when you’re part of the RAAF. Occasionally you have a say in things. But you’ll come back here to Penang, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, but when? I have a job and I’ve used up all my holidays. But the time I’ve spent in Malaysia has been amazing. I never dreamed I’d find, well, so much!’ she spread her arms. ‘Seems surreal. My cousins, the plantation, Rose Mansion, Carla, and now Bette – alive and kicking it seems.’

  ‘And me. Do I get a look-in as a character in this story?’ he asked softly.

  ‘Of course! It’s been wonderful to share this with you and you’ve been so helpful and so interested.’ Her voice trailed off as she saw the tender look in his eyes, the slight smile and lifted eyebrow. And in a rush, a kaleidoscope of images came to her: playing tennis with him, drifting through the magic of the mangroves, talking by the pool, sharing dinners and lunches, and now the excitement of Rose Mansion and the discovery of Bette . . . And then their heads drew close and he was kissing her. Julie had the sensation of suddenly letting go, of being swamped by a tide of feelings she hadn’t realised she had held in check. If Christopher was surprised by her unexpected ardour he didn’t react except to enfold her in his arms as she wound her arms about him.

  Much later, dinner forgotten, they fell asleep in a tangle of sheets.

  Dawn came and a distant muezzin called the faithful to prayer. Soon the jingle of bicycle bells and the clang of food hawkers setting up their stalls stirred them from their sleep. The day had begun.

  ‘I’m going to miss these exotic sounds first thing in the morning,’ said Julie.

  Christopher didn’t reply at first, but rolled onto his side and gently smoothed her hair. ‘You look pretty first thing in the morning.’

  She pulled the sheet over her face. ‘I didn’t even wash my face last night.’

  ‘We had better things to do.’ He pulled the sheet away and kissed her nose. ‘In a way I wish this hadn’t happened . . .’ As she started to protest, he put a finger to her lips. ‘I feel very attracted to you and now I’m going to miss you. Wonder about you . . .’

  ‘Me too . . . But I have to go back, Chris. I’d love to stay longer.’

  ‘I know, I know. Of course you have to. Listen, we just have to keep in touch, keep in contact,’ he said. ‘Speaking of contact . . .’ He grabbed her and the intensity of their looming separation was dissipated as they playfully wrestled before clinging to one another, making love once more, this time the passion more tender, more poignant.

  They went out to the street and sat at a street stall together while Chris watched in amazement as Julie downed a huge breakfast.

  ‘Where are you putting all that?’

  ‘I’m going back to Brisbane . . . It’s hard to find food like this at home! I’m making the most of it.’

  Before he returned to Butterworth, Christopher drove her to the airport for her flight to Kuala Lumpur.

  ‘It won’t be too long till we see each other again. I just know it. We’ll work something out. Keep me posted about Aunt Bette.’
<
br />   She nodded, finding it hard to speak.

  He kissed her and then handed her a small package. ‘Nothing sinister. You’ll be right going through security,’ he said, giving her a quick hug before watching her walk away.

  She opened the package on the plane and found that Christopher had given her a small book of watercolour paintings of Penang including one of Rose Mansion. Later on the flight, to distract herself from thinking too much about him, she delved in her bag and pulled out the copy of Bette’s pamphlet that Angie Ping from the Kuching museum had given her and read it.

  Julie gazed out the window at the clouds shielding the view below. She imagined that she was far above the mist-shrouded dark jungles of Borneo and the passion of her aunt’s words, written so long ago, struck a powerful chord with her.

  These affable, clever, playful, loving creatures are among our nearest living relatives. The wanton destruction of their jungle home, the stealing and murder of their families, is as unnecessary as war, genocide and the worst kind of human behaviour. Let us leave the orangutans in peace and learn from them.

  Almost fifty years ago, Bette had feared for the future of orangutans. Sadly, Julie reflected, her aunt had been right. Those issues that Bette had raised all those years ago had not yet been addressed, and the great apes were now critically endangered.

  Julie was happy to be home. The minute she walked out of the airport into bright sunshine she realised how she’d missed the clear blue skies of Brisbane. She had not enjoyed the grey pall that hung above Malaysia so much of the time. And it was nice to be back in her neat, white, calming cottage. How quiet and reclusive her street seemed after the clutter, noise and energy of the streets in Malaysia. She then drove to her mother’s house and walked around the garden with her father while her mother made tea.

  ‘This has been quite an eventful trip,’ commented Paul. ‘Your mother is quite stunned by your news. Excited too, of course.’

  ‘It is quite a story. I suppose it’s not so unusual to have these kinds of secrets in a family,’ said Julie. ‘I’m sure we’re not the only ones.’

  Her father nodded. ‘Your mother watches those TV shows where they find lost relatives and so on. There’s always some twist and surprise and a secret revealed. As a matter of fact, I know a fellow whose wife was perfectly happy, grew up with an older sister and when her mother died she was going though some documents and found out at the age of fifty that she had been adopted. On top of that was the revelation that her older sister had known all along. It certainly rocked her and she took some time to get over that little family secret.’

  ‘How awful,’ said Julie. ‘At least our secret turns out to be good news.’

  ‘I hope so. You remember how prickly your grandmother could be? Let’s hope that her sister isn’t the same. By the way, your mother missed you while you were away, so it’s been good she’s involved in this bypass thing.’

  ‘What’s happened with the bypass, Dad?’

  ‘The committee has hired a lawyer and he’s found out that there could have been an earlier bypass plan, but he doesn’t know why it was scrapped.’

  ‘That’s interesting, I suppose, but will it give us any ammunition to fight it here?’ asked Julie.

  ‘No idea, but you let your mother handle this, she’s really got her teeth into it.’

  Caroline called them to the verandah where she had morning tea set out.

  ‘This looks lovely. Didn’t see any pumpkin scones in Malaysia,’ said Julie.

  ‘Did you like the food?’ asked her mother as she poured the tea. ‘Mother always had a fondness for spicy dishes. And she made a wonderful mango chutney.’

  ‘I loved it!’ said Julie, feeling happy as she thought of the meals with Christopher. ‘Do you remember any special dishes?’ she asked her mother.

  ‘I can’t say I do,’ she replied. ‘I was too little. Now, fill me in on your adventures. Was David Cooper helpful? How was it living in the jungle with the wild men of Borneo?’

  ‘Yes, he was helpful. So many people were. Especially a very nice RAAF pilot, a friend of the Elliotts. If it hadn’t been for Christopher getting me into Rose Mansion and meeting Carla we’d never have found out about Bette.’

  ‘A pilot?’ asked her father.

  ‘He’s working at Butterworth. Some liaison thing with the Malaysian Air Force,’ said Julie.

  ‘What happened to David?’ demanded Caroline. ‘I thought you’d see a lot of him there.’

  ‘He had to spend more time with the villagers, which I didn’t want to do. It was a bit uncomfortable in those longhouses,’ said Julie. ‘Actually, Mum, I found David a bit, well, overkeen, a bit pushy. He irritated me.’

  Her father smiled at his wife. ‘Oh dear. You can forget about that one, dear.’

  ‘Dad, he was absolutely not my type. But, I have to say that the experiences I had in Sarawak were very interesting. I think he’s still very keen to help you with the bypass, Mum.’

  ‘We could still use him, so I hope you didn’t upset him too much,’ said Caroline.

  ‘Mum! It’s okay. I went off to do my own thing and he had his work. You can catch up with him when he gets back to Brisbane.’

  ‘So what’s your plan?’ asked Paul, to change the subject.

  ‘I thought we should write to Bette. Break our existence to her gently, let her take her own time, rather than ring her out of the blue,’ said Julie.

  ‘Very sensible,’ said her father. ‘Besides, you have to go back to work, you can’t go gallivanting all the way up to Cairns, just now, can you?’

  ‘I think we should make contact with Bette as soon as we can. She is getting on,’ said Caroline.

  That evening with her parents, Julie went through the whole sequence of events from when she first arrived in Malaysia. She brought out her laptop with her downloaded photographs and showed pictures of Shane and Peter, Martine, the big house at Utopia and other parts of the plantation.

  Caroline was thoughtful. ‘I can’t recall any of this. I have some vague memories, but none of this looks familiar.’

  ‘I’m not surprised. The plantation would’ve been very different in your day. But we should all go there,’ said Julie. ‘We could stay in Penang at Rose Mansion with Carla, see Marjorie, then go to Utopia. And I’d love to show you Langkawi Island. I’ve made so many new friends there . . .’

  ‘Yes, looking at your photos, I can see it all looks very beautiful, but I have to say that I would love to meet Bette first,’ said Caroline.

  ‘Yes, I agree, but really you should go to Malaysia, it’s part of our family, it’s your heritage,’ exclaimed Julie.

  ‘You seem pretty keen on the place,’ said Paul.

  ‘I feel I’ve just scratched the surface,’ said Julie. ‘I didn’t go to Malacca, which everyone tells me is really interesting and has beautifully restored historic architecture, or to the east coast and swim in the South China Sea, or drive into the highlands.’

  Her mother started putting glasses and plates on the tray. ‘Let’s see Bette first. Why don’t we compose the letter together tonight?’

  After much discussion about how much to put in the letter and deciding to keep it brief and simple, they finally posted it.

  Dear Aunt Bette,

  I am Caroline, Margaret’s daughter, and I have only just discovered that you are living in Cairns. I am living in the family home in Brisbane since Mother died. My daughter Julie and I would love to talk to you, if that is at all possible. Here is my phone number. With love and warm wishes – after such a long time!

  Caroline Reagan, nee Elliott

  ‘We’ll give her a couple of weeks to reply and then if we don’t hear from her we’ll call her,’ said Julie.

  ‘She might take awhile to digest this news and my hunch is she’ll send a note rather than phone,’ said Caroline. ‘She’s of that generation.’

  Julie emailed Christopher, telling him how she felt about being home, and how she and Caroline hoped t
o go to Cairns in the near future. But once she returned to work, she had a lot of catching up to do. She was swamped and found that she was working late – there was a marketing project in Melbourne that would take up all her time for the next few weeks.

  Then all thoughts of Bette were swept away when Caroline rang Julie one evening with some very exciting news.

  ‘It’s Adam and Heather,’ she exclaimed breathlessly.

  ‘Mum, what’s up? What’s happened to Adam and Heather? Are they all right?’

  ‘They’re expecting a baby! At last! I’m beside myself. I’m so thrilled. I have to go and visit them immediately.’

  ‘Mum! They’ve just announced it. When is it due?’

  ‘Not for seven months. But I want to be there now, help them celebrate. I’ve been longing to be a grandmother.’

  Julie smiled to herself. ‘Mum, you can’t stay with them for seven months. Make it a quick trip. I’m sure they’ll want you back when the baby is due. What about the bypass? And what about visiting Bette?’

  ‘Well, there’s not much happening with the bypass since we heard from the lawyer, and you’re flat out at work anyway, and we haven’t heard from Bette at all, so maybe she doesn’t want to speak with us. And I know, you’re right, I can’t stay with Adam and Heather for seven months, but I just have to go now.’

  Julie was pleased that her mother was so happy about her brother’s news. She shared the excitement with Christopher.

  I’m very pleased that you’re going to be an aunt. I bet you’ll be the best aunt ever. I like the sound of your family and I know when you meet Bette, she’ll warm to you no matter what happened in the past. I’m waiting for the next exciting episode. My life seems pretty dull and empty compared with yours! Have to say I miss seeing you. Chris x

  11

  HOW QUICKLY SHE SLIPPED back into her old life, and how crazy and frustrating that life suddenly seemed to Julie. She was hardly ever home. She made two trips to Melbourne to help launch a new company, she wrote reports, and she tried to spend time with her father while her mother was away in Adelaide. There just didn’t seem to be time to sit back and relax in peace, with space and openness around her.