by Anita Heiss
Mary has her ear pressed against the door and she doesn’t like the way her father is talking about using Hiroshi, as though he is not a human being with feelings, a man who has already endured the trauma of fighting in New Guinea, before being imprisoned in a military camp and then hidden underground in the dark and damp for over a year. She wants to say something but she can’t. She stands silently, hoping Mrs Smith doesn’t come home early from her Red Cross meeting.
Banjo looks to Sid and Fred with a frown.
‘I reckon that Sydney paper, The Telegraph, would love to write about you,’ Fred says, picking up on Banjo’s request for backup. ‘And they’d probably take some photos.’
‘Maybe.’ Smith shrugs and becomes less angry as the minutes tick by. His own mind is working as fast as Banjo’s as he thinks about how this could work well for him. ‘What else were you thinking, just in case I choose not to take this straight to the police, because that’s what I should do, you know that, don’t you? I am, after all, a law-abiding citizen and I am a good friend of the Mayor, as you would also know. And many of the councillors.’ He pauses. ‘But, Banjo, I tell you, it feels like something doesn’t sound right here. And if I find out you’re lying to me, well, there’s no telling what the Welfare Board will do to you.’
Banjo has small beads of sweat on his brow and is starting to feel a little nauseous. While they have all been part of the plot, he’s never told so many lies straight-faced or straight to someone’s face before.
‘What if . . .’ Sid butts in. ‘What if we have a shindig for the one who got away? I mean, a shindig for the one who you found!’ he says excitedly, pointing at the Manager.
‘I’m the good guy, then?’ Smith asks, and the men can see his mind ticking over. ‘I can see the headline now: JOHN SMITH GIVES A HOME TO A JAP.’ He shakes his head. ‘No, that won’t work, I can’t be seen as a Jap lover, that won’t win me any friends. I hate the Japs. Most people in town hate the Japs.’
‘Or,’ Sid says, ‘maybe something like, JOHN SMITH GIVES A HOME TO SOMEONE WHO USED TO BE THE ENEMY.’
Smith screws his face up, but Fred has a better idea, ‘Or, what about MISSION MANAGER TO START PEACE PROCESS HIMSELF?’
‘Oh, I like that, that’s a good one,’ Smith says.
Fred smiles because he knows they all need to make King Billie happy about what they have done. But the truth is the three men feel sick at the lengths they’re going to so that they aren’t thrown into the lockup and Hiroshi isn’t just thrown back into the thick of the military camp. Although none of them know him, they understand that the choice they made to take him in originally means they have a responsibility for his welfare until the end.
‘Mary!’ Smith calls out.
Mary’s stuck where she stands behind the kitchen door, frozen with the reality that Hiroshi is about to be made public and returned to Japan. Everything is suddenly out of her control. Emotions overwhelm her and she feels dizzy.
‘Mary!’ Smith calls again. ‘Your daughter needs more discipline,’ he says to Banjo, who has completely forgotten, in the midst of everything, that his daughter is here somewhere, working.
‘Mary!’ he calls one more time, and the girl appears. ‘I need my best shirt and suit cleaned and pressed for photos.’
‘Yes, sir,’ she says without looking at her father or the other men. Her head is spinning, her heart is hurting, tears are welling, and she feels flushed and sick.
Banjo doesn’t like the way Smith speaks to Mary, but he is exhausted from the charade and can’t summon the words to deal with the Manager any more. And what would he say anyway? Sid is right, the Blacks never tell the whites what to do.
Smith stands up. ‘Where is the Jap now, then? Is he chained up? I should meet the yellow bastard, I guess. You need to get his name, and does he speak English?’
‘We’ve got him locked up in the air raid shelter down the back of my lot,’ Banjo says. ‘We got his name out of him. And he said thank you when we gave him some damper.’
‘Right, leave him there.’ Smith paces as he thinks. ‘That’s a good place to keep a prisoner. But we probably can’t have him looking sick for the cameras. I am a generous man, you know, I need to have him looking half-decent, because we aren’t cruel like the Japs. I don’t want him here, but I’ll get the wife to make some food and send it over with your girl. When she’s finished here, of course.’
There are so many things wrong with Smith wanting to feed Hiroshi but no one comments. As far as all the men are concerned, they’ve saved their tails, made life a little easier for Hiroshi and got King Billie on side for the time being. They all know he could turn at any minute, but they will cross that bridge if and when they come to it.
When the children are in bed and most locals are inside, Banjo, Joan and Mary welcome Hiroshi back into the world with little ceremony. Mary goes to the shelter to fetch him.
‘We’re letting you out!’ Mary says. There’s fear in her voice.
‘What do you mean? Hiroshi asks.
‘Tonight, we’re letting you out. My dad told the Manager about you. It’s time for you to come up and . . .’ She bursts into tears and rushes to his embrace. ‘I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want you down here, but I don’t want you to go away.’ Her heart is beating so fast and hard Hiroshi can feel it.
Hiroshi has spent months waiting for the moment of release and now it is upon him, he shakes with nervousness. He is not ready for what he will face in the coming days and weeks. All he can think about is the impact freedom will have on his senses. He wants to hear the unfiltered sounds of cockatoos and kookaburras like he did back at the camp, when he sat outside in the mornings. The barking owl that the men would all complain about because it sounded like a screaming woman will now be music to his ears. Having lived with only the muffled sounds of life above ground, and the regular sound of his breathing and Mary’s voice for so long has challenged him mentally, taking him almost to the brink of insanity.
Mary wipes tears from her face. ‘Come,’ she says, taking his hand to walk to the ladder.
Hiroshi takes each rung cautiously and nervously. He knows as he climbs this time it will be the last.
Mary emerges from the dark of the bunker, followed by Hiroshi. He climbs out slowly, seeing the stars in the night sky, and he knows the day ahead will be clear; there will be sunshine and a blue sky that has been missing from his sight for too long. He wants to see the sun rise and set and to feel the breeze on his skin. He doesn’t care that the air will be hot, it will be fresh and not filled with his own odour, which he has had to endure for months in the bunker.
In the dark of night, Hiroshi can’t see the lush green of the grass that has grown with recent rainfall, but he can smell it. And he can smell the sweetness of spring. He breathes deeply, and he inhales his new freedom. Freedom is seeing the stars, smelling the land, hearing the wildlife and touching the woman he loves. And she is there, anxious, conscious of her behaviour in front of her parents. Aware that as much as she wants to throw her arms around Hiroshi, she can’t.
It is an awkward moment for all of them. No one knows how to behave; Hiroshi doesn’t know how to react. He wonders if the same awkwardness will greet him when he gets home.
‘Clean clothes for you,’ Joan says as if she’s a nurse speaking to a patient. She hands Hiroshi some folded clothes: fresh shirt and pants, shoes and socks. ‘You can wash over there.’ She points to the tub the family wash in, which Banjo has strung a hessian sheet around for privacy. ‘We live up there,’ she adds, ‘and you can come and have something to eat with us when you are ready.’
It seems like an eternity before he is standing at their door. He knocks gently and waits for someone to answer. The children are asleep and Mary leads him into the kitchen. They all sit drinking tea for a while and eat damper and treacle. Hiroshi and Mary strain not to look at each other; he feeling guilty for falling in love with the daughter of the family who rescued him, she feeling scared of
what her parents will do.
‘Well, it’s time for bed, Mary,’ Banjo says. He has not told Fred and Sid or their wives what he is doing tonight for fear of overwhelming Hiroshi, and because they’d all agreed to keep him locked up. ‘Big day tomorrow, with Hiroshi being interviewed for the paper. I need to talk to him about that, so he knows what to say.’
Mary takes some time before she nods; she doesn’t want to leave. Hiroshi looks up and meets her eye. A grin takes over her face.
Joan sees the spark between the two and knows this is not going to end well for her daughter. She gets up with Mary.
As the women leave the room, Mary turns back once more and throws a tiny wave, her heart racing but glad at the thought that her love will be sleeping in the front room tonight, while she squeezes in with James and her sisters.
Hiroshi listens to Banjo talk about Mr Smith, the story the men concocted, and what the newspaper will probably ask him.
‘Keep your answers short,’ Banjo advises, ‘do you understand?’
Hiroshi nods. ‘Yes, I understand.’
‘Your English is very good.’
‘I went to university. I studied English. And Mary has helped me practise a lot.’
When Mary wakes she is out of bed before her eyes open, excited about the day ahead, about the planned celebration and about the newspaper coming to interview Hiroshi. She hopes everyone will try to be kind, even though she knows that most people think like her Uncle Kevin and hate the Japanese. But she’s not prepared for what she sees when she emerges onto the verandah: her father and the man she loves drinking tea and smoking cigarettes. She didn’t know Hiroshi smoked and she doesn’t care, because it is something that has connected him with her father. This is a good thing, she thinks as she gets ready for work.
Banjo and Hiroshi sit near the spot where Banjo first found him in the cold of an August morning, sniffed out by the red cattle dog. KB sits by Banjo again this morning, only slightly suspicious of the new character.
One by one, the Williams children come out and introduce themselves to Hiroshi. He stands and bows to them. The girls bow back, giggle, and return to Joan in the kitchen. James climbs onto his father’s lap and within minutes has managed to shift onto Hiroshi’s, just as he would’ve if his Uncle Kevin had been there. The young fella notices only one thing: that there is another man in the house, which is often overrun with women.
Nervously, Mary walks to the door of the verandah to leave. ‘Good morning, I have to go to the Smiths’ now,’ she says to her father, only half looking at Hiroshi. ‘I’ll see you afterwards.’ She is worried that she is behaving unusually and her father will notice – or worse, that Hiroshi will think she is strange now that he is out in the daylight. But she is already late and hasn’t got time to waste wondering about things like that. She stumbles as she leaves their hut, embarrassed and blushing as she makes her way to the Smiths’.
John Smith is in an unusually good mood today. He doesn’t even yell at Mary for being late, but he doesn’t speak to her either. She goes straight to the kitchen and prepares breakfast for Catherine and Carmichael and listens to Mr Smith whistling all the way into the lounge room.
‘I’m going to be in the paper, probably the front page,’ he yells out to the children. ‘I’m going to be known as a humanitarian,’ he says walking back to the kitchen. ‘Do you know what that is?’
Neither of the children responds, they are not used to their father being in such a good mood, or talking to them over breakfast.
‘It means I do good deeds.’ He nods. ‘And I do! I could’ve just handed the Jap over to the military but, no, I didn’t. I’ve fed him up and given him clothes and we’re giving him a farewell. Because I’m a good human being.’ Smith uncharacteristically cuddles his wife. ‘And the good press might get us out of this place. I know you’d love to live somewhere bigger, somewhere like Bathurst.’
‘King Billie’s in his element, isn’t he?’ Banjo says to Fred and Sid.
Fred is frowning as he looks at Smith, who has his arm over Hiroshi’s shoulder. ‘If he really does hate all Japs, then he’s hiding it well – they look like best mates over there.’
‘Hiroshi looks like he’s trying to get out from King Billie’s grip, but he’s playing the part. He’s a bit of an actor,’ Sid says. ‘And the newspaper loves it.’
Smith is talking non-stop about how peace begins in Cowra and he is happy to feed Hiroshi back to good health. ‘Of course, we had no idea he was here until a couple of days ago, he hid in a bunker, of all places.’
‘Genius idea, Banjo, just genius!’ Fred says to his friend.
Banjo takes the moment in and draws on his cigarette. ‘We actually beat them again,’ he says proudly.
Mary walks from the Smiths’ and stands next to her father, saying nothing.
All the mission kids have gathered around, noticing how different Hiroshi looks. Someone calls out, ‘Samurai!’
‘Wait!’ Hiroshi says and walks away from John Smith. Everyone follows him with their eyes and the kids start to follow with their feet.
‘What are you looking for, mister?’ one asks.
‘A stick, so I can make a sword,’ he says.
Soon every kid and most of the teenagers are picking up sticks and branches and showing them to Hiroshi, hoping theirs is the one he will want. He finds a small branch and starts to make a mock sword by pulling all the twigs and leaves from it until it is almost completely smooth. He sits on the ground and the kids sit around him. The newspaper journalist has walked over and so has John Smith, not happy that the spotlight has been taken away from him.
‘In ancient times,’ Hiroshi says, and everyone is surprised at how good his English is, ‘Japanese warriors were chosen for being good leaders.’ Someone hands Hiroshi some long reeds and Hiroshi uses them to tie a short stick to the long one for a small handle. ‘And if you were chosen you received a sword from the Emperor.’ There is not a word spoken as the locals become mesmerised by the skill of the stranger as well as the story. ‘The modern soldier also wears a sword as a symbol of justice and peace.’ Hiroshi stands up and hands the sword to John Smith. ‘I give this to you as a sign of peace.’
The Manager is basking in the glow of his own ego. Everyone knows it, but no one cares. As long as he is happy they can have their day of fun, including music by the Williams men, who have started playing already.
‘Harry is really talented too,’ Joan says, looking proudly at Kevin’s cousin who’s also a musician.
‘The whole family is talented, and I reckon they got it from their Uncle Major Murray,’ Marj says, proud to have married into the Murray family.
Banjo brings his own banjo out to play.
‘Can I?’ Hiroshi asks, and Banjo hands it over.
‘How can a Japanese soldier play the banjo?’ Marj asks. ‘Surely it doesn’t come from Japan!’
Hiroshi tries to pluck the six-stringed instrument and all other noises dissipate. He attempts a traditional Japanese song, which is difficult with more strings than he is used to, but Mary is impressed. The kids all gather around and look more interested in banjo playing than ever before. One little kid tries to dance to the song and the old people cheer.
‘How?’ Mary asks, proud of the man she is in love with.
‘At home, I play something similar, it is called a shamisen but it only has three strings. I think this one might be easier to play.’ As people approach slowly to introduce themselves, Hiroshi shakes hands and bows. Each time he does, some of the kids mimic him and the adults tell them to stop. Everyone laughs, though – it’s a day of happiness.
Hiroshi can feel the rays of the sun penetrating his skin. He had almost forgotten what it was like to feel natural warmth. His lips are stretched to their limit with a smile that spans his face. Mary’s heart is singing as she stands back and watches from a distance, nodding to herself in a reassuring kind of way. She is overjoyed to see Hiroshi in the open, no longer a secret or conspi
racy, no longer one of the enemy. Her mind is working overtime now that she can see that he fits in, that people like him. If people like him then it will be easier to convince them that he should stay. That they can be together.
‘Here, mister, here,’ one of the young fellas sings out, holding a boomerang. ‘Come.’
Hiroshi walks to the paddock behind the mission. The boys show him how to throw a boomerang, with varying degrees of success. When he finally throws it and it comes flying back close to them all, there is a huge cheer.
‘He’s a natural,’ Banjo says to Mary, putting his arm around his daughter. ‘I think he is a good man.’
‘He is, Dad, he is.’
19
The day has come for Hiroshi to leave. He will travel in an Australian Army truck to Sydney, where he will go by sea to Japan with the few remaining soldiers from the Cowra Camp. John Smith claims to have kept his end of the bargain, promising that he would pressure the authorities to let Hiroshi stay in town longer; more time meant more potential press. But no matter how many names he dropped or how friendly he was with the Mayor, the army said they weren’t going to let a former POW stay anywhere other than under their watch. There was going to be an investigation into how Hiroshi had been missed in the head counts and someone was going to wear the blame for embarrassing the Australian military that way. Banjo hopes that nothing about Hiroshi’s time at Erambie is ever traced back to him and the others.
Banjo and Joan would not let Mary stay with Hiroshi in the front room on his final night at Erambie, but they agreed they could sit on the verandah as long as they liked. Mary and Hiroshi don’t speak much, knowing there is little left to say. The thought of running away together plays in each of their minds, but where would they run? Mary lives under the Aborigines Protection Act and the White Australia Policy will prevent Hiroshi from any real life in Australia. Besides, after being a soldier at war, a prisoner and finally an escapee in hiding, Hiroshi doesn’t want to run any more; he wants to be at home, he wants to be the son, the brother and the poet he has always dreamed of being. If Mary can’t be with him now, he will work to make it happen as soon as possible – as soon as his family understands why he is alive and how he came to fall in love with an Aboriginal girl and her family in Australia.