The Birthmark (15 page)

‘It's just up here,' he shouted over the noise of the rain. He smiled at how good Lily looked with water streaming down her face.

Up ahead there was a natural cave in the limestone ridge. Hector ran to the opening and crouched inside. Lily was beside him in an instant, squatting under the low entrance, edging closer to him. The cave was tiny, about the size of a small car.

‘Move over, I'm soaking,' Christina said as she squashed in alongside them.

‘Is this it?' Lily said peering around the cave in the gloom. The dusty floor was littered with old ammunition cartridges.

‘No, the bunker is behind, through the crack in the ridge at the side there.' He pointed at the crevice they'd just passed.

Hector ran back out into the pass, then ducked under a low rock face that stuck out at knee height. As he entered the bunker he was aware of a cool chalky sensation that lingered at his lips. The air was dry and powdery. A pale light filtered into the chamber from a broad slit in the wall opposite. He moved towards the makeshift window and turned to watch Lily's expression as she entered. He saw her feet first, then her head ducked down and she crawled in after him.

‘
Ai-ye-we
!' Her eyes were as wide as pipi shells. She pulled herself up and moved over beside him.

‘You can't see much of the bay,' Hector said, indicating the overgrown trees that obscured the view, ‘but here they watched for battleships.'

Christina came in next and she whistled at the view. ‘You can see for miles up here!'

Hector gazed out, imagining US warships or even bombers approaching in the sky. These days there might only be a small boat, a dark smudge on a velvet sea, someone out catching fish for their families. Just like his
ibu
did every chance he could. But in this weather, the waters of the bay were black against a grey sky and no smart fisherman would get in a boat.

‘What's out here?' Lily said. She crawled through a small opening which formed a ledge on the cliff side, perpendicular to the bunker. Hector joined her and together they sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the rain fall.

‘It's great up here, Hector. It's worth the climb.'

‘I know. It's my special place.'

Hector looked at her but he couldn't catch her eye. She was totally absorbed by the view. He thought she looked so beautiful sitting with her knees drawn up under her chin, her face wet with rain.

‘How often have you been up here?' she said.

‘I don't know. A few times. Ibu came up once. He found a metal lunchbox and a helmet, plus some broken bottles, but the climb's too much for him now.' He paused and looked at her again.

‘Hey guys, you should see what's in here!' Christina called from above.

‘She's found the tunnel,' Hector said, ‘come on.'

He dropped back into the bunker and clambered through a narrow space that led back into the cliff. It was a passage that slanted upwards and was only a few metres long. Hector avoided the jagged flecks of rock that poked out along its length. The tunnel ended at the bottom of a natural basin, its sloping walls covered in ferns and saplings. Christina sat at the top of the basin wall, huddled under a tree for shelter.

‘The view's even better from here!' she shouted.

Hector pulled himself to his feet and made for the nearest sapling. He hoisted himself up the trunk to gain a foothold on the rim of the basin. Like Christina, his head was up amongst the lowest branches of a huge bean tree. He squirmed as a large drop of water, disturbed from the leaves above, ran down his back.

‘Hey, Lil, you should see the view from up here. It's like being on top of the trees.'

‘Yeah, you look like a monkey too.'

Hector looked down and saw Lily's head emerge from the small tunnel. He wondered if she'd make it all the way through, or if her arse would get stuck.

‘Shit, this wall scratches,' she said as she pulled herself clear and stood up. She rubbed at her left shoulder and noticed the rip that had appeared in her T-shirt. ‘Bastard,' she hissed, spitting into the mossy ground.

‘I bet the marines had meetings here,' Christina said. Lily gave her a blank look. ‘Maybe,' she said.

‘I think they all got pissed here and fell asleep,' Hector said.

Lily blinked up at him through the raindrops. ‘You know you sound like your grandfather—all this war stuff.'

‘Well, don't you ever think about it?' he said. He didn't want to look at her. She was taunting him, the bitch.

‘No,' she said, ‘at least I never used to.' Her voice dropped and was hard to hear over the spattering rain. She mumbled something about the sword.

Hector let go of the tree and dropped to the floor of the basin beside her.

‘What did you say?' he said.

‘I said I've only started thinking about it since we found the sword.' She looked away from him, back towards the small entrance hole. ‘I don't like it, Hector. I don't want to think about it at all.'

Hector felt helpless. He wanted to comfort her, tell her it was OK, but nothing came out of his mouth. He watched her kneel down, ready to crawl back into the tunnel.

‘I'm going back, it's creepy up here,' she said. ‘Come on, Christina.'

Christina slid back down to the tunnel entrance. She followed Lily out the tight exit.

Hector shrugged off a feeling of unease. He looked around the basin one last time. Something dull brown and smooth caught his eye a third of the way up the mossy wall to his right. He reached out and pulled at the half-buried object. It was another bottle just like the one Lily had found, but this one wasn't damaged. Hector was pleased with his find. He would take it back to Ibu. Then the old man would feel that he had been part of the exploration. He tried to wipe off the black soil and moss. He peered inside the neck and saw nothing but filth.

‘I wonder who drank from you, long ago?' he whispered into the neck.

A breeze picked up, swirling around the basin like a tiny wind funnel. It seemed to whisper in answer to his question. ‘
Egirow, Egirow
,' he thought it said. He shuddered as a tremor ran down his spine.

fifteen

Baringa District
6 March 1943

Alarmed, Tepu let himself slide backwards. Dirt and stones flew down on him; rocks tore at his skin. He fell with a slap against a small ledge, but he did not cry out. Ignoring the pain in his hip, he pulled himself in against the cliff face and cradled his head in his hands.

Above him the Japanese hurried to the edge of the cliff. Revolver shots rang out in the darkness. Some whistled past Tepu and ricocheted off the rocks. He heard marines calling out, shouting orders at one another. Within moments a strong beam of light swept over the drop and the shooting ceased.

Tepu prayed to his ancestors that he wouldn't be found. But where was Tarema? Had he been shot in that first spray of wild gunfire? Tepu berated himself for bringing him here. He should have tried harder to stop Tarema.

There was a flutter of wings. Brushing past Tepu, they ascended the cliff accompanied by shrill chirruping. Tepu dared not look up but he knew they were black noddies, swooping around the cliff face distracting the marines.

The searchlight withdrew and the voices returned to the familiar tones of laughter and banter.

Tepu lay there for what seemed like hours. When he could no longer hear the Japanese, he extracted himself from his hiding place. He felt his way back down the cliff. Each time he extended his leg to the right he grimaced from the pain in his hip.

Tepu estimated he was near the end of his descent when he heard someone breathing. He pressed himself against the cliff and listened carefully. There it was again, close by to the left. Whoever it was, they were hidden by the scrub that grew at the base of the cliff.

Tepu's veins pulsed with fear. Was it Tarema, lying half dead on the slope? Or was it a marine, waiting to ambush him. If it were Tarema, Tepu's indecision could mean death. If it were a marine, however, surely he would have fired by now.

Tepu crawled towards the sound and whispered Tarema's name.

‘You made it at last,' groaned his brother.

‘Are you all right? Can you walk?' Tepu said, groping towards him.

Tarema lay inert, covered in rubble. ‘I think my ribs are broken. When I breathe it hurts. I wanted to go home but I was worried they'd shot you. I decided to lie here until dawn so I could see what happened to you.'

Tepu gripped his brother's arm affectionately. ‘Well we're both alive. The black noddies saved us. The Japs thought it was only birds making a commotion.'

Again the noddies had come to Tepu's aid. He felt the black stone against his thigh. He was certain the stone was protecting him, keeping him alive for a special purpose. Though what that purpose was, he still wasn't sure.

Ring Road
Wednesday 30 June 2004

The rain had stopped and Lorelei wiped the seat of her scooter with the hem of her skirt. She sat heavily on the cushioned seat, balanced a plastic bag of groceries on the floor, and turned the ignition. The scooter lurched forward and she weaved it through the supermarket carpark, dodging potholes filled with brown water.

She turned to the right, onto the open road and headed for home via Yamek and Baringa Bay. Little clouds of steam floated up from the slick black bitumen before her. There was no traffic on the road. Lorelei liked the northern part of the island because there were so few houses and the road was more scenic. She loved the rise up to Yamek and the view from the top of the hill down into Baringa Bay. The waves crashing against the pinnacles in the bay sparkled in the sunlight and the breeze was soothing against her face.

Sometimes, on days like today and paydays, her surroundings became animated. The pinnacles looked like black giants emerging from the reef; the coconut palms stood in clusters like tall thin ladies bowing to one another and whispering. When Lorelei was a child, her family came out to the bay and went swimming or collected shellfish on the reef.

They often went to Baringa Bay or further around to Leper Beach, where Aunt Edouwe had once lived. Lorelei's mother, Rita, had no memory of Edouwe, her eldest sister. Rita was only six months old when the Japanese rounded up her mother and three other siblings and shipped them north to Truk in the Caroline Islands. That was during the war, when the fighting was at its worst. They spent more than two years on Truk in crowded conditions with little to eat, but at least they were with other Tevuans.

Rita was still a small child when she returned to Tevua. No one told her much about her sister Edouwe or her grandparents—people just said they died, drowned somehow. But a lot of people died during the war, even Rita's mother and one of her brothers. They were buried in Truk. Rita and her two surviving sisters were reunited with their father. He had been forced to work for the Japanese. They never talked about the war. The family losses were too great and too painful. Well that's what Rita and her sisters had always said.

As a child Lorelei would wade along the reef with her mother and aunties. They would hunt amongst the shallow water for tasty
ebon
and octopus. If they found anything delicious Rita would prise the seafood from the rocks, put it in a small basin and give thanks to God. Then she would say a silent prayer over the reef in the direction of Leper Beach. It was for their lost Aunt Edouwe, Rita would say. Lorelei even suspected her mother cried as she prayed, but she always wiped her wet hands across her face and Lorelei never knew if it was tears or sea water.

The sad moments were brief because Eldon would always be with them, still too young to go out with the men and their nets. He never failed to find a velvet black sea slug, force it to disembowel itself, then throw it at his sisters. Gertrude and Eide wouldn't flinch, but Lorelei ran screaming up the beach hounded by the laughter of her siblings. She had hated sea slugs ever since.

Just past the Baringa restaurant Lorelei turned her head and caught sight of movement near the old car wrecks. Teenagers hanging around as usual.

Lily? Was that her? What was she doing there with that white girl and that brat of a kid, Hector? They were at the jeep though, must be with his crazy grandfather. Lorelei had half a mind to turn back but thought better of it. She'd deal with Lily when they were at home, she'd make her see reason. The stupid girl thought she wouldn't be spotted eh? Shit girl, what does she think she's doing, going round with that thief? You can't wander around with a boy in broad daylight, what would people think? They'd all call you a
trut
. Why, oh why didn't Lily stay home and study? Why did she always go off on her own and skip school? She was never home. Lorelei's mouth twisted. She was pissed off now. Such a short burst of happiness and now Lily had gone and spoilt it all.

At home, she bolted down a few beers and waited for Lily to return. No one else was home. She played patience and smoked while she waited, looking up all the time at the wall clock. Lorelei had always admired the clock, one of her most prized possessions. The love heart shape was rimmed with a thick gold casing, so beautiful and shiny. It was a pity it hung against the wall smeared with mould. Lorelei fancied she was a bit like the clock: bright and special, in tatty surroundings.