FORTY
FOUR
13th
September 1912 – 6 Phillip Street, Neutral Bay, Sydney.
Willie and Grace saw each other approaching the house on Phillip
Street from opposite directions, and ran laughing the last few yards to beat
each other to reach the gate of number six before the other. They laughed as
Willie touched the gate post first and made a grab for Grace, hugging her to
him.
'Willie!' Grace called out. 'Stop it, what will people think?'
There was no anger in her admonishment and she had a broad grin across her
face. Those last few yards had brought her out into a sweat although the burn
had already gone out of the sun. It was shortly after six o’clock and both were
returning home from their respective place of employment, Willie from The
Neutral Bay Boatyard he ran with George, and Grace from her work as a shop assistant
in Neutral Bay itself. Willie opened the gate and allowed Grace to walk through
first.
'Thank you kind sir' she said in mock politeness, bowing her head
towards him. Willie in his turn made a deep bow and waved her thorough the
gate.
They entered the living room of the house through the front door
and called out to George. There was no response to their calling, so they
walked through into the kitchen, where through the kitchen window they both saw
the top of George’s head in the garden below the level of the window. He was
watching Clyda and the younger of the two girls from next door playing in the
garden. The two girls were running around the small lawn and jumping over the
blossoming flower beds taking care not to hit the flowers. Both knew how much
the flowers meant to George and the other adults who lived in the house.
George turned his head towards the sound of the two people coming
through the back door into the garden.
'Hello' he said, his face looked down and unhappy. Grace held onto
Willie’s arm as they approached. George appeared to be in a fairly miserable
state, his pipe in one hand whilst the other rested against his knee. He was
sitting on a short bench on the floor of the veranda, which ran along the back
wall of the house. His back was resting against the wall of the house, and his
left knee was drawn up towards his chest, his foot resting on the bench. He
tapped the pipe in his right hand on the side edge of the bench, he looked down
at the burned tobacco as it fell out onto the veranda. George glanced up at his
two friends. They had all been together for some time, George and Florence had
lived together as a married couple alongside Willie and Grace in the same ‘married’
state.
'Bad news then George?' Willie asked quietly. George paused for a
moment, tapping the pipe once more on the bench, then his face split into a
wide grin.
'No Willie, not bad news, really good news' he said, pushing up against
the floor to regain his feet. 'I just couldn’t resist giving you a fright.
Sorry.'
'You bugger you. You scared us half to death' said Willie
grinning. Grace dug him in his side with her finger at the use of unseemly
language before the children in the garden. 'Sorry,' he said quietly turning to
Grace with a suitably contrite look on his face. She nodded silently and he
turned back to George. 'So, go on then, tell us the news. We’ve been worried
half to death all day long wondering how you went on.' George looked over his
shoulder at the two girls still romping around the garden, apparently unable to
sink to the bottom of their well of energy or enthusiasm.
'Let's go into the kitchen' he said, 'I could do with a brew. Don’t
know about you two.'
The two men settled gently into chairs at opposite sides of the
kitchen table whilst Grace filled the kettle and set it on the stove to boil. She
stood waiting by the stove for the kettle to boil, her arms folded across her
chest, glancing silently across from one man to the other. She had loosed her
long brown hair from its normal workaday holding style and now it flowed freely
across her shoulders and down into the area of her back. The evening sunlight
shone through it, casting a halo like glow around her head. Willie looked across
the table at George waiting for his friend to break the silence.
'Well,' he finally asked, 'You going to tell us what happened?' George
grinned and nodded towards Grace standing by the stove waiting for the kettle
to boil.
'Hang on a second Willie, let’s wait ‘til Grace has brewed up.'
Willie smiled back and turned to Grace.
'Hurry up love,' he said, 'George is enjoying making us sweat before
he tells us anything.' Grace glanced over her shoulder,
'Can’t make it boil any quicker by wishing it' she said. The
kettle started to boil, issuing a low whistle slowly growing louder and
shriller until finally Grace lifted it from the stove and poured the boiling
water into a large brown teapot. Collecting the pot and a jug of milk she
carried them across the kitchen to the table, setting them down in the centre
of the plain scrubbed wooden top. When three cups had been poured she sat
herself down on the side of the table between the two men. Each of them took
milk from a small plain white pot jug from the table and spooned sugar into the
cups. George slowly lifted the cup to his lips and blew across the top of the
steaming brew. Tentatively he tried to sip at the still scalding tea.
'Mmm.' He said, 'Still a bit warm.' Willie thumped the table in
mock anger.
'Will you get on with the tale man?' he said in exasperation.
George replaced the cup on the table and turned first to Willie and then to
Grace.
'Well,' he began quietly, 'It looks like they are going to let me
keep her after all.' Grace clapped her hands in glee whilst Willie smacked the
table with the flat of his hand in joy.
'That’s wonderful news George' he said, his pleasure obvious, as
was that of Grace, and George himself. 'So, tell us what happened then' Willie
demanded.
'Well, I went in expecting the worst, as you know. The bloke in
the Intestate office, his name is Mr Stephens by the way, started by explaining
about Flo’s estate and how he would now be taking care of everything. He called
it Administering it, and that he would take care of the bank book you took in
after you had seen your solicitor the other day.' Willie nodded his head in
acknowledgment of the visit he had made to Mr Coghlan, the solicitor who he had
used in the past, and whom he had visited the day after Florence’s funeral to
discuss the problem posed by the death and the bank book which Florence had in
her own name. He paused to try another sip of the tea. It was still too hot. Replacing
the cup on the table in front of him he continued, 'He said that as far as
Clyda was concerned, the matter would be dealt with by the State Children’s
Board, and they had fairly strict guides to operate by, but, and this is where
I was holding my breath for him to tell me the bad news, but, he said that
their main concern was that a child in Clyda’s position should be well looked
after and in a good and proper home, and that from what he knew of me and our
situation here, it was a good and proper home.' He paused to let this sink in. Willie
took a drink from his tea and replacing the cup on the table asked.
'How do you mean, a good and proper home? I mean, the girl has you
acting like her father, and doing a good job too George, but she has no mother
though. So how does he think that will go down with the Board?' George glanced
from one to the other and a small grin crossed his face.
'I told him about you two, and how the pair of you took as much
care of Clyda as I did, and that you Grace were as good as a mother to her. He
seemed to accept that. To be honest it was like he was just waiting for me to give
him an answer to a problem he had, rather than having to think of a solution
himself.' He glanced from one to the other waiting for a response. It was Grace
who finally, after thoughtfully considering his words for a few seconds said,
'But George, I’m out at work all day. Did you tell him that?' George
took up his cup once more, and this time it was cool enough for him to take a
drink from it. He drank from the cup and then lowered it to the bare wooden
table top, looked her in the eye and in a low soft voice said,
'Not quite. I sort of made him think that you and Willie were
married and that you were looking after the home full time now that Flo had
died.'
Grace looked from George to Willie then back to George again.
'You can’t do that George,' she said, her voice raising an octave.
'That’s lying and if they find out, and sure as apples are apples, they will,
then they will take the child off you.' She laid her hand out to touch Willie’s
hand lying on the table. He turned to look at her, seeing the fear in her eyes.
'I think we’ll be alright Grace. From what George said it sounds
like the only thing they are interested in is whether the child is looked
after, and obviously she is well looked after here. It’s just a matter of
keeping our heads down and making certain that if anyone comes to inspect the
house that she is in the house at the time. That way, they can’t not believe that
we are taking care of her.' They looked from one to the other in agreement of
the suggestion which George had made. Each of them understood the white lie
they were proposing to tell, whenever an official came to see the house in
which the child lived, and knew with certainty that what they were proposing to
do was right and proper. It might not be legal, but it was right. They all
loved the child, as they had loved her mother, and each of them would do what
they was necessary to give the child a home and security.
George looked thoughtfully into the half empty cup on the table in
front of him, stroking the side of it absently.
'I have to go and see the State Children’s Relief Board on Monday.
Mr Stephens said he would write and make an appointment for me to go and see a
Mr Green who runs the place. He will give me the final word on what is going to
happen.' Grace looked up from her cup and said,
'Do you want me to come with you George, sort of pretend I am the
one looking after the child?' George shook his head and smiled at her.
'No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll tell him the story and hope he
swallows it. I can’t see there being any problems, after all, we are taking
care of a problem for him. Let’s just hope he is happy to have us solve the
problem for him without it costing him any more aggravation.' He glanced from
one to the other seeking their approval which they gave with a brief nod of the
head from each of them.
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