Calypso Summer (8 page)

‘That's Uncle Edward,' said Aunty Janet, ‘and his brother Uncle Joseph.'

Joseph held his hand out to shake mine with all the strength he could muster. I didn't know what to say to the old fellas but it was good to finally meet them. ‘They're your great grandfather's brothers, you know Calypso?' said Aunty Janet.

As I stood there thinking about how old the men were and all of the things they must have seen Aunty Janet asked, ‘Now what did you travel all this way to speak to me about dear?'

I walked to the kitchen table and took a seat next to her. ‘Well, I have come to see you because I want to find out about some things.'

‘And if I can't tell you?' asked Aunty Janet.

‘Well, it's just been good to meet everyone, hey.'

‘You too,' said Aunty Janet, ‘and now that you know where I am, you better come back to visit.'

‘I will.'

‘Good dear. So what is it you want to know?'

I didn't want to come straight out with it so I just told her, ‘I work at a health products store where we sell all these things to fix people's sickness or things that just make people feel better.'

‘Mmmm, that sounds nice dear,' Aunty Janet said before placing a card on the table.

‘It's alright. And we don't really sell things that the chemist sells. We sell things that people wouldn't think of trying to make you better, or as my boss Gary says, things that people have forgotten about that make you better.'

‘What type of things? Aunty Janet asked.

‘A lot of herbs and things.'

‘And do they work, these things?'

‘Well … people keep coming back for more so maybe they do.'

‘So how can I help?'

‘Well Mum was always telling me about how bush tucker and stuff is really good for you and I want to know if there's some Aboriginal things that we could sell … the money we make would be shared of course. Mum said that you might know how I could go about it.'

Aunty Janet laid down her cards and looked at me real seriously over the top of her glasses. I was shitting myself, I thought she was going to growl me big time.

‘Yes, we've got medicine, proper good medicine, but there's medicine you can know about and medicine you can't know about.' I nodded as Aunty Janet continued. ‘And you can't just learn about these things without knowing about where you're from. And that might take time 'cause you've been living in the city all that time.'

I was a bit disappointed but knew it was fair enough what Aunty Janet was saying so I just asked, ‘Is there anything you can tell me at all?'

Aunty Janet picked up her cards again and said, ‘It's best that you speak with your uncles about these things first. Maybe later I can tell you something.'

At least I had a starting point, at least Aunty Janet had told me that some type of medicines exist.

‘Thanks Aunty Janet,' I said before finishing my drink and walking back outside hoping to make a few more runs and maybe speak with my cousins about bush medicines.

11

For dinner we ate the leftovers from lunch and a bit later all of the children and women went inside to sleep and I sat around the fire with Will, Vic, Bruce and Uncle Ray. Uncle Ray belted out tunes on his guitar. He's an old rocker Uncle Ray. He played some Elvis, Beatles, and Rolling Stones songs. For an old cowboy-looking-fella he didn't play much country music apart from a bit of Johnny Cash.

Will and Vic drank beer but Bruce, despite his big guts, doesn't drink at all, same as Uncle Ray. Bruce can yarn but. He told us stories about fights he and Vic had had, with each other and the kids they grew up with. He also talked about playing footy and fishing and some of the freaky things that had happened when they'd been camping. Will didn't say too much sitting there looking into the fire but he laughed when Bruce and Vic told me about some of the funny shit that had happened to family.

I was starting to relax as I looked at all of the stars. I'd never seen them so bright, some real huge and the Milky Way spread across the sky like spilt sugar. It was deadly hearing Uncle Ray belt out a few songs and Vic seemed to be loosening up too, boogieing a bit when he got up to grab a beer from the esky.

Later in the night, when Uncle Ray had stopped playing and there was a bit of quiet Bruce asked, ‘Why you come to visit us after all these years anyway, Calypso?'

‘Why you reckon?' Vic growled.

Uncle Ray lent his guitar next to his seat and said, ‘Let the fella speak.' Vic sat back into his chair and looked into the fire.

‘It's alright,' said Uncle Ray.

‘Mum tells me yarns about growing up here and she told me to come visit.'

‘Why?' Vic asked.

I was nervous about telling them my reason but I told them anyway, ‘Because I work in this health food store and my boss, this fella called Gary, reckons it might be a good idea to find out about Aboriginal medicines or plants and things that we might be able to put in lotions and oils, that you can add to baths that help people relax. He reckons we could sell these things.'

Vic suddenly jumped up from his seat. ‘Sell these things!' Whitefellas are selling our things all the time. Problem is they don't pay us for these things.'

‘Well that's the thing Vic, Gary said he would pay me, and family that help us out,' I said quickly, hoping it would calm him down a bit.

‘If a whitefella knew we had something worth selling, he'd steal it from us or at least try,' Vic responded.

‘Look, it's true, sometimes Gary has no idea but he's alright to me and I reckon he'd do the right thing by us.'

Vic just raised an eyebrow and took another sip of beer. Sensing his agitation I didn't think it was worth pushing the issue. Uncle Ray picked up his guitar again and began strumming. Just before he was about to start singing he suddenly stopped and said, ‘Neph, you know you're really putting me in a hard position here.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Well it's an uncle's business to teach his nephew things. It's real shame job having a nephew with no nindee.'

‘No what?'

‘Knowledge,' Bruce interrupted. ‘Nindee,' he said pointing at his forehead while Vic laughed.

‘You can't tell him nothing Uncle Ray. He's only stepping foot on yarta after all these years. Last time he was here he was just a baby, still crawling,' Vic protested.

‘But he still comes from this yarta, he still Nukunu. Or do you fellas still want him lost there in the city?'

‘I don't reckon you could even live a week away from the city,' Vic said looking directly at me.

Before I could answer Vic said, ‘Anyway, I'm going to bed … all this talk of white men stealing things has made me tired … like it always does.'

Bruce said goodnight and followed Vic into a shed where some swags were laid out. I just sat staring into the flames, feeling kind of angry and shame. I didn't realise that asking about bush medicine would be such a big deal. I couldn't work out why Vic was being such an arsehole. Earlier in the day he seemed happy about running sheep belonging to white farmers on the property, now he was accusing me of stealing. I thought I was offering something that might help us all out … that's all.

When Vic and Bruce were out of sight, Uncle Ray turned to me and said, ‘Kyle, don't worry about those boys. They just don't know you yet, that's all. Spend a bit of time around here, come when you can and I'll teach you a bit here and there about country and so will the rest of the mob, even your cousins there.'

I looked at Will who had fallen asleep still holding his beer and said, ‘Look, I just want to know where I'm from.'

‘I know that neph. As soon as we knew you were coming your Aunty Janet and I started talking about how to bring you back to this place.'

‘But I'm here.'

‘You're here but you don't know what being here means yet.'

‘I don't understand.'

‘Exactly. See that ring around the moon there,' he asked, placing his guitar gently on the ground, ‘what does that mean?'

I looked at the moon dumbfounded. I could see the rabbit in the moon but had no idea what the ring around it meant. I shrugged my shoulders.

‘That moon can tell the biggest mobs of stories. Right now it's telling us that it will rain tomorrow.'

‘True?'

‘Yep. And what do those clouds over yonder mean?'

‘What, those wispy ones?'

‘Well they're the only clouds there aren't they? Yes, the wispy ones, what do they mean?'

‘I don't know but I know they're not rain clouds.'

‘No they're not. The rain clouds are coming tomorrow remember, the moon told us that already. Those ones, they're telling us that the wind is pushing this way. In about twenty minutes now the breeze will pick up.'

‘I guess that's handy if you're a sailor.'

‘It's handy if you're a blackfella wanting to know what's going on in your country.'

After thinking for a second about what Uncle Ray was saying, I said, ‘I see what you mean.'

‘Well that's good because that's only kindergarten stuff I'm telling you. And you've still got to learn the rest of the kindergarten stuff. You need to learn what's going on above, on and below the munda,' he said stamping his foot down on the earth. ‘You've got to learn how all us mob think and then, maybe, you can start to learn about medicine.'

Feeling hopeless I said, ‘So when I'm an old fella I might be able to find out about bush medicine then?'

‘It takes a long long time to become clever you know neph, but then again I don't really know where you're starting from. I mean what's your Mum told you about Nukunu things anyway?'

‘She talks about this place a lot. What she used to get up to with everyone. Hunting, fishing and playing games and things. The only reason I know anything about bush medicine is because she's always saying how good this food and that food is for you and how the old people were real smart, fixing people up with different plants and things.'

‘That's good she told you that stuff. What she say about us mob, Aunty Janet and me?'

‘Not lots … but good things, just like I said, how she used to have heaps of fun with everyone and grew up happy.'

‘You know what happen with your Mum and Aunty Elsie, hey? Why they moved to the city?'

‘Yeah, they both got sick.'

‘That what your Mum told you?'

I nodded.

‘She didn't tell you anything else?'

‘Nothing, just that she was sick and had to go to the city to get fixed up.'

‘Your Mum and Elsie just had runny noses when they was taken away. Well a little more than that, flu maybe, but they was strong girls. Twelve or thirteen and Elsie not much older when they left. See that's what they used to do in those days.'

‘Who?' I asked confused.

‘The authorities, the so-called Aboriginal protectors,' Uncle Ray answered before spitting into the fire. ‘They told your grandmother they were taking Audrey and Elsie to get fixed up. Thing is, they never meant to bring them back. They just kept them in that home there with all the other black kids so that they couldn't mix with their mob. That's why your Mum's got the shits with us, because the whitefellas told her not to like her own mob. And because she reckons we abandoned her maybe. But I know that your grandmother was always trying to get Audrey and Elsie back, they just wouldn't let her get them.'

‘I don't think Mum's angry with anyone, least she hasn't said anything to me.'

‘Yeah, she's angry … that's why she don't visit us no more.'

‘Nah … I reckon she'd be here tomorrow if she could but we ain't got no car no more. Not since Dad died.'

‘True, that's why she ain't been 'ere?'

‘Yep.'

‘Hmmmm,' said Uncle Ray before picking up his guitar, straightening up his cowboy hat, and then strumming the Rolling Stones' ‘Beast of Burden'.

°°°

When it was time to leave Aunty Janet's, I didn't want to go, even though Vic was giving me a hard time and no one was telling me
what I wanted to know ... Everyone came out the front yard when we were packing into Bruce's Toyota Landcruiser. Aunty Janet gave me a wicked big hug. Even Uncle Edward and Joseph who sat on the veranda raised their hands to say goodbye. As I jumped into the passenger seat, it started raining and everyone rushed under the veranda.

When we got out onto the highway, Brea who was sitting between Shanti and Shae in the back of the car leaned over with a CD. ‘Dad, can you put this on?'

‘Alright, but the volume is staying low, right?'

‘Yes Dad,' Shae and Brea responded in unison.

The first track on the girls' CD started playing. It was some girl singing terrible pop music.

‘Do you like Katy Perry?' Shae asked.

‘Nah mahn, I like reggae.'

‘Reggae?' Brea asked.

‘Yeah mahn, you heard Bob Marley?'

Bruce watched Brea in the rear-view mirror as she thought about my question.

‘I shot the Sheriff,' Bruce sung in a high-pitched voice that made me and Shanti laugh.

‘Yeah, I know that song!' Brea said.

‘Everyone knows Bob Marley,' Shae said, looking at her sister with a raised eyebrow.

‘That's why he's got those dreadlocks,' said Shanti to her daughters. ‘Because he likes reggae.'

‘Can we feel them?' Shae asked.

I gathered a few of my dreads and pointed them in the direction of the girls. Even Shanti pinched them between her fingers.

‘Cool,' said Brea.

‘When I finish school, I'm going to grow some,' Shae declared. I cracked up thinking about how those twelve-and fourteen-year-old girls would look with dreads.

‘They'll suit you mahn,' I said.