The Birthmark

Beth Montgomery grew up in Melbourne.

She worked as a teacher in the
Pacific Islands and is married with
two children.
The Birthmark
is her first novel.

the birthmark

beth montgomery

text publishing melbourne australia

The Text Publishing Company
Swann House
22 William Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
Australia
www.textpublishing.com.au

Copyright © Beth Montgomery 2006

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright above, no part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

First published in 2006

Design by Chong
Map by Bill Wood
Typeset in 10.5/14.7 Minister by J&M Typesetting
Printed and bound by Griffin Press

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Montgomery, Beth, 1965– .
The birthmark.

ISBN: 1 921145 33 1.

ISBN 13: 978 1 921145 33 9

I. Title.

A823.4

This project was assisted by the Commonwealth Government through
the Australian Council, its art funding and advisory body.

To Jezeloni, in memory of Yesterday

THE ISLAND OF TEVUA, PACIFIC OCEAN

Table of Contents

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

eleven

twelve

thirteen

fourteen

fifteen

sixteen

seventeen

eighteen

nineteen

twenty

twenty-one

twenty-two

twenty-three

twenty-four

twenty-five

twenty-six

twenty-seven

twenty-eight

twenty-nine

thirty

thirty-one

thirty-two

acknowledgments

one

Anbwido District
30 August 1942

Tepu disliked them from the moment he saw them. They had pale faces and thin bones. Their uniforms were light brown and contrasted with their black boots which had separate big toes. It made them look cloven-hoofed, like devils. They shouted at him, rushed at him, told him to get off his bicycle, at least that's what Tepu thought they were saying.

He jumped from the frame and let the bike weave and wobble towards them. The first soldier caught it just as it was about to fall. He righted it, then mounted the bike himself and rode off in jerky movements in the direction Tepu had just come from.

Tepu picked himself up from the road and shouted out after him, ‘My bicycle! It's my bicycle!'

His insolence was met with a sharp blow to the face. The other two soldiers shouted at him and forced his head down.

That's how Tepu learnt to bow.

Rumours spread all over the island. Some said the soldiers were marines who had come for the phosphate. Others said it was to do with the war and that Tevua was to be a strategic Japanese outpost in the middle of the Pacific. Tepu doubted that story. They were too far away from other islands for a start, and it was unsafe for ships; the reef was broad and treacherous, without easy access to the shore. Lacking a natural harbour, Tevua was worthless as a military centre.

It was true that their island was full of phosphate, so Tepu thought this rumour was more likely. He hoped they would just take what they needed, then go. After all, what would the Japanese want with the people here?

Tepu knew they were dangerous. He decided to visit the leper colony to warn Edouwe and her family about the evil invaders and to tell her to be vigilant.

The colony was only ten minutes walk from his village, Anbwido. Set above the sloping beaches of the southeast of Tevua, at the edge of Baringa Bay, it consisted of twelve small bush huts and a clinic. Coconut palms and beach almonds fringed the camp and large coral pinnacles stood at the tide line like ancient stone statues.

He'd first met Edouwe on the beach there last year. Her shy smile had captivated him. Like most Tevuans, she was short and thickset with soft, rounded features. Her thick wavy hair fell to her waist, but was always held back from her face with a shell comb.

Tepu wondered if she would ever take any notice of him, a foreigner. Tepu's family were from the Gilbert Islands, a thousand miles east, and the physical differences were obvious. The Gilbertese were taller and leaner than the Tevuans, their noses more prominent, and their hair was straight. There had been marriages between the two groups before, so Tepu thought he might have a chance.

Over the months, he'd made a point of fishing near the leper camp regularly, and they'd begun to talk. She was only fifteen, and even though she was not a leper herself, she was staying at the camp to look after her grandparents who had been sick with leprosy for many years.

Tepu had few relatives left alive on Tevua since the drought in the mid-1930s. Most had returned to the Gilbert Islands during those long years of hardship. Now his mother and younger brother were all that remained after his father had been lost at sea in a storm two years ago. Neither his body nor the canoe had ever been found.

In recent months Edouwe's grandparents had become like a second family to Tepu, sharing their stories, food and tobacco. He brought them fresh fish whenever he was successful with his net.

As he neared the leper colony, Tepu could see smoke from the kitchens rising against the background shimmer of the sea.

‘Tepuariki, come and eat!' Edouwe's grandmother called out from the shade of one of the huts. He waved and hurried towards her. The old woman greeted him and offered him some dried fish. Even in the shadows he could see the gnarled pink knobs that were once her fingers, clasping the bowl awkwardly.

Tepu knew leprosy was the natural consequence of offending the island spirits. It was known on Tevua as the sickness of rotting flesh and it was a sad fate for those who had been cursed with it, but it was nothing to fear.

He smiled at her and ate some of the fish. He couldn't imagine what she had done to earn the island spirits' wrath.

‘What news, Tepu?' she asked.

He told her about the Japanese, how they had stolen his bike and shouted at him. ‘Many more have now come to Tevua. They have guns and swords and some of them have beaten people, rounded them up and forced them to move to the other side of the island,' he said. ‘It's not safe, Mele,' he warned, looking around as if the enemy were nearby. ‘Where is Edouwe? She must stay with you all the time and not walk to town alone.'

‘She's gathering coconuts on the far side of Anbwido. She'll return soon.' The old woman nodded to reassure him.

Tepu hoped she was right. He didn't want anything to happen to Edouwe, not just because he admired her, but especially since he had begun to think that she was also fond of him. He had seen the shine in her eyes, caught the gentle smile she sent his way and his heart swelled.

Lotus Restaurant
Anbwido
Friday 25 June 2004

Hector hunched over his plate of meat and rice, shovelling it into his mouth in neat handfuls. The Chinese couple who ran the tin shed restaurant watched him from behind the counter. Oblivious to their attention, he wiped the sweat from his face with the bottom of his T-shirt.

He wanted to hunt for chickens in the forest between the restaurant and Government Settlement. He knew the area well: all the bush tracks, who lived in which house, all the rocks, trees and coral pinnacles that formed natural hiding spots. Some would say he knew the area too well. It was a great place to catch chickens because the ‘expats' were hardly ever home, and if they were, they didn't lay claim to any of the chickens wandering around. It was unlike other parts of the island where an angry householder would catch you by the neck if you poached one of their fowls.