by Lillian Forbes
“Give it to me! I want it and I want it now!”
“No, Miss,” the seller heaved, angry but amused.
Jane would not and could not take no for an answer. She grabbed the apple from the city market stall and sprinted through the crowds, with Letitia, her sister, trailing after her, Jane’s shabby silk dress flowing in the blissful wind. Suddenly, a firm, tough hand wrapped around her neck, almost choking her.
Police!
“I don’t think you will be going any further, Miss,” the policeman snarled intimidatingly. Jane squealed and screamed, kicking her legs and thrashing her arms in refusal.
“I shan’t go with you!” she furied.
The policeman grabbed Letitia on his way and marched them both off to the last departing ship. A convict ship! He threw the sisters into the arms of the captain, where the girls were to be taken below deck. Letitia, crying, and Jane, purple with rage, didn’t look like the liveliest bunch.
*
Jane’s mother had been a maid for a rich ambassador. She earned almost a pound a month and even then didn’t have the money to take proper care of her daughters. Jane’s father was a miner and was killed when large boulders enclosed him for weeks. The trio lived in a one-room flat on the river Thames.
Jane’s mother had died with scarlet fever when Letitia was two years old and for four months the girls had lived on stolen or trashed scraps. Now that Jane was on a ship to a foreign land, she was snobbier and more stuck up than ever! Letitia and Jane were fed one meal a week of stale mouldy mush, and both girls became thin and weak. Jane couldn’t move for two months, and her temper was fed regularly when the guards and older children bossed her around. Letitia was taken to a nursery with the younger children and not even family were allowed to see them.
The convicts sailed for almost a year and as soon as they reached a bay on the coast of Australia they were set to work. Young boys were sent to build camps and houses, and the women were sent to sew blankets and clothes. Jane had to work in the newly built hospital and was sent on long hikes daily to collect cargo from other camps that developed before them.
One day, Jane was given two hours to rest before her next shift. Her glossy black hair was knotty, and her snowy face was tired and ill-looking. She had to escape! Jane stole a crate of dried berries and sprinted into the nursery. Grabbing her sister, she struggled for hours on a rocky trail winding through bush and mountains and mounds of insects. Grey clouds shadowed her and spat rain heavily, urging the girls to take cover. War cries and raging calls drifted into the background, trailing her deeper into the scrub. Letitia was wailing, cuts and bruises covering her head to toe. Tears trickled down Jane’s cheeks, and they both soon collapsed at the foot of a mountain cave. They would have to camp out the night.
*
Blood oozed from Jane’s arms and legs, and wild animal tracks led away from their shelter. Jane shivered and limped to her stolen crate. Empty! Well, empty apart from a small echidna! Jane squealed and leapt back but Letitia crawled over and tried to pick up the spiky animal. Pricking her finger, she reeled back and sobbed till she drifted off to dreamland.
“Aaaahaaaaa!” War cries sounded, surrounding their hideout. Spears shot out, landing everywhere, and one almost hit Jane. Natives. Jane had heard horror stories of these wild people. She needed to go but she hurt all over and her sister was upset and asleep. Plus, where would she go? Two men marched into her cave and tied ropes around both sisters’ wrists and ankles. Slinging them over their shoulders, the troops walked away towards what looked like a bonfire. Jane was stuck!
*
Jane squinted in the morning sun. Huts and people bordered her and her sister. A delectable smell wafted in the humid air and, what was this? her cuts and bruises had been tended to beautifully. A girl with twinkling eyes and a gleeful smile entered Jane’s room and untied them. Handing each prisoner a bowl of steaming soup, she communicated with hand signals, leading them out into the sunshine. Jane scowled but reluctantly followed the girl. Letitia ran out, chasing birds and other little children. She fitted in perfectly.
Outside, a massive bonfire was roaring, and young men and women were cooking food. Children smiled, chasing each other through the trees, and elders sat on log seats draped in animal fur, telling stories to the young. So, this was peace! Not even Jane could hide her pleasure and delight at being in such a wondrous place.
“Misho.” The girl’s voice snapped Jane back to the present. The girl pointing at herself repeated the word. “Misho.”
Was that her name? Jane tried to brood and growl but a smile flicked onto her face and Misho smiled back, bringing her over to a small brook.
“Maugro.” Misho pointed at the glistening water. Fish!
Misho grabbed a spear and thrashed it at the water. Food. Real, meaty food! Misho offered Jane the tucker and both girls ate hungrily.
*
Jane looked out to sea. Somewhere out there was England. Her home. Jane needed to have something familiar to comfort her wandering heart. She wanted a bustling city, but surely there wouldn’t be one out here in a nature reserve. As the sun set over the mountains, Jane wondered what might be waiting out there. She now slept in a bark hut with Letitia and Misho but as she watched the millions of stars awaken in the darkness, she realised this was not her home and she needed to go.
Jane crept out and stole some damper and a kangaroo leg. She packed it into her new straw satchel and finally, gently lifted her sleeping sister and wrapped her in a shawl. Then she ran. Jane ran for hours, not knowing what direction she was going or how long she had to go for. The light that lit her path was the shining moon, big and bold. The moon was the opposite of what Jane felt. She felt weak and alone and unimportant.
Suddenly a rock was hauled at her head and she fell into a cliff face, losing consciousness and dropping everything, including her sister, into the mud she had walked on.
“Wominjeka?” Misho tapped Jane’s back delicately. Her voice was streaked with concern and her concern awoke Jane out of dreamland.
Blood peppered Jane’s head and she had a black eye. Something was missing though. Jane groaned while Misho dabbed her head. Suddenly, she became wide awake. Letitia was gone!
*
“Letitia!”
“Letitia!”
The girls searched for hours with no luck. Dusk was approaching and it would be impossible to find Jane’s three-year-old sister in the deadly night.
Suddenly, Misho called from the top of a steep drop off. “Come. Look. Look! Track go deep in bush. Cold, dangerous.”
Misho shuddered and took the lead. Jane peeked down. A hand was imprinted in the mud. Jane shuddered and stayed close to her new friend. Jane gazed at kangaroos and wombats and echidnas. Any of these animals could kill her sister easily.
Promptly, Misho came to a halt. Jane peeped over her shoulder and her face colour replicated a ghost. Snake!
Jane had heard many death-related tales concerning these carniverous beasts. She knew they could kill a grown adult, let alone a baby. Misho didn’t seem to be frightened. She spotted a stick with a fork at the end of it and gently lifted the brown snake onto a pile of autumn leaves, out of the way of passing humans.
Silence. Then a distant murmur, followed by a small, weak cry. Letitia.
“She is freezing! Is she okay?” Jane panicked and sweat trickled down her face.
Misho placed her hand first on Letitia’s heart then her pulse and forehead. Misho gulped. “Very sick. She die soon.”
Sorrow washed the two girls’ faces.
“Can you heal her?”
Misho shook her head. “Town. Lots people. Buy medicine. Sell belongings. Get money.”
Jane nodded. She had few belongings but the things she did own were valuable to people here. Jane gently lifted her sister into her arms and draped her with blankets. Misho led her to the town four miles from their current location. It was now pitch black, but the girls pressed on, hoping to get to the town by noon. Jane didn’t know what she was going to sell or how much money the medicine cost but at that moment she would have given her life to save her sister’s.
*
People. Lots of people. Just like her home in London. Jane looked around. Cobblestone roads, mud-brick houses and hundreds of people. Big and small. Misho whimpered. This was not her kind of territory. For the first time in days, Jane took charge. Jane hugged her sister to her chest and folded herself into the crowd. An antique shop was on her right and Misho pulled her inside. An old woman sat behind the counter and rows of old junk lined each side of her shop.
“Can I help you?” The woman’s voice was soft and kind and full of love. Jane hadn’t heard a voice like that since her mother died.
“I-I want to sell my crate and blankets and an old dress to you.” Jane was frightened and wanted to run but the lady’s eyes looked at her so understandingly that she stayed put, meekly observing her surroundings.
“I’m not interested in that garbage, but is that silver locket for sale?”
Jane’s mother’s locket hung around her neck. It had a silver edging and a bronze tinted bird in the middle. Inside was a photograph of her mother and father holding both daughters in their home, as well as their ashes. Jane loved it and needed it as a reminder of home. She needed it to stay strong and she needed it to help Letita. She sighed and unclipped the necklace. If this was what she had to do to keep hold of her sister’s life, then she would. Jane opened it up and took the photo out before handing it over to the shopkeeper.
“One pound,” agreed the woman as she handed over the coins. Jane gasped. She had never seen so much money before.
Misho, who had stood quietly at the door, ushered her friend out. “Medicine. Across road. Must hurry,” Misho warned.
Jane ran all the way to the shop and all the way to the doctor, waiting to assist. “Please. My sister is very sick. You need to help her.”
“What money do you have, little miss?” The man had a gold tooth and a grimy face. Jane didn’t trust him.
“One pound,” Jane said, but didn’t offer the money.
The doctor extended his hand while also grabbing at Letitia. Jane veered back. Misho put a comforting hand on Jane’s shoulder and together they evacuated the building. That man was no doctor. Jane wouldn’t let Letitia’s place on this earth depend on him.
That night, Jane and Misho wept as one. Letitia was gasping for air and her chance of living was rapidly decreasing. Jane had lost her locket, wasted a chance to get medicine, and was losing her sister’s life. What was the use of living at all?
*
The next day at 8am, Letitia breathed her last breath. Jane and Misho buried her plump, cream-coloured body under a ghost gum and paid their last respects. No more jolly laughter. No more goofy smiles. No more sparkling eyes. No more glossy hair. No more Letitia.
Jane and Misho cried for hours. Remembering the time they had spent with the little baby, Jane realised she was the last one standing in her family. Misho and Jane were alone and had to carry on. For Letitia.
Misho grabbed a large rock and a pointed stick. Carving Letitia’s name and age, she gently planted it in the dirt.
Jane didn’t know where to go. She couldn’t go back and she wouldn’t go forward. Stalemate.
“Go. My camp. Home,” Misho suggested, as she lit a fire in their temporary cave.
“No. I shan’t go back. Perhaps we will find someone in town?”
Misho shook her head. She despised the English migrants who had stolen her home and country. She refused to go back in town again.
Jane glared and some of her old flare came back into her tone. “Then we shall go our separate ways. I need a home and if you won’t come with me I won’t miss you!”
Jane was being difficult, but Misho had a temper of her own.
“Go. Find no home. Mean people. Bad. Not miss you.” Misho glared just as fiercely and both girls turned to sulk in the darkening shadows.
*
That morning, Misho awoke in a much jollier mood, ready to help Jane. Jane had already left, though. Her little belongings were gone. Misho panicked. Jane didn’t know anything about Australia. Jane didn’t know the land and all its dangers. She could get lost or worse, hurt. Misho called. Misho tracked. Misho hunted up, down, side to side. Had her ghastly temper lost her best friend? Killed her?
Suddenly, a howl sounded from the north wood. Misho never ventured there. It was the furthest wood from her camp on this side of the bay. Jane could have run into trouble that Misho had no idea lurked there. Escaped foxes from the convict boats. Wolves and horses and ugly cows. Snakes and creepy crawlies. Who knew! Misho ran, winding through trees and leaping over logs and rotting stumps. She needed to help her companion. She needed to save Jane.
*
“Jane!” Misho had heard Jane’s yelp an hour ago and hoped she was still alive and near. She spotted smoke rising above the canopy of leaves and ran towards it. She knew it would be a migrant, but she had to get help to save her friend. Misho walked through the mud for what felt like an endless slot of time when finally she came upon some animal prints, embedded neatly in the dirt floor. Not human prints. Most likely a nasty foreign animal from England. Misho shuddered. The tracks led up a hill towards a mud brick house. Laughter echoed from inside the walls and Misho recognised one of the voices. Misho regained hope and pushed herself up to the timber front door. She knocked; she knocked again. Finally, someone answered the door. It wasn’t Jane. They weren’t native. The stranger was English.
“Jane! Is this a friend of yours?” the strange lady asked. She had a round, jolly face and twinkling, starry eyes. Her hair was a beautiful curly brown, which hung round her square shoulders in ringlets and her smile was warm and friendly.
Jane poked her head around the door, gasped then nodded slightly. Misho launched herself at Jane and hugged her passionately.
“I sorry. Lost temper. Lost you.” Misho bowed her head, regretfully.
Jane smiled. “I am sorry that I lost my temper and lost you. Almost forever,” she admitted, and then she hugged Misho back.
“Well, you girls come inside. It is getting cold. I will make you some hazelnut soup and tea,” offered the lady.
“That is Mira. She said she will be my guardian for as long as I need. She is super nice.” Jane introduced Misho and Mira to each other over a hot cosy meal.
“It is nice to meet you, Misho. Would you like to sleep in Jane’s room? Stay as long as you need,” offered Mira.
The girls grinned and ran off playing.
“Misho!”
Misho paused halfway up the staircase.
“Where is your home?”
“Camp. South to river. Left big smoke gum. Use tracks. Me left on trunks.” Misho provided the information of her home confidently.
Mira nodded. That was days away. Misho couldn’t walk it alone. As the girls went up to Jane’s bedroom, Mira went out and tracked down her horse. It had leapt in fright when Jane unexpectedly came upon it. She would prepare him for tomorrow’s long journey to Misho’s camp. She had to do something.
*
“Ready, girls?”
Jane stumbled down from her room with Misho clinging to her arm. Both girls had tears rolling down their faces. They didn’t want to say goodbye, and this would be the last time they saw each other for a long time. The sombre weather didn’t help either. Outside it was raining, with thunder and lightning masking the usually jewely sky.
Months ago, Jane wouldn’t have cared to say goodbye. She wouldn’t have cared that her sister was dead and that Misho had saved her life. She wouldn’t have cared about any of this new life. But Jane had changed. Misho and Jane hugged each other tightly. Not wanting to let go, they sobbed even more.
Misho had few belongings, but Mira had supplied her with dresses and food for the trip. They had borrowed a cart from a neighbour and would drive six long nights before they reached the camp. Jane stepped back from Misho and threaded onto her wrist a straw bracelet she had made. Woven the way Misho had taught her.
“Promise to visit me,” Misho implored.
“Only if you visit me and Mira,” said Jane.
The friends shook on it and, bleary eyed, said their farewells. That morning, Jane watched as the cart rolled away from the house, swallowed by the gloominess. That morning, Jane lost half her soul. But, of course, she didn’t have to wait long to become whole again. Not very long indeed …
TWO YEARS LATER
Jane was plump and healthy. Wearing new dresses and having delectable food made her pleasurable smile even more beautiful. Jane had had many sleepovers at Misho’s camp and Misho had had many sleepovers with Jane and Mira. Misho taught Jane how to track, hunt and weave baskets. Jane taught Misho how to sew and cook and clean. They knew each other like the back of their hand and loved each other dearly. Every few weeks, Mira would take Jane and/or Misho to Letitia’s grave. Misho, as well as marking it with the stone, had splashed ochre on the gum so as not to lose the special place. Jane was happy and her miserable childhood past was forgotten, a hazy cloud from centuries ago. It was a rolling fog compared to all these new and adored memories, which Jane’s new-found family shared. Every day, Jane would dance and play in the dappled light, feeling the breeze dance on her face and the grass scratch at her bare feet. And every morning and night, from when the birds sang to when the bats screeched, Jane would remember happily that no matter what each new day brought, she was going to live a great life.
