No Sugar (9 page)

SAM
: [
laughing
] Mumma!

MATRON
: You did a very good job, Granny.

GRAN
: I brought plenty
kooloongah
into this world, Matron.

MATRON
: Well, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your family, Millicent. I won't bother putting you on the sulphur, but I want you all to use the washing facilities every day before every meal and after you've been to the toilet. Now, look at those fingernails, David; perhaps you could set an example by going off and scrubbing them.

DAVID
exits reluctantly.

Well, Milly, here are a few more cakes of Lysol soap and some handkerchiefs for the children. Well, busy, busy, Topsy, one more family visit. 'Bye for the present. Goodbye, Gran.

She goes to leave, then stops.

Oh, how many dogs have you got in the camp?

They look at each other in silence, then
:

SAM
: A couple of kangaroo dogs, and Granny's dog.

MATRON
strides off, followed by
BILLY
, who stops her some distance away.

BILLY
: They got that many, missus.

He holds up seven fingers.

JOE
,
DAVID
and
CISSIE
:
Wahrdung
,
wahrdung
, black crow!

MATRON
exits.
BILLY
glares at the children.

Moore River Native settlement, a clearing in the pine plantation, night.
JOE
creeps on and lets out a mopoke call. Pause. He calls again, and the call is returned.
MARY
approaches, carrying a crumpled parcel.

JOE
: You got here all right.

MARY
: I brought you a present.

She hands him the crumpled parcel and they sit on a log.

JOE
: What is it?

MARY
: Damper, oven cooked, mixed with emu fat and they're real raisins, not weevils.

They giggle and eat.

JOE
: You comfortable? Sit closer. How long you been here?

MARY
: About five minutes.

JOE
: I know that, I mean how long you been here at the settlement?

MARY
: This was my third Christmas… I wish I was back home. I hate this place, I hate everything in it.

JOE
: Even me?

MARY
: No, I don't hate you.

JOE
: Them
wetjalas
treat you all right?

MARY
:
Gudeeahs
? Matron and Sister Eileen are all right. They try to be nice, but I don't like Mr Neal. He scares me.

JOE
: He don't scare me.

MARY
: I don't like the way he looks at me.

JOE
: Well, you got me now, for what I'm worth.

He laughs.

MARY
: He's always hangin' around where the girls are workin'; in the cookhouse, in the sewin' room. And he's always carryin' that cat-o'-nine tails and he'll use it, too.

JOE
: Bastard, better not use it on you or any of my lot.

MARY
: He reckoned he was gunna belt me once.

JOE
: What for?

MARY
: 'Coz I said I wasn't gunna go and work for
guddeeah
on a farm.

JOE
: Why not? Be better than this place.

MARY
: No! [
With shame
] Some of them
guddeeahs
real bad. My friend went last Christmas and then she came back
boodjarri
. She reckons the boss's sons used to belt her up and, you know, force her. Then they kicked her out. And when she had that baby them trackers choked it dead and buried it in the pine plantation.

JOE
: What? You dinkum?

MARY
: That's true.

JOE
: [
stunned
] The bastards. The fuckin' bastards.

MARY
starts to cry.

Come on, Mary, stop that. You know somethin'?

MARY
: What?

JOE
: I don't like you.

She draws away.

I love you.

They embrace.

MARY
: I have to go back, Matron will find out.

JOE
: Stay a bit longer.

She kisses him.

MARY
: I have to go now, or she won't let me out again.

JOE
: When will I see you again?

MARY
: Tomorrow.

JOE
: Same time?

MARY
: Yeah.

JOE
: Same log?

MARY
: Yeah. Joe, I don't like you either.

They laugh and embrace.
MARY
runs away.
JOE
watches after her.

The Moore River Settlement, a hot morning.
JIMMY
ambles about outside the Superintendent's office.
MR NEAL
approaches. He has a hangover.

NEAL
: Hey, you, you're with the Northam lot, aren't you? What are you doing here?

JIMMY
: What's it look like I'm doing?

NEAL
: You're supposed to be up in the quarantine camp.

JIMMY
: Quarantine camp, me arse.

NEAL
: You're out of bounds and you know it.

JIMMY
: Come off it, you know that quarantine camp is a load of bullshit, so don't try and tip it over me.

NEAL
: I'll attend to you later.

He heads for his office.

JIMMY
: You know, if fertiliser was in short supply you'd make a bloody fortune.

He sniggers.

NEAL
: [
mumbling
] Another bloody troublemaker.

He sits at his desk.
MARY
brings him tea on a tray. He leers at her body.
MATRON
enters, almost catching him.

MATRON
: Where did you get to yesterday?

NEAL
: You know very well I had to go to Moora to see about—

MATRON
: [
interrupting
] To spend the day in the hotel drinking. Don't imagine no one sees you come in, the condition you were in—fine example.

NEAL
: I've got to get away from the place now and again.

MATRON
: What about me? I was at the quarantine camp from dawn till dusk again yesterday.

NEAL
: Done them all?

MATRON
: Yes, eventually.

NEAL
: How many have got it?

MATRON
: Scabies? Mrs Mason and her three youngsters.

NEAL
: Yes.

MATRON
: That's all, just the four of them. I've isolated them, put them on sulphur and regular bathing.

NEAL
: Four of 'em, only cases of skin disease? Only four?

MATRON
: Yes, Alf. I can recognise a case of scabies when I see one.

NEAL
: And you've examined the lot of them?

MATRON
: Yes, I haven't been going up the Long Pool for a picnic.

NEAL
: Are you telling me out of eighty-nine dumped on me, only four of them have got the bloody disease?

She puts the record book in front of him.

Good God, woman, what's the bloody game? Eighty-nine natives in a bloody quarantine camp I've just busted me gut to get ready on time, and there's nothing bloody well wrong with 'em?

MATRON
: Alf, there's no need to lose your temper and no need for bad language. They should be cleared up in a few days.

NEAL
: The whole job's a waste of time. They could have been treated in Northam.

MATRON
: The only health hazard in the camp are the dogs.

NEAL
: What dogs?

MATRON
: There's about fifty of them, and a good many in less than healthy condition.

NEAL
: How did the dogs get here?

MATRON
: With the road party, apparently.

NEAL
: No one told me anything about dogs.

MATRON
: One per family.

She exits.

NEAL
: That's one too many. [
Calling
] Billy! Billy!

He unlocks the armoury cupboard and gets a rifle and ammunition.

BILLY
: [
off
] Yeah, comin' boss.

NEAL
counts out the ammunition.
BILLY
enters.

Yeah, Boss?

NEAL
: Get the horses and a length of rope, Billy.

BILLY
: Yeah, boss.

NEAL
takes a rifle and ammunition. They exit.

A clearing in the pine plantation. Moore River Native Settlement, night. A camp fire burns.
JIMMY
and
SAM
are painted for a corroboree.
JIMMY
mixes wilgi in tobacco tin lids, while
SAM
separates inji sticks from clapsticks.
JOE
arrives with an armful of firewood and pokes at the fire.

JOE
: They comin' now.

BILLY
: [
off
] Get no rain this place summertime.

BILLY
and
BLUEY
enter and remove their shirts.

JIMMY
: Eh? Where you fellas been?

BLUEY
: Aw, we been pushing truck for Mr Neal.

BILLY
: He goin' Mogumber.

BLUEY
: [
miming taking a drink
] Doin' this fella.

JOE
: He'll be
minditj
tomorrow.

BLUEY
and
BILLY
paint themselves with wilgi.

BILLY
: My word you fellas pr-retty fellas.

BLUEY
:
Wee-ah
, plenty
wilgi
.

BILLY
: Eh? You know my country, must be walk two, three days for this much. Your country got plenty.

JIMMY
strikes up a rhythm on the clapsticks.
BLUEY
joins him.

JIMMY
: [
singing
]

Tjinnung nitjakoorliny?

Karra, karra, karra, karra,

Moyambat a-nyinaliny a-nyinaliny,

Baal nitja koorliny moyambat a-moyambat moyambat,

Moyambat nitja koorliny moyambat.

Kalkanna yirra nyinny kalkanna,

Yirra nyinniny, yirra nyinniny,

Moyambat a-kalkanna moyambat a-kilkanna

Yirra nyinniny, yirra nyinniny, yirra nyinniny,

Karra koorliny kalkanna karra karra koorliny kalkanna.

Karra koorliny, karra koorliny, karra koorliny,

Woolah!

BLUEY
: Eh, what that one?

JIMMY
: That's my grandfather song. [
Miming with his hands
] He singin' for the
karra
, you know, crabs, to come up the river and for the fish to jump up high so he can catch them in the fish traps.

SAM
: [
pointing to
BILLY
's body paint
] Eh! Eh! Old man, what's that one?

BILLY
: This one
bungarra
, an' he lookin' for berry bush. But he know that fella eagle watchin' him and he know that fella is cunnin' fella. He watchin' and lookin' for that eagle, that way, this way, that way, this way.

He rolls over a log, disappearing almost magically.
BLUEY
plays the didgeridoo and
BILLY
appears some distance away by turning quickly so the firelight reveals his painted body. He dances around, then seems to disappear suddenly. He rolls back over the log and drops down, seated by the fire.

BLUEY
,
SAM
and
JIMMY
:
Yokki
!
Moorditj
!
Woolah
!

JIMMY
: Eh? That one dance come from your country?

BILLY
: Nah. That one come from that way, lo-o-ong way.
Wanmulla
country. Proper bad fellas.

SAM
: Well, I won't be goin' there.

JOE
: Me either!

JIMMY
,
JOE
and
SAM
laugh.
SAM
jumps to his feet with the clapsticks.

SAM
: This one
yahllarah
! Everybody!
Yahllarah
!

He starts a rhythm on the clapsticks.
BLUEY
plays didgeridoo.
JIMMY
,
and then
JOE
,
join him dancing.