Christmas in Canberra

by Nicole Taylor

  Eve got onto the bus, her heart full of excitement and dread. Her mother would understand and she longed to tell her about it.

  When she got there, it was the usual bedlam. Mum was just in the door from work and the younger two of her five brothers were shoving at each other, jostling the kitchen table as they did so. The other two were having a loud discussion over the sounds of “Cry me a river” – a song her eldest brother, Jimmy, seemed never to tire of playing on the record player. The discussion seemed to concern the superiority of the Astin Martin over the Jaguar – Jimmy defending the Astin Martin, Danny the Jaguar. Rory and Shane had stopped pushing each other and were now kicking at one another’s legs. Eve groaned. At that moment, the roar of their father’s car was heard coming up the long, steep driveway which ended at the back door – the kitchen door. Everyone knew this sound and all noise immediately ceased. The music quickly stopped; the discussion ended and the kicking was immediately replaced with scampering as the boys ran to the bedroom. The car door could be heard slamming and a heavy tread quickly met the back steps. Dad appeared, carrying a heavy box of groceries and beer.

  “Lila!” Dan Keats call for his wife was firm and expectant. Lila responded by putting down her cigarette and clearing a place on the table so her husband could set down the box. “Get me a beer, would you love?” He loosened his tie and pulled out the chair at the head of the table. Having purchased the contents of the box on his way home from work – namely, beer, bananas and breakfast cereal – Dan felt that he had performed a super-human task and could afford to relax.

  Lila, who worked exactly the same hours as Dan, had yet to finish her daily chores. She poured herself and her husband a glass of beer, then began chopping potatoes, carrots, cabbage and onions on the side counter. As the vegetables were sliced, they were added to the already heating pot which contained a couple of bits of osso bucco browning in lard. The smell of the meat and onions frying was quite tantalizing. Eve looked around, smelt the thick musty odor of dinner, and regretted with every pore of her being that Martin was going to witness this dreadfully familiar domestic scene. The house was small and not very clean; and now everything smelled of cooking meat.

  “What have I done?” she cried inwardly.

  Lila had noticed her daughter’s distress. She finished her meal preparations, turned the heat down, settled Dan in front of the television in the adjoining lounge room with a beer, the form guide for tomorrow’s Warrick Farm racing line up, asking him to pick both a quinella and a trifecta, and asked Eve to come with her. She led the way to her daughter’s room – the only one in which they would be assured of any privacy. The four boys shared two sets of double bunks in the biggest bedroom; Dan and Lila had the next largest room and Eve the smallest bedroom – but it was hers alone. Lila – a gifted seamstress – had decorated Eve’s room with curtains and a matching bedspread of pale mauve organza on which apricot rosebuds with tiny mint green stems were embroidered.

  “Mum,” Eve’s voice was urgent. “I don’t know what to do.” She was close to tears.

  Lila gave her a hug. “What is it?”

  Eve was holding her hand to her eyes, frowning away her tears. “I met a nice fellow and I invited him over. Martin.”

  Lila was very surprised. Eve had never had a boyfriend – not that Lila was against the idea. After all, she was almost 18. “That’s alright, love,” she said comfortingly.

  “Tonight, Mum,” Eve explained. “He’s coming tonight!”

  Lila stopped hugging her daughter. “When?”

  “He said after dinner.” Eve was openly weeping now.

  Lila took her daughter’s face in her hands. She immediately understood that this boy was special and that it had been his idea to call on Eve at home. She understood everything just as Eve knew she would. “Eve – stop crying. You’ll make your eyes all puffy.” Eve nodded obediently and shook off her tears. She could tell by her mother’s tone of voice that Lila had a plan and it would be alright. “Now, put on a nice dress – the dark blue one would be good, with the new sling-back patent leather sandals, and I’ll go and finish the dinner and clean up the kitchen.” She looked at her watch. “After dinner usually means 7.30 at the earliest, and it is 6.30 now. We’ll be ready.” She kissed her daughter and bustled back into the kitchen.

  She quickly dished up the meal and then addressed her family. “I need you all to help me tonight.” The boys gave her their undivided attention, more from the novelty of Lila having anything to say to them at this time of the day, than from any real interest in what she was saying. Even Dan looked up from his paper.

  “Eve has a young man calling on her tonight. Martin.” Five men blinked their surprise, wordlessly. “And we need to make the house look alright before he gets here. I want everyone on their best behavior.” Lila looked sternly at Shane and Rory, who were 15 and 13 respectively. “I mean it.”

  Jimmy, 19 and Danny, 18, immediately lost interest, naturally assuming that Eve’s would-be suitor was some pimply kid of 17 and no one of any possible interest to mature men like themselves. However, they allowed Lila to order them about, one sweeping the floor while the other took out the rubbish and opened all the windows to let in the lovely fresh night air and let out the thick fug of meat and cabbage stew. Lila boiled some water and poured it over a bowl of freshly picked mint she grew beside the backstairs, and the room instantly smelled better. She ordered all the boys to put their shoes on, which they did with great reluctance, and told them to keep the television turned down very low if it must be on. Since the house consisted of 3 bedrooms and a bathroom clustered around a tiny hallway which led straight into the large kitchen, and the only other room was the lounge room off to one side of this kitchen, she couldn’t really ask the boys to make themselves scarce. She couldn’t even send them to their room, crammed to bursting as it was with all the beds.

  This would have to do.

  Lila set the younger boys washing the dishes and went to freshen herself up. She put on her newest dress of cream colored polished cotton with a large tangerine hibiscus print, brushed her dark hair back and twisted it into a French roll and re-applied her lipstick. Just as she was finishing, there was a knock at the back door.

  The front door opened into the lounge room, but from the street, the driveway led directly to the back door so no one ever entered at any other place. Dan answered the door, in itself a rarity, and to Eve this action alone was acknowledgement of the significance of this visitor.

  “Hello,” Dan was courteous as he opened the door to Martin and shook his hand. “You must be Martin. Dan Keats.”

  Martin stood under the naked light bulb which hung outside the back door, and around which a large number of moths were circling, and smiled at Dan. He was holding a large bunch of flowers. “Hello,” he smiled. “Yes, I’m Martin. Martin Yem.”

  Dan stood back to let Martin in. Lila came forward to meet him.

  “Hello, Martin, please come in.”

  “Hello Mrs Keats.” Martin continued to smile and handed the flowers to Lila. “These are for you,” he said.

  Lila looked around but couldn’t see Eve anywhere. “Well, thank you Martin,” she said. “How lovely!” She took the flowers to the sink and found a vase to put them in. Dan, meanwhile, sat Martin at the table and offered him a beer. Martin accepted but did not drink the glass of Four X Dan handed him.

  “She didn’t say he was Chinese,” Rory hissed as he and Shane observed Martin from the doorway to the lounge room.

  At last Eve entered the kitchen. She was determined to appear relaxed and happy to see Martin sitting in their kitchen. She wore her hair long, the top portion pulled back from her face and twisted into a tiny chignon at the back. She had pinned a fabric rose in her hair which was made of the same dark blue stuff as her dress, a sleeveless shift, pulled in at the waist with a matching fabric belt and buckle. Her pointed kitten-heel sling back sandals provided the finishing touch.

  Everyone was speechless, i
ncluding Martin. He stood up and walked over to Eve. “I came to see you,” he smiled at her.

  She answered him with a smile.

  At that moment, Jimmy burst in through the back door. “Is that your car?” He asked Martin.

  Martin smiled at Jimmy, whom he had not met till now. He walked over to him and shook his hand. They exchanged names. “Yes. Would you like to take it for a drive?”

  Jimmy was taken aback by this totally unexpected and absolutely glorious offer. “Yes, I would,” he answered.

  Martin reached into his pocket and retrieved the keys. He tossed them to Jimmy who caught them effortlessly. “See you later,” he said to Jimmy. Danny, Shane and Rory were already in the car by the time Jimmy climbed behind the wheel. They sat breathlessly as he carefully reversed down the dark driveway and onto the street. As Jimmy changed into first gear, they let out a “whoop” of collective disbelief and drove off, unimaginable happiness in each boy’s heart.

  From that moment on, Martin could do no wrong in the eyes of Eve’s four brothers. His largesse and good manners were so highly regarded at 17 Stadcor St that Eve’s fate was never questioned, nor cause for concern. Martin was the man.

  Chapter 16

  Eve and Martin had begun married life in a tiny house which clung to the northern bank of the Brisbane River, almost underneath the city-side of the Story Bridge. Within a year, Eve had had her first child, Jason, and a month later Martin’s father recalled him to Hong Kong.

  At first this had seemed a glamorous adventure of James Bond proportions. Eve and Martin shared his father’s home in Happy Valley, where he lived with Martin’s mother, who was known to everyone as Mother, and his second wife, Little Mother.

  Eve was surprised that “Father” openly had two wives, but even more surprised that the three of them shared a home. Sadly for Little Mother, after 20 years of marriage she remained childless, while Mother had had two sons and four daughters during her 30 years of marriage. Mother never spoke to Little Mother, who was only ever invited to join in the most informal of family events. Little Mother remained a sweet and passive childlike woman throughout her long and fruitless marriage, and Eve couldn’t help noting that the arrangement didn’t seem to bring much joy to anyone – certainly not to Father, who was forced to alienate himself from both wives to avoid Mother’s anger, and largely absented himself from his own home, thereby avoiding the drama, and leaving the two women to ignore and be ignored.

  But there were other more pressing issues on Eve’s mind, so she didn’t spend too much time pondering the marital relationship of her in-laws.

  For one thing, she was shocked to learn that her existence angered almost everyone. Rather than being the exotic young wife, Eve was regarded as the interloper. The older women were incensed that their Prince, for this was Martin’s position in their family, had married a foreigner. They were, after all, one of the wealthiest, most influential Chinese families in Hong Kong. It was tolerated by the Chinese women that their men lusted after the voluptuous European women, but family lines were not to be muddied. The Chinese had a special name for European women who married their handsome, rich young sons. It sounded like “gwaypoor” and Eve had heard it often enough to know it was not a compliment.

  The other unpleasant surprise was that no one bothered to speak English so that Eve could join in family discussions. Even Martin spoke Cantonese when they were with his family. This infuriated Eve, because she knew that they all spoke English well, and this was yet another covert insult.

  But Eve was clever and decided to bide her time. She knew that she, as the mother of an eldest son – Jason – of an eldest son – Martin – of an eldest son – Father – held a very powerful position as a woman in the Yem family – second only to Mother. So, she did what all the other “gwaypoor” did: she befriended the other European wives and learned Cantonese while shopping at the Stanley Markets.

  *

  One afternoon, Eve and Fay sat in the casual dining room of the Kowloon Hilton Hotel, resting after an exhausting morning shopping. This was a popular luncheon location for the nouveau riche white women of Hong Kong. There was virtually no ceiling and the balconies of each floor overlooked the courtyard in which they now sat. One wall, made entirely of glass, was a series of panes, rising 12 floors up the north facing wall of the hotel, and provided ethereal illumination to the beige marble floors and the trickling water feature cascading down the opposite wall. It was a beautiful room filled today with beautiful women.

  “They should call this the ‘gwaypoor room’,” said Eve.

  Fay laughed. “Have you ever noticed that every other European woman we meet seems to have a rich father in Johannesburg or London or Sydney or Auckland?”

  “So they say,” Eve sipped her fruity iced mocktail and surreptitiously checked out the other women seated at the tables around them. “But since we can’t check, who’s to know?”

  “I know,” Fay smiled. “I mean, what about Leeanne?” She indicated a woman their own age with very blonded hair who sat with a group of ladies at the table closest to the window. Fay was herself from England and had a delightful Liverpool accent. “She says she’s from Scottish royalty, but believe me – Scottish royalty speak and sound just like English royalty. Leeanne sounds like her father was a wharfie.” Fay exploded into giggles and so did Eve.

  “Royalty?” Eve gasped through her giggles, which had graduated into guffaws. “What sort of royalty calls their kid “Leeanne”? They both almost fell out of their chairs laughing at this.

  “The same sort of royalty who send their kids to Glasgow state school!”

  *

  It seemed that it was a bit of a status symbol among wealthy Chinese men to marry beautiful European women like Fay and Eve, and the Chinese girls of their own age would have nothing to do with either of them on this account.

  Stanley Ho was the richest Chinese in Hong Kong, and lived next door to Martin and Eve in a much larger house, and with its own stretch of beach on the Headland at Shek O. Fay taught Eve to play Mahjong, and they joined a local Chinese group of older players. Fay had learned enough Cantonese to speak to the staff at her home, and now she and Eve learned a lot more of the colloquial language from these older women. Fay also took Eve to the Stanley Markets, where they haggled and called out to the vendors like locals. Soon they were. The Chinese stall owners laughed at the foreigners who patronized them, but Eve only laughed back and they liked her for that. Soon they were helping her learn some more colourful Cantonese phrases and when she took these back to her mahjong group, they would shriek with shock and laugh at her newly acquired vulgar vocabulary.

  She had her third son, then a fourth, then twins – a boy and a girl. 20 years had passed and Eve spoke Cantonese like a native. She accompanied Martin on business trips and astounded his business associates with her wit, repartee and mostly with her ability to not only speak their language, but to understand any nuance they tried to slip by her in conversation. The Chinese are adept at the double entendre and Eve never missed one. This amazed and delighted those she met, but it antagonised and annoyed Big Mother. For one thing, she was horrified that Martin had married a European girl in the first place; and now she had to live with a daughter-in-law who did not know her place. Eve’s place, of course, was far below Big Mother, and not at all equal to Martin, the eldest son. Eve did not seem to understand this and Big Mother had to continually find ways to show her how small she was to the family.

  But Eve did understand, and though she longed for a daughter, proudly bore healthy son after healthy son. Every boy she bore elevated her position in the Yem family, the Chinese culture and closed the gap between her and Big Mother. Big Mother had only had two boys. The remaining four children had been girls, which may have accounted for Little Mother’s appearance. But Little Mother remained inexplicably childless.

  The first time Eve had revealed her language prowess had been a glorious moment. For some time, Eve had suspected that the comments
Big Mother made to her daughters at table which resulted in extended bouts of laughter were aimed at her. She was too proud to ask Martin about it, and no one seemed concerned since they thought her unable to understand. But like the snow that melts in the springtime on a garden after a long winter, there arrived the day when Eve had enough knowledge of Cantonese to understand everything Big Mother said to her attending daughters – Teresa, Connie and Winnie.

  “Let’s see how the one (they called her “the one” Eve realized, probably to avoid using her name, which she would immediately recognise) likes tonight’s feast,” Mother said to her girls. “Tonight we are having snake and Europeans hate snake!” The four women giggled in anticipation of Eve’s reaction. “Although since they eat pig’s buttocks with eggs for breakfast, you would think snake would be a delicacy by comparison.”

  All this was said in easily heard Cantonese, since there was no need to whisper.

  In fact, Eve had tried snake before and found it quite acceptable. She wouldn’t cook it at home for the kids; but she would certainly eat it herself rather than offend an anxious host, which was how she had come to try it previously. So, when her plate was put before her, she smiled brightly and announced loudly in perfect Cantonese to her mother-in-law “Oh! Snake! What a delicacy! And so much more delicious than pig’s buttocks!”

  The whole room was silent. Martin looked at Eve as though his ears had deceived him. Big Mother had stopped breathing. At first Martin felt rage towards his wife. Why was she always such a trouble maker? Why did she always have to anger his mother? But then something in his heart gave way and he suddenly saw the funny side of the situation and he started to laugh. Eve laughed, too, for it was really very funny. The look on Big Mother’s face was worth all she had tolerated. Eve laughed and laughed.