Land of Milk & Honey
Page 14
‘Yeah. No need for you to be helping me quite as much as you will be doing,’ Jake was serious. ‘Robert and me had it all planned. Him and me were going to go deer-culling for the government for a year or so, make a fortune, then varsity. Do us good. The great outdoors, and all that.’
‘Stuff and nonsense,’ said James McGregor. ‘Pleases me more to have the noses of the two of you planted firmly to the academic grindstone than have you frisking and frolicking around the bush making life a misery for innocent deer or shooting each other. And don’t you be thinking it’s solely on your account I’ll be helping that grinning monkey, too. Been planned for years.’
‘I know that,’ said Jake.
‘Neither you nor he have been the first, and, with any luck won’t be the last. One thing the old girl and I decided on many moons ago,’ and he looked towards the photograph of himself and his wife. ‘Nothing else to do with the damned stuff.’
‘I just want to say…’ Jake began.
‘Well, don’t,’ Mac held up a hand. ‘You’ve said it all, Jake. Many times over. You’ve given me as much, more, than I’ve given you. I know full well what you show me in everything you do for me. There is only one more thing you can do for me.’
‘What? Another whisky?’
‘Simply never forget that this is your home.’
Jake smiled. ‘I know it always will be that.’
‘Oh, yes, mister, you’re right on the button there. In the fullness of time it will be yours in a practical sense,’ he looked at Jake. ‘Don’t bother floundering around groping for the right word, young man. Enough said! Is that clear?’ He glared at Jake. ‘Now you can pour me another tot.’
Jake said nothing.
James McGregor finished his scrutiny of the crop of swedes. ‘Thought I heard it. Come on, laddie.’
The plumes of smoke and steam rose above the low hills and the train came into view around the last bend. ‘Just hope to God the guard hasn’t lost old Freddie’s fishing rods this time,’ Jake yelled.
‘Freddie? What was that about…’ the rest of the doctor’s words were lost as the train roared, hissed, slowed. The old man hobbled off along the platform, leaving Jake behind him.
The train stopped. Jake glanced along the line of carriages to see from which Dr Mac’s guest would alight. For a moment or two, nothing. ‘He’ll be in the last bugger. Always is. And slower than a bloody snail,’ Jake muttered, peering through the cloud of wafting smoke and steam. He saw the guard jump down and turn to the steps of the carriage to help a small figure, a child, jump down before turning back to assist someone else.
Jake began to walk towards James McGregor. And then he froze. Absolutely stock-still. ‘No,’ he yelled. ‘No!’ louder. ‘It can’t be…it isn’t…’ and his hand came up to cover his mouth and he began to tremble. ‘Oh Jesus God it is…’ and he began to run. ‘My dad…my dad…and it’s Janny. Janny! Janny!’ he yelled. ‘Daddy…Dad…’ a scream torn from his whole being. ‘It’s me. It’s your Jake! Here I am.’
AUTHOR’S NOTE
During the first half of the twentieth century, most particularly after World War II, many British children were sent to New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Africa to find ‘new and better homes’. Some 5000 children were sent to Australia and around 750 to New Zealand after the Second World War. A general term for these children was ‘war orphans’. While a number of these children were orphans, many were not.
Sometimes the ‘new life’ was better. Sometimes it was not. As recent inquiries have shown, often the transition was a painful one, and instances of abuse were commonplace; both institutionally and at the hands of individuals and families. Too often the children were seen as little more than a source of labour, often on farms. Farm help, cheap or expensive, was hard to find during this period.
It is also true to say that most of these children were actively encouraged to sever all ties with their homelands and families. That so many did achieve success and eventually find happiness and security in their new lives is to their credit. Our society stands in their debt.
Acknowledgment
The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Creative New Zealand in the writing of this novel. Additional work on the manuscript was done in 2003 during the time the author was Writer-in-Residence at Whakatane Intermediate School, and this assistance is similarly appreciated.
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in 2005
This edition published in 2010
by HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1, Auckland
Copyright © William Taylor 2005
William Taylor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
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National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:
Taylor, William, 1938-
Land of milk and honey / William Taylor.
ISBN 978 1 8695 0549 3 (pbk.)
ISBN 978 0 730 49178 1 (epub)
I. Title.
NZ823.2-dc 22
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