Long before he reached Giovanni’s warehouse at the wharves, he could hear music and smell delicious food. Giovanni greeted him like a long-lost relative, poured him a glass of wine and sat him down to ask him what he’d been doing.
Giuseppe thanked Giovanni for the introduction to Signora Pagano and then handed him a parcel of fresh fish and told him about the job with Kostas.
‘The Greeks are good fishermen. But so are the Italians. You should go south one day and see where they have made their mark in Wollongong and further down the coast.’
‘Are these places far away? Because I have no money to travel. And I would rather find my way around this huge harbour. There are waterways that seem to go to the moon!’ exclaimed Giuseppe. ‘Kostas showed me his map.’
‘Yes, but it is not just Sydney Harbour that is magnificent! North is the Hawkesbury River and Pittwater in from West Head, the northern beaches – they all are incredible.’ He shouted across the table. ‘Stefano, where’s your brother’s boat? We want to take Giuseppe for a trip!’
*
On the next Sunday Giuseppe, Antonio and Luciano found themselves walking along the pier at Rose Bay, wondering if they were at the right place. They had imagined that they would be going out on a smelly fishing boat, with garlicky picnic food and no shelter from the sun or rain, in the company of other migrant fishermen. But here was a very different world. This place was full of sleek yachts and elegant motor boats.
They were stunned when they boarded Stefano’s brother’s boat. It was a converted ferry, trimmed with teak and brass fittings; it had comfortable tables and chairs on the deck and bunks below. Food and drinks were already spread out and, although it was not his boat, Giovanni held centre stage. He kept calling Giuseppe and Antonio to come close and then he introduced them to people who all smiled at the handsome new arrivals. Everyone was talking in voluble Italian.
One dark-eyed woman was dressed in a white silk dress with a wide lace hem, a stylish hat and carried a Chinese parasol. She lazily smoked a cigarette as she cast her eye over Giuseppe.
‘Who are you?’ she asked.
‘I am Giuseppe.’ Tentatively he shook her hand.
She turned to Giovanni. ‘Where have you been hiding this sweet boy?’
Giovanni made a small gesture and replied, ‘He is fresh from Sicily, still learning the ropes as you say. Don’t frighten him away, Sophia. He is a fisherman.’
She turned her large eyes, outlined in black, to Giuseppe. ‘I love fresh fish. Where do you sell your fish, Giuseppe?’ She rolled his name off her tongue and another woman in a pleated skirt gave a throaty laugh.
‘I work for Kostas the Greek. He sells seafood from the beach at Bondi.’
‘Giuseppe, you need your own boat. He must start his own business, Giovanni. Why don’t you help him?’
‘Oh. No! It will be a long time before I have my own boat,’ exclaimed Giuseppe. ‘I am still learning where the fish are here.’
‘I bet you’re a fast learner,’ said Sophia, with a smile. She and her friend laughed again, but Giuseppe felt uncomfortable and excused himself. He was quite shocked by the way these women dressed, showing bare arms and wearing brightly coloured lipstick. In comparison the men were conservatively dressed but even Giuseppe knew that their clothes were expensive and most carried gold watches.
Their boat motored slowly around the reaches and bays of the harbour, and Giuseppe lost interest in his fellow passengers, preferring to pay close attention to where they were going and mentally mapping the inlets and coves in his head.
‘I wish I did have a boat. I bet there is good fishing in places like these,’ he said to Antonio.
‘Look at the houses, they are so big. Some even have their own jetties,’ said Antonio.
‘Maybe that’s where the people on this boat live,’ said Giuseppe.
‘It wouldn’t surprise me. I heard them talking about racehorses and betting. I think one of them is a bookmaker. Like the SP bookie at Myrtle’s hotel,’ said Antonio.
‘Whatever they’re doing, they are making money,’ said Giuseppe, sighing. ‘Kostas is kind, but I would like to make more money. I need a second job.’
‘When are you going to do that?’ said Luciano. ‘You’re out fishing with the Greeks nearly every night.’
‘If I had my own boat, just a small one, I could row around places like this and catch my own fish and sell them before I go to Kostas in the evening.’
‘Where would you sell them?’ asked Giovanni, appearing behind them.
‘I would take my fish to these rich houses and sell them, fresh,’ he said with sudden enthusiasm.
Giovanni smiled. ‘I’m sure you would do very well.’
By the time they docked later that evening, the long lunch had become an extended dinner. The women pleaded with Giuseppe and Antonio to stay, but both were anxious to go back to Signora Pagano’s where supper would be waiting.
Sophia held Giuseppe’s hand for a long time as he said his farewells. ‘I know we will meet again. Come and see me, I’m sure I can help you get that boat.’ She gave a smile. ‘Ciao, baby.’
Over their supper that night Antonio entertained the signora and the other boarders with stories about their day out on the rich man’s boat, telling them all what a success Giuseppe had been with one woman in particular.
While everyone chuckled with amusement, Signora Pagano snorted.
‘She does not sound to me the sort of woman that your poor mamma would think suitable for you,’ she said sternly.
Giuseppe ate his fish and said nothing.
He laughed when the other boarders teased him, but Giuseppe started to think deeply about the idea of catching and selling fish himself.
During his time alone, he began to walk around the harbour foreshores. When he was familiar with the eastern side, he talked Antonio and Luciano into taking the ferry across to Manly, on the other side of Sydney Harbour.
They walked from the wharf to Sydney Road and, as they passed the Britannia De-Luxe picture theatre, Luciano said, ‘Why don’t we go in? Everyone says that The Mask of Zorro is a wonderful movie. Do you want to give it a try?’
Giuseppe was not going to tell either of his friends that he had never been to see a moving picture so he agreed. He could scarcely contain his anticipation as they joined the queue to buy a ticket. Inside, Giuseppe stared in awe at the ornate ceiling and the elaborate red curtain. He roared with laughter at the antics of the very stupid Keystone Cops, but when The Mask of Zorro started he could hardly believe what he was seeing. The screen was so big that the actors seemed to be in the theatre with them. He watched in amazement as Douglas Fairbanks, playing Zorro, escaped trap after trap, fighting his way out of trouble with amazing swordsmanship. How he wished he was like that, so dashing and so brave. While all the action was going on, the Grand Symphony Orchestra played, enhancing the mood of excitement of the silent movie. Although the captions that flashed onto the screen were in English, they were short enough for him to be able to understand. In his whole life he had never been so enthralled. Afterwards the three of them joined the crowd and strolled along the Corso. The beautifully curved beach was popular with swimmers and families picnicked on the grass beneath the young pine trees. As the young men walked around the rocks to Shelly Beach, Giuseppe mentally made a note of the spots that would be good for fishing. But his dream of fishing the coves and bays of the harbour was firmly lodged in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that the only person who could help his ambitions was Giovanni.
When Giuseppe told him what he wanted, Giovanni said, ‘Show me what you have in mind.’
Giuseppe enthusiastically produced a map he had borrowed from Kostas. ‘These are the places I want to fish. I’m after flathead and snapper, maybe flounder, and whiting in the sand beds. I have walked around Balmain and Birchgrove and other harbour places where there are a lot of houses and I think I could sell my fish from the wharf or visit the houses alon
g the waterfront and dockyard area. Perhaps ask a shopkeeper or two if they want to take my fish.’
‘And what about fishing gear? If you are going into competition with Kostas will he loan you crab pots and nets as well as lines?’
Giuseppe nodded. ‘I explained to him what I want to do. He says that as long as I still work for him, he doesn’t mind and he will lend me some lines.’
‘I will see what I can do.’
*
A few days later Giuseppe received a note at the boarding house from Giovanni, telling him to come to his warehouse. There he showed Giuseppe an old wooden skiff tied up at the wharf.
‘Let me see you row,’ Giovanni said.
Giuseppe was delighted to see the old boat. He quickly climbed down the wharf steps, clambered into the little boat and, after placing the oars into the rowlocks, started to row out into the harbour.
‘Good, good,’ called Giovanni. ‘You can bring her back now.’
Giuseppe picked up the painter and prepared to tie the boat up but before he could Giovanni grasped the rope and threw it to Giuseppe.
‘Take it. Keep it round at Balmain. Use one of the boatsheds. This skiff is on loan until you can buy your own boat, so don’t take it out in bad weather, and don’t go out through the heads.’
Giovanni’s generosity astonished Giuseppe. He stammered, ‘How do I thank you, Giovanni? I will bring you fish every week. I promise.’
‘You are a bright boy, a nice boy, Giuseppe. I like you. I want to see you get ahead but there is no easy way to make money except by hard work.’
‘I understand,’ he answered. ‘And I will work hard.’
*
Several mornings later Kostas left Giuseppe on the beach to sell the last of their catch to any latecomers. Kostas was going to look at a trawler that had come up for sale so that he could start netting the prawn grounds.
Most of the shopkeepers, restaurant buyers and local women shoppers had long gone, but it was pleasant sitting in the sun watching the seagulls jostle for scraps or pounce on the tiny crabs that appeared on the wet sand as the tide ran out.
He slid Kostas’s cotton Greek fishing cap over his eyes and started to doze.
‘Giuseppe? Yes, it is Giuseppe. Ooh, sorry, did I disturb you?’
The voice was faintly amused and familiar. Giuseppe jerked awake, and took off the cap. ‘Sophia! This is a surprise!’
She was wearing a light crêpe de Chine dress that blew around her legs, and a shady hat that gave her a casual air. Her fingernails and lips were a startling red. She was so different from the women and girls Giuseppe knew at home. She was older than he was and so independent and forthright. He found her company exhilarating.
‘How is the fish-selling business today?’
‘You should have come earlier. There is nothing left,’ exclaimed Giuseppe, but she shook her head.
‘That is all right. I don’t feel like eating fish today. I came for a walk by the sea and thought I might take a small cool drink at Ravesi’s. Will you join me?’
‘Sophia, I am not dressed to go with you,’ said Giuseppe, feeling embarrassed at his old clothes. ‘I have been working. I smell of fish!’
‘Phhft, jump in the ocean then!’ she laughed. ‘Go on. I will watch you. Can you swim?’
‘Of course. I have swum all my life.’
Giuseppe felt she was challenging him so he tore off his shirt and sprinted across the beach into the water and dived into a wave, then he surfaced and swam the way he’d learned as a boy in the deep still waters around his island. Feeling refreshed and pleased with himself he shook the water from his dark hair and made his way back to Sophia, but before he reached her, he was confronted by a large man in a suit.
‘You can’t do this,’ the man said.
Giuseppe looked around in bewilderment. He had no idea what the man meant. Perhaps it was because he still didn’t understand English very well. ‘Scusi?’
‘You can’t go around dressed indecently like this,’ roared the man. ‘You have to be dressed properly on the beach. I’ll have to fine you.’
Giuseppe still had no idea what the man was talking about but before he asked a question, Sophia joined them. She said something quickly to the man, giving him her most gracious smile. The man, however, was not placated.
‘What is it, Sophia? What have I done to upset this man?’
‘He is a beach inspector and when you swim at Bondi, you have to keep a top on. You didn’t, so I’m afraid that he is going to fine you.’
‘But I have no money. How can he fine me? I cannot pay.’
‘Tell your friend that if he doesn’t pay the fine, he’ll go to gaol,’ said the inspector.
Giuseppe understood enough of what he was saying to be completely horrified. ‘Sophia, the only money I have belongs to Kostas. I cannot use that and if I go to gaol, I will lose my job with him and will not be able to buy the boat from Giovanni. This is a catastrophe.’
Sophia smiled at the inspector. ‘Please understand, sir, my friend has just arrived in Australia and he did not understand how he was meant to behave on Bondi Beach. Could you let him off this time? I would not like to have to write to his old mother and tell her what has become of her boy. It would break her heart.’
The beach inspector looked at Sophia’s entreating face as she pleaded with him. ‘Just because he didn’t know is no excuse, miss, but I suppose I could let him off with a warning, especially as there aren’t many people around.’ Then he turned to Giuseppe and said very slowly, ‘You come to Australia, you obey Australian laws. If I ever catch you again in such a shocking display, I’ll throw the book at you.’
Giuseppe wasn’t sure what book he was talking about and didn’t like to ask. When the beach inspector walked away, Giuseppe realised that Sophia had managed to talk the man around and that he would not be going to gaol.
‘How can I thank you, Sophia? I thought that I would be sent to gaol for doing something that I have always done at home. This is a very difficult country to understand.’
‘These things happen. Don’t worry about it,’ she said lightly. ‘How about that drink?’
‘Why not? I’ve finished selling Kostas’s fish. It will take me a few moments to dry off.’
‘Joe, by the time we walk to Ravesi’s you’ll be dry.’ She stood up as he ran his fingers through his hair to try and smooth it before pulling on his cap.
‘Joe? What is Joe? Why do you call me Joe?’
‘That’s your name in Australia. Giuseppe in Italy, Joe in Australia. It’s a good strong name. Let’s go.’
She walked beside him as if it was the most natural thing in the world, but suddenly Giuseppe stopped.
‘My money! I have only Kostas’s fish money!’
Sophia touched his arm. ‘I invited you. So I pay. It is the modern way.’
Sophia seemed to be no hurry and ordered some small dishes of food to eat with their drinks. Giuseppe learned a little more about her. She told him she had no children but he wasn’t sure if she had ever been married. Perhaps she was a divorced woman. Giuseppe had never met a divorced woman before.
‘I have never felt the need to marry and conform and be a good wife. I am sure that would shock your mother, Joe.’
She was right. His mother would not approve of a woman like Sophia, but he thought she had a good heart and she was generous and she seemed to like him, which flattered him. Just the same, he wondered why she had allowed him to take his shirt off on Bondi Beach when she knew that it was against the law. It was a puzzle he couldn’t solve.
‘Tell me, Joe, what have you been up to? What are your plans?’
Eagerly he told her how Giovanni had loaned him a small boat to start fishing for himself when he was not working for Kostas.
Sophia nodded. ‘This is good. You need to find places to fish where you know you will always have a good supply.’
‘Yes, I am doing that. Every day I am not working for Kostas I find good fishing s
pots. Sometimes I dive overboard and swim around to see what is below, so I know where reefs and ledges and sandy weed beds are.’
‘Joe, that can be dangerous. In Australia, the sharks, they eat you! Where are you going to sell the fish after you catch them?’ She leaned across the table, looking into his eyes.
‘I will sell them on the wharf, or go from house to house. This is what Giovanni and I have decided.’
‘Sell direct to customers. What a splendid idea. Your street is the water! Think of all the houses around the city where there are wharves, public and private. If you took the fish direct from the sea to people’s homes, how fresh would that be?’ She patted his hand. ‘And I will be your first customer.’
That evening his plans were discussed around the supper table in the kitchen of Signora Pagano’s boarding house.
‘You need to work out a route and let people know when you will be there at the wharf, and you must be regular and reliable,’ said Signora Pagano.
‘How will you keep the fish cool and fresh? Drag them in a sack in the water behind you?’ said Luciano.
‘If you do that, the sharks will follow you and you’ll have a sack full of holes,’ said Signora Pagano.
‘I will do what Kostas does. Put them in boxes with smashed-up blocks of ice and cover them with hessian bags. I will talk to the iceman who comes here and offer him some fish in exchange for a discount on the ice.’
‘Giuseppe, that’s a good idea,’ said Antonio.
‘My Australian friends call me Joe,’ said Giuseppe.
‘Yes, I am called Lucky,’ said Luciano.
‘Then I will be Tony,’ said Antonio, and the three men raised their glasses to salute their new names.
*
Giuseppe spent days getting used to the little boat and the conditions around the Balmain area. The foreshores were dotted with grand homes as well as the more modest houses that had been built for the men working at Mort’s dockyard. Giuseppe planned to sell his catch from the ferry wharf or go door to door asking housewives if they might be interested in buying fresh fish from him.
The Winter Sea Page 8
