The Memory Tree
Page 27
Matt released the twins. They toddled to the tree, crawled under a root and peek-a-booed from a low hollow. Matt pointed out Grandpa and Grandma’s names in a heart. Then he showed them Mummy and Daddy’s.
‘Isn’t Mummy clever?’ he said, pointing to the collection of stuffed native animals and birds inhabiting the tree. A brush-tailed possum, baby on board, peered out of its nest. A wombat escaped down its burrow, and a devil played with its joeys. An eagle added a stick to its lofty eyrie. Penny had done a spectacular job. Everybody had, including his own father. They’d all worked together to bring the grand vitality of the Tuggerah to town.
Penny appeared and swept up her delighted children in a bountiful hug.
‘I can’t believe it,’ she said. The children gazed in rapt attention at her shining face. ‘The amount of interest in my Memento Mori line? Three buyers from Hobart stores have put in orders. And that man in the bow tie, Patrick Duff? He’s the curator of vertebrate zoology at the Hobart Museum. Know what he said?’ Penny was off and running before he could respond, sparkling right along with her jewellery. ‘He said he’s impressed by my work – my devil mounts in particular. He says they’re embarking on a project in conjunction with the university. Cataloguing DNA and restoring mounted specimens.’ Her voice quivered and tracked higher. ‘Thylacines as well. He wants me to consult. They say I have a way with marsupial carnivores.’ Penny punched Matt’s arm in excitement, causing little Charlotte to punch Ray, who started to cry. ‘I’ll actually be a museum consultant.’
Matt rescued Ray. ‘Congratulations, honey.’
McGregor wheeled Fraser’s chair over. He was physically frail now, with the return of the cancer, but his spirit seemed strong and his eyes shone with pleasure. Charlotte and Ray climbed onto his knee and searched his pockets for sherbet bombs. He pretended not to have any, then produced one from behind each child’s ear, to peals of laughter.
‘The museum is lucky to have you,’ said Fraser when he heard Penny’s news. ‘It’s not the other way around. Remember that.’ She hugged him. Hugged the children. Hugged Matt. Hugged the jewellery store sales rep who came to retrieve her.
‘I’ve got the kids,’ said Matt. ‘You go back to your wheeling and dealing.’
Penny gave him a dazzling smile and hurried off.
Fraser was correct; the museum was lucky to have her, more than it knew. Nobody alive was more qualified for the job. For back at Canterbury Downs, in a climate-controlled extension to Fraser’s studio, Penny had restored Theo to life, or so it seemed. He stood at attention, forepaw raised, facing the steel door, ready to flee back to his mountains given half a chance. A security system guarded the room’s concealed entrance, and its existence was known to just four people. It had come at a terrible cost. Sarah was gone, and Matt couldn’t put that right. He would never shed the guilt he felt over her death.
There was something important that he had been able to put right though. With immense perseverance and the use of strategically placed camera traps, he and Penny had discovered precisely how many tigers were using the tunnel in and out of the secret valley. The number exceeded a dozen, more than they could have hoped for.
After hundreds of hours of observations, and months of field work, Matt knew the tigers well. He knew every stripe on each animal; every scar and limp and pawprint and torn ear. He knew their habits and routines, when they climbed up in the evening to go hunting, and when they stole back down to the safety of their valley to sleep.
Last week he’d spent a few days camping up at Tiger Pass. One bright morning, when Matt had established beyond doubt that every animal had safely passed down through the tunnel, he dynamited the rear of Last Stand Cave, just as Luke Tyler had done one hundred and fifty years before him. How proud he was to restore the sanctuary his forefathers had created for the tigers. Their secret was secure once more.
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In the basement laboratory at UTAS, a scientist unlocked a tall freezer cabinet. She’d been set the task of reviewing the ground-breaking work of the late Dr Sarah Deville – the brilliant American researcher who uncovered the key to tackling facial tumour disease in devils, and then died in such violent and tragic circumstances.
The scientist commenced her morning’s work, sliding out trays, identifying and cataloguing the samples she found. Each sample was neatly numbered and labelled. Except for one. One curious piece of ear.
Copyright © 2019 Jennifer Scoullar
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organisations, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version 2.0
ISBN: eBook 978-1-925827-24-8
Cover art by Kellie Dennis @ Book Cover By Design
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Pilyara Press
Melbourne
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks go to the team at Pilyara Press, including Kathryn Ledson, Sydney Smith, Kate Belle, Desney King and Monique Mulligan.
Special thanks go to Kathryn Ledson and Desney King for their eagle-eyed editorial and proofreading help.
Thanks to my insightful editor, Alison Arnold, who has now worked with me on seven books.
Thanks to my lovely agent, Clare Forster of Curtis Brown Australia.
I pay tribute to the various Tasmanian Devil Conservation organisations. Without their dedication and hard work, our devils might already be extinct.
Thanks to my talented writing friends, the Varuna Darklings and the Little Lonsdale Group, for their friendship and encouragement.
Finally, I’d like to thank my family for their patience and support. Once again, you are all stars!
About the Author
Bestselling Aussie author Jennifer Scoullar writes page-turning fiction about the land, people and wildlife that she loves.
Scoullar is a lapsed lawyer who harbours a deep appreciation and respect for the natural world. She lives on a farm in Australia’s southern Victorian ranges, and has ridden and bred horses all her life. Her passion for animals and the bush is the inspiration behind her best-selling books.
Visit Jennifer’s website to receive a free book, and also enter the monthly prize draw! If you enjoyed this novel and have a moment or two, please leave an online rating or review. Reviews are of great help to authors.
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www.jenniferscoullar.com
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Did you love The Memory Tree? Then you should read Fortune's Son by Jennifer Scoullar!
Heads you win. Tails you die...
Can one man's revenge become his redemption?
Young Luke Tyler has everything going for him: brains, looks and a larrikin charm that turns heads. The future appears bright, until he defends his sister from the powerful Sir Henry Abbott. His reward is fifteen years hard labour on a prison farm in Tasmania's remote highlands.
Luke escapes, finding sanctuary with local philanthropist, Daniel Campbell, and starting a forbidden love affair with Daniel's daughter, Belle. But when Luke is betrayed, he must flee or be hanged.
With all seeming lost, Luke sails to South Africa to start afresh. Yet he remains haunted by the past, and by Belle, the woman he can't forget. When he returns to seek revenge and reclaim his life, his actions will have shattering consequences – for the innocent as well as the guilty.
Set against a backdrop of wild Tasmania, Australian Gold and African diamonds, Fortune's Son is an epic story of betrayal, undying love and one man's struggle to triumph over adversity and find his way home.
- Praise for Jennifer Scoullar –
'Scoullar, it turns out, is a writer of documentary calibre … lovely, lyrical prose.' The Australian.
'Jennifer is a writer of great imagination.' Author Andrea Goldsmith
'The people, the animals and the places … such vivid and vibrant story-telling which wholly swept me away' Beauty and Lace
Fortune's Son is the first book in the Tasmanian Tales trilogy. Buy it now to discover why Jennifer Scoullar is one of Australia's favourite story-tellers!