Pearlie's Ghost Read online

  Contents

  1 Bombs Fall

  2 Naoko’s Letter

  3 Pearlie to the Rescue

  4 The Sojourn

  5 The Big City

  6 The Reunion

  7 The Bath

  8 The Ghost of Medindee

  9 The Hidden Door

  10 The Tower Room

  11 The Small Grave

  12 Ghost Dog

  13 A New Beginning

  PEARLIE lay dazed as the smoke cleared.

  She held Tinto tightly to her chest. His little body was trembling with fear. Even though he struggled and scratched, she would not let him go.

  The bomb had missed her, but other planes were heading towards Cavenagh Street, to Chinatown, to her home.

  Pearlie gasped as she heard the planes machine-gun the buildings.

  Tears streamed down her cheeks. There seemed to be a hundred planes covering the sky over Darwin. Most were dark green, some were white, but they all had big red circles on their wings and sides.

  Suddenly the police station and barracks burst into flames as a bomb hit it. ‘Oh, no! Hazel!’ Pearlie gasped.

  She leapt to her feet, put Tinto in his pouch, and ran in the direction of the flames, wiping her tears so she could see where she was going. Many of the ships in the harbour were under attack now. Some were on fire, others were sinking. Plumes of smoke like grey-black mushrooms rose up from the burning vessels. The smell of oil was everywhere.

  ‘Don’t go that way!’ a man said as he limped by. He was shirtless and covered in blood. Pearlie shrank back in horror. She turned around, looking for shelter. There was smoke every where and her ears hurt from the whistling noise of falling bombs and explosions.

  Then she saw it – a plane flying low and coming straight down the street towards her. A double line of little explosions ran in front of the plane, kicking up the dust. The pilot was shooting at her! She held onto the pouch with Tinto in it and threw herself off the street onto her stomach, rolling over to watch as the plane flew past. The pilot turned his head to look at her, his goggles glinting; a white bandana with a red sun painted on it was tied around his head. It was only a quick glimpse, but Pearlie knew she would remember it for the rest of her life.

  She wanted to crawl into a hole and hide there.

  No, I can’t stop, she thought. I have to find Hazel.

  Pearlie struggled to her feet and made herself walk. There were men running everywhere, yelling, screaming.

  The Police Station was engulfed in flames when Pearlie got there. Its roof was caving in and all the windows had shattered.

  Please be alive, Hazel, Pearlie prayed as she looked around in a daze.

  Then she saw something moving. A grey ashen head rose up out of the ruins, followed by a body. It was Policeman Sandy!

  Pearlie rushed over to help him. ‘Have you seen Hazel?’ she screamed as she pulled him from the smouldering building.

  ‘Pearlie, go find shelter! I’ll look for her,’ Policeman Sandy yelled, brushing himself off. And he disappeared back into the wall of smoke.

  That’s when Pearlie suddenly remembered Grey Ears. She had been holding onto the donkey’s halter, but when the bomb exploded she must have let it go.

  ‘Pearlie! Thank god you’re all right,’ a voice cried out. Pearlie felt Hazel’s warm arms around her, squeezing her tight.

  ‘I thought you were dead, Hazel,’ Pearlie whispered. And she burst into tears.

  Hazel held her and stroked her hair. ‘I’m fine, hon,’ she said. ‘I got out before the bombs hit. I’m fine . . .’

  Policeman Sandy reappeared and smiled in relief. Then he looked up, distracted, as the all-clear siren sounded. The planes had gone.

  ‘I’m glad you’re safe, Hazel,’ he said. ‘Take care of Pearlie will ya? I’m needed.’ And he rushed off.

  ‘Come on, love,’ Hazel said.

  ‘So you’re not mad at me?’ asked Pearlie.

  ‘Mad? If I ever see that Ron Beake again, I’ll kill him myself,’ Hazel sniffed.

  Pearlie nodded in agreement, then she pulled back from Hazel. ‘I’m really sorry, Hazel, but I have to find Grey Ears.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘My donkey . . . she’ll be so scared.’ Pearlie turned and ran off before Hazel could stop her.

  The harbour was ablaze. There were about fifty ships out there and many were on fire. Even the hospital ship, the Manunda, had been bombed!

  Pearlie slowed down as she passed the post and telegraph office – or what was left of it. She tried not to look, but she couldn’t help herself. Bodies were being dragged from the ruins and laid in the open. She turned away, lifting Tinto up to her face to wipe away her tears in his fur. Then she stumbled forward, her head bowed.

  Through the smoke and haze she saw what looked like a flock of small yellow birds searching for food on the ground. When she wiped her eyes, she realised they weren’t birds at all but fragments of letters from the post and telegraph office being blown along by the wind. Some of the envelopes were whole but scorched. Others were black with dirt and soot.

  Suddenly the world went silent. On an envelope at Pearlie’s feet was a single word that seemed to fly off the paper like a beautiful black moth.

  The word was Naoko.

  Pearlie knelt down and grabbed the envelope before the wind could carry it away. There was a burn in the back of the envelope where Naoko’s last name ‘Ito’ should have been. But it was Nao’s handwriting for sure.

  Pearlie’s fingers trembled as she turned it over. It was addressed to her. She carefully opened it and took out the letter inside.

  To my best friend Pearlie,

  How are you? I miss Darwin, but most of all I miss you!!!

  So much has happened since I last saw you at school that horrible day. Dad is in an Internment Camp called Loveday. The government doesn’t put women and children in there so Mum and I are in Adelaide. I really miss Dad and we’re not even allowed to visit him. But we’re living with Reverend Makepeace and his wife. He’s a minister in the church. Mum cooks for them – which she doesn’t mind cos she likes to cook, but guess what I have to do? ALL the cleaning and the house is HUGE! I wish you were here, Pearlie.

  I never told you this before but I’m scared of ghosts. Remember that ghost you had in your shop and how your dad got rid of it? You weren’t scared at all.

  Well, there’s a ghost in this house. I hear scratching and howling noises right outside my bedroom at night! I sleep all by myself in one part of the house, so you can’t imagine how scary that is. I can’t sleep because I think it’s going to come into my room. Mum says it’s just rats, but it’s not.

  I miss you so much Pearlie Chan. Please write to me. I want to know about Tinto and Reddy and that horrible spy Beake. I hope life for you isn’t too boring since I left.

  Here’s my address so you can write back straightaway.

  24 Linden Street

  Medindee

  Adelaide

  South Australia

  Your friend always,

  Nao xxx

  At the bottom of the letter was a beautiful drawing of a house with a round turret like a fairytale castle. And there, looking out of an upstairs window, was Naoko, waving and smiling at Pearlie.

  Pearlie looked up, hardly able to believe it. In all the horror of the morning, she had found the one thing that gave her a ray of hope. It was as if Naoko was thinking about her at that very moment.

  She knew where Naoko was now. And maybe one day they could be together.

  But the moment of joy that Naoko’s letter had brought her was quickly swept away when she heard the drone of planes again.

  The air-raid sirens wailed.

  Pearlie began to run, looking for a pl
ace to shelter. But the planes passed over her. Everyone stopped fleeing to watch them.

  Minutes later there were loud explosions followed by plumes of smoke.

  ‘It’s the air-force base,’ someone said. ‘And the end of our planes.’

  ‘Everyone’s gotta get out of here. The Japanese soldiers are going to invade next!’ another man said.

  But Pearlie couldn’t leave. She had to find Grey Ears.

  She made her way along the Esplanade through the choking smoke. It didn’t look like Darwin anymore. So many places had been blown up or machine-gunned, like Government House and the oil tanks on Stokes Hill, which now belched dark clouds of smoke. Pearlie knew Ron Beake, the spy, had a lot to do with the Japanese knowing exactly where and what to bomb.

  It was like being in a whirlwind. Men rushed about with shovels and buckets and stretchers. The wounded were being carried on the backs of soldiers or in cars, on carts, on horseback.

  She wondered if someone might be using Grey Ears. Just as she was thinking this she heard the braying of a donkey coming from the beach.

  Pearlie’s heart bubbled with joy as she raced down the track to the sand. Then she stopped dead in her tracks at the horrible sight that faced her.

  It was far worse on the beach than in the streets. Wounded men were being dragged from the fiery sea, screaming in pain. Many had been badly burned from the oil that floated in large pools on the surface of the harbour.

  A man, his whole body burned and blackened, was pulled lifeless from the water just a few feet away from her. She gasped and stepped back in horror as he was laid on the sand beside another man. There was a whole line of them. Suddenly she realised that they all must be dead because people were digging graves right there in the sand.

  She held Tinto close, unable to move.

  Then from up the beach Pearlie heard it again: the braying of a donkey. Tinto wriggled out of his pouch and ran off before she could stop him.

  ‘Tinto!’ she called, taking off after him. The smoke grew thicker and she stopped, disoriented.

  Then she saw Grey Ears emerging through the swirling smoke. She trotted up to Pearlie and nudged her gently with her muzzle. And there, sitting on her back, was Tinto, grinning and shrieking in delight.

  As Pearlie led Grey Ears away, she heard someone groaning. A weak voice murmured,‘Help me, please help me.’

  A man was sitting with his back against a rock. He was soaking wet and his face was covered with black oil. There were horrible red patches on him. They appeared to be skin but Pearlie didn’t want to look too closely.

  ‘I need . . . hospital,’ the man gasped.

  ‘I’m not strong enough to lift you. Wait, I’ll get help.’ Pearlie looked around frantically. But everyone on the beach was busy helping other wounded men.

  She looked at Grey Ears. She remembered her teacher, Miss Lyon, telling the class about Simpson and his donkey, Murphy. They were heroes in the First World War at Gallipoli. But could Grey Ears carry a man on her back? She was such a small donkey.

  Sir,’ she said, gently shaking the man. He looked like he had fallen asleep. ‘Sir?’

  He opened his eyes.

  ‘If you can get on my donkey’s back I can take you to the hospital.’

  The man nodded and struggled to his feet, using Pearlie as a crutch. He was heavy and obviously in pain and it took a long time, but finally Pearlie managed to get him up and onto Grey Ears’ back.

  Pearlie led Grey Ears through the smouldering town. She kept the donkey to a slow, even pace. Once, when Grey Ears stumbled, the man almost slid off. But Pearlie caught him just in time and pushed him back on. ‘Not far now,’ she kept saying. ‘The hospital’s not far now.’

  As soon as they reached the hospital, nurses rushed out with a stretcher and took the man inside. Pearlie looked about in shock. There were large bomb craters all around the building. And parts of the hospital itself had been destroyed.

  Then she saw Hazel. Her hair was tied back and she wore a dirty apron over the blue dress Beake had given her. She was bustling about from bed to bed, talking to patients, helping the wounded.

  Hazel looked up and saw Pearlie. She smiled wearily. ‘You’re always running off. I wish you’d stop doing that, hon.’ Her voice caught in a sob.

  Pearlie went to her, suddenly exhausted. ‘What’s going to happen to us?’ she asked, leaning into Hazel’s arms.

  ‘I don’t know, love. I just don’t know,’ Hazel said. ‘That’s why I’m keeping myself busy here.’

  Pearlie pulled away and looked at the room full of wounded men. ‘Will they be all right?’

  Hazel shrugged. ‘Most of them have been burned by the oil and are still covered in it. So first that has to be taken off, then we bandage them. You can see some of the men are bandaged from head to toe. They’re the bad ones.’ She paused, fighting back tears. ‘They probably won’t make it.’

  Pearlie looked silently around her.

  Then she saw someone lying in a bed in the corner who looked like Beake. ‘Is Ron Beake here?’ she asked, alarmed.

  ‘No, hon, he’s under army guard at Berrimah hospital. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.’

  A man in a white coat called Hazel to help.

  ‘Coming, Dr Williams,’ Hazel said. She turned to Pearlie. ‘I gotta go, love. But please stay close so I can keep an eye on you.’

  Pearlie nodded. She wasn’t going anywhere. Her head throbbed. The smell of antiseptic and blood was making her feel sick.

  ‘Why don’t you go to the canteen and get a sandwich and a drink,’ Hazel said.

  That was the best thing Pearlie had heard all day. But when she walked outside to check on Grey Ears, she saw a boy leading her donkey up the road.

  ‘Hey, stop! That donkey belongs to me!’ she yelled, running after him.

  The boy was about fifteen years old. He had lanky brown arms and legs and a mop of black hair. He stopped and turned around.

  Where had she seen him before? Then she remembered. It was Rosco, the boy who used to deliver groceries to Mr and Mrs Ito.

  ‘Sorry. Didn’t think she belonged to anyone,’ he said, walking back towards her. ‘I got a job to do. Orders from the army to get clothing, bandages an’ stuff from people’s houses . . . for the wounded men coming off of those bombed ships. Thought this donkey would come in handy.’ He looked at Pearlie more closely and his eyebrows shot up. ‘Hey, aren’t you the one who caught that Jap spy?’

  Pearlie nodded. ‘It was Tinto, really,’ Pearlie said. ‘He attacked Beake and then I pushed him into the water. The jellyfish did the rest.’

  ‘You’re pretty smart for a girl,’ Rosco said.

  Pearlie hated it when boys said that. Of course girls were much smarter than boys. But she didn’t have the energy to argue.

  ‘I’ve got an idea,’ she said. ‘If we let Grey Ears rest a while and I get some food to eat, then we can help you.’

  Rosco shrugged. ‘Guess that’d be all right,’ he said.

  Pearlie came back with two ham-and-cheese sandwiches and some water. They sat in the shade of a mango tree while Tinto sat up in the branches and Grey Ears stood lazily with her eyes half closed.

  Rosco laughed at Tinto, who was hanging upside-down by his tail.

  ‘Why weren’t you evacuated?’ he asked.

  ‘It was because of Beake that I missed the ship,’ she said. ‘What about you?’

  ‘The government doesn’t bother about us Aborigines. That suits me fine. I wouldn’t want to leave anyway.’

  ‘But I heard people say we’re going to be invaded. I want to get out before they come, don’t you?’

  Rosco chuckled. ‘Yeah, I already seen lots of white fellas running into the bush to hide. Don’t know how they’ll survive out there. But that’s where I’m gonna go.’

  ‘I built a humpy once,’ Pearlie said, shyly. ‘It was bad. My great grandma would’ve been ashamed of me. She was Aboriginal too.’

  ‘You got A
boriginal blood in ya?’ Rosco said, smiling.

  ‘She was Larrakeyah. What about you?’

  ‘Dunno where I come from,’ Rosco replied. ‘The government took me away from my parents when I was two and brung me to Darwin. I grew up in Kahlin Half Caste Home . . . over there at Myilly Point. Then when I turned fifteen they sent me to live with the grown-ups at Bagot Aboriginal Compound. Lot of us don’t know where we come from or if our parents are still alive.’

  ‘That’s terrible,’ Pearlie said. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be taken away from your mum and dad and never see them again. It would be like a hole that could never be filled.

  They walked together along Mitchell Street. Pearlie liked Rosco. He was easy and calm and seemed grown up even though he was still a boy.

  They went through the gates of a big white house and left Grey Ears in the front yard.

  ‘You’re not going to break in?’ she said, shocked, when Rosco went up to a window and lifted his arm to smash it with a hammer.

  ‘The army told me to do it.’

  ‘But it isn’t right.’

  ‘They said people won’t be coming back so they won’t be needin’ their stuff anymore.’

  Pearlie still didn’t like it, but she knew it had to be done. They collected clothes, bandages and eating utensils – as much as Pearlie thought Grey Ears could carry. Then they put everything into two large sacks and slung them on either side of Grey Ears’ back.

  They made two trips that day. On the second trip Pearlie wanted to go to Cavenagh Street to see her home. She feared the worst and she was right. The rows of shops and dwellings in Chinatown were all on fire.

  ‘That’s where I used to live,’ she said to Rosco, pointing at what was left of her home and Sing Chan Tailors. Her voice came out wobbly as she held back her tears.

  Rosco didn’t say anything and she was glad. Everything is gone, she thought.

  She took a deep breath and turned away.

  ‘There you are, Pearlie,’ Policeman Sandy said, rushing up to her. ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere! I’ve got you on the first train leaving Darwin in half an hour so you gotta come with me now.’