I started to lose track of the days, and hadn’t had many classroom lessons because it had been a cold, dry winter. You don’t need to be Thomas Edison to see there was too much work to be done on the farm to be reading poetry, reciting the kings and queens of England, doing sums and writing stories. As Sister Agnes explained: ‘It’s all a matter of priorities – we need to eat, drink, wash and keep warm, and we can’t do that if we don’t milk cows, cart water, slaughter sheep and chickens, grow our own fruit and vegetables, collect eggs, chop and split wood, and make charcoal. It’s ten miles to the nearest village, and even if we had the money, we’d have to drive to a much bigger town to buy enough food to feed all of us.’ So, we have to work outside much more than inside doing schoolwork. But I wasn’t complaining; I was enjoying the hard, physical work of the Farm.
It was Pete’s thirteenth birthday, and Mrs Lucas baked him a chocolate cake (as she does on everyone’s birthday), with thirteen very short and well-used candles. Pete also got to go into town with Henry. If your birthday happens to fall on a day when Henry is picking up the mail and basic supplies, you get to go with him in either the truck (if there’s enough charcoal to run it), or the horse-drawn cart. He only drives into town once a fortnight so you have to be lucky for that to be on the same day as your birthday. Presents aren’t allowed at the Farm, not even for birthdays. Any parcels sent to us are marked ‘return to sender’ and posted back to where they came from.
We’re only allowed to receive one letter each month. I could write a letter as well if I had the time or if I managed to teach myself how to write in the dark. It’s lamps out at eight o’clock. Saves on postage stamps, I suppose.
My first letter from Kit arrived; postmarked ‘Glebe, 6 August 1931’ it had taken three weeks to get here. I waited until I was alone in one of the paddocks, collecting cow dung, before I stopped to read it:
Dear Joe,
I hope you get this letter in time for your birthday. Mum’s still going to make you a cake but because she’s not allowed to send it to you, we’re all going to eat it and Mum said I can blow out the candles.
I won a scholarship but not to St Bart’s, I made sure I failed that exam. I’m going to Sydney Boys High School next year. No boarding school for me. At least Mum and Dad won’t have to worry about me running away like you did. I’m saving up to buy a bicycle so I can ride to school every day. I can wear trousers if I like. I hate wearing shorts – everyone laughs at my hairy legs. Were your legs as hairy as mine when you were eleven?
Noni and Fred are getting engaged in two years when Noni turns eighteen. Dad won’t let her get married until she’s twenty-one, but I overheard them say something about eloping. Looks like I’m the only one not planning to run away.
I’m still doing your paper run. I don’t think Mr Thompson is paying me enough and that’s what Dad says too. Do you want to take over again when you get back? Mum and Dad don’t fight as much as before, hardly ever. They’ve been raking in the money. The punters are on a losing streak. All the long-shots have been getting up.
I can’t wait to see you again – just four months to go. It’ll be Christmas before you know it. We can put up the tree together just like old times. Uncle George said he’ll drop one off the week before Christmas like he always does.
Harry’s given up the egg business, he says it’s too much trouble. He hates getting the train out to Rooty Hill all by himself. He’s been mugged twice and had all his eggs stolen.
Don’t forget about rumble time because I won’t.
Your loving brother,
Kit
PS Do nuns really shave their heads?
PPS Dad went to the doctor again today. There’s something wrong with him but he won’t talk about it and Mum won’t tell me anything.
Kit’s letter made me feel homesick, damn it! I folded up the letter and put it in my pocket, then shovelled more cow dung into the wheelbarrow for the veggie garden. I kept an eye out for mushrooms but because it hadn’t rained for a while, there weren’t any. Just lots of cow dung.