Brother Doyle had been planning his stint as principal for some time and when he took over in the last months of 1953 his first action was to increase the classes up to lower secondary school beginning in 1954. The favoured dozen, which included Skinny and his chum Tommy Cooper, were expected to pass with distinctions helped with liberal applications of the strap. He taught the class himself making a special class room in the main building from a room which had been used for storage.
The R.A.A.F. had left behind them a lot of stuff such as old, but new uniforms, one bundle of a funny coffee colour made for the use of prisoners of war. Apart from other stuff such as tins of rations, there were a few slouch hats one of which Skinny appropriated as none of the brothers seemed interested in making an inventory of what was being moved out. He loved Western pictures with his main heroes being Randolph Scott and Gary Cooper. Apart from their ability to fight and being faster on the draw than the outlaws they killed, he liked the way they fashioned and wore their hats. These had to have a plaited leather band and a thong chin strap which could be pulled up over the front to give it the shape of a tight vee.
Creating this model took some knowledge and skill. The hat had to be soaked first and then the felt rolled constantly as it dried to make it hold the desired shape. Skinny had always envied the few boys that had such hats and now that he had one he worked diligently to get it proper. When finally he had it right, he put it on and looking in the mirror he imagined he saw Billy the Kid. Now he wore it most of the time without the brothers objecting or asking where he had stolen it from. He was a big boy now and given a degree of freedom. He strode about and even got into a couple of fights just so he could fling himself about the yard or wherever it was just as Randolph Scott or Gary Cooper might do in their movies. Once one of the brothers came across him fighting, but instead of stopping them stood and watched. Skinny was fighting a Maltese boy because he looked like a Mexican. He cuffed him a couple of times then round housed him down. Skinny smiled at the brother and helped the Maltese up. ‘Just playing at cowboys and Mexicans,’ he told the brother who nodded and walked off. Yes, strange were the ways of the brothers.
Brother Doyle had made over the store room because his office was next to it with an adjoining door through which he could keep his students under observation. He would sit in his office doing the paperwork that the position of principal required and every now and again he would rush in to prowl about the desks, staring over the kids’ shoulders in the hopes of detecting an error. If he stayed behind one of them long enough, he usually did, for his presence brought on what he was looking for.
For Skinny apart from the hat most of that last year in Clontarf was a torment. It was as if the devil was playing dice with him and he was losing every throw. It was then that he began to hate the very idea of the devil. He was evil and Skinny had been driven to reject evil by the likes of his teacher, Brother Doyle who was more like a playmate of Ole Nick than Skinny could ever be. Brother Doyle who now in spite of his many duties that teaching as well as being the administrator of a large and flourishing institution entailed decided to add more weight on his and his students’ shoulders by making them learn ball room dancing. Yes, he was ready to put on dances with the girls of St. Joseph’s Girls’ Home.
A foreign woman volunteered to teach them and she came every Thursday to form them into couples and march them around the floor of the hall while chanting one, two, three; one two, three. She attempted to teach them the two step, the modern waltz, the foxtrot, the Gay Gordons, the progressive barn dance, etc. etc, each one of which the boys hated as much as the very idea of dancing with girls. It was too scary to contemplate. The boys for a long time had had no contact with females, except for nuns. They hadn’t any idea on how to introduce ourselves and keep a conversation going. Still, there was no avoiding their fate, for what Brother Doyle wanted for his charges they got. Indeed he came every Thursday during the dance sessions to observe their progress. If he saw none, after the woman had gone, he belted them to get their minds to urge their bodies into one two three, one two three etc. etc. which continued on for the first quarter of the year and in April, he decided that their first dance would be in the month of May, the first of May to celebrate the beginning of Mary’s month. It would be held at St. Joseph’s.
The day, it was a Friday, dawned bright, but it was the evening that they dreaded. At four the selected boys were herded to the showers and at 4-30 they were shining their shoes and practicing walking in their new long pants. Skinny would have loved wearing his cowboy hat, but didn’t dare, though he did put it on to strut in front of Tommy Cooper, who drawled: “Dude.” In answer Skinny did a parody of a Gabby Hayes square dance. Five o’clock it was off to the ref. for their tea. At about half past five, just as it was getting dark and the first mosquitoes were buzzing about their ears, the lads scrambled onto the back of the big green International truck to be taken to Subiaco for their ordeal. Skinny couldn’t understand why he found it such a trial. Indeed it was the first time that he was about to see all of his three sisters although he wasn’t sure if they were still there. The only one he knew was Kylie and that had been so long ago that he couldn’t remember her face.
The truck reached the Girls’ Home just after six o’clock. The lads hopped off the back of the truck and under Brother Connolly’s direction formed up and with a nun leading the way they marched into a hall which had been decorated with coloured paper cutouts. It looked tatty rather than cheery; but then perhaps this was because of their mood. They marched to one side of the hall and slumped into the chairs arranged along the wall. Skinny sat there stiffly hardly moving but darting glances up and around every now and then to see if the girls were coming. He even began to hum with the band playing a medley of tunes some if which he liked. They swung into a sort of march the signal for the girls to enter. They trooped in self consciously, flashed looks at where the boys were then went to sit on the chairs along the opposite wall. Skinny examined them seeking for his sisters. They might be those brown skinned ones. Well, he could get to talk to them when the dancing started. He hoped the first one might be a waltz as you stayed with one girl and moved quietly. He looked to see if Brother Connolly was arranging things, but he was nowhere in sight.
At last the Brother appeared. He went over to the band leader who announced: ‘Take your places for the modern waltz.’
Brother Connolly stood at his side as the band began. He waited for the floor to fill with happy couples. The floor remained bare. Balga was on his feet, but no other boy or girl was. Connolly motioned for the music to stop and conferred with the band leader who then announced: ‘Take your places for the progressive barn dance.’ Balga actually moved forward and then came to a halt. He was alone, that is Brother Connolly ordered the rest of the lads to stand and marched them over to the girls. He put each one in front of a seated girl. ‘Now ask your young lady for the pleasure of this dance,’ he instructed them. They obeyed the girls stood, and the dance began. Skinny was happy because he had selected a brown skinned girl he hoped was Kylie.
‘Lo, Kyl,’ he grinned at ease with her. ‘Care to trot or rot?’
‘Why not, besides we’ve been told to enjoy ourselves. They teach you the progressive barn dance?’
Skinny nodded and they were the first out onto the floor. The music began and Skinny’s feet followed the simple rhythm and he skipped about. He swirled her to Tommy Cooper and took hold of another girl. The next dance was a foxtrot and he clutched his sister all the way through. The evening went more or less like their dancing practice, though the best thing was when the music stopped for refreshments, a glass of some orange liquid and a cake. It was then that Skinny got the time to talk to Kylie to find out that his other sisters had already left. She told him she herself was leaving in a week or two to begin training as a nurse and she would be going to a country town called “Southern Cross”.
‘T’ey sending you t’ere ‘cause you from t’e country and it’ll be like home,’ Skinny attempted to kid her as he might have done in the long ago past.
‘Oh yeah, yeah, I know only Shilo and St. Josephs. Just those two places so a country town will be better for me, and I’ll be staying in the nurses hostel so it’ll be just like here.’
‘Oh,’ Skinny replied not knowing what else to say. The long separation had made them virtual strangers. There was this crevasse between them that he didn’t know how to jump or bridge. At least Kylie made an attempt. She grinned, suddenly looking like her brother as she touched his cheek and exclaimed ‘See those marks on your cheeks?’
‘No,’ Skinny replied, feeling female fingers stroking his cheek. He actually flushed as he enjoyed it.
‘Well, they’re scars from the scratches you got from me. We used to fight like cat and dog.’
‘We didn’t.’
‘We did.’
‘Did we?’
Skinny wanted to remember, but couldn’t. This was the first time that a girl had touched him and he remembered nothing from their mutual past except the final farewell. They were strangers and soon they were dancing their blues away to what else but “Learning the Blues” which he thought should be renamed “Balga Boy Blues”. He smiled at his lost sister, walked a few dances with some other girls that he didn’t want to touch and the dance came to an end at 9-20 pm. The girls left to the same marching tune on which they had entered. The lads were collected by Brother Connolly and taken to the truck. As they wheeled through the city streets and hit the road out to Clontarf Skinny thanked the darkness for hiding his wet eyes. Kylie, the sister he had seen after a half dozen years and how instead of rushing into each other’s arms, they had stood apart with the only intimacy being her fingers on his cheek. Yes, he certainly had learnt the blues. Along the years he had lost any sense of family and he doubted that he could ever regain it. Yes, Kylie was lost to him and all that existed was Clontarf and so Balga found the blues.
The tables are empty/ The dance floor deserted/ You play the same love song/ It’s the tenth time you’ve heard it/ That’s one of the clues/ You’ve had your first lesson in Learning the blues.