Circumstance by Rosie Milne

Author:Rosie Milne [Milne, Rosie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912049318
Publisher: Monsoon Books Pte. Ltd.
Published: 2019-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

10

The DO’s bungalow, Kluanak, March 1925

Rose knew her grim little camp bed looked pitifully swamped and spindly beneath the generous tent of the jungle curtains, and she found it barely more comfortable than her chaise longue. Moreover it wobbled, so once or twice as she’d tossed and turned through another tormenting night, she’d feared it would collapse. She’d several times considered telling Frank she’d changed her mind: she’d take his bed after all, until her new one arrived, and he could sleep in his chair. But she’d each time decided she’d rather be sleeplessly uncomfortable than to hand to her husband the slight advantage that would accrue to him if she’d asked him to put himself out for her. And despite the camp bed’s rickety discomfort, she was as loath to leave it in the mornings as any bride the marital bed. Every day since Frank had tipped her world off its axis, she’d stayed exactly where she was when she’d heard him being served breakfast on the verandah and no matter what the servants made of her behaviour.

And every day since then, Frank had indulged his wife’s need for solitude, but this morning he’d decided: enough. And so before he left for the courthouse, he knocked at her door with a particularly insistent and persistent knocking.

Rose knew this must be Frank; Boy would never knock like that. Despite her resentful irritation at being summoned by her husband, she answered at last. She was in her cotton nightgown with her hair all mussed, but Frank of course was looking trim in his khakis, and she felt bitter at his neatness. Still, his face was pale, just as pale as her own must be, she supposed, and the shadows beneath his eyes were as dark as bruises.

For a long moment husband and wife just stared at each other, but then Frank, optimistic, bestowed upon Rose the smile he knew full well she’d so recently found delightful. Alas, this smile seemed to her now both shallow and ingratiating.

“What?” she snapped.

Frank’s optimism took a knock, and he spoke uncertainly.

“You haven’t forgotten your new bed’s to be delivered later from the kampung?”

“Of course I haven’t!”

“A relief, no doubt, after the camp bed.”

Rose spoke with feeling.

“I should say!”

Frank looked at his wife with yearning anguish. He didn’t quite dare plead: I’ve missed reaching for you in the night. He’d didn’t quite dare tempt, or cajole, or invite: I’m hoping that tonight, when you’re sleeping once again in a proper bed … ? No, he squared his shoulders, and he said,

“I’ve missed seeing you in the mornings.”

Rose did not reply, as he’d hoped: and I you. Indeed, she said nothing at all. But her silence was better than a curt dismissal and perhaps she was willing to relent a little? Frank took a chance. “I’ve missed my kiss before I go to the courthouse too.”

Rose stared into the middle distance. She imagined la midinette’s hideous sirih-stained mouth pressed to Frank’s; she imagined that woman’s stocky brown-skinned arms twined around his neck.

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