Little Paradise by Gabrielle Wang

Author:Gabrielle Wang
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742530437
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
Published: 2010-02-03T05:00:00+00:00

Imprisoned

Mama won the battle with Father and Mirabel brought Bao Bao home, but strict conditions were imposed.

She was never to leave the house with Bao Bao unless he was in the car, hidden from view. Nor was she to mention him to anyone. And, to support her baby, she was to work at the market.

Often Father would say, ‘I will have to talk to a few politicians because Lieutenant Lin won’t be able to come to Australia under the White Australia Policy unless I do. But as soon as I can arrange it, the two of you will get married. Lieutenant Lin is not the man I would have chosen for you, as he has no good prospects, but no one else would marry a girl in your position. For a while people may talk, but hopefully our shame will be brief and we will once again be able to raise our heads in society.’

Only Rose, Lola and Great Auntie May knew that Mirabel’s relationship with JJ was probably over. ‘But surely one little letter would not end a relationship,’ Lola had argued. ‘I was often horrible to Bill and he still loved me.’

He left you in the end though, Mirabel thought, but said instead, ‘You didn’t see the spiteful words I wrote.’

She dared not tell Father that JJ would never marry her.

The pretence tortured her. Sometimes, when she was talking with Mama, she even fooled herself into believing that it was true, that she and JJ would be together forever.

Mama looked after Bao Bao while Mirabel worked at the market. Father hardly spoke to her, and when he did, it was only about work or household duties. Never once had he held his grandson, or even said his name. And whenever he was in the same room as Bao Bao, he pretended the baby did not exist.

Mirabel had to keep reminding herself that others were suffering too. She watched people cope with hardship and loss every day. Now that the war was over, many soldiers had returned physically and mentally scarred. The government called it battle fatigue, but it was more than just being tired of fighting.

Harry still suffered horrific nightmares but he and Margo had rekindled some of the love they had lost. Then there were those who had been held in prisoner-of-war camps. They were like the walking dead: thin, emaciated, barely alive. There were the devastating pictures from Germany of millions of Jews killed in concentration camps, and news of the atrocities inflicted by the Japanese in China. In Nanking, hundreds of thousands of people had been raped and slaughtered. And there had been a disastrous drought in China – in one year a million people had died of starvation.

How did the survivors keep their faith in life, in God? Mirabel often asked herself.

By comparison, she wasn’t that badly off. If nothing else, she had her baby. And she had the beautiful memory of JJ and the precious moments they had shared.

As the weeks passed, Mama seemed to be coping less and less.

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