The Exiles by Kline Christina Baker
Author:Kline, Christina Baker [Kline, Christina Baker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Adult
ISBN: 9780062356345
Amazon: 0062356348
Goodreads: 49397137
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 2020-08-25T07:00:00+00:00
Unlike Lady Franklin, Sir John seemed to genuinely enjoy Mathinnaâs company. He taught her cribbageâwhich she called the kangaroo game because of how the stick markers jumped up and down the crib boardâand often summoned her to play it with him in the late afternoons. He invited her to join him and Eleanor in the garden before breakfast, under the shade of the gum trees and sycamores that dotted the property, for his daily morning constitutional, as he called it. On these strolls he taught her to identify the flowers theyâd imported from England: pink-and-white tea roses, daffodils, purple lilacs with tiny, tubular flowers.
One morning when Mathinna arrived in the garden, Sir John was standing next to a box draped in a sheet. With a magician-like flourish he removed the sheet to reveal a wire cage containing a formidable black bird with patches of yellow on its cheeks and tail. âMontagu gave me this blasted cockatoo and I donât know what to do with it,â he said, shaking his head. âNo one wants to go near it. Now and then it makes a dreadful sound, a sort of . . . caterwaul.â
As if on cue, the bird opened its beak and emitted a piercing kee-ow, kee-ow .
Sir John winced. âSee what I mean? Iâve done a bit of research, and it turns out that a British naturalist named George Shaw discovered this species. Named it Psittacus funereus because, well, as you can see, it appears dressed for a funeral. Though there is some question about the Latin name of the eastern versus southern yellow-tailed cockatoo . . . well, never mind. At any rate, it appears that I am stuck with it.â
âWhy donât you let it go?â Mathinna asked.
âIâm tempted, believe me.â He sighed. âBut apparently creatures like this, raised in captivity, lose the ability to survive in the wild. And I can ill afford to insult Montagu while heâs overseeing the question of convict discipline. You seem to have tamed that . . .â He gestured toward Mathinnaâs pocket, at the lump of Walukaâs body. âThe truth is, your people are more naturally attuned to wildlife than we Europeans. Closer to the earth, and so on. I hereby grant this bird to your care.â
âTo me?â Mathinna asked. âWhat do you want me to do with it?â She peered through the bars at the sullen-looking cockatoo as it hopped from one foot to the other. She watched it lift a green cone with its foot and root around with its beak for the seeds. Its crest, short and ink black, gave it an intimidating air. Kee-ow.
âJust . . . I donât know. Weâll find a maid to feed it and clean its cage. You can . . . talk to it, I suppose.â
âYou canât talk to it?â
Sir John shook his head. âI tried, Mathinna, I really did. The two of us donât speak the same language.â
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