The House on the Hill by Susan Duncan

Author:Susan Duncan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2016-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

‘The second operation wasn’t as good as the first,’ Esther said. ‘The colours aren’t as bright anymore. And I’m still seeing double.’

I debated arguing with her and then gave in. ‘Well, you’ve managed perfectly well for years. All you have to do is go on in the same old way and you’ll be fine.’

She grunted. ‘At least you believe me now. I don’t tell lies. They come back to bite you on the bottom.’

We were locked in the car, having lunch, and I could feel a loop about double vision building. To break it, I asked the first question that popped into my head: ‘How did you meet Dad?’

‘Why?’

‘It’s not an inquisition. I’m curious, that’s all.’ Outside, waves lapped at the shore. A yacht the size of a dinghy in the distance scudded along the horizon. Esther gave me a suspicious look. ‘How are the oysters?’ I asked.

‘Pacifics are better than Sydney rocks.’

‘Ok, I’ll get them next time.’

‘And only a dozen. I’m not young anymore. I can’t eat like I used to.’

‘I know the feeling.’

‘You could afford to lose some weight. Quite a lot –’

‘So tell me about you and Dad. What was he like when he was young?’ I asked, because so many of my memories are riveted to the drink instead of the man.

‘I married him on the rebound. A mistake, of course.’

‘Cousin Jayne said he was a big softie and he adored you,’ I said.

‘Oh, he loved me alright. But he loved a drink even more, and I’ve never been good at sharing.’

‘On the rebound, you say. Rebound from whom?’

She told me stories that I’d heard before but without much detail. She was eighteen years old and, along with eight thousand other young women, joined the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service as a nurse’s aide. ‘When I was interviewed for the job, the matron told me I’d never be accepted because I was too attractive,’ Esther recalled. ‘I said, “Matron, I am not, and have never been, flirtatious.” God forgive me. But I got in anyway.’

She arrived in Darwin six days after the Japanese dropped their bombs. She had a whale of a time. So good that when her twin sisters told her they were joining the army as well, Esther wrote to her mother that life was too rough for such young, impressionable girls. ‘The twins never forgave me.’ The real reason she wanted them out of the way was because she was involved in an affair.

Here, Esther adopted a light tone, as though what she was saying was of no real consequence. ‘He was a major, not just an enlisted man.’ In other words, he had class. ‘He was also married.’ She paused. Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘I became pregnant.’ Silence, thick and heavy, swirled in the car. ‘All those army doctors and not one of them would give me an abortion,’ she said bitterly.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘I told the matron who told the commander in charge. He asked me for the man’s name.

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