Page 76 of The Pearl Sister
‘I promise, Camira, Cat will be safe here with us. I will tell Fred to guard her when you are working in the house.’
‘He still smellum bad, but Fred good fella.’
‘Yes, Fred’s a good fella,’ Kitty agreed.
* * *
Two weeks later, still no storm had broken and no baby of her own had appeared to ease Kitty’s mounting discomfort. Andrew was not helping matters by sulking about the two pearls he’d entrusted to T. B. Ellies’ skilled hands, only to watch them be whittled away to dust in front of him.
‘It’s simply not fair. Father is always asking me why the luggers never discover the treasures he used to when he was commanding them. Good grief, Kitty, when he first came to Broome, one could walk along Cable Beach and pluck them up by hand in the shallows! Does he not understand that the entire world has moved here since and is fishing for them? We are pushing into deeper and more dangerous waters every day. We lost another diver only last week due to the bends.’
Kitty now knew the condition and the symptoms as thoroughly as she knew the common cold. She had been intrigued to catch a glimpse of a diver for the first time, a young Japanese man who was being fitted into a new diving suit that Andrew had ordered from England. The slight man had climbed into the enormous beige canvas suit and a heavy spherical bronze helmet had been lowered over his head and screwed on tightly at his collar. His feet were weighed down by leaden boots and his crewmates supported him as they checked that the airflow through the slim pipe was working correctly.
She’d shuddered at the thought of all those tons of water pressing down on the man’s frame as he dived twenty fathoms below, protected only by flimsy canvas and the precious air that flowed through his lifeline. The intense pressure could severely damage the ears and joints and, if a diver persevered, it could lead to paralysis and death, a condition known as the bends.
‘God rest his soul.’ Kitty crossed herself. ‘They are brave men.’
‘Who are paid a fortune tobebrave,’ Andrew pointed out. ‘I’ve had another request to up their wages, and still I hear talk of this ridiculous “no blacks” policy actually being implemented in Broome. Can you imagine whites ever signing up to do the job?’
‘No,’ she replied, ‘but then no matter what their skin colour, I cannot imagine anyone risking death every day simply to earn money.’
‘My dear, you have never known starvation, or the responsibility these men feel to earn as much for their families as they possibly can.’
‘You are right,’ she said quietly, irritated at how Andrew could encompass both avarice and morality in a few short sentences. She stood up. ‘I think I’ll retire for a nap.’
‘Of course. Shall I send for Dr Blick to call on you this evening?’
‘I doubt he can tell me more than that the baby is not yet ready to make its entrance into the world, and I know that all too well.’
‘Mother told me that most first babies are late.’
But most of their mothers were not living in Broome, with the wet season approaching,Kitty thought to herself as she nodded at him and left the room.
Camira woke her later that evening and placed a cup of something noxious-smelling on her nightstand.
‘Missus Boss, baby nottum come. Not good. We helpa little fella, yes?’ She proffered the cup to Kitty. ‘My women drinkum this. Missus Boss, it is time.’
‘What’s in it?’
‘Natural. From the earth. No harm. Drinkum now.’
And Kitty, desperate as she was, did as she was told.
The pains started a few hours later, and as Kitty rose to use the privy, a splash heralded the breaking of her waters. Calling for Andrew, who was currently sleeping next door in his dressing room, Kitty walked back to the bedroom and lay down.
‘The baby is coming,’ she told him as he arrived at the door.
‘I will send for Dr Blick immediately.’
‘And Camira,’ Kitty said, as a contraction surged through her. ‘I want Camira with me.’
‘I will get her now,’ Andrew promised as he dressed hurriedly and shot off.
Throughout that long feverish night, as the thunderclouds gathered above Broome, Kitty could remember little, apart from the pain and the soothing voice of Camira.
Dr Blick had arrived – from the look of his rolling countenance, straight from a drinking den on Sheba Lane.
‘What is a black doing in the birthing room?’ he’d slurred to Andrew.
