Chains 4
Without Prejudice
Amy and Sarah were " new" to Huntington Park and stuck out like sore thumbs with their " posh" English accents. Copying the upper class accent of Mum and not the soft Scottish burr of Dad. They had left Adelaide after two years spent at the Immigrant Hostel. Two years to pay back the Australian Government for assisted passage. Mum horribly injured in the War, physically, mentally, emotionally.
But they didn't know it then, she hid it well.
Sarah in disgrace for giving a friend a black eye and Amy in disgrace for hiding behind Mum's skirt when a friendly dark haired man tried to greet the two year old. Amy could remember it, being just two years old and screaming in terror at the man. They both could remember the fights amongst the other immigrants, the yells at night, the thudding running of feet. The Hungarians, the Germans, the " dagos, wogs, huns, kikes" fought viciously and knives were produced.
Angus, their brother, their protector, climbing their back fence, one night, he was 9, and the eldest, and running off to watch the fights, telling the two girls not to tell Mum and Dad. How their hearts had thudded, there, crouched in the dark until he clambered back over the fence.
" Shhhh" he said and put a warning finger to his lips.
" What was it like? " Amy asked. Her eyes agog with curiosity.
" Did you see a knife " asked Sarah.
He didn't answer, he hated girls, especially his Sisters who he saw as spoiled by Dad and beyond his superior intellect.
They never understood his hatred, looking up to him as their older brother and Mums, number one son. He never seemed to see it as equal that Mum loved all the boys best and Dad the girls. It was just the way things were and they accepted it. Dad had a rule that the boys could never ever hit the girls and Amy and Sarah made the most of it. Amy once scratching, Lachlan so bad with her bitten nails, she drew blood down his back and left scars that took years to heal.
Adelaide, Port Augusta, Adelaide again, Sydney, and Huntington Park in outback New South Wales were the places of their nomadic existence after Robert was killed. Their second oldest brother. So it was nothing for them to be " New " and different and strange at school after school. Although by the time Amy was 7, she would sob hysterically at each new first day or if she was late.
Sarah complaining loudly at having to accompany a near hysterical sister to the classroom door, loitering to make sure she calmed down, before running off to her own classroom. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had fitted in, but with their precocious intellects, strange Mother, and pushy bantam like Dad they never did. And the harder they tried to be accepted the less they were.
Amy and Sarah were " new" to Huntington Park and stuck out like sore thumbs with their " posh" English accents. Copying the upper class accent of Mum and not the soft Scottish burr of Dad. They had left Adelaide after two years spent at the Immigrant Hostel. Two years to pay back the Australian Government for assisted passage. Mum horribly injured in the War, physically, mentally, emotionally.
But they didn't know it then, she hid it well.
Sarah in disgrace for giving a friend a black eye and Amy in disgrace for hiding behind Mum's skirt when a friendly dark haired man tried to greet the two year old. Amy could remember it, being just two years old and screaming in terror at the man. They both could remember the fights amongst the other immigrants, the yells at night, the thudding running of feet. The Hungarians, the Germans, the " dagos, wogs, huns, kikes" fought viciously and knives were produced.
Angus, their brother, their protector, climbing their back fence, one night, he was 9, and the eldest, and running off to watch the fights, telling the two girls not to tell Mum and Dad. How their hearts had thudded, there, crouched in the dark until he clambered back over the fence.
" Shhhh" he said and put a warning finger to his lips.
" What was it like? " Amy asked. Her eyes agog with curiosity.
" Did you see a knife " asked Sarah.
He didn't answer, he hated girls, especially his Sisters who he saw as spoiled by Dad and beyond his superior intellect.
They never understood his hatred, looking up to him as their older brother and Mums, number one son. He never seemed to see it as equal that Mum loved all the boys best and Dad the girls. It was just the way things were and they accepted it. Dad had a rule that the boys could never ever hit the girls and Amy and Sarah made the most of it. Amy once scratching, Lachlan so bad with her bitten nails, she drew blood down his back and left scars that took years to heal.
Adelaide, Port Augusta, Adelaide again, Sydney, and Huntington Park in outback New South Wales were the places of their nomadic existence after Robert was killed. Their second oldest brother. So it was nothing for them to be " New " and different and strange at school after school. Although by the time Amy was 7, she would sob hysterically at each new first day or if she was late.
Sarah complaining loudly at having to accompany a near hysterical sister to the classroom door, loitering to make sure she calmed down, before running off to her own classroom. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had fitted in, but with their precocious intellects, strange Mother, and pushy bantam like Dad they never did. And the harder they tried to be accepted the less they were.
