‘Ironic isn’t it, that Gurney was killed by them?’
‘In what way?’
‘That man sat on his ka-chooi for days after the CTs attacked that estate in Sungai Siput.
He did nothing.’
‘He did declare a nationwide state of emergency.’
‘Only because the planters made him do it. Magnus got everyone here to sign a petition.
You people living in the cities,’ she hawked a derisive noise up her throat, ‘I don’t think you even realise there’s a war going on.’ There was some truth in her allegations. ‘One thing I’m happy about,’ she went on, ‘at least Magnus no longer wastes his Sundays running around in the mountains with his friends.’
‘What do they do, hunt wild boar?’
‘Have you not heard the stories? They say that the Japs in Tanah Rata buried a pile of gold bars somewhere in these mountains before they surrendered.’
‘That’s just a rumour, surely.’
‘They’re like schoolboys- lah , looking for buried treasure. If you ask me, I think they just like being away from their wives.’ She opened a cupboard and began packing away boxes of sanitary napkins. Waving a box at me, she said, ‘I hope you don’t think I’m a busybody, because I’m not. But I’ve always been curious – how did you cope, when you were a prisoner?’
‘Many of us stopped menstruating.’
‘It happens. The terrible conditions, not enough food.’
‘Even after I was released, my blood didn’t flow for two, three months. And then one day when I was in my office, it came back, just like that.’ It had caught me unprepared and I had had to ask my secretary for something. But I remembered the relief I had felt afterwards. I could finally accept the fact that the war was truly over. My body was free to return to its own rhythms again.
The smell of disinfectants in the clinic raked up the beginnings of nausea in me; it must have been obvious because Emily looked concerned. ‘You want some Tiger Balm or not?’ she asked.
‘This place, the smells... they remind me of hospitals.’
‘ Sayang ,’ she said, shaking her head regretfully. ‘I was hoping you could help out here.’
‘I won’t be staying here for long.’
I left the clinic, glad to get out into the sun and fresh air again. Returning to Majuba House, I found a rolled-up bundle of papers on my dressing table: the maps and photographs I had left at Yugiri for Aritomo to look at.
* * *
The siren calling the workers to muster was sinking away when I left the house the next morning.
I stood outside the garage, rubbing my hands. The world was grey and damp. The sound of steady crunching on the gravel came to me a minute later, and then Magnus emerged from the mist, the ridgebacks close behind. On the previous evening I had asked him to show me around the estate but he still looked surprised when he saw me. ‘I didn’t think you’d be able to wake up this early,’ he said, opening the back door of the Land Rover for his dogs. I caught the glimpse of a revolver in a holster under his jacket.
‘I don’t need much sleep,’ I replied.
On the short, rattling drive to the factory, he gave me a quick explanation of how the estate was run. ‘Geoff Harper’s my assistant manager,’ he said. ‘We have five European junior assistants watching over the keranis in the office.’
‘And out in the fields?’
‘The estate’s divided into thirty-five divisions. Each division’s supervised by a kangani – the conductor. Below him are the mandors – the foremen. They’re responsible for their work gang: the pickers, weeders, sweepers. Watchmen make sure there’s no thieving or idling. And I’ve posted Home Guards to watch over them.’
‘There were some children outside the factory when I went past it yesterday.’
‘The workers’ children,’ Magnus said. ‘We pay them twenty cents for every bag of caterpillars they catch in the tea bushes.’
The factory was the size of a wharf-side godown. The coolies were already lined
‘In what way?’
‘That man sat on his ka-chooi for days after the CTs attacked that estate in Sungai Siput.
He did nothing.’
‘He did declare a nationwide state of emergency.’
‘Only because the planters made him do it. Magnus got everyone here to sign a petition.
You people living in the cities,’ she hawked a derisive noise up her throat, ‘I don’t think you even realise there’s a war going on.’ There was some truth in her allegations. ‘One thing I’m happy about,’ she went on, ‘at least Magnus no longer wastes his Sundays running around in the mountains with his friends.’
‘What do they do, hunt wild boar?’
‘Have you not heard the stories? They say that the Japs in Tanah Rata buried a pile of gold bars somewhere in these mountains before they surrendered.’
‘That’s just a rumour, surely.’
‘They’re like schoolboys- lah , looking for buried treasure. If you ask me, I think they just like being away from their wives.’ She opened a cupboard and began packing away boxes of sanitary napkins. Waving a box at me, she said, ‘I hope you don’t think I’m a busybody, because I’m not. But I’ve always been curious – how did you cope, when you were a prisoner?’
‘Many of us stopped menstruating.’
‘It happens. The terrible conditions, not enough food.’
‘Even after I was released, my blood didn’t flow for two, three months. And then one day when I was in my office, it came back, just like that.’ It had caught me unprepared and I had had to ask my secretary for something. But I remembered the relief I had felt afterwards. I could finally accept the fact that the war was truly over. My body was free to return to its own rhythms again.
The smell of disinfectants in the clinic raked up the beginnings of nausea in me; it must have been obvious because Emily looked concerned. ‘You want some Tiger Balm or not?’ she asked.
‘This place, the smells... they remind me of hospitals.’
‘ Sayang ,’ she said, shaking her head regretfully. ‘I was hoping you could help out here.’
‘I won’t be staying here for long.’
I left the clinic, glad to get out into the sun and fresh air again. Returning to Majuba House, I found a rolled-up bundle of papers on my dressing table: the maps and photographs I had left at Yugiri for Aritomo to look at.
* * *
The siren calling the workers to muster was sinking away when I left the house the next morning.
I stood outside the garage, rubbing my hands. The world was grey and damp. The sound of steady crunching on the gravel came to me a minute later, and then Magnus emerged from the mist, the ridgebacks close behind. On the previous evening I had asked him to show me around the estate but he still looked surprised when he saw me. ‘I didn’t think you’d be able to wake up this early,’ he said, opening the back door of the Land Rover for his dogs. I caught the glimpse of a revolver in a holster under his jacket.
‘I don’t need much sleep,’ I replied.
On the short, rattling drive to the factory, he gave me a quick explanation of how the estate was run. ‘Geoff Harper’s my assistant manager,’ he said. ‘We have five European junior assistants watching over the keranis in the office.’
‘And out in the fields?’
‘The estate’s divided into thirty-five divisions. Each division’s supervised by a kangani – the conductor. Below him are the mandors – the foremen. They’re responsible for their work gang: the pickers, weeders, sweepers. Watchmen make sure there’s no thieving or idling. And I’ve posted Home Guards to watch over them.’
‘There were some children outside the factory when I went past it yesterday.’
‘The workers’ children,’ Magnus said. ‘We pay them twenty cents for every bag of caterpillars they catch in the tea bushes.’
The factory was the size of a wharf-side godown. The coolies were already lined
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