Read Online Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss - Free Book Online

nod of acknowledgement even though he is disappointed that their conversation has been cut short again.
    As she walks back to the hut Mary is eager for the night to be over and the new day to start so she can look at the Smiths’atlas. She wants to see how far Hiroshi’s home is from hers, what the fourth largest island of Japan actually looks like and if it is bigger than Australia. She also wants to know where New Guinea is. Mary is aware that she’s never even thought about other countries much before. Life at Erambie, working for the Smiths every day, means she’s missed out on a lot. But she now has a new found thirst for knowledge and for that she thanks Hiroshi.

4
    B anjo has landed a carpentry job rebuilding a barn for a local farmer. It’s a big job and there’s a couple of other Aboriginal men and some local whitefellas there too. The Aboriginal men are chosen for the job because they are good craftsmen.
    Working together provides a chance for the men to whine about their wives, talk about what’s happening in town, who’s playing the best football and today, most importantly to Banjo, to hear what people know about the breakout. There is still nothing in the papers but rumours are flying around town and, like everyone else, he has no idea how long the war will go on, so any more information he can get will be useful.
    As the men put their woodworking skills into action and the smell of sawdust fills their nostrils, Bill, a local whitefella, starts to speak. Banjo’s ears prick up.
    â€˜I hear they haven’t caught all those bloody Jap bastards yet,’ Bill says. ‘I’ve got the wife locked inside when I’m not there, and a bloody shotgun at the ready.’
    â€˜Me too,’ another whitefella chimes in. ‘Bad enough they kill our men in action and treat them like dirt as POWs, but the nerve of them to break out into our town. Shoot on sight, I say.’
    Banjo wants to say, It’s not your town, this place belongs to us , but he doesn’t want to draw unwanted attention to himself.
    â€˜Us whites are smarter than those yellow bastards,’ Fat Bobbo says, ‘and so we should’ve known this was going to happen.’ He lights a cigarette.
    â€˜Why?’ Banjo asks, ignoring the ‘us whites’ comment.
    â€˜Cos it’d already happened over in New Zealand – a place called Featherstone. There was a mutiny over there. The Jap bastards just refused to work or follow any orders they were given, and when the fella in charge fired a warning shot, the Japs went crazy, throwing stones at him, and then all hell broke loose. But they killed forty-eight of the yellow bastards, so that’s good. Pity one of the guards died, though, and that was just unfortunate, as he was hit by a ricocheting bullet.’
    â€˜Do we really know how bad they are?’ Banjo asks vaguely, sanding back a piece of wood.
    â€˜Well, I know!’ Fat Bobbo fumes. ‘The Allies are being tortured right now as we stand here! They use our men as target practice. Target practice! God knows what else is happening there. And if you don’t reckon that’s disgusting, then that makes you a Jap lover. Are you a Jap lover, Banjo?’ Fat Bobbo asks accusingly. ‘The Japs are worse than the Germans,but they’re all in it together.’ Some of the other men nod in agreement.
    Banjo can’t believe what he’s hearing but doesn’t want to say too much more for fear he won’t be able to argue well enough without raising suspicion.
    â€˜I hardly even thought about the camp until the breakout,’ a whitefella named Johnno says. ‘I mean, why would I? It’s not like anyone ever heads this way. And the Ities are okay, I reckon. They do the gardening at my mates’ places, and I never heard of anyone having a problem with them.’
    â€˜Yeah, the Ities are okay,’ Fat Bobbo says. ‘Everyone knows