Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Read Online Free Page A

supplies to paint. Can you imagine, that? They’re prisoners and they’re treated better than us. I wonder how that Charles fella feels about that, seeing them having a good life and all.’
    â€˜We need to leave him out of this,’ Banjo says adamantly. ‘We need to keep this as quiet as possible, can’t go snooping around too much and drawing attention, especially if anyone is working at the camp.’
    â€˜Well, how long do you reckon we can hide him in the air raid shelter? What if there’s a bloody air raid?’ Kevin will not concede defeat without making it difficult for his brother. The rivalry is one-sided, but it is there. He sees Joan frowning. ‘Sorry,’ he says, knowing that profanity and blasphemy are not allowed in her home.
    â€˜The war isn’t coming to Cowra,’ Joan says with a twinkle in her eye. She pulls him up when she deems it necessary, when no one else would even try.
    â€˜We could hide him at Ryan’s Place. It might be safer there than having him here on the mission,’ Fred offers.
    â€˜Yeah, let’s put him down where he can have fun, singingand dancing with the mob there. Bloody parties most of the time.’ Kevin’s bitterness flows easily. ‘He can even get a drink down there too!’
    â€˜You’d know,’ Joan says with a hint of sarcasm.
    â€˜What?’ Kevin assumes shocked innocence but if he’s going down, he’s taking his brother with him. ‘It’s not just me – Banjo’s been there too. And I’m sure I’ve seen you both dancing there.’ Kevin doesn’t like Joan judging him even though he still needs her approval all these years later. ‘Anyway, there’s nowhere to hide him there, with only those few huts.’
    The door bursts open and the Williams kids race in full of energy and laughter. The adults immediately stop talking. Mary, the eldest daughter, is seventeen years old. It took a long time for Banjo and Joan to fall pregnant with Mary, and they didn’t think they would again – it was nine years before the next girl came along, and then another two, before the only boy was born.
    â€˜Take the goothas into the other room,’ Banjo instructs Mary. ‘Mum will come get you all in a minute. We just need to finish some business here first.’
    Mary knows something is up but she obeys her father and walks the kids out of the front room which is the kitchen, through the lounge room of sorts to the bedroom, which leads to the back sleep out. Banjo and Joan sleep out the back with the kids: Betty, Dottie, Jessie and the baby of the family, James, who was a surprise to them all three years ago. Mary sleeps in the front room, which has a fire place, so she’s warm in winter. Compared to other huts, Banjo’s is one of the best, witha fence, a small vegie garden and morning glory vines hanging on the verandah and around the hut to offer protection from the sun in the summer and the wind in the winter. The tap at the front of the hut provides all the water the family needs for cooking, cleaning and washing. The bare corrugated iron walls don’t provide much insulation from the frosty winter weather, but the black stove in the kitchen offers some warmth.
    As soon as Mary and the kids leave the room, Banjo leans across the table and says in a low voice, ‘It’s settled, he’ll stay in the air raid shelter. It’s the only place they won’t look given it never gets used, and people outside of Erambie wouldn’t even know it’s there. Joan’ll gather whatever leftovers she can without suspicion. We’ve got more mouths to feed than you lot and it’s normal for people to share with us. Mary can take them down to him at dusk each night when she comes back from King Billie’s.’
    â€˜Why Mary?’ Sid asks. ‘Is it safe for her to do that? I thought we weren’t going to tell anyone