The Sausage Tree by Rosalie Medcraft Read Free Book Online

shared a double bed. They shared lots of secrets and giggled a lot, but would never tell Wilma anything. Later she realised they only did it to upset her.

6
Struggle and strife
    Our mother suffered ill-health after Peter was born and on numerous occasions Valda and the twins went into town to stay with Granma while the rest of the children were sent to various aunts and uncles. While in town we attended Charles Street School with Uncle Jeff and Auntie Shirley who were about the same ages as our brother Geoff and sister Joan. The school was a massive building and it seemed to us that there were thousands of children everywhere, but of course there weren’t—it was just that our own school was so small.
    One time when Mum was rushed to hospital in a serious condition caused by a burst stomach abscess, we all stayed home because there was no time for arrangements to be made for our care. Peter was still only a few months old and was taken to the hospital with her. The older ones did their best to look after the others. This was a huge responsibility because Geoff was twelve; Joan was just eleven; and Valdawas ten; and they had to look after the seven year old twins and three year old Wilma.
    Shopping for the food was no problem as Mum ran a monthly account at the grocery shop and the butchers and we knew what was usually bought because we always went to the shops for Mum. It was the cooking that was the hardest and we couldn’t completely master it. Although we used to help Mum with the preparation of everything, there were some things we didn’t know, like flour to bind the rissoles together; as a result we had fried mincemeat for tea. How we cried with disappointment—but Dad said “Never mind we’d know next time”. Then there was the pastry we made for a pie. We knew we had to be scrupulously clean so we washed and washed our hands with Lifebuoy soap that had a strong carbolic smell. Our pastry looked wonderful but, oh dear, what a disaster! It tasted just like the soap smelt. One day the lady across the road said if we left a pie dish on the gate post before we went to school she would make us an apple pie for tea. That was a lovely pie and we all ate well that night.
    Our attempts at doing the washing were very poor but we had to have clean clothes so Joan and Valda lit the copper and washed them the best they could.
    Mum had been in hospital about two weeks when her condition became critical and the doctor sent for Dad to go immediately to the hospital. Dad received the message in a slow and painful process. The hospital telephoned the Lilydale postmaster who then telephoned the headmaster of the school to tell Geoff to run and find Dad and give him a note that explained what was wrong. That’s exactly what he did. He ran the five miles from school up the mountain to the mill that Dad supplied with logs. The men there showed Geoff the deep log track that he was to follow until he found Dad. Geoff had to trudge up the track a long way before he heard Dad driving the six horse team draggingthree logs behind. After Geoff had given Dad the message he collapsed from exhaustion, and because he had to recover his energy and was very distressed, he didn’t get home until it was nearly dark.
    Dad didn’t come home to change—that would have added nearly two hours to his travelling time. He just hopped on his bike and rode as fast as he could to Granma’s, walking the bike up the hills. Dad washed and changed into some of his brother’s clothes before going to the hospital. He was away a whole week and we were left completely on our own.
    The worst time was when night fell. We were all afraid of the dark and only had the candles and lamps which created scary pictures and patterns on the walls and ceilings. We were very fortunate that we didn’t burn the house down. The trips to the dunny were a major exercise as we flew two at a time, down the yard because we were