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<strong>Buddhas</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Bikinis</strong> 10<br />
Mum told Dad to find a doctor, <strong>and</strong> for once, Dad nodded in agreement.<br />
‛I told you,’ Mum said, as Dad started off down the road.<br />
‛What?’ Dad replied.<br />
‛Didn’t I tell you this is what happens when your brother Bart gets involved with<br />
our family. Stealing l<strong>and</strong> from the blacks is wrong. They were here before us. And don’t<br />
tell me that orphanage he runs is about Christian charity - it’s nothing but a bordello!’<br />
My father looked like he was going to explode.<br />
My mother had the final word, ‛I don’t want your brother Bart near my children!’<br />
For a while, there was silence in the car except for Mum who kneaded her worry<br />
beads, making a sound like fireworks at Chinese New Year.<br />
Finally in temper, Dad grabbed the worry beads <strong>and</strong> flung them out the window.<br />
‛What’s a bordello, Mum?’ I asked.<br />
‛You’ll learn soon enough,’ my father replied, deadpan.<br />
Maria’s groans then ascended to a crescendo.<br />
‛Aww,’ Maria panted, <strong>and</strong> I pacified her by holding her head in my lap, stroking her<br />
brow because there’s nothing else I could do to ease her pain.<br />
After thirty minutes, we arrived in Ingham. We went to the local hospital, but the<br />
receptionist said the doctor was out on a house call <strong>and</strong> wouldn’t be back for two hours.<br />
We rushed back to the car <strong>and</strong> drove to a chemist in Lannercost Street where Dad rushed<br />
in, asking for ‛pethidine, morphine, something strong.’ The pharmacist, a middle-aged<br />
Chinese lady listened as Father pleaded at length to persuade her to open her Dangerous<br />
Drugs Safe.<br />
‛I am sorry,’ the pharmacist apologised, ‛but we can only dispense paracetamol or<br />
aspirin without a prescription.’<br />
L<strong>and</strong>cruiser.<br />
So Dad bought a box of fortified paracetamol <strong>and</strong> we all piled back into the<br />
My parents decided to make a dash to Townsville General Hospital. Dad, as if the<br />
urgency of the ordeal had been forgotten, began a speech about Townsville General<br />
Hospital, how it was the largest hospital in North Queensl<strong>and</strong>, built back in 1882, only to<br />
be destroyed by a cyclone, <strong>and</strong> rebuilt in 1951.<br />
Mother pulled out her sewing needle <strong>and</strong> threatened him with it if he didn’t shut up.<br />
We rode the noisy road in silence for the next hour.<br />
Maria lay with her head on my lap, sick as a dog. She kept looking to me for<br />
assurance that everything was going to be okay because I was the eldest, even though I was
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