MSWA Bulletin Magazine Autumn 17
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WEIRD SISTERS<br />
ROS HARMAN<br />
“Weird sisters, hand in hand,<br />
Posters of the sea and land,<br />
Thus do go about, about.”<br />
A strange noise woke me, a sound like the guttural barking<br />
of a seal. As I emerged from misty dreams of crashing waves<br />
on a sea shore it took me a few disoriented moments to<br />
remember I was in Central Queensland, far from any beach.<br />
The ‘seal’ I had heard was a bush turkey, and its barking was<br />
now accompanied by the high pitched whistles of a couple of<br />
rainbow lorikeets. The morning chorus had begun.<br />
My younger sister moved to Queensland ten years ago, and<br />
has built herself a new life with a new partner, a landscape<br />
gardening business, and now a new house. She has returned<br />
to Perth every couple of years for a short visit, but this year<br />
she decided to host Christmas for the family at her house. For<br />
my two older sisters and their partners it was just another<br />
stop in their itinerary, having reached the place in their lives<br />
where they regularly go “about, about”. For me though this<br />
trip to Queensland was an adventure requiring months of<br />
planning and preparation, and the girding of loins to gather<br />
the requisite courage.<br />
I’ve done an excellent job over the last decade creating a<br />
comfortable life for myself here in Perth. I have my mobility<br />
sorted with wheelchairs and a hand controlled car and taxi<br />
vouchers. I have a house festooned tastefully with door ramps<br />
and grab rails artistically placed in a look I call ‘disability chic’.<br />
I have my weekly routines between my home and a few safe,<br />
known places where the toilets are accessible, and a few<br />
occasional more adventurous forays to a movie, theatre or<br />
shopping centre to add a little spice to my otherwise settled<br />
existence. It was challenging to contemplate a trip interstate<br />
involving plane flights, airport stopovers and unknown<br />
accommodation where I might be forced to call on the<br />
assistance of others. Nevertheless, I really didn’t want to miss<br />
out so I decided to go. Once the decision was made I rallied<br />
the troops and made plans.<br />
The MS Society of Queensland helped me source some<br />
essential bits of equipment which would make my sister’s<br />
house work for me. I spent an hour on the phone with someone<br />
at the airline ensuring that I and my wheelchair would make<br />
the journey comfortably, including being able to access the<br />
tiny little toilet on the plane. I bought some suitably tropical<br />
clothes for what I imagined would be hot and humid weather. I<br />
even used the weekly craft group at <strong>MSWA</strong>’s Wilson outreach<br />
centre to make myself a new dress for Christmas, with the<br />
help of the hand control sewing machine they have there and<br />
a staff person to pick up the pins I dropped.<br />
All my preparations paid off, and we had a splendid Christmas,<br />
complete with large quantities of food and bonding over<br />
mango daiquiris. The weather was pleasant, a constant<br />
wind keeping the humidity at bay. I met Harry and Buffy, the<br />
rainbow lorikeets, who deigned to perch on my hand while I<br />
fed them their morning sunflower seeds. I was taken for a<br />
bumpy ride around the property on a golf buggy to admire<br />
the work my sister and her partner have done in establishing<br />
their business.<br />
But Christmas would not be complete in our family if my<br />
sisters and I did not participate in some dramatic performance<br />
of an amateur and farcical nature. So it was that one<br />
evening we ended up robed in black veils, dancing around a<br />
cauldron enacting the witches’ scene from Shakespeare’s<br />
play Macbeth, chanting that famous recipe:<br />
“Double, double, toil and trouble<br />
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.<br />
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,<br />
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog...”<br />
The audience of menfolk and offspring unanimously declared<br />
the performance a roaring success. As my brother-in-law<br />
pronounced, “You truly are weird sisters.”<br />
<strong>MSWA</strong> BULLETIN AUTUMN 20<strong>17</strong> | 19