The Forgotten Pearl Read Free Page A

house, at ground level, was a smaller stone outhouse, including kitchen, storerooms and laundry. The building was attached to the main house by a covered walkway.
    â€˜There’s Basil,’ said Poppy, pointing up into the rafters at a large golden-green coil. ‘And here’s Christabel.’
    A bulging hessian sack hung from the kitchen doorknob. Poppy scooped inside and brought out an armful of soft, grey fur, curled in a ball.
    Maude tentatively stroked the fur. Christabel’s ears flickered back and forth, but she kept her eyes firmly shut.
    â€˜Would you like to feed her?’
    â€˜Yes, please.’ Maude’s eyes shone.
    Poppy pushed her way into the kitchen, where a young Aboriginal woman was peeling potatoes at the kitchen sink. A dark-skinned child played at her feet, springing a peel of potato skin up and down. He stared solemnly at Maude through thick-lashed chocolate eyes.
    â€˜Thanks for the sandwiches, Daisy – they were delicious.’
    Daisy smiled back, her teeth startlingly white against her dark skin. ‘A pleasure, Miss Poppy. I know how hungry you get.’
    â€˜Daisy, this is Maude, our new neighbour,’ Poppy said, fetching a baby bottle of milk from the refrigerator. ‘And this is Daisy’s son, Charlie.’
    Poppy bent down and tickled the child on his tummy. Charlie squealed with delight and raised his arms. ‘Charlie up,’ he demanded. Poppy obliged, swooping him off his feet.
    Daisy grinned. ‘Hello, Miss Maude. That naughty Miss Poppy is always bringing animals into my clean kitchen. Sometimes I think I should feed them all to that hungry snake.’
    Maude sat at the table cuddling the wallaby, who greedily guzzled and headbutted the bottle.
    â€˜You wouldn’t be so cruel, would you, Daisy-dear?’ Poppy teased. ‘You love them as much as I do.’
    Daisy plopped the peeled potatoes into a saucepan of water on the range. Drops of water hissed and sizzled as they splattered on the hot stovetop.
    â€˜Get along with you, Miss Poppy,’ Daisy mock-scolded. ‘That’s enough of your tomfoolery. I have to make dinner, and I have enough to do without more children and animals under my feet.’
    After feeding Christabel, the animal menagerie tour continued from the two tortoises swimming lazily around the fish tank on the kitchen sideboard and the possums in a dark storeroom fruit box to Coco the elegant cat, the chooks in the fowl yard, Lola the cow and Angel the draught horse, grazing in a small paddock.
    Poppy gave Maude a leg-up onto Angel’s back. Angel continued to graze, unperturbed.
    â€˜Have you ever tasted a mango?’ Poppy asked suddenly.
    â€˜No, what’s a mango?’
    â€˜Follow me,’ ordered Poppy, running through the long grass. ‘You are in for one of the best treats of your life.’
    Overhanging the stable was the huge old tree. Poppy scaled the thick trunk effortlessly, showing Maude which footholds to use. She wriggled out along a branch and picked two oval, orange-green, speckled fruits. Poppy used her teeth and fingers to tear the skin.
    â€˜They’re messy,’ Poppy warned Maude, handing one over. ‘The best way to eat them is hanging upside down like a fruit bat.’
    Poppy demonstrated, hooking her feet under a bough and swinging upside down from the knees. She sucked on the sweet mango flesh, its juice dripping down onto the ground below. Maude tentatively followed her example.
    â€˜Wow – that’s so good,’ Maude enthused, her mouth and fingers sticky with juice. ‘That’s the best fruit I’ve ever tasted in my life – and it grows in your back garden!’
    â€˜How long are you going to be in Darwin?’ asked Poppy.
    â€˜My father works for the government,’ explained Maude. ‘A public servant. He was transferred to Darwin a few months ago – something to do with the war. Mother and I followed