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- Колин Маккалоу
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"
Miserable
wretches
,
"
said
Fee
,
wrapping
old
newspapers
around
her
china
.
"
I
do
n't
know
what
they
think
they
've
done
to
crow
about
.
Not
an
egg
in
the
place
for
breakfast
,
and
all
the
men
at
home
until
we
finish
moving
.
Meggie
,
you
'll
have
to
go
down
to
the
chook
yard
for
me
;
I
'm
busy
.
"
She
scanned
a
yellowed
sheet
of
the
Sydney
Morning
Herald
,
snorting
over
an
advertisement
for
wasp-waisted
stays
.
"
I
do
n't
know
why
Paddy
insists
we
get
all
the
newspapers
;
no
one
ever
has
time
to
read
them
.
They
just
pile
up
too
fast
to
burn
in
the
stove
.
Look
at
this
!
It
's
older
than
our
tenancy
of
the
house
.
Well
,
at
least
they
're
handy
for
packing
.
"
It
was
nice
to
see
her
mother
so
cheerful
,
Meggie
thought
as
she
sped
down
the
back
steps
and
across
the
dusty
yard
.
Though
everyone
was
naturally
looking
forward
to
living
in
the
big
house
,
Mum
seemed
to
hunger
for
it
as
if
she
could
remember
what
living
in
a
big
house
was
like
.
How
clever
she
was
,
what
perfect
taste
she
had
!
Things
no
one
had
ever
realized
before
,
because
there
had
been
neither
time
nor
money
to
bring
them
out
.
Meggie
hugged
herself
with
excitement
;
Daddy
had
sent
in
to
the
Gilly
jeweler
and
used
some
of
the
five
thousand
pounds
to
buy
Mum
a
real
pearl
choker
and
real
pearl
earrings
,
only
these
had
little
diamonds
in
them
as
well
.
He
was
going
to
give
them
to
her
at
their
first
dinner
in
the
big
house
.
Now
that
she
had
seen
her
mother
's
face
freed
of
its
habitual
dourness
,
she
could
hardly
wait
for
the
expression
it
would
wear
when
she
received
her
pearls
.
From
Bob
to
the
twins
,
the
children
were
agog
for
that
moment
,
because
Daddy
had
shown
them
the
big
flat
leather
case
,
opened
it
to
reveal
the
milky
opalescent
beads
on
their
black
velvet
bed
.
Their
mother
's
blossoming
happiness
had
affected
them
deeply
;
it
was
like
seeing
the
start
of
a
good
drenching
rain
.
Until
now
they
had
never
quite
understood
how
unhappy
she
must
have
been
all
the
years
they
had
known
her
.
The
chook
yard
was
huge
,
and
held
four
roosters
and
upward
of
forty
hens
.
At
night
they
inhabited
a
tumble-down
shed
,
its
rigorously
swept
floor
lined
around
the
edges
with
straw-filled
orange
crates
for
laying
,
and
its
rear
crossed
by
perches
of
various
heights
.
But
during
the
day
the
chooks
strutted
clucking
around
a
large
,
wire-netted
run
.
When
Meggie
opened
the
run
gate
and
squeezed
inside
,
the
birds
clustered
about
her
greedily
,
thinking
they
would
be
fed
,
but
since
Meggie
fed
them
in
the
evenings
she
laughed
at
their
silly
antics
and
stepped
through
them
into
the
shed
.
"
Honestly
,
what
a
hopeless
lot
of
chookies
you
are
!
"
she
lectured
them
severely
as
she
poked
in
the
nests
.
"
Forty
of
you
,
and
only
fifteen
eggs
!
Not
enough
for
breakfast
,
let
alone
a
cake
.
Well
,
I
'm
warning
you
here
and
now
--
if
you
do
n't
do
something
about
it
soon
,
the
chopping
block
for
the
lot
of
you
,
and
that
applies
to
the
lords
of
the
coop
as
well
as
wives
,
so
do
n't
spread
your
tails
and
ruffle
up
your
necks
as
if
I
'm
not
including
you
,
gentlemen
!
"
With
the
eggs
held
carefully
in
her
apron
,
Meggie
ran
back
to
the
kitchen
,
singing
.
Fee
was
sitting
in
Paddy
's
chair
staring
at
a
sheet
of
Smith
's
Weekly
,
her
face
white
,
her
lips
moving
.
Inside
Meggie
could
hear
the
men
moving
about
,
and
the
sounds
of
six-year-old
Jims
and
Patsy
laughing
in
their
cot
;
they
were
never
allowed
up
until
after
the
men
had
gone
.
"
What
's
the
matter
,
Mum
?
"
Meggie
asked
.
Fee
did
n't
answer
,
only
sat
staring
in
front
of
her
with
beads
of
sweat
along
her
upper
lip
,
eyes
stilled
to
a
desperately
rational
pain
,
as
if
within
herself
she
was
marshaling
every
resource
she
possessed
not
to
scream
.
