Chapter 2

Little Dot had lost her way in the bush. She knew it, and was very frightened.

She was too frightened in fact to cry, but stood in the middle of a little dry, bare space, looking around her at the scraggy growths of prickly shrubs that had torn her little dress to rags, scratched her bare legs and feet till they bled, and pricked her hands and arms as she had pushed madly through the bushes, for hours, seeking her home. Sometimes she looked up to the sky. But little of it could be seen because of the great tall trees that seemed to her to be trying to reach heaven with their far-off crooked branches. She could see little patches of blue sky between the tangled tufts of drooping leaves, and, as the dazzling sunlight had faded, she began to think it was getting late, and that very soon it would be night.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m reading to my sister.”

Rachel was quite curious. “Can she understand you?”

“I don’t know,” Sam said. “Dad told me stories. But I thought I’d read an Australian story to Weena.”

“Which one?”

“Dot and the Kangaroo. I thought I’d read a few pages a day. There are twelve chapters.”

“You’re weird. You know I read that twenty years ago. Weena’ll like it.”

“I hope so. She didn’t cry at all.”

“Do you have any homework?”

“Did it already. It was stupid.”

“You shouldn’t say that. Would you like to change schools? I thought you’d make friends in a neighborhood school.”

“You were wrong, mum. I’m the ‘jap’.”

“I’ll talk to your dad when he gets home.”

“Right.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looking at one of the Isaacs books. Aboriginality. Gramps lent me four of hers.”

“So, you’re have a hard time at school.” Patrick remarked after dinner.

“Not hard. I’m the ‘other’ to them.”

“You’re not supposed to understand that.”

“Nor your being a python nor me an eagle.”

“Hmmm. Do you fight?”

“No. Pushing in the hallway, but no real fighting.”

“Do you retaliate?”

“Not worth it. But I have a plan. A Pitjantjara plan.”

“Can you explain to me?”

“Sure. I’m gong to point the bone at them.”

“You’re not serious!”

“Sort of. I don’t know the dances, and I haven’t the spells. But it seems to be mental. I’ve smoothed a white chopstick. It’s like a prepared bone (long and impressive, so kangaroo is the most common -- but of course the legends have villains using human bone). You’re supposed to point the bone at your target. I’ll just do that and mumble. That’ll scare ‘em.”

Patrick laughed. “You’re right.” He raised his voice, “Rachel!”

“Yes, dear?”

“Sam’s got it under control.” He looked at his son. “That’s psychological warfare. They’re all eight or nine?”

“Yes.”

“Lets not fret. Just promise one thing.”

“What?”

“If one of the boys is really upset, you’ll point and mumble and ‘take off ‘ the curse.”

“I promise.”

“Do you want to read more of Dot to your sister?”

“Not today.”

A few months later, Rachel greeted Patrick with “Sam’s school report came today.”

“Is it OK?”

“His teachers report that he sits alone and lunches alone. He does well on his exams, but does not appear interested in any of the material.”

“Yes?”

“I’m worried?”

“Why? I hated primary school and found Scotch College tolerable, but little more. And I had you in the early grades. He’s got no one. Gordy had Jacky. We know Sam can read and do arithmetic.”

“What can we do?”

“I don’t know. I’ll do some reading in the library tomorrow. I was intending to research some trials from a century ago, anyway.”

The following day, Patrick reported: “Well, there’s a lot on gifted and talented children and boredom. I only read three of four articles, mostly from the US and the UK.

A study among gifted students in North Carolina revealed: ‘Consistent themes stated by the students about the curriculum’s lack of challenge included a slow pace, too much repetition of already mastered information, inability to move on after mastering the regular curriculum, few opportunities to study topics of personal interest, and an emphasis on the mastery of facts rather than the use of thinking skills.’ Another study concluded ‘gifted students often begin with positive attitudes towards school but fail to maintain these attitudes because of the lack of appropriate challenge.’ There was one from the UK dealing with teenagers. And there were several that seemed to indicate a strong belief that separating groups was bad socially.”