Chapter 43

It appeared that the fate of a dozen rocks in the northwestern Pacific was little remarked by most of the world. People were too involved in their local or national crises: climate, disease, religion, race. Far away seismic matters just didn’t carry much meaning. But six weeks later, while Sam was at the hardware store, he caught an excited bloke telling a salesman that he’d just heard about a “ginormous quake” near Cuba, with “fifty million blokes drownded”! When he got home, he learned that all of the volcanoes in the Antilles Arc (including Soufriere Hills on Montserrat; Mount Pelée on Martinique; La Grande Soufrière on Guadeloupe; Soufrière Saint Vincent on Saint Vincent; Mount Scenery on Saba; and the submarine volcano Kick ‘em Jenny) had erupted nearly simultaneously and that the older islands south of the Puerto Rican Trench – Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Jamaica – were virtually submerged. The Caymans weren’t mentioned, but Sam knew they were on the Caribbean Plate boundary.

It might not be fifty million dead, but it would certainly be well over thirty. More than all of Australia. Perhaps somewhat fewer than Canada.

The twins were looking at him.

“Sumtin’ happened,” Marge said.

“The Great Serpent rolled over,” her brother added.

“That sounds plausible,” Sam said. “I’m not sure, but I know the Serpent was not happy. You know Tessa and I sometimes tell you not to do things? The powers are trying to give people a lesson. There was a ‘stop’ a while back – a few floods and an earthquake or so.” The children nodded. “But the bad people paid no attention and kept on messing up the world. So a few months ago, the powers smoothed out some islands far away from here. But people kept on doing wrong.”

Sam tried to recall some months ago. “Do you remember the couple who were exiled?”

“Don’ know ‘ziled’,” Rob said.

“Sent away. Remember when Frank ate all the berries?”

Marge laughed. “Aggie whupped him an’ the fruit made him sick!”

“Right. Well one of the powers – maybe the Serpent – just ‘whupped’ a part of the world. And some places and many people are no more.”

“Is that good?”

“We’ll need to see. It’s bad that so many people are no more. But I don’t know whether people will change much.”

“Why don’t people ‘have right?”

“Most people don’t behave because they’re are greedy and selfish. They want lots and they don’t care about others. Especially others they don’t know or are of different colors.”

“Different colors? Like blue or green?” Marge was really intrigued.

“No. Many folks think that your grandfather and grandmother and I are different from each other. And we’re different from your mum and most of the women around here.”

Rob was irritated. “That’s dumb! You’re lighter than mum, but Lily’s darker than you. An’ Jos an’ Andy are darker than any of you. An’...”

“Kids! Don’t get angry. Lots of people are strange. Some think everyone should look like them. Others think folks who got to other churches or speak other languages or eat different food are ‘wrong’ not just different.”

Marge picked up on what Sam said. “Other churches?”

“Your mum and I don’t go to church regularly. Jos does. He attends the Anglican church on Bauhinia or the Catholic church on Leichhardt nearly every Sunday. Others who live here go to the Baptist church on Coolibah. There are several other churches in town, too. My grandmother went to a Shinto church – that’s a Japanese church.”

“Why are there so many?”

“Oh. There are many many churches. They grew from people meeting together to work together. To take care of people who get hurt or get old. And to meet together to think about the powers and the spirits.

“You know the BBY? They help native Australians work together.”

“I know! Blackfella stuff!” said Rob.

“Well, not quite. I’m not a black. But your mum is an aboriginal. The English came here beginning in 1788. That’s less than 300 years ago. You mum’s family has been here several hundred times as long.

“But for many years, the whitefellas pushed the others around. The BBY is one of several groups that want children like you and Susannah to have the same opportunities and choices other Australians expect for their children. They want aboriginal Australians to receive good educations yet to retain their cultures and identities as peoples and to be recognized as Indigenous Australians.”