Chapter 4.
To The Park Again
Justine was just about having a cow when I got back to her. I had to spend about 10 minutes calming her down, even though, she, was worried about me. I really wanted to go home, so I could tell Gran that I had seen dad. But first, I promised Justine that I would visit her next Saturday at Paddington Markets, where she had a stall selling patchwork witches hats, and herbal sleep pillows. Then, I took off home.
Gran was in the garden attending to her giant pumpkins, which she intended to enter into the next Royal Easter Show display. I rushed out into the courtyard huffing and puffing and told her about seeing dad. Gran's face became serious and turned a funny yellow colour. She said, 'Come along girl, let's go down to the park and see if we can bail my boy up'.
She threw her gardening gloves into the huge, cement tubs, next to the wall and with her battered, straw-hat still on her head; we headed off down the road to Hyde Park.
The rain had cleared now, but a cutting breeze was whipping around us like invisible hounds. The sky too, had become dark, as the evening journeyed toward night.
We went past the looming War Memorial, a haunted place I always thought, and down the avenue of skeletal trees. There was a quietness here, which discouraged lingering about.
Gran was moving along at a cracking place, but suddenly stopped, and turned to the right. On a small patch of grass, lay an old man with a bottle still clutched in his hand. He seemed to be asleep, as his mouth hung open. He had only a few teeth.
'Wake up Ron, its Alberta', granny said, shaking the wizened old man.
Ron snorted loudly, 'What! What!' as one eye flapped open.
'Ron, I'm looking for that wayward son of mine. You seen him?'
Ron appeared to think for a moment and shook his head, but said, 'maybe, across from the museum, I think'.'
'Thanks love. I'll bring you a bit of dinner in a bit', granny said.
'Nah, nah, don't bother about it. The soup bus will be around in a bit. That'll do me.'
'Suit ya self Ron, me luv. Take care now.'
'See you Berta'. He croaked, as we slid away into the growing darkness of the park.
As we rounded a clump of trees, I could see dad sitting on a decrepit old bench. His head hung low. I grabbed gran's arm and whispered, 'we need to think about this for a bit'.
Gran nodded.
'Let's go and see Professor Fortunatus, at the museum. He is really clever and might give us some ideas. We don't want to scare dad off again. So ducking behind some trees we ran away from my dad and darted across the road toward the towering bulk of the museum.
The Museum was closed. What to do?
I ran around to see if the side door in the wall was open. It was not.
'Look, maybe we should just go and talk to him pet?'
I shook my head. 'I don't think that would go well. We have to approach dad from another direction. Not head on'.
Nan nodded and her top lip disappeared.
Then, the glass doors of the museum flew open and the bobble-head of Professor Fortunatus flew out like a Jack-in-the-box.
'Hello there. I saw you both from the window upstairs, as I was attending to the Upper Paleolithic Collection. Are you looking for me?'
I nodded, but something was strange. The Professor was not looking at me, he was looking at gran and there were stars in his eyes. He came out onto the street, still holding the door, but he looked puzzled and unsure.
'Ah! Alberta?? and, Professor Stickybeak. '
The professor and gran were looking at each other funny.
'Oh! Thaddeus! I don't know what to say!......But, it's our boy, he is over there in the park and he needs help. I don't know what to do.'
My eyes were flying from gran to the Professor. Something mighty strange was happening here!
I saw the Professor nod his head slowly. He then walked toward gran and put his hand on her shoulder. Gran looked like a stunned mullet.
'Leave it to me Alberta. It is time that I took some responsibility'.
Gran and I slowly walked home then, in silence. As we came near Oxford Street, gran began to talk.
'Thaddeus was ?is the love of my life.' Gran then shot a sharp look at me, as though daring me to laugh.
'We met in the 1950s. I was working in Mark Foys, a wonderful shopping emporium which doesn't exist anymore.' She paused here and stared out into the darkness. 'And Thaddeus came into the store, wanting to buy a woollen jumper. He was cold you see in that drafty place. I helped him chose two very nice, pure wool, merino jumpers, and he asked me out for a cup of tea?.neither of us were the type for pubs and such.'
'I'm feeling confused gran. Did you and the professor get married?'
'Yes! Of course! But then, after your father was born, Thaddeus began to spend more and more time at the museum, and he seemed to forget all about us.'
My brain felt like a bomb had been dropped inside it, and all the wires and stuff were messed up. But I was putting 2 and 2 together.
'Are you telling me that, Professor Fortunatus is my dad's father? and my grandfather?'
'Well, yes, of course he is!'
'But no one ever told me!'
Gran looked outraged by this statement. Then she suddenly began to resemble a wilting lettuce leaf.
'We thought you knew, luv. We thought you knew.'
Inside me there was a war. I was happy and sad at the same time.
Chapter 5.
New Beginnings
About two weeks later, there was a knock at the front door, late on Saturday afternoon. I threw open the screen door, to find Professor Fortunatus, out of his museum habitat. I had to stop myself from giggling, as I suddenly thought that he resembled a dusty fossil, in a kind of way.
'Come in professor', I said, finally remembering my manners.
He stepped into the darkened hall and behind him was my dad, looking much better than the last time I saw him.
I made some tea and lemonade and took gran's biscuit tin off the shelf. No one makes jam drops like gran! We sat down in the small lounge room, which was kind of like a museum itself, as gran hadn't changed the furnishings since the 1970s; it was now the 1990s. There was an awkward silence, until I finally said, 'Mum and gran have gone to see a soppy, romance movie at the Randwick Ritz. I'm not sure when they will be back, as gran wanted to visit her sister, Edna, afterwards, at Coogee.'
Dad and the professor seemed to relax a bit then, and dad started to tell me how the professor had helped him get work, training as a carpenter. 'I always wanted to work with wood', he said.
Dad looked down at the floor then and said, 'I know I haven't been much of a father, but I hope it's not too late'. He looked at me hard and I kind of shrugged. I mean, what did I know? Dad continued, 'I am going to get my life on track?? There is no future the way I am?..'
After this statement, we talked a bit about school and then the Professor told a funny story about gran and Granny Goldenvine and their exploits back in the 1970s. The pair had been famous, for wearing miniskirts, when they demonstrated about historic terraces being knocked down. Supposedly, they had both been on the evening news more than once, being carried off in their handkerchief-sized skirts, by police. Outrageous!
'They caused a scandal and brought much needed publicity to a worthy cause', beamed the professor.
It was a scene, I found very difficult to imagine.
After dad and the professor had left, I sat and thought about everything for a long time. I really hoped that things would work out for dad. For all of us really. And, I also thought, that, Granny Goldenvine had been right: my Granny Herbert was cool.
One day, I was going to be just as cool?? I hope.
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