PAUL

 

 

Things were never quite the same after Mrs. Mitchell brought Paul to the house.  We never knew his other name – or even his real name.  Surely he had one!  But I don’t think even Mrs. Mitchell knew.

You know about Mrs. Mitchell, don’t you?  She has that big house on the hill, and she ‘collects’ children.  It’s not like an orphanage – just a place where we can be safe for a while, and have a good bit of tucker, and keep warm of an evening.  Good place for us to make friends, too. 

She went to the courthouse to ‘collect’ me.  Not that I was bad – but  - look she kept the cutting from the paper.

 ‘8 February 1889     Alexander (10), George (8), Henry (6), William. (3), and Alfred Leonard Blue (2 years) were brought before the court as destitute children. The father and eldest son of the family were in gaol, and the mother had left town, being unable to obtain work here owing to the father's misconduct, and there was no one to support the children, who were running about the streets.

I’m Alexander – I’m 11 now.  My brothers are here as well. You see, we are all in the same boat – no parents.  Well – we did have parents, but things happened to them.  For some of us, our fathers went off to search for gold – and never came back, and our mothers could not afford to feed us, so went out on the streets.  I know some of the other lads were even worse off – their mothers went off with a man who promised to care for them, but nothing came of those promises.  All different stories – but Mrs. Mitchell didn’t worry much.  She just brought us to this big house.  The rules are OK – No fighting, no stealing, eat up all your food. – and you are free to go whenever you want.

She would cook up a big pot of porridge in the morning, and a big pot of vegetable soup at midday - and I know she went scrounging round the butcher shops in Tees St. and collected scraps of meat, and bones, and sometimes the men would be generous and give her good meat – and she would cook all that up with haricot beans and onions – and make a really tasty stew at night.  She would go to the baker and get the stale bread leftover – and we would toast that and fill our bellies.

Once some of the bigger boys lost that skinny look of starvation, she would take them on the train out to Totaratahi, and Mr. Fyffe who was the manager of Totara Estate would try them out for work in the fields – hoeing turnips at first, but some of them stayed on doing real men’s jobs – like caring for the horses!

 Paul was about the same age as me, but a bit different.  He had neat and tidy breeches and a jacket, and a cap for his head.  He had shoes as well – all his clothes mended and tidy.  He was quiet – only answered questions, never asked any.  It seemed he didn’t really want to know us – perhaps we were too scruffy for him. He ate the food, and settled into the bunkroom, his face to the wall.

Mrs. Mitchell had always talked to us about friends.  She always said that the newcomers had come from lives just as sad as ours, and some boys took longer to talk about it than others, and we were to be friendly and not ask too many questions.  She was good like that, Mrs. Mitchell. Like a mother.

Paul and I got friendly. Now he had one brown eye, and one greeny blue eye!  It looked real scary. .Mrs.Mitchell said we shouldn’t take notice – it was how he was, and we must just accept that. But it was really hard. When Paul looked at you, really stared you out; all you could see was two different eyes!  Of course, I was different too – one side of my face has a huge brown birthmark. But most people don’t notice it – or they don’t say anything about it – it’s just me!  But Paul’s eyes were different – they are the mirrors of the soul, so Mrs. Mitchell said

Paul told us that he had special powers. He told us about something called hypnotism and about someone called Franz Mesmer  He said he could look at someone and mesmerize them – forcing them to do anything he wanted. We scoffed at this idea – and that made him angry!  Now Paul as an angry person was not a pretty sight – real scary!  His eyes flashed fire, and it was like he was burning inside. So one day – to calm him down, we suggested he show his power.  Could he really make something happen?

‘Yes’, he said. ‘I will make a wind in the middle of the night – a wind so strong it will blow the roof off that house up there’ and he pointed to a mansion further up the hill.

‘When? ‘ We asked.

‘Tonight’   he promised.

We all went to bed early – and waited.  It was a still, somewhat frosty night.  No wind.  We shuddered in our beds.  Paul would have to use considerable powers. Now, as many people know, the spirits wander during the night – and most nights around 3 am there is a strong gust of wind – a maverick wind that is calling the wayward spirits back before the dawn.  This evening was no different. About the spirit-calling time, there was a huge gust of wind.  Down the hill it rolled, shrieking and twisting, bending the trees, rattling the windows, pushing and shoving at the curtains as the spirits of the land and sea met – then settled.

We stayed hidden under the blankets.  Mrs. Mitchell came to see if we were all right – but we feigned sleep. Then we did sleep – till morning. Come breakfast – no sign of Paul..  He was not in his bunk.  His few belongings were gone.   Mrs. Mitchell said she would go out later to look for him – but she reminded us that this was a shelter, not a prison.  We were free to go whenever we liked.

I haven’t seen Paul since that night.  I don’t know if he left before or after that maverick wind blew the roof off that mansion on the hill.  If you see him – and you will easily recognize him no matter how clever his disguise – because of his eyes. One is brown.  The other is a greeny blue.  And if you do get to gaze into those eyes, and are tempted to test their powers, be very careful.