* * *
Benjamin and Karl sat drinking on the veranda and watched Carolyn playing with the doll Katherine had made from scraps of cloth and string.
‘Now Karl’s ‘ere mebbe he can git bubs some toys. Mebbe a nice doll next time he comes,’ Benjamin said to Katherine, who was standing at a distance from the men.
‘Thanks, but I really would like some children’s books. Carolyn’s big enough for me to start teaching her the alphabet. She’s got no books.’
‘She’s a girl. Ya can teach ‘er all she needs ta know,’ was the terse reply.
Katherine stepped forward. ‘She’s a child all alone and growing up. She needs something to stretch her mind and she needs to learn to read. Please.’
Karl saw an opportunity to ingratiate himself further with Benjamin and butted into the conversation. ‘Yer right, Benjamin. Women don’ need ta read. An’ she’s not much of a wife ta ya, is she?’ He bobbed his head towards Katherine. ‘So why bother with ‘er kid. Ain’t ya kid, ain’t ya problem, is she?’
‘What do you mean, not much of a wife. I am not a wife but I behave like one. I cook all the meals, clean the place, wash all the clothes, pump water and —’
‘But ya don’ sleep with him, do ya?’
‘I won’t do that, never ever,’ Katherine vehemently responded.
‘Wives sleep with their men, don’ they, Benjamin?’
‘Yeah, but I won’ make ‘er. God told me she’ll come when she’s ready and willin’. To force ‘er is against his will.’
‘And against mine,’ thought Katherine angrily but said nothing, grateful at least for this component of God’s will. She had fully expected to be assaulted after the first month.
Karl wheedled. ‘So she ain’t a proper wife, is she?’
‘Naw, s’pose not.’
‘Well, mebbe if she was a real wife then mebbe ya could git a coupla books fa the kid, eh?’
‘Yeah, mebbe we could do summit like that.’
The men looked at each other but Katherine went to Carolyn, picked up both her and the cloth doll and left them to their conversation. She was just as pleased to be away from the sweetish smell of Karl’s cigarette smoke.
* * *
The worst part of life at the Factory was the loneliness and the boredom. Even if he had not been her abductor, she recognised there would be an inability to relate to Benjamin at all. She craved adult company, intelligent conversation and being able to read newspapers or books. She missed a radio, or a record player.
Carolyn benefited from the very close relationship with her mother but Katherine worried about her future. She was seriously concerned about her future ability to socialise with other children. She was growing up not only as a child with no sibling, but as a child with no peers.
The only book in the entire complex was the Bible. It had a prominent place in Benjamin’s main room and Katherine had never been allowed to touch it. After the conversation about books Benjamin handed it to her one evening after she’d cleaned up the meal.
‘Ya whingin’ ‘bout summit to read. Read this. Aloud. Ta me. I’ll tell ya when ta stop.’
So it was that Katherine read the Bible every morning and evening to her child and captor. He always handed it to her open: always a book of the Old Testament.
‘Can’t I read something else, something from the New Testament?’
‘No, read what I give ya. When I was a kid in Queensland, me stepdad read ta me every night. I ‘ad ta learn them stories off by heart. If I got ‘em wrong, even a word, he’d belt me.’
‘That’s terrible —’
‘But I learned me Bible real good, every word,’ he laughed mirthlessly. ‘But I won’t be beltin’ ya, woman, or ya bubs. Ya’ll jist read them stories ta me, God’s truth, quiet like, an’ ya bubs will learn too.’
* * *
After two lonely, slow years Katherine knew her time at the Factory was permanent. She reluctantly accepted her lot but never lost hope that some day, somehow, she would be able to find a way to escape. Initially she hoped Alec and the police would find her but, as the days turned into months and years, she acknowledged she would not be able to get away except through serendipity or her own efforts.