billion book
Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Flushed with glory, Jenny settles to watch the boys’ final. She can’t bring herself to sit. Josh is also a
finalist, and she’s looking forward to it, as she is sure he will win his match also.
Josh’s opponent is tall, heavily-built and fast, and Jenny watches in fascination as the two test each
other. They are well-matched, almost even in abilities, but as she watches, analysing as she spectates,
Josh has the edge.
“I’m sure he’ll win,” she says.
When Chad doesn’t reply, she turns to see him, all but mesmerised as he watches the fight.
And after a while, she realises he is watching Josh.
*****
“The match to Joshua Henderson!”
Breathing heavily, Josh leans forward, resting gloved hands on thighs slicked with sweat. Triumphant,
as he straightens up, he swipes glossy black waves of hair back from his face.
Briefly his eyes meet Jenny's and he grins, mouthing congratulations to her, in the manner of one
professional meeting another.
A girl comes running up to him, throwing her arms around his neck with a squeal. “You won! You won!”
Chad's face falls.
“What's wrong?” asks Jenny.
Colour rises up his face. “Nothing,” he mutters, but he won't meet her eye.
A shadow falls across the pair: Mr Kalkowski. “I believe congratulations are in order, Jenny. Regional
boxing champion. A first for our school.”
She is flushed with excitement and with victory. “I can't believe I won!”
“I am sure you will have many more victories, young Jennifer.”
*****
Six Years Ago
Mrs Collier watches the girl sitting in her favourite chair, cosy by the fire in chilly weather. “What are you
reading now, Jenny? I've never known anyone read as many books as you.”
Emerald-eyed, Jenny smiles. “It's a prospectus for the university science department.”
Mrs Collier pauses in her washing, frowning. “A prospectus? You mean you want to go to university?
“Yes, Mr Kalkowski says he thinks I should, and the more I read about it, the more I think I'd like to do
it.”
Mrs Collier wipes sudsy hands on a towel. “But you're supposed to be marrying Chad. You’ll be his
wife. How can you do that and go to university? And when the children come, how would you take care
of them with your nose stuck in a book all day?”
Jenny has no answer. Her eyes mist over and she looks away.
*****
Later that day, things don’t get any better. Over the evening meal, Brett, blank-faced, says, “Eleanor
tells me you’re thinking of leaving us.”
“Well, not exactly.”
“You can’t go to university and stay here, can you?”
Jenny slumps. “I suppose not.”
He looks at her sourly. “So, what happens to Chad in this little scheme of yours? You just walk away
after you’ve promised to marry him?”
Jenny’s appetite, normally so hale, wanes, the food going dry in her mouth and settling heavily in her
stomach.
“University?” says Tom, scooping up mash, pouring gravy, and eyeing her without favour. “What’s that
all about? What subject anyway?”
“I'd like to study Physics,” says Jenny. But her voice is subdued, her sparkle quelled.
“Physics?” scoffs Tom. “What use is that? Quoting Einstein won't get the hay in the barn or feed the
chickens. And it won't change a nappy either.” He jabs a finger towards her. “How can you be a proper
wife to Chad and a good mother if you’re off staring at the stars with all those slicker types in the City?”
Nathaniel simply glances across at her from under bushy eyebrows, his look disapproving. Diane,
sitting next to him, pipes up. “I wouldn’t dream of being anywhere except here with my husband, not
with the baby coming and everything. It wouldn’t be right, would it?” She pats her husband on the arm.
He nods and grunts through a mouthful of food.
Natalie, sitting next to Brett, hooks her arms through his, looking up to her fiancé with stars in her eyes.
“When Brett ‘n me get married, we’ll be trying for a baby right away. Won’t we, Brett?”
Brett gives her a curt nod then, “No doubt it’s that school teacher of yours filling your head with ideas.”
He stabs a fork into a roast potato, innocent of any crime as it lies in its pool of gravy. Then, speaking
with his mouth full, he jabs the fork towards Jenny. “The whole thing's a waste of time anyway. How
much does it cost to go to university? Thousands. You don't have it. You arrived here with barely the
clothes to stand in and you've been living off charity ever since.”
Jenny chokes down her mouthful. “I can’t help where I came from,” she whispers.
“We all work for our living, don’t we,” he sneers, waving around the room. “We don’t sit there taking
food off the table….”
“I work hard too, at school and at my chores….”
“That’s enough of that,” interrupts Mrs Collier.
But Brett keeps talking. “You'll have to work very hard to raise that kind of money. Hah! University?
Physics?”
Jenny pokes her food around the plate, her appetite gone.
*****
“Levi, I'm not happy about the wild ideas you're putting in her head. She has the makings of a good life
with Chad. And you're interfering with it. She doesn't know her own mind. She's just a child.”
The teacher does not reply immediately, instead knocking out his pipe, then repacking it with a plug of
tobacco. Lighting it, he puffs a couple of times, drawing heavily before blowing blue smoke.
Then, “Eleanor, much as I respect you, I disagree with what you say. Jenny is only just a child. She will
soon be a young woman and she is entitled to the level of education that will enable her to make her
own life choices.”
“She has already chosen to marry Chad. What about his life choices if his so-called wife leaves him for
university?”
“If Chad and Jenny are destined to be together, they will find a way to do it. Jennifer has a fine, keen
mind and an active curiosity about the world. It should be encouraged and nurtured in her, not
suppressed. In any case, I think that is a matter for the two to settle between themselves wouldn't you
say?”
Mrs Collier’s lips press to a razorblade line. “And when she has children? Who takes care of them?
She’s off doing…. what? Playing with …. test-tubes or telescopes or something. Is Chad supposed to
look after them?”
His reply is mild. “Perhaps they don't want children. Or perhaps not immediately. Have you tried asking
them?”
Her voice is set, her spine stiff. “I don't see Mr and Mrs Bennett being happy about their son marrying a
girl who doesn't want to give them grandchildren.”
“Eleanor, it’s not their marriage. Chad and Jenny must work out their lives for themselves.”
*****