Stolen - A short story

Stolen

It was a scorching summer's day and the heat of the Australian sun was completely unbearable. The entire street was abandoned and the low whirring of multiple air conditioners could be heard over the occasional swaying of the giant gumtrees and the songs of the kookaburras. To sit outside in such heat would be suicide and yet, in the furthest corner of the street, to the left of the little roundabout where the road came to an end, there sat a little old woman with a fan in one hand and a pitcher of lemonade on the table beside her, she sat in wait, watching the far end of the street for the tell tale signs of a car approaching. Her name was Dorothy Martin, she was a bit over sixty years old with her pale white hair tucked away in a once-neat bun which now had an abundance of fly-aways while the remainder of her hair clung to the sweat on her forehead. She was waiting, as you may have guessed, but waiting for what exactly? Well the answer to that question turned the corner at the end of the street at made its way up to stop at Dorothy's gate. It was a small, blue, second-hand toyota that parked itself neatly in her driveway. With only seconds after the car stopped moving the rear door was flung open and out came a little girl no more than seven years old. The child ran up the driveway and through the gate straight into Dorothy's arms.
"Oh goodness! You're getting big aren't you?" Puffed Dorothy as the girl squeezed her tight.
"I missed you Nana, I missed you so, so much!" Said the girl without loosening her grip on the old woman.
"Tammy that's enough" came a voice from the car. A woman who looked like the younger version of Dorothy exited the driver seat and started to approach them. She had left the engine on as she wasn't planning on staying long.
"Thank you so much mom you have no idea how greatful I am for your help. Here's Tammy's bag it has all her changes and books and toys. I'm so sorry I can't stay longer to help her get settled but-"
"Charlie, it's going to be ok, I'll take good care of her. Now go! You don't want to be late to the trial."
With a final worried glance at her elderly mother and her only daughter she waved goodbye and soon the little blue toyota was driving down the street again, back to where it had come from.
After seeing the car disappear around the corner at the end of the street Dorothy and Tammy made their way into the old Queenslander and out of the heat of the merciless sun. The cool air of the air conditioner was welcome to Dorothy who had been out in the heat for a long period of time. In the kitchen there was a fresh batch of cookies waiting for Tammy and as she ate Dorothy glided around the kitchen putting on the kettle and taking various pieces of china. As she worked she hummed the tune of a song, the words for which she had long forgotton. All she could remember was the beating of drums and the voices of many, all singing the words to this merry tune. Tammy had already finished most of the cookies and the humming was beginning to lull her to sleep when she caught sight of a picture frame hanging on the wall. She got up to inspect it and found that the photo depicted a man and a woman holding the shoulder of a child only a few years older than she, and who resembled her Nana greatly.
"Nana who's this?" She asked, now less sleepy and rather curious.
"That is me with my parents
when i was only ten years old." Dorothy replied. She was still by the counter brewing a pot of tea for them to drink.
Now you may be thinking its foolish of Dorothy to make tea on such a hot summer's day but you must also realise that they were, in fact, indoors with the luxury of having an air conditioner that could cool them down if they needed it. However, the real reason for the tea was to soothe little Tammy who's parents were going through a tough time and though the child knew not of the reason for her being left with her grandmother she had already sensed that something wasn't quite right.
After a few minutes of inspecting the photograph Tammy turned to her Nana to ask a second question.
"Nana, why don't you look like your parents?" It was one of the complex realities that puzzled the poor child. She had not yet heard about adoption and so Dorothy explained it to her as best as she could in a way that the seven year old would understand. All the while flashbacks of the tragic events that led to her adoption were playing in her head.
It was the year 1958 and Dorothy was only 8 years old. Only her name wasn't Dorothy, it was Alkina which could be translated to mean the moon because she was born by the light of a full moon. The elders would always tell her how the moon shone on her jet black hair when she was born and how her voice sounded like a creek flowing gently. It was a nice memory to dream about. That is until the white men came. They came into her villiage and forcibly removed her from her parents and loved ones so she could be placed in an institution somewhere in Queensland. The institution was awful, she was abused and forced to forget the ways of the indigenous peoples so she could learn the ways of the white people and be more like them. Though she spent no more than two years in that institution the memories of her stay still kept her up at night. It seems that although she went through a lot of pain, luck was on her side as she was eventually adopted by a kind couple who took good care of her over the years. Yes Richard and Mary Martin were good people. They were only two of the very few people who disagreed with the practice of stealing aboriginal children from their families.
All of this Dorothy explained in the most child friendly way possible to little Tammy whos teacup was drained and whos eyes were starting to droop. Before Tammy fell into a deep sleep Dorothy helped her up and walked her to the guest bedroom where she tucked her granddaughter in and went back into the kitchen to wash the dishes. Looking at the photo again she let out a long, grievous sigh, for Tammy's parents were in court and Dorothy hoped beyond hope that Tammy would never feel what she felt on that day she lost her family.