Relatives that are lost and found.

"Billie Jean is not my lover. And the kid is not my son!"
-Billie Jean, Michael Jackson

This post is dedicated to my Great-Grandfather who passed away 10 years before I was born and almost got away with it. Boss, if you're feeling guilty- I don't blame you.

So I'm having yum cha with some relatives on my Dad's side, specifically my Uncle G [who is my Dad's cousin] and my Great-Uncle W [who is my Dad's Uncle/My Grandfather's brother], there were other relatives there but I don't want to make this too confusing for people not familiar with my family tree.

Uncle G mentions that they might possibly be heading to Adelaide during the Easter Holidays and my curiosity was instantly piqued. Why? Don't get me wrong, I love Adelaide but there is absolutely nothing to do there - the zoo maybe.

Uncle G: We might have a long-lost relative [he gestures to Great-Uncle W] We think he might have a half-brother.
[Great-Uncle W just keeps eating his dumpling as if he has half siblings all over the country and it's no big deal.]

Me: What? What do you mean?

Uncle G: Well it's this amazing serendipitous story. We were driving in Port Pirie last year to visit your Great-Grandma's grave and Little G felt that he lost his driving plates and so we pulled over at the nearest petrol to get new plates. And as I was buying them, the lady at the counter said "What are you doing here?" because as you know, there are no Asians in Port Pirie.

And I said "Oh, we have relatives that used to live here, you may not know him but he was called Ah Gap! and he's buried around here."
And she said "Isn't that odd! you might be related to..Charlie [let's call him Charlie]. Charlie is Ah Gap's son.
And I said "Is that so?" and she replied "Yes, it's such a sad story. Ah Gap misbehaved with this married woman and then when Charlie came out, he was most certainly .. well Eurasian! It just couldn't be hidden. The woman's husband was very angry and he sent Charlie to an orphanage in Perth. He came back to Port Pirie eventually- I'm not sure if they reunited or anything, but Charlie is still around, he's still around here."
[Uncle G smiles at this point] well I didn't know whether to believe her or not. What an amazing story! So I looked him up in the phonebook and there he is! So we're going to go and find him and confirm the story when we have time.

Me: Wow. Whoa. Wow. He might not want to accept this motley crew you know. [He may not even remember anything! He'd be .. between 80 and 90?!]

Uncle G: Well we're going to go and see him and if he doesn't accept us, then that's okay too. But you know as long as we try.

Possibly none of this is true or maybe all of it is true, but there are elements of it which are gobsmackingly heart-breaking, a little boy who no-one wanted, three adults who were more than a bit assy about the whole thing [ I find it mind-boggling that they were just hoping he'd turn out white], a father who never got to see his son and the son who returned to the provincial little town and stayed for.. some sort of resolution.

There are so many untied threads to this whole thing and maybe if he's lucid enough and willing, he'll talk about it but I don't blame him if he doesn't.

(My Dad used to talk about how when he was naughty as a child, my Great-Grandmother used to chase him around with an axe so he would run up a tree and hide. I figure she never found out about the lovechild because if she did Ol' Ah Gap would have died a little more prematurely than he did.)