Juneau: Wisdom Tree 4 by Nick Earls

but in late 1895 Doctor Harper left in a hurry. The book puts it down to an affair.’ She shrugs. ‘There is no evidence or definite report. Whether the affair is believed by the novelist of Northwest of Everything or invented by him, I do not know. Her family supported her. She moved back to her parents’ home. But they exchanged letters, Laura and Stanton, full of details, and this is what assists the novelist. It is clear from the letters that an error has been made by Stanton,but it is not named. The title of the book comes from one letter, his first from Juneau.’
    â€˜And Thomas is mentioned in the book?’ My father’s voice is breathier than usual, as if it might crack. His eyes open wider, a hint of the jaundice of his illness still in the whites.
    â€˜No. And this is curious to me. Many people are mentioned, but not Thomas. There are pages missing from Thomas’ medical records—that is not unusual—but by the middle of 1896, he is working for the hospital. He is fixing the roof, fixing the shutters. Thomas Chandler is doing this, being paid for it. And then there is this.’
    She takes a ledger from the box and opens it carefully, at a marked page.
    â€˜See the payment?’ she says. ‘The novelist did not find this. It is contractor records, not anything to do with Stanton Harper. Not directly. But this is a deduction for board and lodging. In 1896, Thomas is living in a houseon the hospital grounds that is also lived in by Doctor Stanton Harper.’
    â€˜So he gets better? There’s some kind of remission?’ My father watches Hope for a sign, a tell.
    â€˜Yes. It would seem so.’ She closes the ledger and returns my father’s gaze. ‘And he is living in a house with Doctor Harper.’
    â€˜A group house, for hospital staff?’
    â€˜I don’t think so. It was not a big place.’ She pauses. I’m sure she has a scene in her mind—the house, the household, the doctor and the misfit, his head clearer for a time. ‘This was before the ladies arrived in town in big numbers, before the Red Dog and other establishments. Men were always in each other’s company and some took comfort from that. This means different things, perhaps, to different men.’ She nods, and draws my father into nodding with her. ‘You know Saint Nicholas’ church? It was acommunity undertaking to build it. The whole community, not just the Russian Orthodox. A doctor organised a ball to fund the start of it, in 1894. In June of 1896, Doctor Stanton Harper organised another ball, a midsummer costume ball, to fund the belltower and cupola. This was a grand occasion. There was an orchestra, ice cream, a photographer. And, so, there is this…’
    She reaches to the bottom of her record box and produces another photo. It’s about six inches by four, in portrait orientation, two men standing in front of a fabric backdrop, perhaps a theatre curtain. One is draped in a white smock with a row of four large soft buttons, also white, down the front. He is wearing a black skull cap, and his powdered face looks as pale as his smock. His lips are dark, his mouth is slightly open and his hands are raised in an expression of mock alarm. He is the character Pierrot, but with a short dark beard and moustache. Besidehim is Harlequin, his black mask held away from his face on a stick, the bright colours of his costume showing as shades of grey. His jacket is snug, with a white ruffle collar. The two men are positioned to face out, away from each other, each in his own character’s pose, but their shoulders appear to be touching.
    Harlequin is thin, but healthily so. He is staring straight down the barrel of the camera, affecting a look of mischief. He is, unmistakably, Thomas Chandler.
    â€˜You can keep this copy,’ Hope is saying. ‘I will email it, too. You know which is which? In the picture?’
    â€˜Yes.’ My father