“How are we going to swim, if we’ve got horses with us?” Jess asked.
“We can take the horses into the water for a swim or leave them tied up somewhere along the beach and go for a swim. It’s no problem. It’s a long beach and we can ride along it as far as we want. Or we can take them through the river if we want, too.”
“What about your little shadow, Chloe?”
“No, I asked her,” Mereana said, “But she’s going with her family for a day trip to somewhere her dad wants to re-visit. Maybe another day.”
At home, with instructions from Nanny about which food we could take, we put together a picnic lunch and some snacks and drinks. Then we packed up a couple of backpacks with everything else we’d need and we were set for the morning. It would be an early rise, as we had a way to walk.
We got up about seven the next morning, had a quick breakfast and set off, after doing a few chores for Nanny. It was an overcast morning, but Nanny said the sun would burn off the cloud, so we’d better take lots of sunscreen.
“It’s in my bag, Nanny,” Mereana said. “Plus, we’ve got hats and long sleeve-tops to put on.”
“No way I’m putting a long sleeve top on,” Jess muttered to me. “I intend to get tanned this holiday. I’m fed up looking so white.”
“Just make sure you don’t get burnt. One of the teachers from our school got a melanoma last year and she’s only got a few months to live. Thought she’d dealt with it, but it was too late, it had spread. She gave us all a good talking to before the end of the year.”
“Huh! Too bad. I’ll worry about it if it happens.”
But I noticed she put more sunscreen on before we left.
We walked down towards the beach and then headed off north along an unpaved rutted road that ran beside the beach, about five hundred metres inland. Between the beach and the road were undulating sanddunes covered in marram grass and lupins. At times we couldn’t see the water, and other times it was right there, tempting us in.
Mereana said. “We can’t stop now. But as soon as we get the horses we can go down and have a swim. It’s not too far now.”
As it turned out, we could have had a swim. The horses weren’t ready, and the family looked as though they’d only just got up.
Uncle Mohi came out rubbing his chin when Mereana knocked on the door.
“Ooh, sorry. Yous girls are a bit early. Had a big night last night after the hui. Forgot yous were coming. Go in and have a bit of a fry up with the whānau, and I’ll get them horses ready.”
Inside the kitchen the rest of the family was in various states of dressed and undressed. No one seemed bothered by us arriving. Mereana introduced us to the family, and her Auntie Judy made us sit down and have eggs, baked beans, fried bread and bacon. There was no chance to refuse. By now it was around nine thirty, and we’d walked a long way so it was easy not only to eat it but to really enjoy it.
“I’m so full,” I groaned. “That was so good. Thank you.”
“That’s a big thank you to you for the work you did yesterday on the marae. Now, have a cup of tea before you go. Uncle is nearly ready with the horses but you’ve got time for a chat and tea.”
Before we could say no, the milky tea was plonked in front of us. I was starting to get a taste for it.
“Yous are Mereana’s friends from Auckland?” one of her cousins asked. It was Walter, Wiremu’s friend.
“Yes. Not from the city, but outside the city in a suburb,” I said.
He looked envious. “Is there heaps of stuff to do there? Like movies and skate parks and laser strike and stuff?”
“Yes, but ... none near us. They are quite expensive. Not the skate park, that’s free but you’d have to get your mum or dad to take you. They don’t always want to. I reckon you’ve got more things to do here.”
“See, Walter, you don’t want to go down there,” his mum said.
“Yeah, I do. It’s boring here.”
“How can it be boring? You’ve got the beach and the river, and the horses and boats and fishing and heaps and heaps of family. You are lucky having a big family,” I said to him.
He scowled. “They’re all annoying. And nosey, and stink to me.”
“That’s because you’re stink to us!” A little cousin had come in from outside, about six or seven, and so cute. She had on a pair of pink shorts and a floral top, and her dark curly hair made a halo around her head.
“Well, you and that stupid Lily better not upset me today,” Walter growled. “Or I’ll give you what for.”
“Lily can’t come today, she’s gone out with her mum and dad.”
Walter got a devious look on his face. “And that dumb girl, with the ginger hair? Has she gone too?”
“I don’t know, I suppose so.”
Walter gave a little nod and slid off his chair. He slunk out the kitchen door, but not before Auntie called him back.
“Where are you going?” she yelled at him from the stove, where she was stirring something in a pot.
“Nowhere,” he said sullenly.
“Well you make sure that nowhere is far away from your cousins. You and Wiremu and Hemi have been getting up to no good lately. Stay away from them today, and then we’ll see after that. Go and help your father. He needs to get some more firewood for the New Year hāngi. Go on, I told him you would help.”
He turned away with a mutinous look on his face and headed over to where his father was finishing up with the horses.
We finished our tea and took the plates to the sink which was full of hot soapy water. I washed, Jess dried, and Mereana wiped down the table.
“You girls can come again!” Auntie Trina said. “Have a good ride and we’ll see you when you get back.”
Smiling broadly, she shooed us away from doing any more work, and we stepped out into the sunshine again.
Walter was holding the horses when we came out. He wasn’t happy with us. I guess I had stirred up his discontent by telling him he was better living here. At twelve years old, I could understand his fascination with the big city.
We each took our horse’s reins and headed to a stump close by to climb on. Jess had a bit of trouble as it was her first time, and Walter sniggered at her behind her back. She turned and glowered at him until he turned away, dropping his eyes.
“Grab the mane and the reins together in your right hand and hop on your left leg till you’ve got the bounce right to throw your right leg over. Keep low to the horse’s neck until you can sit up. That’s it!” Mereana said as Jess sat upright on her horse. “Now, keep the reins short and low down and pull right to go right and left to go left. I’ll lead and Keri can stay behind you until we get to the beach. Okay?”
Jess gave a brave smile, and we made our way out of the property and along the track beside the beach. It had been a while since I had ridden, and I was struck again at how powerful the animal was, moving to my commands.
“How are you feeling, Jess?” I asked.
“A bit woggly,” she said with a wobble in her voice.
“Use your legs to grip around the horse and you’ll feel more secure.”
At the beach, we rode the horses quietly along the sands in a walk, and soon the beach, the sun and the horses worked their spell and Jess was smiling.
“This is so cool!” she said. “Can we go in the water now?”
“Not here,” Mereana said. “It’s not too safe, but further along where the sand flattens out we can. It’s not far. But if you are up for it, we can do a little trot here?”
Jess looked dubious, until Mereana showed her how to rise to the movement of the horse. It wasn’t very tidy but she got it after a little while. We rode along the beach side by side and then Mereana showed us the best place to walk the horses in the water. We didn’t go in very deep, just enough to enjoy the splashing of the horses’ legs in the waves. Then we walked them up the beach to a pōhutukawa tree growing over the sand and tied the horses up. We unloaded the saddle bags and sat do
wn in the shade for a drink.
“This is incredible!” Jess said. “How amazing to be able to do this.”
“It is pretty good, isn’t it,” I grinned at her. “Is this the kind of holiday you were hoping for?”
“Well, yesterday was a bit too much for me, but this is amazing!”
“Ready for a swim?” Mereana asked. “Just us, not the horses, we’d be better swimming the horses in the river.”
“Let’s do it.” I whipped off my sneakers, T-shirt and shorts and only just beat the others into the water. We lazed in the surf for a while, cooling off and letting the waves wash us up and down. Then we headed back to the horses, loaded up the bags and rode a bit further along the beach before having a late lunch.
Chapter 17
Chloe
The family trip to some caves that Dad had remembered from when he was a boy had been interesting enough, but now Chloe was bored. Lily could be a right pain at times, especially when they were in the back seat together and Lily tried to provoke her by digging her in the ribs or just plain hitting her, and then blaming Chloe for the ruckus. Chloe would rather be home with the animals or reading in her room.
As they drove in the driveway, Lily said, “Come and play SingStar with me.”
“No, I don’t want to. You’ve been a little pest all the way home.”
“But I’m bored! Please?”
“Chloe, go on, sing with her for a bit, and then we’ll go to the beach for a swim before dinner.”
“Oh, alright,” Chloe said ungraciously.
They set up the machine and chose some songs, and Chloe let Lily have first go. Then they sang together, and then Chloe sang by herself. It was her favourite song from the list, and she always found herself lost in it. It really didn’t matter how she sounded to others, she just liked to sing. As she finished the song she heard a giggle in the background. Lily raced to the window, yelling to the two boys outside.
“Hey, come and do SingStar with us!”
Chloe was mortified. Lily was inviting them in and they had heard her singing. They had heard her voice. She turned away and went to find Mum. She was outside, planting lettuces in the vegetable garden.
Very quietly she said, “Those boys are here. Hemi and Wiremu.”
“Hey Mum,” Lily the tornado tore into the garden. “Hemi and Wiremu are here. They want to talk to you.”
Mum turned away from what she was doing, wiping her hands on her jeans. “Ask them to come around here, Lily.”
Lily tore off around the side of the house. Chloe sidled towards the back door and into the house before they could come around to the back. She stood out of sight, but she wanted to hear what they had to say.
“Hi boys. What’s up?”
They started talking together.
“See Walter ...”
“Can you come and help look ...?”
“Wait up.” Mum was laughing. “One at a time. Wiremu, you first.”
“We can’t find Walter.”
“And how is that our problem?” Mum was puzzled.
“No, nobody can’t find Walter. He’s gone. The whole whānau have been looking for him at the beach, but we can’t find him nowhere.”
“Have they called the police?”
“Yes, but the police are chasing a stolen car and they can’t come and they said he’s okay. He was okay the other times.”
“Oh, he’s done this before?”
“Yeah, but this time he even left a note.”
“What did the note say?” Mum asked.
“It said ‘Don’t bother looking for me. You won’t find me.’”
Her mother sighed. “Well,” she said, “We’d better go and find him where we can’t find him. Any ideas, boys?”
“He said he might go to Auckland. Them girls, them big girls told him at Auckland they’ve got laser strike and skate parks and stuff. But the rest of the whānau, they don’t believe us and they’re looking at the beach. But we reckon he’s going to Auckland.”
“And how was he going to get there?”
“Walk?” suggested Hemi.
“It’s an awfully long way,” Mum said. “Take him about a week to walk there. Rob?” she called.
From the orchard came her dad’s voice. “Yep?”
“Can you take the car, and take these two boys and go looking for Walter? He appears to have gone missing. The boys think he might be walking to Auckland. The rest of the family are looking over by the beach for him.”
“Okay! Hang on, I’ll just finish this.” He came around the side of the shed. “Come on then, you two, hop in the car.”
Dad dropped his pruners and gardening gloves on the seat beside the back door and they went around the side of the house to his car.
As they went, Chloe heard Wiremu say, “We heard that girl singing. We thought she was dumb.”
“Do you mean Chloe?” her dad asked. “Well, for your information, she is not dumb, she can sing and she can talk. She just chooses who she wants to speak to. And I’m guessing she doesn’t choose to speak to you. Am I right?”
“Yes, but ...” The rest of the answer was lost as they climbed in the car and drove off.
Chloe realised she had been holding her body tense and was barely breathing. Fear, although fear of what she didn’t know. They were only boys. But whatever, the thought she’d have to talk to them overcame her and she’d frozen again. She took a deep breath and tiptoed back to her bedroom.
Chapter 18
Keri
At around three thirty we walked our horses into the yard of Mereana’s uncle’s house. It was surprisingly quiet. No one around. We climbed off the horses and were just about to take them around the back to the stables, when the little girl we’d met in the morning came haring around from the back of the house.
“Walter’s gone. I don’t care. He’s totally stink. But we have to go look for him and I’m too small to keep up so I need a horse to go on.”
This was all delivered in one breath and it took a bit to decipher it.
“Walter’s run away?” I asked.
“That’s what I said. Can’t you hear me? So, I need a horse to go and look.”
“No,” Mereana said. “You can’t go by yourself on the horse. I’ll double you.”
“BUT I CAN! I CAN!” she wailed.
“I’m sure you can, but I’m coming too, and so are the girls. You’ll have to share with me.”
We got back on the horses and Mereana hoisted the little girl up in front of her.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Arona,” she said. “What’s yours?”
“I’m Keri, this is Jess, and that’s Mereana, who you’re on with.”
“I know Mereana!” she said scornfully. “She’s my cousin. Don’t you know that?”
“Oh! I should have known that, shouldn’t I?”
“Yes, you should of. You need to go that way,” she said to Mereana, directing her through the sand dunes and down to the beach.
“Why do you think he’s here?” Mereana asked her.
“Because he always hides in the sand dunes or the trees when he runs away.”
“He’s run away before?” I asked her.
“Lots and lots of times. Heaps of times. He’s always getting in trouble, so he runs away. But then he gets hungry and he comes home again.”
Across the beach north and south of us, people were calling and searching for Walter.
As we rode along towards a crowd of people who seemed to be gathering together, Mereana’s Uncle Mohi called out to us. “They found Walter! Rob took Hemi and Wiremu and they found him on the highway. He was heading for Auckland. Silly ass. Anyway, did you have a good ride?”
“We did! It was excellent. Would you like us to take the horses back to the paddock?”
“Thanks girls. Be there soon. Just unsaddle them and put them out back?”
“But I want to ride some more! Can’t I ride some more!?” Arona was quite determined t
hat we weren’t stopping yet.
“Alright. We’ll go to the end of the beach and back again, and that’s all.”
“But I wanted a swim too!” Arona wailed.
“You can have a swim when we get back, after we’ve put the horses away.”
“BUT I DON’T WANT TO DO THAT! I WANT TO SWIM ON THE HORSE!!” Arona wailed even louder.
“Do you want me to put you down here, to walk back by yourself? Because that’s what I will do if you keep yelling.”
“No,” Arona muttered. “Oh look, there’s Lily. Can we take her too?”
Not far away I noticed a car turning into the parking area. I saw Chloe’s red hair, and then her mother and sister.
“I’m going to go and see Chloe. I’ll catch you up,” I said to Mereana.
“I’ll come too,” Jess said.
“Bring Lily back with you,” Arona demanded.
“Yes, Ma’am!” I saluted her and she giggled.
“Pleassse!’
“Okay, we’ll bring them both back. Is that all, or is there anything else we can do for you?” I was a bit sarcastic, but she was too young to understand. She put her head on the side, thought about it and said, “I don’t think I need anything else. But thank you for asking.”
Jess and I smiled at each other and turned the horses towards the carpark.
It was amazing how much Jess had learned in the short time we had been out today. She looked as if she’d been riding all her life. Chloe and her mum were taking some items from the back of the car as we rode up, while Lily was running around yelling about Arona being down the beach and could she go and play with her, pleeese!
Their mum looked up as we arrived and smiled at us. We hopped down from the horses and walked over to where they had dropped their gear.
“Hi girls,” she said.
“Hello. Do you think Lily and Chloe would like to come with us on the horses for a little ride?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes, yes.” Lily danced around the horses in a crazy fashion until we told her that was dangerous.
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