Awa’s Aunty Anne came to visit and left his little cousin Tui to stay while she went off somewhere on business.
Tui followed Awa and Tai everywhere. “Tawa, can you take me to see the nice lady now?” was her first question as soon as Aunty Anne had set off.
“I am Awa and this is Tai, Tui.”
“Yes, Tawa. You two makes Tawa. Tawa, take me to see the nice lady.”
“We are making a kite right now, Tui. Maybe later,” said Awa, looking at Tai and shaking his head no.
“Make Tui a kite,” she commanded.
Awa sighed. Thinking that maybe it would keep her out of the way, he made a flag with some red Christmas decoration paper and attached it to the end of a stick. The flag’s two long tendrils flowed in the wind as he ran around the lawn to show her how it worked.
Tui loved it. She ran off on her tubby little legs, waving her arm high in the air, and looking back to see her kite flying behind her. She fell over a couple of times. “Watch where you’re going!” Tai yelled after her, as she disappeared down the path to the front lawn.
Awa and Tai forgot about Tui as they added more tail to their kite to make it fly better. Every time it swooped and crashed, they brought it in and tied on more thin strips ripped from an old shirt. They flew the kite over the cow paddock by Mrs Carol’s house, letting out the string until there was no more left and the kite was high and tiny in the sky. Tai tied the string to a fence post. They were wondering how long it could stay up for, when they heard yelling and honking from the front lawn.
Awa was first on the scene. Tui wouldn’t let go of her kite. The gander was chasing her across the front lawn. His wings were flapping, and he was honking. Tui was yelling, and Awa could see she was getting tired. Looking back, she tripped over. The gander attacked, pecking her and beating her with his wings while she tried to get up. Tui screamed, “Tawa, Tawa, help!”
The boys started kicking and pulling at the gander. He struck them with his wings and hissed down his beak, his head held high. This gave Tui a chance to stand up and run, still holding onto her kite. The gander ran round the boys and took off after Tui. When she disappeared into the house, he gave up the goose chase.
Inside, Tui was sitting in the kitchen, clutching her torn kite and crying. Nan was inspecting puffy red marks on her arms. “What ever happened to this poor wee girl?”
“Goose, Nan. Goose!” sobbed Tui.
“Look at your poor arms!”
“The gander got her, Nan,” Awa tried to explain. “He ran her down and started goose biting her.”
“Goose biting? They have no teeth.”
“She fell over, and he was pinching her arms with his beak when he had a good grip.”
“You boys go and lock that gander in the paddock while I see to this girl. And Kim better see to that animal! It’s vicious!” Nan was looking for her precious iodine. The boys ran outside and gathered up their shanghais. They had no desire to hear Tui yell when the dreaded iodine went on.
The gander must have known he was in trouble. He was running up and down the fence line, looking for a gap. The boys let rip with their shanghais, herding the gander off. He was too close to the fence to get enough of a run-up to fly over it, so he ran to a far corner of the lawn where there was a loose wire in the fence and pushed through it while stones smacked into the posts around him. The boys kept firing at the retreating gander, and he found refuge under the hedge at the far end of the cow paddock. They patched the hole in the fence with broken sticks.
Tui was sobbing, her mouth full of milk and biscuits, when they got back inside. “Did you sort out that gander?” Nan asked.
“Yes, Nan,” they said in one voice, their eyes on Tui’s arms, now a mixture of yellow and red blotches.
“Poor little girl, very brave for a four-year-old. It’s lucky that gander never drew blood. If you boys weren’t there, Lord knows what would have happened.”
Tui clutched her new kite. The Christmas decoration paper, now wet with tears, had leaked red dye on her face, chest and arms. But she wouldn’t be parted from it.
The next day, she nagged the boys again as she helped them decorate their kite with scraps of Christmas paper. “Get the goose stick, the nice lady wants to see me.”
Awa changed the subject back to the kite about ten times before he gave in to her nagging. “OK, OK, come on. Coming, Tai?” he asked, looking for support.
The stick was in its place beside the gate, but they couldn’t see any use for it. There were no geese in sight.
On Mrs Carol’s verandah, the morning sun was soft and warm. This place isn’t scary at all, thought Awa. He and Tai wandered into Mrs Carol’s bedroom, leaving Tui to rock in the old black rocking chair in the front room. As Tui sang to herself, they discussed ways to secure the bedroom from Kim, like wedging the doors from the inside, and bringing a chamber pot to mimi in so they didn’t have to go outside. They wanted Kim’s ten pounds to sleep in that house, and the sweetness of victory.
“There is NO Mrs Carol,” said Tai. Awa wasn’t so sure.
Tui rushed in and said, “Where’s the bath? Show me the bath.”
“Do you want a bath, Tui?” Awa joked.
“No, I want some toffee.”
“Toffee?” Tai was curious.
“Yes, Tawa. The nice lady said it is hidden under the bath.”
Awa’s skin prickled, but he held her hand and said, “Come this way.”
The bath was in a small room towards the back of the house. Light came through a small, high window. The bath had curved legs, like paws gripping the floorboards. Bits of bird’s nest and a few leaves had settled on the bottom of it. Tui knelt down at the tap end, reached under the bath and pulled out a sealed AG jar.
“See, toffee! Open now, please!”
Awa’s skin prickled again. “Outside,” he said.
Sitting in the sun on the verandah, he felt safer. They struggled with the lid. They got the screw ring off after banging it a few times on the floorboards, but a pocket knife was needed to lift the seal.
“The nice lady said we could have it,” said Tui, reaching her little hand into the jar and popping a large lump of toffee in her mouth. “Thanks, lady! What else have you hidden?” she called.
Awa and Tai cautiously tasted the toffee. It was good. Awa knew that food should be stored in a cool, dark place. But how come Tui was so sure it was there? Should he get Tui to ask about the ring?
With her mouth still full, and dribbling, Tui said, “OK.”
“OK toffee,” said Tai.
“No, OK lady,” said Tui and ran back inside. The boys followed.
“Where, lady? Where?” Tui was inside Mrs Carol’s wardrobe, pushing through old floral dresses towards the back. Tai put his head in to watch her. The back of the wardrobe was lined with the same wallpaper as the walls. Tui felt along a seam of paper that was loose. She pushed her fingers under a floppy edge, and something clattered to the floor. Tui scrambled to pick it up. “It’s all right, Miss Lady, I got it.”
Tui came out of the wardrobe and smiled towards the door. Awa looked to see what she was smiling at and caught a flash of a smile and a wash of red in the thin air beside the bedroom door. Tui was putting something shiny on her thumb.
“Yes, I will give it to Nan.”
She ran outside and picked up the toffee jar. Awa helped her put the lid back on. The gold ring sparkled on her little thumb.
“We have to put it back under the bath and then give this to Nan!”
Awa wasn’t sure about going back into the house. He said, “You know where to put the toffee, Tui.” She ran back inside with the jar.
On the steps of the verandah, Tai asked Awa, “What did she get from the wardrobe? It looks like a ring.”
“It is,” said Awa. “Gold, with a flashing stone.”
Tui came out without the toffee, talking to herself again and turning the ring on her thumb.
“We can have one piece a day, you boys, and NO MORE! I will, lady!”
Tui offered her hand to the boys. “This is the nice lady’s ring. She told me where it was. She hid it from a bad man! She wanted me to find it for Nan.” The ring flashed in the sun. It was heavy gold, with a large, smooth, dark stone that glistened with greens, purples and pinks.
Nan was thrilled. “Mrs Carol’s ring! Where did you kids find it?”
“The nice lady told me to give it to you,” said Tui.
“We’ve been looking everywhere for this. It’s very precious, a black opal. Mrs Carol loved that ring. It was her mother’s, a family treasure. We couldn’t find it when she died. Thank you, Tui. I think we’ll put it away, and when it fits you, it can be yours.”
“The lady said to give it to you. She hid it in the wardrobe, behind the wallpaper.”
“Why would she hide it, I wonder?”
“The lady said she hid it from a bad man.”
“I can guess. Well, you can thank Mrs Carol, but ask her if I can give it to you when you’re grown up.”
“I will, Nan, right now,” said Tui, running off.
Awa and Tai didn’t follow her. It was all a bit too much.
“No way I’m gonna sleep over there!” shivered Awa. “Ten pounds be buggered.”
“Buggered twice!” said Tai.