13

Goodbye, Mrs Carol

Awa got back in time to help Pop deliver the breakfasts. “I can take the trays around this morning, Pop. Who’s first?”

“Tai and Kim. Then Tui and Nan.” He put porridge in the bowls with white sugar, butter and cream.

Aunty Zinnia was slopping around in her dressing gown and slippers. She grimaced. “Ew, no white sugar or butter on my porridge, thanks, and Miro will get Tui up. She makes such a mess when she eats in bed.”

Awa took the porridge trays over to Mrs Carol’s house. Kim was glad to have breakfast in bed for once. “We’re gonna fix that coal range today. No one has used it since Mrs Carol left us. Mmmm, nice porridge, where’s my cuppa tea?”

“Taihoa, your lordship. Tai’s next. I’ll be back.”

Tai blinked a few times when Awa rattled his porridge tray on the chest. Awa rubbed Tai’s forehead with the back of the spoon, and said, “Kai’s up!” He skipped off to get Kim his tea. He was feeling better, now he was relieved of J.D. Carol’s secrets.

Kim pulled bits off the coal range and scraped out some soot and shovelled it into a bucket. Then he made a small ball of chicken wire and tied a rope to it and tied a bolt to the other end. He got Awa to climb on the roof with it. “Drop the bolt down the chimney, and I’ll pull the wire through.”

Tai banged on the iron chimney flue and yelled up through the chimney hole when he heard Awa on the roof above. “Drop the bolt! We’ll pull it through now.”

Awa heard the wire scratch and scrape down the inside of the chimney. He rushed to climb down and see it come out the other end. It came through dragging a small avalanche of soot. They were all covered in black dust and had filled another bucket before they were done. Tui helped. She wanted to be the sweeper, and soon she was as black as they were.

Kim had kindling and matches. “Right, let’s spark her up.” The coal range crackled and spat into life. Water in the wetback gurgled, and the pipes creaked. “You can all have a bath in half an hour.” Kim smiled.

Tui remembered the bath. “C’mon, boys, the nice lady’s toffee.”

They were sitting on the edge of the bath, eating toffee and splashing their feet in warm water, when Aunty Miro came in. “Oh, look at you, Tui! Your best blue dress. You boys are dirt magnets, and it’s catching!”

Tui grinned, white teeth in a black face. “We got the fire fixed, Mum. Now I can have a bath in the nice lady’s bath and get all clean.”

“You can come with me and get cleaned up. The boys can wash in that rusty water if they like.
And what are you eating?” She spat on her handkerchief and wiped Tui’s face without waiting for an answer. “Come on.”

Tui called out, “That’s all right, lady. Bye.”

“What’s all right?” asked Tai.

“Maybe Mrs Carol is saying thanks for fixing the coal range,” said Awa.

Kim came in as they washed in the rusty water. He went to get a towel and a facecloth. “That’s a good job done,” he said, when their faces, arms and hands were all clean and the brown water was black.

“This water is getting hot, Kim, but why is it brown?” asked Tai.

“Just rust in the old pipes. It’ll soon wash through. Come and look at our stove.”

As they stood around the clean, clinking stove, Tui burst in.

“The nice lady likes her house better now. She said thanks for cleaning out the shed.”

“What shed, Tui?” Awa didn’t know when Tui had got a chance to talk to Mrs Carol.

“The Mister’s shed. She likes it cleaned out. And Mr Willy is here. He had a letter for Nan. The nice lady is happy now.” She warmed her hands by the stove.

Kim looked a bit shocked. “Where’s the nice lady now, Tui?”

Tui pointed at the verandah window and waved. Awa thought he saw a reflection in the glass, a split-second blur of red, moving.

Tui listened for a bit and said, “Bye, lady, please come back to visit.” She waved and looked like she might cry. “The lady is going away. She’s not waiting any more. She wants us in her house now.”

Kim asked, “What’s Tui on about? When did she see Mr Carol’s shed? What letter?”

Awa was watching the window. “I don’t know.”

“Or me,” said Tai. “Tui just got here last night. What would she know?”

Tui rushed outside, waving and calling. “Bye, Miss Lady, bye!”

“A strange girl,” murmured Kim.

“I’m not so sure, Kim. She found the opal ring and the toffee under the bath. She learnt some strange old songs. She has long chats with somebody I can’t see.” Awa laughed. “There’s a lot more to this house than your practical jokes, Kimberly Clifford.”

Tui came in looking sad.

Kim knelt down to cuddle her. He shivered. “Has the nice lady really gone, Tui?”

“She said she used to look after you when you were little. She waved goodbye to you, Uncle Kim. Didn’t you see?”

Kim stood to put more wood in the fire box. “It’s a bit chilly all of a sudden,” he mumbled. “How would Tui know who my babysitter was?”

Awa was having fun now. “Didn’t you see the red-haired lady at the window, Kim? Your old babysitter. Maybe you’re old enough to do without her now?”

Tai laughed. He sang, “Old Mrs Carol, drowned her husband in a rain barrel.”

Tui growled at Tai. “She did not, Tai. That’s a silly story. Don’t say nasty things about the nice lady!” She started to cry.

Kim picked her up. “We’ll miss that nice lady, won’t we, Tui.” He cuddled her until she stopped crying.

As the coal range warmed the house, it seemed to Awa that even the tiger skin looked friendly.
He and Tai pumped the old church organ into life. Tui joined them, playing with the high notes. Kim sat in the rocking chair, thinking.