16

Daniel considered himself a good driver, but he didn’t enjoy it, so he was relieved when Laura took the van’s keys from Paul, after they’d agreed on the list of provisions they were to buy in Waioha and had received the large wad of money for it from Keith. Laura headed for the car, trailed by the two male warriors, Aleki and Tahu, who’d been selected for kitchen and cooking duties. Daniel followed them, pulsing with rapturous happiness knowing he was to be with her for a while.

For about ten minutes on their way to Waioha, with all the van windows down and the wind swirling in round them, cooling them, Laura and Daniel didn’t say anything to each other. Paul’s cousin, Aleki, reached forward and, tapping Daniel on the shoulder, said, ‘Hey, Uncle, how come you and Auntie don’t like talking?’

‘Yeah, Uncle, how come?’ chorused Tahu.

Daniel glanced at Laura and they started laughing, reflections of the road and surrounding landscape flashing across Laura’s dark glasses. ‘You, guys, don’t like silence?’ Laura replied.

‘No,’ Aleki said. ‘This is my first time in the country and I like it but it’s creepy, Auntie.’

Surprised at the boy’s unusual revelation, Laura asked, ‘What do you mean creepy?’ In the rear-view mirror she caught Aleki glancing at Tahu for help.

‘Yeah, Auntie, it’s too bloody quiet here,’ Tahu offered, nodding at the whole outside landscape.

Daniel hadn’t thought of it that way; he’d been in the country numerous times before.

‘Aleki, are you sure this is your first stay in the country?’ Laura asked.

The boy nodded and said, ‘Yeah, man, my first time to stay in it.’

‘Me, too, Auntie; you know we’re city what-you-ma-callits,’ Tahu said. ‘This is my first camping out.’

‘Are you enjoying it?’ Laura asked, realising her belief that most Māori were still of the rural areas was a stereotype.

‘Yeah, Auntie, but the sandflies and mossies are bloody yucky, man,’ Aleki said.

All the way into Waioha, Daniel enjoyed Laura’s patient way of exploring their youthful helpers’ views of ‘the country’, and helping them feel more at home in it (and about themselves). He learned more about her, and loved what he was learning. She looked so – so beautiful in the the summer light, with the wind sweeping through her hair.

They parked in the crowded parking area in front of the supermaket, and, as the two boys ran off to get shopping carts and Daniel and Laura followed them, she said, ‘They’re lovely kids.’

He said, ‘I’m an only child, too.’

‘But you have a family and a community,’ she said, avoiding his eyes.

Aleki and Tahu returned, pushing a cart each. ‘Auntie, do we need ta put our shirts on?’ Aleki asked, and for the first time Daniel noticed they had their t-shirts draped across their shoulders.

‘Why?’ Laura asked. Tahu pointed at the fully clothed shoppers that were streaming into and out of the supermarket. ‘Bugger that,’ Laura said, smiling, and surprising Daniel. ‘They’re just ashamed they haven’t got physiques like you guys,’ she said. The boys flexed their muscles in bodybuilding poses.

‘Hey, Auntie, is Uncle ashamed to show his body?’ Aleki joked as they entered the supermarket.

‘Eh, you getting cheeky, now,’ Daniel countered. No way was he going to strip off his shirt.

‘Yeah, man, your uncle’s body isn’t like Hercules!’ And with her now devoted fans, Laura laughed wildly, oblivious to and uncaring of the attention they were attracting.

For the rest of the time as they shopped, Daniel merely tagged along, appreciating and revelling in the company, and now and then answering inquiries from the boys about what they were buying. It was obvious to him that with Laura these street-wise, street-hardened kids were quickly becoming trusting members of a family. And he was inextricably involved – and welcomed it – in Laura’s life, and needed to know her past and why she was the person she was.

It was intriguing how the boys, who were from poor families, were teaching Laura about the best prices and bargains: nothing was bought unless they’d sussed out the options, and whenever it was expensive, they would rush off and find cheaper options. Once Daniel, in shocked dismay, caught Aleki and Tahu at the meat counter switching the price tags on expensive cuts of steak and lamb with those on the cheaper cuts. They brought the expensive cuts to the cart and their innocent aunt, who glanced at the prices. ‘Gosh, these are great prices,’ she congratulated them. Daniel moved to censure the boys, hesitated, and left it. When Tahu glanced at him, Daniel shook his head, once, decisively.