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Keri
You’d think I would have learned! Losing my little brother in the shopping mall was one thing. Nearly losing someone else’s little girl to drowning was another thing entirely. Both could have ended badly, both were as much my fault as anyone else’s, and both were preventable. I cried all the way back along the beach. I couldn’t stop shaking. Jess walked with her arm around me, while Mereana led the three horses, with Arona in the saddle of one. None of us spoke. Well, not quite. Arona kept up a chatter the entire way back to the farm, which was quite some distance.
Walking down the driveway to the house I pulled myself together. There was a great deal of activity, people coming and going. Chloe’s dad was there, having just dropped off some of the family who had been at the meeting. He was smiling. I realised he didn’t know what had happened to Lily and Chloe. Jess started to walk over to him, but I put my hand on her arm.
“I need to do this,” I said. As I walked up to him, he smiled even wider.
“Mr Hemana, I’m so sorry. Lily nearly drowned, and your wife has taken Lily and Chloe to the hospital to get checked over.”
His face drained of colour and his smile disappeared. “What happened!” he said hoarsely.
“We were all swimming down that end of the beach, by the groyne. Then a motorbike frightened the horses and we ran to calm them down. We told Lily and Arona to get out the water but they didn’t, and a wave took them out. Chloe managed to get Lily and Jess got Arona. They are alright, but it shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off them. I am so sorry. It was all my fault.” By now I was crying again.
“How long ago did they go?”
“About ... twenty minutes? We walked the horses back with Arona.”
She must have heard her name. She came running over and grabbed Mr Hemana’s hand. Looking up at him with solemn eyes, she said, “I nearly drownded too!”
“Did you?” he said to her, but he didn’t seem to have taken it in. He thought for a minute. “Okay, I’m going to go to the hospital. Will you come too?” he asked me. “We’ll try and call on the mobile as we go, but it’s not great cell phone coverage around here.”
I nodded. “I’ll just tell Jess and Mereana.”
“They can come too,” he said.
“Okay, I’ll check.”
Mereana was talking to her uncle by the barn out the back. I told them what Mr Hemana had said.
“No, that’s okay, yous go and see if the little one is okay. The boys can help with the horses, and Arona can help too. She should have listened to yous about getting out the water. Hoi!” he hollered. “Walter, Hemi, Wiremu, get your little backsides out here and give me a hand.”
As we climbed in the car, I could see the boys shuffling out to the barn, and heard Uncle Mohi say, “... and then you can help with the firewood for the hāngi. Which is what you were meant to do before you skived off, eh Walter.”
It was only a twenty-minute drive to the hospital, but it seemed longer. Mr Hemana tried the phone a few times, but we didn’t get a connection until we were nearly there. Chloe answered, and we heard her talking to her dad. Lily was okay, she said, but they wanted to do a scan to make sure there was no more water in her lungs. Her dad told her we’d be there in just a few minutes and to tell her Mum.
It was quite strange to hear her talking normally. She hadn’t realised we were in the car and could hear her. I hoped that soon she would be relaxed enough to talk to us, too.
“Why doesn’t she talk to people?” I asked Mr Hemana. “She talks to you but not to anyone else.”
“It’s called selective mutism,” he explained. “It’s an anxiety disorder. No one seems to know why it happens, but there are a lot of people who have it. People used to think they were just shy, but it is much more than that. Sometimes it can be overcome, with time, counselling, intervention, speech therapy and so on, and sometimes it can’t. With your help and support and friendship I’ve noticed she is talking a bit more and is more relaxed. Thank you for being patient with her.”
We nodded and said we’d do whatever we could.
We drove into the hospital carpark and headed to the entrance. It was quite a large building, which surprised me. We were directed to a waiting room where Chloe was sitting. She looked pleased and surprised when we walked in with her dad. But when Mr Hemana questioned her about Lily, she clammed up.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he said to her. “Let’s go and find Mum.”
They headed off down a corridor at the direction of one of the nurses. The three of us sat and waited. There wasn’t much to say. We were all feeling bad at what had happened. It had been such a good day before that.
It was a good twenty minutes later when the whole family appeared. There was relief, but also tension in the faces of the adults. Lily was limp but smiling, and Chloe was reserved. Mrs Hemana sat beside me and patted my hand.
“You are not to feel responsible,” she said to me. She looked at Jess and Mereana. “It was not your fault that this happened. I’m happy it has turned out okay and really proud of Chloe and Jess for going to the rescue.”
I couldn’t help it. The tears just flowed. “Thank you,” I said. “But I will always feel responsible.”
“Well, you shouldn’t. I told Lily she had to behave herself, but she didn’t. She ran away from Chloe to go back in the water, so she won’t be going to the beach in future unless it is with us, if she can’t be trusted.”
I shook my head. “I’m just so sorry this all happened. The motorbike frightened the horses ...”
“Yes, Chloe told us. We’ve all got a lot to learn from this. I didn’t know that area was dangerous. One of the nurses told me. It looks safe, but sometimes it gets an undertow. Anyway, let’s go home now. Lily is fine, no water in her lungs. They were worried about dry drowning. We have to keep an eye on her, but she should be okay. She’ll be back singing again tomorrow!”