Page 79 of Big Island Sunrise
“She has rabbits?” Emma exclaimed. She’d been living next door for two months now, and every time she thought that she knew the extent of Tara’s operation, she was surprised to learn that there was more to it. Carrying feed back to the cows, she passed a menagerie that occupied several hundred square feet of land behind Tara’s house; it was home to a pair of macaws that had moved to the island with her decades before. “She’s astonishing.”
“Agreed.” He tipped an imaginary hat and walked towards the front gate. “Give me a call if you want to talk ponds.”
“I’ll do that, thank you.”
Kai ran up to stand in front of her, scowling. His hands were covered in mud, and he had a great streak of mud going up the side of his face.
“Where’s Freddy?” he demanded.
Emma sighed. “She’s around here somewhere. Liam didn’t take any animals.”
“Freddy’s a girl?”
“Apparently.”
“He can’t take Freddy.”
“He’s not taking any ducks today.”
“No, hecan’ttake Freddy. She has babies.”
Emma looked around, but the duck was nowhere in sight. “I didn’t see any babies.”
“They’re still in their eggs. Freddy sits on them all day. Sometimes she leaves to eat and Birdie sits on them.”
She was quiet, processing this new information. “Do you think Birdie’s the dad?”
Kai shrugged. “I guess.”
“I’m sorry that I had someone come look at the ducks without talking to you about it. I didn’t realize you cared about them so much.”
He was quiet, looking off across. Then he raised his arm and pointed at a large duck with a bright red face. He had a dark gray body and iridescent green wings.
“That’s Birdie.”
As they watched, the Muscovy duck slurped up a few of the omnipresent slugs that were the bane of her garden, probably an even bigger problem than the pigs. She had tried to start seeds again, and they disappeared as soon as they sprouted.
Birdie found a giant snail hidden in the weeds and gulped it down.
“The ducks can stay,” she said.
“And we’ll dig them a pond?”
“Maybe. That’s a big project, but we can learn more about it. In the meantime, how about a kiddy pool or something?”
“Yeah!”
“Can you be responsible for that? Can you fill it every morning and drain it every night so it doesn’t get all yucky and full of mosquitos?”
“I can do it,” he said earnestly.
“You know what?” She put an arm around him and pulled him closer, kissing his thick black hair. “I believe you.”
25
Lani
“I’m five today, I’m five today! I’m all grown up, I’m five today!” Rory danced around the kitchen, hopping and clapping and shaking her butt to the song that she had been shouting since she woke up.
