Page 16 of Just Say Christmas
Kane finished scrubbing off, or maybe gave up on making much impact, and hesitated a second, holding the towel. Rhys said, “Go on and bin that. It was an old one.”
After which Kane left, and he thought,Huh.
You could always tell when a player was off, even if he wasn’t your player. Kane wasn’t happy about Marko marrying his sister? He didn’t think that was it.
He gave a mental shrug, stuck that, too, into the things-that-will-come-clear-later bucket, and told the kids, “So that’s Isaiah’s room well started. How about yours, monkey?”
Casey gave a dramatic sigh. “I don’t know. I can’t see. Nyree says I have to wait forever andever.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Isaiah said. “She says you have to wait until Wednesday night, because she can’t paint for a couple days. Wednesday’s not forever. It’s five days. And it’s because she has to go do things on the weekend for getting married, even though I don’t see why. How come getting married has all these parts you have to do? It’s not for a job or anything. It’s notrequired.”
“Because weddings are important to people,” Rhys tried to explain, even though he was more on Isaiah’s side on this one. “And there’s a lot involved in making them turn out right.”
“I know,” Isaiah said. “I’ve helped Mum deliver heaps of flowers for weddings, ever since I was little. That’s why I wondered. Everybody’s always rushing around, and they never look very happy. Anyway, you have to get dressed up for a wedding, Mum says, especially the bride, which is the girl. She has to put on lots of makeup and fix her hair and things, too, but you don’t do that a week early.”
“You do so have to do all the parts,” Casey said. She’d been stuck on the previous part of the discussion, clearly, her face twisted into a frown. “It’s the rules. It has to be a big party, and it has to be very fancy. That’s how it is in the movies, so I know it’s true.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Isaiah said. “You can just go to an office and say you want to get married, and sign a paper, and you’re married. I don’t see why you don’t just do that. Everybody’s always nervous when it’s a wedding, and weddings cost a lot of money, so I think you should just get married, and then go home and be married.”
“When it’s your turn, mate,” Rhys said, “you can suggest it. Let me know how it goes over. With a dull thud, I’m guessing, but never mind. Is Nyree still here, then?” He looked at his watch. Five-thirty.
“Yes,” Isaiah said. “Marko is helping now. He said he has to, or she won’t be done in time for them to get married.”
“Proving your point,” Rhys said.
“That was why I thought of it,” Isaiah said, and Rhys smiled.
He rested a hand on top of Isaiah’s head and said, “Busy day all around. We’ll get a takeaway, and if they’re still here, they can eat it with us. I wouldn’t worry too much about them. They’ve got a pretty good day planned tomorrow, I hear, with all their mates.”
“Are you going?” Casey asked.
“Nah,” Rhys said. “Not this time.”
“But you’re the coach,” Casey said, “so I think they should invite you.”
“Well, you see,” Rhys said, “that’s why I don’t go. You might not want your teacher at your birthday party.”
“Oh,” Casey said doubtfully. “Except I would like my teacher to come to my birthday party, because she’s very pretty and very nice.”
“And there you are,” Rhys said. “That could be my problem. We’ll settle for going to the wedding instead. And doing the flowers, of course.”
“That’s the only good part about weddings,” Isaiah said. “You can charge a lot for the flowers.”
9
Paradise, Step One
Saturday,December 12
TOM
Tom kicked his way to the surface, expelled the air still in his lungs, flipped onto his back, and started counting down his recovery time. Beside him, Koti popped up as well, treaded water, and said, “Nothing. I thought my lungs were in pretty good nick, by the way, before today. How do you stay under so long?”
“Practice,” Tom said, letting his remaining tension go and putting himself here, focusing on now.“Here” and “now” were looking for crayfish. Specifically, red rock lobster, since you wouldn’t find any of the big packhorses on Waiheke Island. “They’re down here,” he told Koti. “Over to the right, I’m thinking. I saw ledges, and where there are ledges, there are holes. And where there are holes, there are crayfish. Somewhere.”
“If you’re feeling it, mate,” Koti said, “I’ll shut up and follow along. I’m not Ngatiwai. Don’t have the touch, do I.”
“Been diving for them since I was a wee fella, that’s all,” Tom said. It was disorientating, being better at something than Koti James, whose skills he’d idolized since he was a kid, but at the same time, it wasn’t. He was comfortable in the water, that was all. Golfing with the fellas this morning had been fun, but hewasNgatiwai.
