Page 61 of Kiwi Gold
“My dad,” I told Lachlan, then told Amira, “I didn’t say that to you. I said it to Poppy, on the phone. You aren’t meant to listen to somebody’s conversation.”
“I can’t not listen,” Amira said, “if I’mhearing.And what’s opinions?”
“It’s saying what you think about something,” Yasmin said. “But Grandadalwayssays things that he thinks.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve noticed.” I didn’t quite want to look at Lachlan. “We don’t need Grandad’s help for this. We like our extra-fun church flat, and we’ve always done our projects ourselves, haven’t we? I have two very good helpers.”
“Like when we painted all of the rooms in our old house,” Yasmin said, “before we moved to live with Grandad, after Daddy got killed. We had to paint them, or we would’ve had to pay extra, and we didn’t have any money to pay extra. We filled in all the holes, too. There were heaps of holes, and they were really big, because my dad had climbing holds in the lounge to make it a big climbing wall. He even had some on the ceiling. Mummy said the landlord couldn’t see that or we’d be in trouble, so Amira and me helped paint, too. We were good at painting, even though we were only five. I was better than Amira, though, because I paid more attention.”
“You did not,” Amira said. “Mummy said we were both helpful, and I was better at standing on the stool, so I could paint up high. Mummy cried heaps,too, but she always does crying really quietly so it doesn’t make sounds. Anyway, she said you could cry and still paint.”
Yasmin glanced anxiously at me, and I said, “I did say that. And I didn’t realize you noticed that. I’m sorry if it scared you.”
“She was sad because my dad died,” Amira said matter-of-factly. “And because people said mean things about him. And we had to move out of our house, because we didn’t have any money left, and live with Grandad, and she was sad about that, too.”
I opened my mouth. How had she heard that?
Yasmin said, “People didn’t say mean things about Daddy. He wasfamous.He was in the newspaper at the supermarket! They said his name and everything!”
Amira said, “They did too say mean things. When there was that big photo, that day? It must have said something bad, because a lady told another lady that it served him right, and she’d never liked him anyway, because he was a tall poppy, and Mummy started crying.”
“Because he died,” Yasmin said. “She cried because hedied!”
“No,” Amira said. “It was because the lady said that. The lady said it, and the other lady said she thought so, too, and he was nothing but selfish, not thinking one bit about his poor wife and kids, leaving them like that, which meant us, because Mummy’s his poor wife.Thatwas whenMummy cried, because they were saying Daddy was a bad person. Selfish means bad.”
Yasmin had stopped leaning against Lachlan. She launched herself at Amira with a cry instead, hands outstretched.
I was hauling myself to my feet, but Lachlan was faster. He snatched Yasmin up, cuddled her close, and said, “Hang on, now. Let’s talk about it.”
I had to deal with this, and I had to do it now.
No choice.
27
UNDER ICE
Lachlan
Yasmin was shouting, her normally gentle, sensitive little face fierce as she struggled to get out of my arms. “My daddy was not bad!” she shouted at her sister. “He wasgood!”
“No, he wasn’t,” Amira said, and shewasn’tcrying. “Why would they say that if he wasn’t bad?”
Laila said, “Let’s sit on the couch. We need to have a talk.” She moved over there, holding Amira’s hand, limping a little and looking tired. Not too surprising.
I said, “I can go. Or stay. Your choice.” I moved to the couch with Yasmin, who was crying now, but quietly. The couch wasn’t much like the one beyond the white door in the wall. That was black leather, probably meant to clean up easily after babies and to impress the clientele. This one looked like it had been through the wars, the same way Laila’s kitchen and bath did.
A tile had fallen onto her head? Moisture behind there, then, and the adhesive loosening. More than regrouting required, I’d say. Had she bought tile adhesive?
Laila sat down on the couch with Amira and hesitated, and I said, “But I’d rather stay.”
“Really?” she asked. “Why?”
I didn’t have a good answer, but she was still looking at me. I said, “Maybe because I think you could use a break.”
Her pointed chin went up. “I’m fine. We’re fine.”
“I know you’re coping,” I said, even though I thought she was pretty close to the edge. I also thought that it must be driving Torsten Drake mad, if she wouldn’t let him help, either. Pride, that would be, so I said, “I could keep you from being outnumbered, though, while you cope with this.”
