From the Ashes

by Deborah Challinor

  And while she was doing this, she knew Kura and Wiki were beavering away, knitting dear little baby outfits with the undyed wool, which she’d already spun.

  She heard a knock at the back door, started to rise, then, ‘It’s only me, Colleen!’

  ‘Come in, I’m in the front room!’

  Colleen appeared. ‘Good Lord, spinning. You’re clever. I can knit but I have to say spinning’s beyond me.’

  ‘My mother taught me,’ Ana explained.

  ‘Is this for that knitting circle Allie’s been talking about?’

  Ana said yes. ‘She’s a clever girl, your Allie. I think she might have quite a good head for business.’

  Colleen looked vaguely surprised. ‘Really? We’ve never seen her use it.’

  ‘She’s had a lot of experience in the retail trade. Some of that’s bound to rub off, don’t you think?’

  ‘Maybe. To us she’s always just been a shop girl.’

  ‘The same way you just heat up sausage rolls?’

  ‘No,’ Colleen said rather sharply. ‘I balance the till at the end of every day and I’m in charge of ordering inventory twice a week.’

  ‘Sorry, Colleen, I didn’t mean to be rude. But do you see my point?’

  ‘Well, yes, I suppose I do. I’m not sure how she’s going to use this business head knitting babies’ booties, though.’

  ‘She might not end up knitting. She might liaise between the company and our markets.’

  ‘Oh yes?’

  Ana didn’t think she sounded convinced.

  ‘Well, at least it’s keeping her occupied,’ Colleen added. ‘Would you like me to put the kettle on? You look like you could do with a cup of tea.’

  ‘Oh, I’d love one. Thanks, Colleen.’

  ‘David still at work?’ Colleen asked when she returned.

  ‘He doesn’t usually get home until about six. Any sign of my children on the back lawn?’

  ‘I didn’t see them.’

  ‘Little swine. They said they were going up the street on their bikes for half an hour about two hours ago.’

  ‘They’ll be all right.’

  Colleen sat and watched Ana for a while. ‘That looks like it could be very . . . what’s the word?’

  ‘Calming? Therapeutic?’

  ‘That’s it. It looks very soothing working those pedals and the wool. As if you can do it without thinking and just let your mind relax and wander.’

  ‘That’s exactly what it’s like, except I’ve done a bit much of it lately and my wrist hurts.’

  ‘Sounds like a sprain. You could put a poultice on it. My mother always made a good one for sprains and sore muscles. I’ll bring the recipe over if you like. Sid’s probably got everything you’ll need in his garden, though you might need to buy the almond oil. In fact, why don’t I make one up for you?’

  ‘I’d really appreciate that, Colleen. Thank you very much.’

  Colleen made the tea and brought it in. ‘Actually, I did have a small favour to ask.’

  Ana raised her eyebrows over her cup, inviting her to go on.

  ‘Well, it’s this Johnny lad our Pauline’s going out with. You’re related to the family, aren’t you?’

  ‘He’s my nephew, more or less.’

  ‘Well,’ Colleen said, ‘he’s a very nice lad and we’ve had him round to tea a few times, and Sid and I both like him, but he and Pauline seem to be getting very serious.’

  ‘Serious in what way?’

  ‘Pauline’s only seventeen and she seems very keen on him, and he’s only just nineteen. At that age you should be going out with a crowd, not just one person. It worries me. I was wondering if his mother’s said anything to you.’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘What she feels about the pair of them.’

  ‘I think she’s just happy he’s staying out of trouble.’

  Colleen looked alarmed. ‘Why? Is he a troublemaker?’

  ‘No. But a young man in the city, especially a young Maori man, well, you know, sometimes they do end up going astray. I think Kura worries about that.’

  ‘Do you think he will go astray?’

  ‘Not at all,’ Ana said, though she had no idea. Johnny had a cheeky streak that could well get him into trouble one day. And he was a bit of a daredevil.

  ‘What are they like, his family?’ Colleen asked. ‘I mean, I’m sure they’re decent people.’

  ‘They are, they’ve very decent. Hardworking and honest. But they don’t have much money, and to be truthful I’m not sure Auckland is the best place for them.’ Ana stopped, thinking she might be saying too much. ‘But they’re here and they’re making the best of it. Why don’t you go and have a talk to Kura yourself if you’re worried about things?’

  Colleen looked horrified. ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that. What would I say?’

  ‘That you don’t want your daughter getting pregnant and having to marry her son. That would be a start, wouldn’t it?’

  Her face scarlet now, Colleen didn’t know where to look. ‘I never said that.’

  ‘But that’s what you’re worried about, isn’t it?’

  Colleen let out a huge sigh. ‘What’s really worrying me is she’ll get pregnant and want to marry him. She says they’re in love and do you know what? I think they are. I’m not too old to remember what young love looks like.’

  ‘Would that be such a bad thing? Allie and Sonny seem to have a good marriage. They can work, you know, mixed race marriages. Look at me and David.’

  ‘But Allie and Sonny were older when they married, and Sonny, well, he’s a very decent man, isn’t he? And I didn’t approve of that either, at first.’

  ‘How do you know Johnny’s not a very decent man?’

  ‘But he’s not a man, is he? He’s a boy. He’s only nineteen. And Pauline’s still a child.’

  ‘They’re growing up a lot quicker these days.’

  ‘Would you let your girl marry at seventeen?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well, there you go.’

  Ana put down her cup. ‘That was a lovely cup of tea. Well, don’t worry, I don’t think Kura and Joshua would want Johnny to marry at nineteen, either. But I do think Kura’s quite fond of Pauline.’

  ‘That’s the thing, though, isn’t it? They might have to marry if they’re not careful.’

  Anna took up her wool again. ‘I suppose you’ll just have to trust them.’

  ‘Yes, well, I trusted Donna, and she got into trouble.’

  Ana was a bit shocked at that. ‘Did she? Really?’

  ‘Earlier this year.’

  ‘During her nurse training?’

  Colleen nodded ruefully.

  ‘You’d think a nurse would know about that sort of thing.’

  ‘You would, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Did you never . . .?’

  ‘What’s the point of telling them how to avoid trouble? They’ll only ask for it then.’

  Ana thought that was possibly the most stupid and futile thing she’d ever heard. ‘Obviously she isn’t having the baby, or we’d have . . .’

  ‘No, she had an abortion, and very unpleasant it was too. She had to come home for help.’

  ‘Oh, Colleen, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Well, better that than being an unmarried mother, I suppose.’

  Ana wasn’t sure about that. At home, in Hawke’s Bay, unmarried mothers and their babies tended to be absorbed into the community fairly comfortably. Among her father’s people, anyway.

  ‘Mmm, possibly. You said before you needed a favour. What exactly would you like me to do?’

  Looking deeply uncomfortable, Colleen said, ‘If you could see your way, could you please talk to Johnny’s mother and ask her to talk to Johnny. I just want him to be aware of his responsibilities. I don’t want my girl pregnant.’

  Ana thought Kura probably didn’t want Colleen’s girl pregnant, either, and had probably already given poor Johnny an ear bashing. Pauline was an interesting girl,
bright and lively, but she was a little bit unpredictable and definitely on the wild side, qualities which no doubt Johnny found attractive, but which Kura might not necessarily want in a daughter-in-law. And, as Colleen rightly said, they were too young, both for marriage and parenthood.

  ‘I can do that, Colleen. I’ll have a quiet word the next time I see her.’

  Collen seemed to deflate with relief. ‘Oh, Ana, thank you. You don’t know how much better that makes me feel.’

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was while they were dyeing the last of the wool, mint this time — without interference from the nosy neighbour — that Allie said, ‘If this is going to be a proper business, we need to have a name for it.’

  ‘You know, I hadn’t even thought of that,’ Ana said.

  ‘Whenever we ordered in clothes at Dunbar and Jones it was always from flash-sounding companies,’ Allie went on. ‘You know, Liberty or Cole of California or Jacques Fath or Christian Dior. Even the local companies had posh names. And stores have their own house labels too.’

  ‘What about Apanui of Ponsonby?’ Kura suggested.

  They all had a good laugh at that.

  ‘I thought something-or-other knits might be good,’ Allie said.

  Wiki said, ‘Mana Motuhake Knits?’

  ‘Bit of a mouthful. What does it mean?’ And a bit too Maori for white customers, Allie thought, but she didn’t want to say that.

  ‘Independence.’

  ‘I like that, though.’

  ‘What about just Mana Knits?’ Ana suggested. ‘Prestige and integrity.’

  ‘That’s good,’ Wiki said.

  Kura agreed and Allie liked it, so now they had a name for their business.

  Ana said, ‘We need a headquarters for the business, too, and copies of a letter Allie can give to potential customers outlining what we can do.’

  ‘Me?’ Allie said, startled. ‘Why am I giving them a letter?’

  ‘Because you’ll be going out looking for business.’

  ‘But why me?’

  ‘You’re the one with experience in the rag trade,’ Ana said.

  ‘I only sold clothes in a department store. I don’t know how to go round touting for business.’

  ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.’

  ‘And you’re the one with the white skin and blonde hair,’ Kura said.

  That stopped Allie in her tracks. ‘Well, that shouldn’t make a difference.’

  ‘Oh, don’t be dumb, girl,’ Kura said. ‘’Course it makes a difference. Look at me and Wiki. Who’s going to order clothes off us? Can you see us in Milne and Choyce or Smith and Caughey? Or even Farmers? They’ll think we made them crouching in the dirt at some pa somewhere.’

  They all looked round at the bare dirt and the landlord’s rubbish littering Kura’s backyard and giggled.

  ‘Even I’m probably too dark to get away with it,’ Ana said. ‘Anyway, you know the business. I don’t.’

  ‘Then hadn’t we better pick a different name?’ Allie said.

  ‘No. Everyone will think it means manna from heaven. But we’ll know what it really means.’

  ‘Only if they can’t spell,’ Kura noted.

  Wiki said, ‘Good, that’s all settled.’

  ‘We can use my house as the headquarters if you like,’ Allie suggested. ‘We’ve got a spare room. We could keep everything in there.’

  ‘You’re not on the phone, are you?’ Ana said.

  ‘There wouldn’t be much point. We don’t know anyone else who is.’

  Ana said, ‘Well, we can’t run a business without a telephone.’

  Allie was starting to feel a bit annoyed. First she had to go tramping all over town pestering people, and now she was supposed to have the phone on, just to sell some booties. ‘Why don’t we wait and see how we get on? If we do manage to sell a few things I’ll talk to Sonny about a telephone.’

  ‘I don’t mean you have to pay for it,’ Ana said. ‘The business would pay. But you’re probably right, let’s see how we go first.’

  It took close to another two weeks for all of the wool to be spun and samples knitted in all colours. By then Allie had bought herself a smart suit and some stylish new shoes, the cost of which would be reimbursed when the company coffers were overflowing. On her first day out approaching potential retailers, she carried a small suitcase containing examples of Mana Knits’ baby clothing and wraps, and a letter, professionally typed by her friend Louise, outlining the company’s raison d’etre (the exact meaning of which they’d had to look up in the Oxford English Dictionary), the origin of the wool they’d used, and its hand-crafted qualities. And, of course, contact details for the company for future orders.

  She started early on a Wednesday morning, visiting all the children’s-wear stores in the central city, and finding quite a degree of success. By two o’clock she had seven small orders, and was wondering whether Kura, Wiki and Ana would be able to knit fast enough to keep up. She was also wondering what had possessed her to buy such high heels as her feet were killing her. At Milne and Choyce, the first department store she tried, she went straight to the shoe department and bought a more sensible pair, sighing with relief as she slipped them on and shoved the others into her suitcase. Milne and Choyce placed an order, but just for the wraps, as they’d just received a large shipment of baby clothes, and Rendells placed an order for every style and colour she had. This made her wonder if they were under-pricing their goods as Rendells was, to be frank, at the bottom of the department store pile, and if their buyer thought she was getting a deal, maybe they were slightly missing their mark.

  By this time she was exhausted and caught the tram home. Tomorrow she’d tackle John Court, George Court, Smith and Caughey, and Farmers, all department stores, though she wasn’t at all looking forward to Miss Weaver on the Fashion floor at Smith and Caughey. She might think she was being an upstart.

  At home she changed out of her nice suit and started to get the tea on. She desperately wanted to tell the others her news about the orders, but couldn’t unless she visited them personally, and she was too tired to do that. And a telephone wouldn’t be much use unless they all had one. But she could, as Ana had predicted, see a time coming when they would need one, if retailers wanted repeat orders.

  When Sonny arrived home he ate his tea, had a beer then lay down on the couch, groaning.

  ‘Hard day?’ Allie asked.

  ‘Just the wind. It goes right through your bones. Did you sell a million pairs of booties?’

  Allie smiled. ‘Not quite, but I did take quite a few orders. More than I thought I would.’

  ‘Well, that’s good news,’ Sonny said, pulling Allie down to sit on his belly. ‘Isn’t it?’

  ‘It will be if we can keep up with them.’

  ‘That many? You might have to recruit more knitters.’

  ‘We might too. How’s Johnny getting on?’

  Johnny Apanui had started work with Sonny a week ago.

  ‘Still giving me bloody heart attacks. He walks round on those girders like a flaming monkey in a tree. I keep telling him, bloody well hold on to something! But I suppose some people are good with heights.’

  ‘And some people fall off them,’ Allie said. ‘Tell him to behave and stop showing off.’

  ‘Do you think I haven’t? Little smartarse.’

  They were silent for a moment, then Allie said, ‘Can we get the telephone put on?’

  Sonny pulled her down so she was lying on top of him. ‘If you like.’

  ‘You haven’t even asked why.’

  ‘That’s true.’

  ‘Do you want to know?’

  ‘Dunno who you’ll be ringing up. Who do we know who’s got a telephone?’

  ‘It’s so stores can order more of our clothing. The business will pay for it when we start making money.’

  ‘You can have whatever you want, my love.’

  ‘Can I get it connected myself, do you think, or will you have to
do it?’

  ‘Don’t know.’

  ‘I’ll go into the phone company tomorrow and ask.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Sonny said. ‘But for now I’d rather do this.’

  ‘What?’

  Sonny started unbuttoning her shirt.

  *

  Pauline and Johnny were having a busy Friday night. First they’d had tea at Johnny’s house, and now they were on Karangahape Road looking in jewellery stores at engagement rings. Johnny had asked Pauline to marry him. She’d been utterly delighted (and secretly very relieved), but they were keeping the news to themselves until Johnny could pay for the ring, which wouldn’t be far away given the recent increase to his income.

  ‘Do you like this one?’ Pauline asked as they leant over a glass case. ‘The one with three diamonds in a row?’

  ‘It’s sparkly,’ Johnny said.

  They waited for the sales clerk, or perhaps he was the jeweller himself, to come and help them, but he was leafing through a ledger by the cash register. Johnny knew, however, that he was keeping a close eye on them. They waited some more, then even longer.

  Finally Johnny said loudly, ‘Hey, ’scuse me, do you work here or are you just standing round?’

  Pauline stifled a giggle.

  The man closed his ledger and moved around the counter. ‘Can I help you, sir?’

  ‘How much is this ring? The one at the front with three diamonds? Is it silver?’

  ‘It’s set in platinum,’ the man said, ‘and the price is four hundred pounds.’

  Fucking hell, Johnny thought. ‘Do you have anything smaller?’

  ‘Cheaper, you mean?’

  ‘No, I mean smaller.’

  ‘Perhaps sir would like to consider this selection.’ The man took a tray of rings from beneath the counter and set them on the glass, so far away from Johnny and Pauline they really had to stretch to see them.