Currents of Change

by Darian Smith

  As sleep crept in to claim her, another sound reached her ears. A strange, whispery voice calling her name.

  Chapter Three

  The sunlight that had crept into the house that morning was slow to make its presence known. The shadows made way for it only grudgingly, when the heavy but moth-eaten fabric in the windows could no longer hold it back. Sara stretched and pushed back the covers she’d draped over herself in the night – then tried not to cough as the motion stirred up clouds of dust.

  Strange as it had been to sleep in this huge house all alone, she felt rested. She glanced at her watch and frowned. The hands had stopped moving. She tapped it with her finger. Nothing. The battery must need replacing. Between that and her phone being out of charge, the only indication of the time was the growling in her stomach.

  A quick meal of cereal and room temperature milk sorted that, then she found the bathroom and took a cold shower. “At least there’s running water,” she muttered to portraits in the hall as she wandered back to the living room in nothing but a towel.

  She pulled open one of her bags and then hesitated. She would need to do a lot of cleaning today to make the old house liveable – even if only in a few rooms to start with. She really ought to dress accordingly. Maybe track pants and an old t-shirt. Something she didn’t mind getting dirty in.

  Somehow, her fingers lingered on her favourite sundress. The green and white one that Greg hardly ever let her wear.

  Sod it. She felt like being pretty. She put it on and immediately felt better. There was something about a full skirt in an old house that just seemed to fit. She was like a heroine in a black and white movie.

  She clasped one hand to her breast. “Honestly, Tara, I’ll never go hungry again!” She collapsed onto the sofa in fits of giggles. There was no way that was the right quote but she didn’t care. For once, there was nobody here to correct her and she could do and say what she liked.

  “Whatever. The. Fuck. I. Like.” Each word rang louder, like a hammer striking off her chains. This was brilliant.

  Today, she decided, would be all about her. A day when she would do what she liked, when she liked, and enjoy it. The question was, what did she want to do?

  She sat up and looked around. She could explore the house and grounds some more. She could read. She could go back to the store and get some decent food and a camp cooker and make herself something good to eat. And find somewhere to recharge her phone so she could call her grandmother and the electrical company. She didn’t know how long she was going to stay here but she knew she wouldn’t want to go long without electricity.

  “First things first,” she told the empty house. “Chocolate.”

  She grabbed her handbag and headed out to the car. The key in the ignition clicked and the engine wheezed. For a moment Sara thought it had died. She checked the lights in case she’d left them on overnight – nope, they were switched off. She held her breath and turned the key again and this time the engine roared into life. She breathed out again. It was still a good day.

  It wasn’t until she’d parked the car in the tiny strip of shops Kowhiowhio called “town” that she remembered the awkwardness with the shopkeeper the day before. If the same woman was behind the counter well, she’d just have to brazen it out or apologise. It wasn’t like there was another store to go to anywhere near. She bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ear. There was no trace of the bruise today and it was nice to wear it back from her face.

  She stepped inside the shop and sure enough, there was Moana. The woman had her dark hair up in a bun with a greenstone spike through it to hold it in place. Another piece of pounamu hung around her neck as a pendant. Her dark eyes narrowed a little when she saw Sara and her mouth tightened, but she said nothing.

  Sara met her eyes for a moment, then turned away. “This is a day for me,” she reminded herself under her breath. “Just enjoy it.”

  She picked up a basket and went straight for the chocolate. A large block, then a bag of pineapple lumps. “Do you stock wine?” she called. This felt like a wine day.

  The Maori woman pointed silently.

  Sara added a bottle of her favourite merlot, then went back and gave each aisle a thorough going over. She wanted to stock up with enough to last a few days, but not so much that it spoiled without a fridge.

  She carried what she could up to the counter. Moana began to silently ring it up. Sara could feel herself getting annoyed. Sure, she had been rude to the woman yesterday, but Moana had been rude to her first. Surely a smile or a pleasant greeting wasn’t too much to ask so they could start afresh?

  She forced a smile on her own face. “You don’t stock camp stoves, by any chance? Like a little gas cooker?”

  “The hardware store up the road has them.”

  That was something. “Thanks.” She pointed to the electrical booth at the side of the store, currently unstaffed. “What about a battery for my watch?”

  Moana sighed. “Yeah, we have those.” She glanced at Sara’s wrist, then went across to the booth and brought back a small battery in a tiny plastic bag. “You can leave the watch here for Nate to sort out when he gets back or you can take the battery now and do it yourself.”

  “I can do it,” Sara said. “Just add it to the rest.” She paused a moment, then decided it was up to her to make peace. “Hey, I’m sorry if I was a bit short with you yesterday. It’s been a rough week.”

  Moana nodded slowly as she scanned the rest of the items and pursed her lips. “Kia Ora,” she said at last. “That’s fair enough. I respect that you’ve come from a long way away and you don’t know much about the local area. Just so you know, me and my husband have a number of roles in this community outside of this shop and one of those is being on the local marae and the city council. We’re looking at having that O’Neill house condemned.”

  Sara felt the pleasure of the day fall away like broken glass. “What? Why?”

  “Well, it’s an eyesore for starters and it’s falling down anyway. It’s a hazard. It should be demolished.”

  Sara felt her nails digging into her palm. “That’s not your decision though, is it? It’s not your house so it’s really none of your business.”

  “It is my business when local children go trespassing in there trying to find the ghosts and could very easily get hurt.”

  “Well perhaps you should concentrate on keeping your children out of other people’s houses!”

  Moana’s eyes narrowed again. “There shouldn’t be a house there anyway. That land is tapu.”

  “What?” Sara could hear her voice rising but she didn’t care. “That’s ridiculous. That house has been in my family, on that land, for generations. You can’t just decide it’s sacred now!”

  Groceries were stuffed into plastic bags with steadily increasing force. “And my family has known for generations that there shouldn’t be a house there. It’s too close to Rarohenga. To the netherworld.”

  Sara grabbed the bags and packed the last two items herself. “Oh for fuck’s sake. If you want to believe in superstition that’s your business but leave my family’s home alone.”

  This was her safe place. Her haven! She had finally found somewhere to run to and now this busybody wanted to tear it down? She was shaking with rage as she left the shop. There had to be something she could do!

  She jammed the groceries in the back seat and threw the car into reverse. This time it started immediately and the engine roared with her fury as she drove off.

  A few minutes later she’d cooled down just enough to think she hadn’t handled herself well. Her best bet had been to change Moana’s mind from the start and she wouldn’t have much chance of that now.

  “You’ve messed up the diplomacy option,” she told herself. “As always.” Why did she always struggle with escalating an argument? It had been the same with Greg. One minute she’d be tiptoeing around him and the next practically picking the fight herself, knowing how it was going to end.

 
But at least then the tension wasn’t so smothering. When it was over, he would be nice for a few days. She could relax.

  Relax and convince herself things were okay again.

  “You’re all sass and no spine, my girl,” her grandmother had told her once. “One day you’ll put that fire into action and there’ll be no stopping you.”

  Well she’d done it at last. She’d taken action and gotten to her sanctuary. There was no way anyone was taking it from her now.

  “So, what’s the first step?” She’d made a plan to leave Greg and carried it out. Making a plan to deal with Moana should be simple compared to that.

  She’d need to sort the house out and make it presentable to an assessor – well that was easy enough, she’d been planning to tidy it up anyway. She’d need to make some phone calls to the city council and see what the criteria were for having a house condemned. She had a fairly good idea how to do that...except she didn’t have a working phone.

  As she turned into the gravel road, the solution struck her. The neighbours would have electricity and maybe she could get them on side about the house. She’d kill two birds with one stone and try her diplomacy after all. Perhaps she could convince the rest of the town to leave her house alone.

  She pulled the car over beside the second to last house on the road, her next door neighbour. It would be good to say hello anyway, right? That was the neighbourly thing to do in a small town.

  The front door was open when she approached. She raised her hand to knock and then saw a very attractive male rear bent over in the living room inside, filling out his jeans very nicely indeed. The day was looking up again!

  He was talking to a cage on the floor with a kitten inside. “Come on, little guy. It’s okay. Be quiet.”

  Sara let a grin play on her face. Sexy men and kittens. Clearly someone wanted to cheer her up.

  Then he stood up and turned around. It was the man from the store. Moana’s husband.

  Chapter Four

  Nate Adams set down the cage in his living room and the creature inside howled piteously. Nate wondered how so much sound could come from such a tiny ball of fur. His stomach tensed for a moment. He hoped he’d made the right decision. If this went wrong, he would never hear the end of it from Moana.

  She had a real thing for sticking with an issue once she got hold of it. For about six months now she’d been serving peas at every family meal and insisting Abigail eat them, despite knowing full well they were the only vegetable the poor girl refused to eat. It was incredibly frustrating and unnecessary to Nate’s mind, but she kept doing it, as if determined to take on more and more of a parent role for Abigail.

  Ever since Emma had died, Moana had gotten more and more opinionated about his parenting. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate advice – he was the first to admit that the prospect of raising a daughter on his own had scared the crap out of him – but under the circumstances, he thought he was doing okay. Extended family support was one thing, interference and undermining was another. Explaining the difference to his sister-in-law was no easy task.

  Yesterday, at the store, had been one of the few times he’d ever seen Moana at a loss for words – and that had been due to his new neighbour. She might have been a slip of a city girl, but she’d put Mo in her place quickly enough. He might have to take lessons on her style!

  He went back to the car and brought in the bag of cat food and kitty litter, nudging the door open with his foot as he did so. He put them down on the kitchen bench, then stuck the ribbon he’d bought on top of the bag of litter. The irony of the placement made him chuckle.

  He could just imagine Abi’s face when she saw it and realised what it meant.

  Responsibility for Abigail was a topic they’d been debating for a while. Mo thought he spoiled Abi. Perhaps he did a little. It was hard not to when they were all each other had. But this was an idea he’d come to on his own and he was sure it would help. Giving Abi responsibility for a pet would help her learn the importance of her actions and give her a furry friend as well.

  The kitchen was part of the open plan living space of the house, with a bench lined with stools separating it from the lounge area. It was where he and Abigail ate breakfast together, so that the used cereal bowls could be pushed quickly into the sink as they rushed to get ready for work and school, rather than at the dining table, just a few steps further away. This morning’s bowls were still there, and he ran a little water into them to soften any cereal left behind so he could wash up before Abi got home.

  The kitten watched him with wide eyes and continued yowling.

  “Come on, little guy,” he soothed, walking back into the lounge room and poking his fingers through the cage bars for the tiny creature to sniff. “Just stay put until Abi gets home from school, okay? Not long now.”

  An amused female voice came from the doorway behind him. “Do you usually get good results negotiating with animals?”

  Nate chuckled. “You’d be surprised.”

  He straightened up and turned to see the town newcomer on his doorstep. Her dark, almost black hair was tucked behind her ears in thick waves that contrasted with her pale skin. Yesterday, he’d thought her eyes were dark blue, but now he realised they were green. They matched the pattern on the sundress she was wearing. There was something more relaxed in her face today, and in her bearing. She was as striking to look at as she had been to talk to at the shop yesterday. He supposed the neighbourly thing to do would have been to go over to the O’Neill house with some baking this morning, but his baking was hardly welcoming and now it seemed she’d beaten him to it.

  When she saw his face, however, her eyes widened and her face turned red. “Oh. You’re the guy from the shop.”

  He smiled and held out his hand. “Yeah. Nate Adams. Good to meet you properly since we’re neighbours.”

  She awkwardly stepped forward to shake it. “Sara O’Neill.” She scrunched up her nose. “I...um...I’m sorry if I was rude yesterday. It was a long drive...”

  “No worries,” he said, and meant it. He felt his smile get wider at the memory. “Moana can have that effect on people. O’Neill? So it’s your family’s house? Did you find it okay?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, your directions were great. It’s...a bit rustic, but I found it easily enough.”

  Nate laughed. “Rustic. Yeah, that’s one word for it. I’m surprised it hasn’t been condemned.”

  Her jaw tensed and he noticed what looked like the remnants of a faded bruise on the side of her cheek. “Actually, it seems structurally stable. It just needs some work and...I don’t think it’s very fair of you to try to have someone else’s home condemned.”

  Nate blinked. “What? I’m not. I just meant it’s been abandoned for a long time.”

  “Your wife said you were.”

  “Um...” It was a punch in the gut, even after this long. “My wife has been dead for about three years. I think you have me confused with someone else.”

  Her mouth worked silently for a moment, like a startled fish. “Oh God. I’m so sorry! I thought you and Moana...”

  He let out a bark of laughter. “God, no! She was my wife’s sister, that’s all. My daughter’s aunt.”

  “Oh.” Her face was even redder now than it had been when she’d first recognised him.

  He took pity. “Easy mistake to make. No harm done. Did you come over for anything in particular?”

  “Um, actually, yes.” She held up her cellphone and charger. “The house doesn’t have any electricity yet. Would it be okay if I plug this in here for a bit? I need to call my grandmother and let her know I’m okay.”

  “Sure.” Nate pointed to the wall. “There’s a socket over there. I’ll make us a coffee while you wait.” He put the electric kettle on and took two mugs out of the cupboard. “So you sound like you know a bit about the house. Have you been out here before?”

  Sara plugged in the phone charger and shrugged. “Actually, my grandmother only told me about
it a week ago. She grew up there. I don’t think anyone’s lived in it since.”

  “I’m guessing it was in better condition back then,” Nate said.

  She chuckled. “Yeah. I’d hope so. But that’s okay. My partner and I...” She frowned. “Ex-partner...we did a bit of renovating houses. So I’m used to living in a state of disrepair.”

  Nate carefully ignored her correction. “Are you planning to renovate here?” He got the milk out of the fridge and put it on the bench next to the coffee mugs.

  Sara took it and poured a little into one of the cups, then settled on one of the stools that lined the other side of the bench. “I hadn’t really thought about it until today, but it would give me something to do while I’m here. At the very least I need to get the electricity sorted and make whatever repairs are needed to stop your sister-in-law knocking the place down.”

  That seemed reasonable. “I can lend you a generator if you like. Just to get you going.”

  She shook her head. “Thanks, but letting me charge my phone is help enough. I’ll call and get the power company to hook me up.”

  “Fair enough.”

  The coffee was ready and they both took a sip. The rich flavour spilled over Nate’s tongue, soothing and warm. The smell of it was invigorating. Sara seemed to be enjoying her cup just as much. Nate wondered if the lack of electricity over at the old house extended to a lack of kitchen facilities. If so, she’d likely not had any coffee since sometime yesterday. Too long for any decent human.

  Speaking of decent, he was suddenly aware of the ribboned bag of kitty litter on the bench. Hardly the hallmark of a good and gentlemanly host. But then she’d already seen the kitten so hopefully she would understand.

  The suspiciously quiet kitten.

  His stomach suddenly in knots, Nate leaned over the bench, peering past Sara into the living room. The door of the cage was open. The kitten was gone.

  His coffee mug hit the bench with a thud. “Damn it!”