by Des Hunt
Bee shrugged. ‘Maybe. I’ve never seen them wear any.’
Before we could comment on that, the motor roared as Carl tried to catch a swell into the shore.
He missed it and throttled back waiting for the next. This time he got it right, and the boat started surfing. It raced into the gap between the rocks, aimed directly at the shore. For a while it looked as though they would be all right. That was until the wave started to break. The bow turned to one side. Carl struggled with the wheel. The boat went broadside, tipping up as if about to roll. Stuff from inside the boat was thrown into the water. At any moment everything would flip.
Carl abandoned the wheel and threw himself at the high side. Harry did the same. And yet it still didn’t look like it would stop them tipping. Then the backwash from the previous wave met them and everything slowed enough to settle the boat. They were dragged forwards a few metres, before the hull hit the sand and the boat ground to a stop.
Harry jumped into the water.
‘Come and hold it!’ he screamed at Bee.
All three of us ploughed into the water. I managed to grab a rope that was attached to the bow. Afi went for the stern. Bee got a hold on the side.
We had it under control long enough for Carl to jump out and take the other side. Then the next wave came, taking the boat further up the shore, dragging us with it. When it hit the sand I hauled on the rope with everything I had, trying to stop it from being washed back. The others must have done the same, because we managed to keep it there. Another wave came and we got it further up the beach.
While we waited for Harry to start the buggy and bring the trailer, the stuff that had tipped out began washing around us. Some of it was the usual stuff you’d expect from a boat: floats, rods, and even a tatty life-jacket. But there were also some large cartons wrapped in plastic. One stuck between my legs and the boat long enough for me to make out some lettering under the plastic.
HOLIDAY
40 x 200
It washed away again before I could examine it further.
Harry seemed to take ages to get the buggy started, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard it roar into life. However, Harry hadn’t finished messing about — he was hopeless at backing a trailer. On the first three attempts he jack-knifed the thing. Then his father started yelling instructions at him. But that didn’t help, as Harry didn’t seem to know the difference between left and right. In the end, Carl left the boat and stomped up the beach to take over. Harry stood to one side and watched in a sulk while we three kids held the boat by ourselves.
Once the trailer was in the right place, it took less than five minutes to get the boat winched onto the trailer. Carl climbed down from the buggy and came over to where Afi and I were standing.
‘Thanks,’ he said as he approached. ‘That was —’ He stopped and stared at us.
I could almost see his mind ticking over. He had just realized that he’d seen us somewhere before, but couldn’t place where. I wasn’t about to tell him.
‘Um, thanks,’ he said again, recovering. ‘We can take it from here.’
I pointed to the stuff that was still floating around in the sea. ‘Do you want a hand with that?’
‘No!’ he said, far too quickly. ‘We’ll get it.’
‘C’mon,’ said Afi. ‘Let’s go.’
Bee was standing on the other side of the boat. ‘See you, Bee,’ I called as I turned to follow Afi.
All I got as a reply was the slightest of nods.
Instead of walking towards the rocks where the fossils were meant to be, Afi headed back the way we had come.
‘Don’t you want to go fossil hunting?’ I asked.
Afi shook his head violently. ‘We need to get out of here,’ he said, ‘before he works out who we are.’
‘Do you think he’d turn ugly?’
‘Yes!’ said Afi, grimly. ‘Did you get a good look inside the boat?’
‘No.’
‘It was full of those cartons wrapped in plastic. Must have been twenty or so.’
‘Did you see the labels?’ I asked.
He shook his head.
‘I did. The one I saw had “Holiday” printed on it.’
Afi stopped and turned to me. ‘You know what’s in them, then, don’t you?’
‘Nope.’
He grinned knowingly. ‘ “Holiday” is a brand of cigarettes. They’re smuggling cigarettes.’
‘Yesss,’ I hissed, knowing he was right. It fitted in with everything we’d seen. I turned and looked out to sea, searching for the yacht. But if it was still there, it was hidden by the rain that was now falling offshore.
I glanced back down the beach. The lids of the coffin were open, and Harry was filling it with cartons from the boat. Carl was standing beside Bee, who had her head hung low. He had his hands raised in front of his body, threatening her.
It didn’t take much thinking to work out why she was in trouble. He was blaming her for us being there. Never mind that they would have been in serious trouble without our help; we had seen things that we should not have seen. In his eyes Bee was at fault, and she, not us, would be the one to suffer.
We abandoned Port Waikato soon after breakfast. By then it was raining heavily. The plan had always been that the Moores would deliver me home. Now I’d be back by lunchtime, instead of dinner.
During the drive, Afi told his parents about what we’d seen; not just the events of that morning, but also the bit at school. They listened without asking questions, although Tiresa did turn around a couple of times and shake her head with concern.
When Afi had finished, she turned to Matt and said, ‘We’ve got to do something about this.’
‘Yes, love,’ he replied. ‘But let’s just make sure of our facts first.’ He looked at me through the rear-view mirror. ‘Did you see any other markings on that box?’
‘I saw the word “Holiday” and below it was “40”, then an “x” and “200”.’
‘Forty by two hundred,’ said Matt nodding. ‘That sure sounds like cigarettes. They come in bundles of ten packets. That’s two hundred. Forty of those would fill a carton. Eight thousand cigarettes in total.’
‘How much would that cost you?’ asked Tiresa.
Matt thought for a time. ‘With the latest tax increase, about eight thousand bucks if you bought them in a shop.’
Tiresa’s mouth gaped. ‘A dollar a cigarette!’ she said. ‘I didn’t know they cost that much.’
‘It doesn’t cost me that because I roll my own,’ replied Matt.
Tiresa frowned at him. ‘Not all the time,’ she growled.
In the mirror, I saw Matt’s mouth tighten. The cost of smoking was clearly a sore point within the family.
‘How much can you get them for on the cheap?’ asked Afi.
‘Duty-free’s about twenty-five cents, and they’re still making a profit. I’ve heard that on some Russian websites you can get them for a dollar a packet, five cents each. The trouble is getting them into this country.’
Afi thought for a while before saying, ‘So the Redferns could make over a hundred grand on that load this morning.’
‘No,’ said Matt, shaking his head. ‘People expect to pay less for iffy cigarettes.’
‘Even if it’s only half of that,’ said Tiresa, ‘it’s still a lot of money.’
Matt nodded.
‘So what are we going to do about it, Matt? We can’t ignore it.’
It took some time before Matt replied. ‘OK, love,’ he said. ‘How about I mention it to Mike Sommerville and let him decide what to do?’ He looked at me in the mirror. ‘Mike’s a local policeman I’ve met a couple of times. He seems a good enough guy.’
That seemed to satisfy Tiresa, and from then on we talked about other things.
If Mum and Dad were surprised to see us so early, it was not obvious. They immediately invited the Moores in for lunch. It was too wet to show people around the farm, but everyone found something to do while Mum and
Tiresa prepared the food. Nana dragged Matt out to the shed to repair a pump she was having trouble with, and Afi and I worked on the computer, copying the photos from his camera to my hard drive.
The conversation during the meal was awkward at first. Then Nana took over, telling some of her old stories, one of which I hadn’t heard before. It was about a holiday she’d had in Samoa many years ago, when she was a teenager. She’d gone over with a church group and stayed in villages on Savai’i. At one place, they’d gone swimming in a big seawater pond where turtles were kept. A popular trick was to grab hold of a turtle’s shell and be towed around. Nana had found this fun, up until the stage when the turtle had a bowel motion right in the water where her head was. After that, she’d decided that turtle rides weren’t so great.
‘That’s near to my village,’ said Tiresa with a big smile. ‘They used to store those turtles there for food. Now it is a tourist attraction.’
After that, the conversation became much freer, with the Moores talking about things in Samoa. Apparently the area near Tiresa’s village was covered with volcanic lava in 1910. In one place, Afi said, you could still see where the lava had flowed in through the door of a church. In others it had formed tunnels which you could walk along. It sounded like a fun place to visit.
The meal ended up being a great success. So successful, that when Matt asked if I could stay with them again during the coming holidays, my parents said ‘yes’ without hesitation. My friendship with Afi now had the official seal of approval.
Chapter 14
Just when I’d settled to the idea that my friendship with Dean was over, I got a text message from him: SKYPE ME NOW.
The problem was the timing. I was at school and couldn’t Skype him from there. In fact I shouldn’t even have got the text message. Phones were not allowed in class, although most students secretly peeked at them from time to time.
At interval, when I got the chance to send a reply, I found he’d sent three more messages, each becoming more urgent. The last one read: I NEED U PELLY.
It was Wednesday and I wouldn’t get home until after six, so the best I could do was send a message saying I’d be online at six-thirty. That would give us an hour before I had to go to dinner. He replied with an OK.
Getting through the rest of the day was difficult. I was nervous, excited and worried all at the same time: nervous and excited about talking with Dean, and worried about that last message. Clearly something was wrong. Maimed in an explosion or caught stealing were two possibilities that came to mind.
I connected a few minutes before six-thirty. Dean’s image appeared straight away, although at first I thought it was someone else. This person had red rings around the eyes, messed-up hair, and lines down one cheek as though something had scratched him.
‘Hi, Dean,’ I said. ‘What’s up?’
‘Everything!’ was all he said.
‘What’s everything?’ I asked.
He then began nervously running his fingernails up and down his cheek.
‘My whole life,’ he said. ‘Just everything.’
For a moment I thought he was having me on, he sounded so melodramatic. Was this another one of his tricks?
But the redness around the eyes didn’t look like makeup, and the blood that was now dribbling down his cheek looked frighteningly real.
‘Tell me what happened,’ I said in a stern voice, hoping to shock him into being more rational.
‘It’s Mum and Dad,’ he said. ‘They’ve split up.’
I was shocked. To gain some time, I asked, ‘When?’
‘Last night.’
‘Do you know why?’
He nodded. ‘She’s gone to live with another man because of me.’
Once started, he had no problem giving me the details. Apparently Sarah Steele had been having an affair with a guy at work. Now, after a big yelling match at home, she’d moved out and gone to live with him. Part of the yelling was about what would happen to Dean. He hadn’t been in the room, but he’d heard everything they’d said, and that seemed to be the main problem.
David Steele had told his wife that if she was going, she had to take Dean. Sarah refused. That’s when things got ugly, with each blaming the other for Dean’s crazy behaviour. It seemed they knew a lot more about things than Dean and I had imagined. Apart from the fireworks, they knew about the shoplifting, lots of things from school, and even the Frosty event.
Sarah said David had encouraged the anti-social behaviour; David said it was because Sarah was never around to be a mother. And so it went on, with neither parent having a good thing to say about their son. The message to Dean was clear: he was the cause of the split and nobody wanted him anymore.
‘So what’s happening now?’ I asked when he was done.
‘Mum’s living somewhere else, and Dad’s down at the club getting drunk.’
‘Are you by yourself?’
‘No. Julie’s here until six-thirty.’
I nodded, remembering the housekeeper. Looking at my watch, I found that it was almost my dinnertime. Julie would be there for just another hour. I didn’t know whether I should stay online or not. If I did, what was I going to say? To be honest, I didn’t have a clue what I should do.
In the end I said, ‘Look, I’ve got to go, but I’ll be back at eight-fifteen. That’s six-fifteen your time. Will you be there?’
He gave a little nod.
‘OK! Hang in there, Dean — I’ll be back soon.’
After disconnecting, I sat for some time thinking. Dean clearly needed help, but what could I do about it? I decided it was time to talk with my parents.
I left it until the start of dessert, which was the usual time for family discussions.
The best approach, I decided, was to state what had happened and see how it went from there.
‘I was Skyping with Dean before dinner,’ I said.
Dad’s body stiffened. Mum’s head snapped up. The only one who spoke was Nana.
‘And how is your friend?’ she asked.
‘Not good,’ I said. ‘His parents have split up.’
Mum and Dad looked at each other. Neither seemed surprised by the news.
‘Oh, that’s unfortunate,’ said Nana. ‘How is he taking it?’
‘Not good.’
Nana nodded. And neither are you by the looks of it. You’d better tell us everything.’
I did.
It was just as well Nana was there, or we might have ended up with a disaster in our own family. It quickly came out that my parents had known about Sarah Steele’s affair back when we were in Wollongong. I asked why they hadn’t told me. Their reply was that they thought it wasn’t our business. I said it was because I would have wanted to stay and help my friend. Then, on a roll, I added that they’d never liked Dean and were always doing things to wreck our friendship. Dad agreed, saying that they didn’t like the relationship because Dean was always leading me astray. Mum was about to add to that when Nana stepped in.
‘This discussion isn’t helping Dean,’ she said in a calm voice. ‘It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. It’s what must be done for the future that is important now.’
Slowly we all calmed down and began to discuss the problem sensibly. We soon agreed that Dean should not be on his own. We had to try to do something before the housekeeper left.
‘Do you have Mr Steele’s mobile number?’ I asked Dad.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘But if he’s drinking, then now is not a good time to call.’
‘How about some of Dean’s other friends?’ suggested Nana.
I thought about this, but couldn’t come up with one. I shook my head.
‘Maybe Aimee could call around?’ suggested Mum. ‘Cleo’s house isn’t far away.’
There was silence as we all thought it through.
‘Best if she takes Cleo as well,’ added Dad.
Everybody agreed with that, and soon it was all sorted. I would go back online, while Mum rang Aimee. Ho
pefully she and Cleo could be with him until David Steele got home.
It was a bit before eight-fifteen when I connected again. Dean was not there yet, so I sat and waited, watching the minutes tick by in the corner of the screen.
And waited … and waited …
Mum came in to say that Aimee and Cleo were on their way around to Dean’s house.
I nodded, before getting back to the waiting.
By the time he came on at eight-twenty-three, I’d thought of all sorts of horrible things that could have happened. I must have looked worried, because the first thing he said was, ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. Just that you’re late.’
‘Julie was fixing my face before she leaves,’ he said. ‘I scratched it.’ His cheek now had three band-aids stretched over the worst of the scratches.
‘Has she gone?’
‘Soon,’ he said.
‘Is your dad home yet?’
He shook his head. ‘Who knows when he’ll be home,’ he said bitterly.
‘We’ve rung Aimee,’ I said. ‘She and Cleo are on their way round.’
His face brightened. ‘Cool!’
Then something occurred to me. ‘Did you go to school today?’
‘Nah. I couldn’t face it.’
‘So what did you do?’
He shrugged. ‘Nothing.’
The doorbell rang in the background.
‘That’ll be them,’ said Dean. ‘I’ll go open the door.’
While he was away, I thought of him hanging around home all day, doing nothing but thinking. No wonder he was in such a state when I first saw him. In the past he’d never coped too well with being by himself.
Aimee’s face appeared on the screen.
‘Hi, Pelly. How are you?’
My heart soared. While I hadn’t really missed her over the past ten weeks, it sure was good to see her again.
I managed to get in a ‘Hi!’ before Cleo’s face showed, along with her younger brother, Mark.
‘Hi, Pelly!’ said Cleo. ‘We’ve got drinks and food. Want to join our party?’
Of course I did.
So far as parties go, you wouldn’t call it a rave. It was, however, exactly what was needed. For a while it stopped Dean thinking about his problems. But more important than that, I think, he was surrounded by people who cared.
