The Scent of Apples (14 page)

‘Both of those blades of grass were short,' Kawharu says.

‘Nah, you chose the shortest, so I got to jump on first.'

Tainui picks a handful of long grass and offers it to the horse. ‘Good boy, Zorro,' he says as he pats the side of its neck. ‘Do you want to feed him?' he asks, looking at me.

I look up at this huge black mass of muscles and flesh. I imagine it trampling me to death. I shake my head.

‘He won't hurt you.'

I breathe in the horse's earthy smell, mingled with sweat. He looks at me and blinks his long eyelashes. Something in that small gesture makes me change my mind.

‘OK.' I bend down and pick some grass, all the time keeping an eye on the horse.

‘Keep your hand flat and hold it up to his mouth. He'll take it from you.'

I do as I'm told, and the horse's velvety lips graze over my palm. ‘Good boy, Zorro.'

‘You can have a ride if you want,' Tainui says.

‘Oh, no thanks.'

Kawharu picks some grass for the horse to eat. He still looks pissed off at having to carry the box, but his whole face changes when a man wearing dark overalls appears in the paddock.

‘Hi Koro,' Kawharu yells out, and races towards him. ‘I brought you some plants.'

‘I thought I heard thunder rumbling down the hill, and came to have a look, but it's just you two.' He hugs both the boys and then Charlie.

A look passes between them that I recognise. That ability to speak without using words is so familiar, and yet it seems like a lifetime ago since I used it. Tears spring to my eyes.

‘Koro, this is my friend Libby.'

He reaches out his hand to mine: judging by the calloused skin, those hands have done their fair share of hard work. His fingers are warm as he grips rather than shakes my hand.

‘Nice to meet you, Libby.'

‘And you.'

I turn away a little, conscious of the tears still resting in my eyes. For some strange reason, I feel that Koro can see right inside of me, into places where I store all my secrets. Places I'd rather keep hidden.

His dark green eyes are piercing, but have a softness about them. His thinning grey hair is swept back into a small pony tail, which rests at the nape of his neck. His body is lean, strong muscles covered by brown leathery looking skin.

He opens a gate from the paddock into his back garden. At first glance it's hard to see the difference. Rambling weeds and overgrown pathways spread out before me. But a few more steps in and I spy vegetables in various stages of growth dotted all around me.

Tomato vines now past their best rest upon a climbing frame made from old fence battens with wire wrapped around it. Tangled beans cling to another creation. Blood red nasturtiums have claimed one corner, reaching up and spilling over the fence. Thyme and marjoram poke their heads out from various cracks in the ground.

‘Kawharu, empty out those seedlings over by the shed and we'll fill the box with some veggies for your mum.'

Kawharu screws up his nose, no doubt picturing the journey back up the hill carrying more precious cargo, but then he smiles a toothy grin and heads off with the box of plants.

‘Tainui, you can go inside and put the kettle on for us.'

The paths are made of crushed sea shells, and they crunch beneath my feet as I follow Charlie and Koro around the maze.

‘So, Libby. I hear you and Charlie were in jail together?'

‘We were.' I laugh. ‘She escaped though.'

His house and garden are separated from the paddock by a hedge made from the biggest flax bushes I've ever seen. I'm used to orderly rows of shelter belts and trees, but this hedge looks like five people have headed off in five different directions to make the hedge. The holes where the flax doesn't quite meet up are plugged up with other seemingly random plants. A mānuka tree cosies up with variegated flax, whose new leaves have reverted back to dark green.

‘I definitely had a veggie garden here this morning,' Koro jokes, as he pushes aside some borage. A rake and a metal grubber that looks home-made lean on an old oil drum. A cut-out circle of plywood serves as a lid on top. Sliding this to one side, Koro dips a bucket in and half fills it with some black liquid.

I gag at the smell of rotting fish. A blush creeps over my face.

‘Don't worry, Libby. You aren't the only one who doesn't like my blend of fertiliser. I always have a brew going. Threatening to put those boys in here is the only thing that keeps them in line. The plants love it though.'

We wander around the garden. Every now and then, Koro bends down and parts some weeds and vegetables materialise. He appears to mumble just before he pulls up a plant, and then pours a bit of liquid back into the hole where the plant was.

The kettle whistles out to us in the garden. With our arms laden with beetroot, basil and tomatoes we go inside. The weatherboards on his tiny house look like they have sunburn. The paint has blistered, showing the history of all the colours the house has been.

Inside, the air smells like bacon and lavender mixed together. I see where the bacon smell comes from as Koro drops some freshly picked silver beet into a pot on top of a pot belly.

‘It's a bit hot in here,' he says, as he opens a window and lets in a cool ocean breeze.

For the first time I notice that Koro has a limp. One leg is quite a bit shorter than the other. It must have been disguised by the weeds in the garden.

‘A shark got me.' Koro winks at me as he leaves the room.

‘I didn't ask him a question,' I whisper to Charlie. ‘He must have caught me staring.'

‘Nah, that's just what he does. When I was little, he told me that he wasn't really human. He said he had been given bat hearing and eagle eyes. I believed him. Now, I just know he knows stuff.'

‘How old is he?'

‘He always says 101, but I'm not really sure. When he brings the tea out, it'll taste funny, but try and drink some. It's good for you and he likes it when we drink it.'

Tainui and Kawharu race through the lounge from the back of the house.

‘It's my turn to ride him. I carried the box most of the way down, so you should carry it back!' Kawharu yells.

Tainui stands with his legs apart, and his hands rest on his bony hips.

‘I would if you weren't being such a big baby.'

‘Why don't you let Zorro choose?' Charlie says. ‘Stand in the paddock and whoever he comes to gets the first ride.'

Kawharu races out the door and Tainui goes into the kitchen. He comes back a second later, stuffing a carrot into his jean pocket.

Koro returns, carrying a tray with three cups and a teapot hidden beneath a rainbow-coloured tea cosy. Charlie pushes aside some books on the coffee table so he can set the tray down.

He pours us each a cup and sinks down into an armchair.

Charlie looks across at me and motions with her eyes for me to drink up. I take a small sip, and am grateful for Charlie's warning. The tea is the bitterest thing I've ever tasted.

‘It's a bit hot yet,' I say, balancing the cup on my knee.

‘Mmmm, and disgusting too,' Koro says, ‘but you'll get used to it. It's all part of the punishment when you visit me. Charlie would have only grown to four foot if she hadn't drunk my tea.'

‘Sure, Koro.'

‘So, what's the plan for your weekend, girls?'

‘Maybe fishing: Libby's never been.'

‘Never been fishing in Whāingaroa, you mean?'

‘No, never been fishing.'

Koro's face couldn't have registered more surprise if Charlie had told him I'd been raised by a pack of wolves.

‘Well, we'd better get that sorted. The moon and tides are perfect tomorrow morning. We'll go then. Imagine, never having fished.' He takes a slurp of his tea and shakes his head in disbelief.

‘So where's home, Libby?'

With all the people missing from our house, it seems like a big stretch of the truth to call our house a home, but it's the only one I've got.

‘On an orchard, just north of Hamilton.'

‘Oh, what sort of orchard?'

‘We grow cider apples.' I take another small sip of my tea, and it's not as bad as the first.

‘Must be fun to grow up on an orchard.'

‘Yeah, it's OK.' I shift in my chair, to get away from a spring digging into my back and an uncomfortable feeling inside me. The stuffing is coming out from the left-hand side of the chair. When I move, the creases and folds mould around me, like the chair is trying to swallow me up.

‘Suppose you have to help out heaps?'

‘I used to.' I look down at my tea cup and then at the walls. They're covered with framed photographs of people who must be relatives. One in an oval wooden frame stands out. A dome glass front encases an elderly couple. The serious look of the man's double-breasted suit jacket is offset by the smiling lines etched around his eyes. The woman who sits alongside him looks like the sort of person who has fought many battles, and won most.

‘They're my parents.' Koro unnerves me again by answering a question I never asked.

‘You look a lot like her,' I say, taking another sip.

He grins at me, and I'm unsure if it's because I'm drinking his foul-tasting tea or in reference to his parents.

‘Yeah, it's easy to follow a thread back in time with our family, eh Charlie?'

‘Sure is. I got all the good stuff handed to me.' Charlie collects our cups and puts them on the tray.

‘Not one bit rotten, eh Koro?'

‘Not one bit of modesty either.'

‘We better go. I promised Mum we wouldn't be long. We might even get to catch some eels after dinner.'

Koro pushes himself up from his chair. ‘So long as you're not out catching boys.'

‘Don't be silly. I'm waiting for the prince.' Charlie leans in and kisses the side of his cheek. ‘See you in the morning.'

‘Yeah, and don't be late.'

‘Thanks for the tea.' I trip on the doormat as I go to leave.

‘Someone wants you to stay a bit longer, Libby, but I wouldn't keep that daughter of mine waiting. I'll see you tomorrow,' he leans in and kisses the side of my cheek.

I wonder as I walk away if Charlie's grandfather might be going a little senile. Who did he mean, wanted me to stay? Charlie leans on the gate to the paddock.

‘Sorry about the tea. We all just drink it. Mum said she remembers her grandmother serving up the same. It's meant to keep your blood good or something.'

‘I'm glad you warned me.'

We follow a trail of vegetables all the way up the hill.

‘Hansel and Gretel must have been worried that we wouldn't find our way home.'

I laugh at the mention of her brothers. ‘They're really cute.'

‘Not if you have to live with them. Mum says we should hire them out to the family planning clinic. Any kids who are thinking of fooling around should be made to take the twins home for a night. Best form of contraception, she reckons.'

‘Your grandfather's pretty cool too.'

‘Yeah. He's always got a story to tell, and he loves a new audience. Whenever he goes down town he's always got a gaggle of children following behind in the hope of catching one of his stories. Most of them are actually history lessons, but he wraps them up in stories where the people are all giants and pirates, grabbing at treasure.'

‘Libby, Libby. It's time to get up,' Charlie whispers in my ear.

The darkness outside hangs like a black-out curtain against the window. I wipe some crusty sleep dust from my eyes and slide my feet towards the floor. Rukawai is snuggled up and snoring on the other side of the room.

‘Snoring must be a family trait.'

‘Shh! Don't wake her up or she'll want to come. She's a pain in the arse in the boat. Grab your clothes and we'll get changed by the fire in the kitchen.'

Instead of following Charlie out, I pull down my pyjama pants and slip into my cords, which are crumpled up on the floor beside my bed. In the dark, I pat the bed and find only two strands of hair. I tuck them into my pocket, slide a sweatshirt carefully over my pony tail and plonk my knitted beanie on top.

The glow from the fire is the only sign of life. Charlie hands me a bit of toast with marmalade on it and then fills a thermos with boiling water. She stuffs this and a packet of Girl Guide biscuits into a duffel bag. Chucking the bag over one shoulder and through a mouth full of toast, she mumbles, ‘Let's go catch us some fish.'

The lights from Koro's house twinkle below us and help us navigate our way through the paddock. I worry all the way down about falling into a hole, being trampled by a horse or walking straight into a gorse bush. I'm relieved when I hear Koro call out to us in the darkness.

‘Those fish will have moved to Australia by the time we get our lines in the water.'

He kisses us both on the cheek and then hands me a sack to carry. Judging by the smell, it's got the bait in it. Charlie disappears behind a lean-to and reappears carrying three rods.

We take a shortcut to the river across a road and past several buildings, including a stage right on the edge of the water.

‘What's this place?'

‘It's the Kōkiri: a learning centre. That's the Kōhanga Reo over there. Sometimes we have weddings and festivals here.'

A colourful mural is painted along one wall of a long building. A vegetable garden and tree nursery is attached to the side of it. A fenced area contains a huge statue carved from sandstone and a carving painted red. A well-worn park bench sits alongside a grave decorated with flowers and small stones.

‘This land we're walking on was taken from our tribe, Tainui Awhiro, by the Government during the Second World War to build a military airfield,' Koro tells me. ‘Instead of handing it back at the end of the War like they promised, the Council took it over, and they turned into a public golf course.'

I look at the sheep grazing on it and wonder if they're the greenkeepers.

‘In the late sixties they had plans to extend the golf course right across grounds where our ancestors were buried, as well as disturbing our taniwhas. Lucky we had Eva Rickard on our side.' He nods towards the grave site. ‘Some people used to call her the wicked witch of the west, but she just laughed. She didn't care what people called her: it was all about righting a wrong. After all sorts of battles, including people being arrested for trespassing on their own land, it was finally given back. Now a heap more people get to use it.'

‘She sounds like an amazing lady.'

‘Yeah, she was.'

I can't imagine how fast Koro must have walked on two good legs, because I have to run every now and then just to keep up. Finally we reach the estuary. Hidden among some raupō is an old rowboat. Koro hauls it from the reeds like it's made from cardboard and places it in the water, while I stand by gawking.

‘Jump in,' Charlie says, as the back of the boat drifts towards me.

I place the bait sack on the middle seat. I lose my footing as I clamber over the side, and feel like an idiot as I pick myself up from the bottom of the boat.

‘Keen to catch your first fish, eh Libby?' Koro teases.

Charlie pushes us off the bank before jumping in. The water laps against the side of the boat, and the sky begins to lighten as Koro rows us up the estuary. As the stream opens up to the inner harbour, the sun appears above the horizon.

Koro stops rowing, and we float with the current.

No one says anything for a few minutes, and we bob along on top of the sea.

‘Here should be good, Charlie.'

Charlie throws an anchor over the side of the boat, rocking it in the process. I panic, and my hands fly up to my head. I pull down hard on my beanie.

Koro holds a rod between his legs. He takes a pilchard from the sack and threads it onto a line with two hooks and a sinker. He weaves the nylon around the bait, and when he passes me the rod it looks like the fish is swimming in mid-air.

I didn't see Charlie put her bait on, but she's already peering over the side of the boat at her line in the water.

‘Is this a left-handed fishing rod?' I ask.

‘Yeah, and if you turn it up the other way so the reel is under the rod, it's a right-handed one.'

I laugh at my own stupidity, and flip it the other way. Before my line has had a chance to hit the bottom, I feel a big tug. The tip of the rod arches over.

‘God, what do I do now? Here. Someone take it.' I offer my rod to both of them.

‘You're fine. Just relax. Breathe in, breathe out. Now pull your rod in towards you, and then wind up as you lower it back down. You have to let the fish run with the line for a little bit and then wind him in slowly when he stops for a rest. Be gentle. That's all you ever have to do.'

Something in Koro's voice makes me think he's talking about something more than fishing, but I'm too flustered to dwell on it. I concentrate on pulling up and winding down.

‘I see it,' I yell. A silvery thing swims just below the surface. Charlie leans over and scoops a net under it.

‘A snapper,' she says.

Koro reaches in and grabs the fish around its belly. He gently removes the hook from its mouth.

‘Do you want to kiss it before I throw it back?'

I look at it as it wiggles in his hand. ‘Isn't it big enough to keep?'

‘Yeah it is, but it's good to throw your first one back. Sort of like an offering to the gods.'

‘Oh.'

Koro brings the fish up to his face and I think he's going to kiss it for me, but he says something and then passes it to me. I'm sure that fish winks at me as I place it upright in the water. It squirms out of my hands.

‘That feels good. I might let my next one go as well.'

Koro's chuckle comes from deep within his belly. ‘You might have a bit of competition for the next one.' He nods his head towards Charlie, whose rod is bent over towards the water.

I bait my own rod, but instead of floating in mid-air, my bait hangs like a lifeless marionette. Then I throw my line way out to sea, but throw myself off balance as well.

Charlie puts out her hand to stop my fall but tumbles onto the side of the boat that Koro and I are on. The boat pitches over to this side and, for a moment, hesitates, before dumping us in the sea.

The freezing cold water and the shock of what's happened squeeze my chest, making it hard for me to breathe. I thrash around in the water, and then I hear Charlie call out to me.

‘Libby?'

‘I'm OK,' I say, waving my arms overhead as if this proves it, ‘Where's Koro?'

‘He's not answering me. I can't see him.'

I can hear the fear in her voice.

I swim towards her and the upturned boat. When we come around to the other side, I see Koro floating on his back just a few metres away. We both swim towards him.

Relief floods through me when I see one arm fluttering like a turtle. Charlie throws her arms around his neck, and almost takes him under again.

‘I'm good.' Koro's voice is little more than a whisper. The pain etched on his face tells us that something is wrong.

A bone sticks out just below his left elbow.

‘Shit, Koro. I think you've broken a bone.' It's the first time I've seen or heard Charlie unsure.

He nods his head.

I surprise myself by taking charge. ‘We'll be your arms and swim you back to shore. Can you grab my sweatshirt?'

Again he nods.

Koro rests his broken arm on his stomach, and Charlie and I push and pull him towards shore.

‘What about the dinghy?' he whispers.

‘Bugger the dinghy,' Charlie says.

The water feels heavy as I struggle through it. I'm happy when I can feel the sand beneath my feet. I follow Charlie's lead and put my hand under Koro's armpit.

He winces in pain as we drag him away from the water's edge. His lips have blood on them where he's bitten down on them.

I collapse on the sand beside him, drained from my effort.

‘Libby, I'll run and get Tama and the truck. You stay here.'

I don't get a chance to reply before she's off running up the riverbank.

‘It's only a broken bone, Libby. I'll be alright.' Koro's face is pale and he doesn't look in very good shape. He tries to sit up but crumples back down in a heap.

‘I think you better stay lying down.' I push some sand and leaves into a pile behind his head. ‘Is that any better?'

He nods with his eyes closed. I don't think it is.

Out at sea the boat floats on top of the water. The incoming tide is pushing it closer to the shoreline. Without thinking I'm back in the water, swimming towards it. A rope floats in front of me: it's tied to the bow of the boat. I loop the rope around my middle and swim back to shore. Only two metres from the shore, I don't think I can swim any further when a random wave helps me in.

Exhausted, I lie on the bank, my lower half submerged in the water, with the rope still tied around my waist. I push a strand of wet hair back from my face and my hands glide over my head. My heart skips a beat.

My hat is gone and my hair has come loose from its pony tail. A feeling similar to being dumped in the icy cold water grips me. I try to untie myself, but the wet rope has pulled tight and my hands shake with panic.

Ooogah, oogah!
rings through the air. My heart pumps faster. Tama's bright red ute barrels towards us. Charlie leaps from the back as soon as it stops and runs to Koro.

‘You OK, Koro?'

He mumbles something but I don't hear what he says, because the sound of my heart is thumping in my ears.

‘You saved the boat,' Charlie beams at me, as she places a blanket over Koro's shoulders.

Tama and a girl who looks like an older version of Charlie all turn to look at me. I sit at the water's edge, unable to move, humiliation and shame dripping off me. My bald spots are on show for the entire world to see. I wish I'd drowned.

Charlie grabs another blanket from the truck and brings it to me. She wraps it around me and squeezes me tight. She kneels down in the sand in front of me and starts untying the knot.

‘You must be exhausted as well, Libby. Let's get you home.'

The girl comes down and drags the boat further up the beach.

‘Hi, I'm Wetekia. You must be Libby.'

I nod and look at the ground, wanting it to open and swallow me up.

Between us all, we manage to manoeuvre Koro into the back of the ute onto a mattress. He makes a small sound as Wetekia lifts up his broken arm and places a pillow underneath it.

Tama produces a bottle of whisky from behind the driver's seat, takes the lid off and holds the bottle up to Koro's lips. His face brightens as he guzzles, but most of the whisky ends up on him.

I climb into the back of the ute and cloak myself with the blanket. I keep my head down and don't say a word as we bump across the paddock.