Cuz by Liz van der Laarse

Author:Liz van der Laarse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OneTree House Publishers
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

River walked off. He watched the river while he collected driftwood, carrying the branches back to where Huia huddled, exhausted, her cheek on the sun-warmed rock.

Taking the kaikōmako, māhoe and puku tawai from his pīkau, he worked swiftly to ignite the beech fungus, placing it carefully among his pile of twigs and small branches. Huia slid down the boulders and sat staring at the fire. “What are we going to do?” she sighed.

“Nothing today.”

Huia reached into River’s pīkau, took out the ureure and broke it in two. When River had finished he reached down to pick up the hīnaki. “I reckon we should try some bait this time.”

Huia looked up at him.

“Like worms,” River said.

Huia thought for a few seconds. “I could make a wee kete to put them in.”

“Yeah, good. I’ll go get them.” River climbed up the boulders and into the forest.

Huia walked gingerly across the river stones to a clump of harakeke. With a broken rock she hacked off a blade of flax. She sat, bent over her weaving, feeling the warmth of the fire. River returned with eight earthworms wriggling in his dirty hands. He shoved them in the little pouch Huia held up to him. With the last strip of flax Huia wove it closed and tied it to the inside of the hīnaki. River walked across a shoal of stones to a backwater and set the trap.

Amongst the rocks he found a clutch of boulders to shelter them from the wind sweeping down the river. River dragged leafy branches from the forest to make a roof on their rock hut. He lay bracken on the shingle for their bed and fetched fern fronds to use as blankets.

River looked across to the eel trap. “Hey, it’s moving!” He ran stumbling across the shoal of stones and jumped into the water, grasping the hīnaki by its mouth. Water gushed out as he lifted it. A tuna thrashed inside.

“Gotcha!”

River struggled to untie the jerking trap from the branch. Grinning, he carried it back to Huia with the eel banging against the sides. “Hey, Huia, take a look at this!”

“Ho . . . is that what the shouting was about?” She peered into the trap. “Get it out, cuz. Whack it on the head.”

River tipped the eel onto the ground. It slithered among the rocks. He grabbed a long stick and tried to jab the twisting eel through the gills. Huia dropped a rock on its head.

River laughed. “That’s done it.” They watched the eel’s twitching body, grinning at one another.

“I’ll go gut it.” River shoved his fingers into the eel’s gills and carried it to the stream. He scrubbed its skin with handfuls of tiny stones to wash off the slime. River smashed a rock, choosing a sharp edge to saw the eel open. It ripped at the skin.

“Useless . . . ” He whacked the back of the rock with another. A sharp fragment sheared off. “Yeah. That’ll do it.”

Namu crawled into his ears and hung around his eyes.

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