Mika by Lee Murray & Piper Mejia

Author:Lee Murray & Piper Mejia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: new zealand, aotearoa, maori character, science fiction, diabetes, dystopia
Publisher: Paper Road Press
Published: 2015-03-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

THE SOUND OF RUSHING water and wind bounces off the stone walls of the gorge.

Full of excitement, Bree hurries Mika along the path. ‘Come on, Mika! It’s just round this bend. We’re nearly there.’

‘I’m coming.’ But Bree can hardly keep still, running up the path to the corner and back again. ‘You go on and meet Arlene,’ Mika says, seeing the girl’s impatience. ‘I’ll catch you up.’ Smiling, Bree skips ahead, Paddy at her heels, his tail wagging.

Around the bend, the gorge opens into a clearing where the community has its swimming hole, a bulge in the river like the eye of a needle. On one side, a false beach has been created by the shifting river bed. Already, several families are gathered there, including Lisa Adème, who’s sitting with a group of women. Nearby a bunch of tyre tubes are stacked neatly in a pile. Lisa looks up and gives Mika a friendly wave. Mika waves back.

‘Geromino!’ shouts a child as he swings into the water. The rope swing dangles over the centre of the pool from a tree clinging to the rock face, clearly a favourite pastime of the reservation children. The rope is worn and frayed, but the children shout and jostle for a turn, each one swinging out and tumbling into the water, where they splash like otters, water streaming off their bodies. Too impatient to wait for Mika, Bree too is in the water. Mika pauses a moment to watch her. Her blonde hair – wet – has darkened to black, and her skin is racing to catch up as it sucks greedily at the sun, camouflaging her among the others.

As if she belongs here.

Mika should leave now. Bree would hardly miss her.

Not today.

She’d promised to spend the day with Bree.

Looking for a place to set down her towel, Mika notes the large flat stone near the water, where six prostheses, tiny legs mostly, old models, some of them very battered, wait while their owners take a dip. Children damaged by diabetes. Mika’s heart lurches. Her father had foreseen this.

Spotting Mika, Bree breaks away from Arlene.

‘Mika, look at the rope swing,’ she says, raining droplets as she emerges from the water. Twisting, she points a finger at the rope. ‘See it?’

‘No, what rope swing? Where?’ Mika teases, looking everywhere but at the swing.

Bree giggles. ‘That rope swing there. Right there. I did it twice, yesterday,’ she says proudly.

‘Twice!’ Mika says. ‘Well, then I’ll just have to make sure I have three swings today, won’t I?’

Bree’s eyes widen. ‘You’ll come in the water? Really?’

‘Of course.’ Mika feels a twinge of sadness at the joy Bree finds in tiny things. Has she never had an adult play with her before? Time to fix that. But, looking around, Mika realises there’s nowhere for her get changed. She should’ve put her togs on earlier, back at Torua. Mika isn’t ashamed of her body, but she doesn’t want to embarrass anyone either.

‘Here, let me help,’ says Lisa, padding barefoot across the sand to Mika’s rescue.

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