Te Awa o Kupu by Vaughan Rapatahana & Kiri Piahana-Wong

Author:Vaughan Rapatahana & Kiri Piahana-Wong [Rapatahana, Vaughan & Piahana-Wong, Kiri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143777960
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2013-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

Kotahi should’ve checked for his shoes before leaving Maz’s. But they would still be in the gully the next day. They had to be.

The rain on the roof sounded louder than ever.

Waikato-taniwha-rau

Kotahi woke with a pebble in his throat, writhing tuna in his belly, and an aching jaw.

Rua sat at the window of their room, the curtains open, pale light shining on his round face through the wet glass.

‘You were grinding your teeth in your sleep,’ he said.

Condensation formed rivulets and pooled on the swollen wood of the windowsill. Kotahi imagined it wicking up the curtains and blooming into black florets of mould.

‘I don’t grind my teeth.’ Kotahi rubbed the knotted angle of his jaw.

‘Look how foggy it is!’ Rua said, rubbing the window with his sleeve.

Kotahi could barely make out the red of the cherry tree leaves through the thick fog beyond the smudged window. He imagined standing on the pedestrian bridge that spanned the gully, white in every direction. He could be crossing a high pass over the Misty Mountains.

He took a deep breath. He had a plan.

He made sure to rush out to the bus before Mum could notice his still bare feet. He couldn’t hide them from Rua though.

‘Where are your shoes?’

‘Doesn’t matter.’

‘Aren’t your feet cold?’

Kotahi’s feet were on fire with every touch of the gritty, wet concrete. He fished his spare school socks and summer uniform, brown roman sandals out of his bag.

‘Hold this will ya?’

Rua held Kotahi’s school bag and watched in silence. Kotahi balanced on his left foot, hopped into his right sock, and shoved his socked foot into its sandal. His toes pushed well through the straps and hung over the end.

How could his sandals already be too small?

‘You lost your school shoes?’ Rua’s voice was awed. It was barely a question.

‘Shuddup,’ Kotahi said, switching feet and trying not to tip over.

‘You lost another pair of shoes?’

Kotahi hadn’t cut his toenails. His big toenail razor tore through the thin wool of his left sock. His entire toe erupted into view.

‘Pokokōhua!’

ASPIRATION

Rua let out a gasp that turned into a giggle.

‘That’s a bad word!’

Maz wasn’t on the bus. She wasn’t in the classroom either, so she hadn’t been dropped off by her mum, who always smelled heavily of musky perfume and was the exact opposite of SLOVENLY.

Kotahi could barely spare Maz a thought. He imagined everyone in the school, the city, the universe was staring at him, transfixed by his incongruent sandals, holey sock, and exposed toe.

You have a plan.

He wished he could share his plan with Maz and see what she thought of it. He didn’t trust any of his other friends enough. When they asked why he was wearing sandals he repeated the sort of lie that his shoes were too wet and muddy. It had rained all night. They wouldn’t just be wet; they would be drowned.

ASPIRATION

Kotahi sprinted for the bus when the 3 pm bell finally rang. He heard and felt a snap and stumbled, pitching sideways into a hedge of glossy camellias.

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