left hook that was coming along with it, my hand meeting his fist with all my hundred Kg’s of weight and a lifetime of strength behind it. I caught it, and I held it.
Impasse.
That left me face-on to him, one hand occupied, and he saw his chance. He was going for it. I could see his right arm going back for the punch of his life. A king hit to the face. In his dreams.
I kept my eyes on his and sent a fist straight and hard into his solar plexus, and he stood stock-still, like a steer stunned in the slaughterhouse. And then he started to go down.
Immense pain. Paroxysm of the nerves. A little retching. He’d be fine. No lasting harm done.
I’d passed the test.
I put an elbow into his nose on the way down, though. It broke.
I never said I was perfect.
56
You and Me
Gray
We caravanned to Mum’s place, because there was too much to sort out, and we couldn’t do it in sight of Mount Zion. The ones who were leaving would be doing it the same way Daisy had that first night, I was sure. Like the hounds of hell were on their heels. Everybody bundled back into cars and headed out. Daisy and I put Frankie in the back seat of the ute with Mum on one side and Oriana on the other, holding her hands, and when we got to the house, the women took Frankie inside. To clean up, I hoped. To cry. And to know she was safe.
It was a matter of logistics, then. “Does anybody prefer to stay here?” I asked. “In Wanaka? The jobs I was talking about are in Dunedin with me, but there’s work here as well.”
Rangi called out, “Speak for yourself, mate. I could use a good man or two.”
I said, “Shut up. They’re mine.” Which caused some laughter.
Aaron said, “We’ll go to Dunedin. This is too close.”
“Good,” I said. “That’s one thing sorted. Now—temporary housing. I can get a caravan, for now, and park it on my section.”
Poppy, Matiu’s wife, said, “We have an apartment, empty for now. It’s attached to the house, but separate, with your own entrance. Walking distance to town. That would work, especially for kids. Built-in playmates, eh, and clothes and toys to borrow. Also, my dad’s a builder himself. I imagine he has work as well, if any of the others want to leave.”
“What did I say,” I told her, “about poaching on my turf?” And she laughed.
“Are you sure?” Aaron asked soberly. “That’s a commitment, even for a short time.”
Poppy glanced at Matiu, who turned a laughing gaze to me, with a tiny shrug, like he was saying, Two years ago, I was a carefree bachelor, and now I’m going to be living in a house with, what, six kids? But she’s pregnant, and I love her. What’s a man to do? Which I understood.
Poppy smiled herself, sunnily, as if she knew exactly what her husband was thinking, but he was going to have to get used to it, and said, “Yes. I’m sure. It’ll be fun.” She asked the woman with the little kids, Radiance, “Would you like to come stay with us for now?”
“Very much,” Radiance said shyly, after a glance at her husband, a nod from him.
I told Aaron, “I’d like you at my place, if you’ll come. You’d be in the house until I get the caravan set up. It’ll be a bit tight, with one bathroom, but I reckon we can make it work for a few days, and Daisy will be there as well. Two spare bedrooms for you and your family.”
He nodded and said, “That’ll do. Thank you.” Holding the enormity of what he’d done at bay, and getting on to the next thing. Exactly like his niece.
Drew spoke up, then, telling the single blond man, who was tall, well-built, and immensely fit, like he was ready to pose for a motivational poster, “We have a granny flat. You’re welcome to stay in it.” Proving that he was a good judge of men, but then, I already knew that.
That would feel like quite a way to land on your feet Outside, once somebody told him that he was bunking in with Sir Andrew Callahan.
So that was all good, and then it was just a matter of lifts to Dunedin, of stops for breakfast being planned. Wanaka’s cafés were going to have an overflow of Sunday-morning trade, but that was all good, too. Kane