The Jacaranda House, page 19
‘She stole her. Again.’
‘Yes,’ Sonny agreed, ‘but it’s done now and we all just have to live with it, including you. It’s time to move on.’
Awhi looked aghast. ‘Move on? What do you mean, move on?’
‘Well, get on with your life. Put it behind you.’
‘Never! I won’t!’
Sonny, who was getting absolutely fed up with Awhi’s rabid bitterness and relentless refusal to accept the situation, said, ‘For fuck’s sake, Mum, you’ll see Gina again.’
‘Don’t you use that sort of language in this house!’
‘They’ll be back,’ Sonny went on, ignoring her. ‘You’ll see. And if you insist on cutting yourself off from Polly, you’ll cut yourself off from Gina as well.’
‘It’s her that’s cut herself off from me. It’s her that prostituted herself and brought shame on this family, it’s her that had a baby with no husband, it’s her that sold Gina, it’s her that’s never behaved for more than two days in a row in her life. Not me!’
‘Have you ever asked her why she’s done all that?’
‘I don’t have to,’ Awhi said. ‘She’s just bad. She’s always broken my heart.’
‘Well, maybe you should have asked,’ Sonny said. ‘Maybe that’s the problem: you never did. I know I wish I had.’
‘Oh, what are you talking about?’ Awhi snapped.
‘This bloody family. Nobody ever asks how anyone is. Everyone’s too busy bitching and bickering and competing.’
‘Rubbish. Where did you get that from?’
‘My eyes and ears,’ Sonny said. ‘I wish I had asked Polly, and I think I might. I think I’ll go over to Sydney and visit her.’
Awhi’s face brightened immediately and her hand shot across the table and grabbed Sonny’s. ‘Oh, love, if you did you could bring Gina back!’
‘I think that’d be up to Gina, don’t you?’
‘Couldn’t you just take her, like her mother did? That’d teach her a lesson.’
Sonny recoiled at the nastily eager tone in his mother’s voice. ‘Mum, is this really about Gina, or about you getting back at Polly?’
‘How dare you! It’s about Gina! You’re getting as bad as your sister.’
Sonny didn’t believe her. ‘If you want Polly to give up Gina, you’ll have to come to Sydney with me.’
‘Me? Go to Sydney?’ Awhi looked appalled.
Sonny nodded. ‘On a plane. I haven’t got time for the ship.’
‘No!’ Awhi almost shouted. ‘I can’t go on those planes. I just can’t! My heart!’
‘Well, then you’re out of luck.’
*
Awhi was at the small Mana Knits factory in Newton, in the tearoom where the ladies did the fine hand-knitting. In the room next door the half dozen knitting machines clacked noisily away, the women operating them chatting as they worked.
As Allie had told Polly when she’d come home, the knitting operation had expanded considerably from the founding group of herself, Ana Leonard, Kura Apanui and Wiki Irwin, who eight years ago used to hand-knit together in one another’s sitting rooms and sell small numbers of items to stores here and there. They’d started off when Kura lost her job and Wiki had to leave hers because she was expecting a baby, and their products had sold so well that the business was thriving now, more staff had been taken on and machine-knitted garments added to their catalogue.
Allie, Ana, Kura and Wiki were all in the tearoom. As she had been of late, Awhi was bending everyone’s ears complaining about Polly. Ana turned on the Zip in anticipation of morning tea.
‘So he’s going to bring Gina back,’ Awhi said. ‘And then that girl will be sorry.’
Allie, who’d been in the stockroom sorting out a delivery for a store in Hamilton, heard her mother-in-law’s comment as she walked into the tearoom. ‘I’m not sure he will be bringing her back, Awhi,’ she said carefully. ‘I think he’s just going over to make sure she’s all right, and to talk to Polly.’
Really, she knew she shouldn’t be saying anything, but too bad, she just had.
‘He will bring her back,’ Awhi insisted. ‘He’s a good boy, my Sonny. Not like that daughter of mine.’
‘She does sound a bit flighty,’ Wiki said, counting off stitches.
‘Did you know she sold Gina?’ Awhi declared. ‘To some family in Napier?’
‘Ae, you have mentioned that a few times,’ Kura said.
‘My Sonny got her back, though,’ Awhi said.
Kura said to Allie, ‘And you, eh?’
Allie nodded. ‘They were nice people, actually.’
‘Can’t have been that nice, to buy a baby,’ Wiki said.
‘It really wasn’t like that,’ Allie said. ‘And they were Ana’s relatives, so be careful what you say.’
‘Ooh, shit, were they?’ Wiki looked flustered. ‘Sorry, love.’
Ana laughed. ‘They had no idea. It was my mad auntie’s fault, really.’
‘No it was my mad daughter’s fault,’ Awhi said.
‘Why don’t you ever say her name?’ Kura asked. ‘She is your girl, you know, even if you don’t get on. Your child. I say my Johnny’s name every day, and he’s been gone for years. You’re so lucky still having your girl. I’d give anything to have my Johnny back, even if we argued every minute of the day. Anything.’
There was an uncomfortable lapse in the conversation then, which was fortunately broken by a child shrieking in the playroom. Allie hoped it wasn’t Tracey, who’d woken up in a very bad mood this morning. The sooner she went to school the better. Still, only one more week till she turned five.
Her sister, Pauline, appeared in the doorway. ‘That was Tracey. She fell over and banged her head. She reckons Willie pushed her. I think he did, actually. They’re not getting on at the moment.’
Willie, who was four, belonged to one of the ladies on the knitting machines, and was a proper little shite, in Allie’s opinion. How Pauline managed to successfully look after six small children five days a week, and keep them generally calm and entertained and toileted and fed, she had no idea.
‘I’m going to give them something to eat now,’ Pauline said. ‘That’ll quieten them down. Did you tell Kura about Donna?’ she added to Allie.
‘Donna, your sister?’ Kura said.
Allie nodded as she scooped tea leaves into the big teapot. ‘The nurse? You know how she joined the army a few years ago? Well, she thinks she might be deployed to Singapore soon, because of the Confrontation. With Borneo.’
‘Why are we fighting with Borneo?’ Ana asked.
‘I don’t exactly know,’ Allie said. ‘Anyway, Kura, your Sam was thinking of joining the army, wasn’t he?’
‘Got his heart set on it, more’s the pity,’ Kura said. ‘I don’t want my boy blown up in some foreign bloody war like his uncles.’
‘So’s my Charlie,’ Wiki said. ‘Pair of little fools.’
Allie carried the teapot to the table. ‘Anyway, I was thinking, if Sam joins up the minute he turns eighteen, and Charlie, Wiki, they could end up in this Confrontation thing too. So maybe they should wait till it’s blown over.’
‘Well, I won’t be saying a word,’ Kura said. ‘I’ve already lost one boy.’
‘Me neither,’ Wiki agreed.
‘My Sonny wants me to go to Sydney with him when he goes to get Gina,’ Awhi said.
Allie noted the barely suppressed sighs around the table, well aware the other ladies were as sick of Awhi ranting on about Polly and Gina as she was.
‘And will you?’ Ana asked.
‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘I’m too frightened. It’s too much for an old lady. I’d die of fright.’
Allie looked down at her Custard Cream, knowing that Sonny hadn’t actually asked Awhi to go with him to Sydney. He’d challenged her.
‘Well, you can’t want to see your moko that much, then,’ Wiki said.
Awhi glared at her, then abruptly left the table for the toilet, banging the door behind her.
‘Ooh, you’ve done it now,’ Kura said.
‘Well, I’m sick of listening to it,’ Wiki grumbled. ‘Every day she comes in here, moaning on about that daughter of hers. Ae, the girl might have run around a bit and disappointed the family, but that child is entitled to be with her mother. If she’s in a position now to look after her, good for her. Is she?’ she asked Allie.
Allie shrugged. ‘I know she’s got a job and a decent place to live, and friends. I think she’s happy. It’s hard to tell with Polly.’
‘I think this business has affected Awhi’s head. I think she’s gone a bit mate porangi,’ Kura said, making a circle with her finger next to her ear.
‘Well, she’s lonely,’ Allie said. ‘She definitely loves Gina. And Gina did a lot for her. I’m not saying she looked after her but I’ve noticed . . . Well, never mind, but I think she did depend on her.’
‘That’s sad.’
‘And she really doesn’t like Polly.’
‘No, I think you’re wrong, there, dear,’ Kura said. ‘I think she really loves Polly. And that’s what’s causing her all this pain.’
*
The girls were in bed, the gas fire was on and Sonny had his feet up on the pouf in the sitting room, drinking a beer.
Allie sipped her tea, her feet folded beneath her on the couch. ‘I shouldn’t have a hot drink this late. I’ll only have to get up for a wee.’
Sonny grunted. ‘Tracey said she did painting today at school. She seems to be settling in all right. I was worried she wouldn’t.’
‘Her teacher says she’s doing well, for her first week. A bit bossy, maybe.’
Sonny smiled. ‘That’s our girl.’ He took a swallow of his beer and let out a growly burp that sounded like a frog trapped in a jar. ‘’Scuse. Do you miss having her at home?’
‘If I say no does that make me a bad mother?’
‘I think it makes you a fairly normal one.’
They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, then Sonny said, ‘Would you be OK if I was away for a few days?’
‘Have you decided you will go and see Gina?’
Sonny nodded. ‘Well, she’s been gone three weeks. I’d say Polly’s not just taken her over to Sydney for a holiday.’
‘Is your mother getting on your back about it?’
‘Mmm, but that’s not why I want to go.’
‘Are you worried?’
‘Not worried worried. I just want to see how they’re doing.’
‘Do you not think Polly can look after Gina?’
Sonny heard something in Allie’s tone of voice. ‘Why? Do you think she can’t?’
Allie set her cup and saucer on the arm of the couch. ‘I think if her life’s going well she’s perfectly capable of being a great mum. If it isn’t, then I’m not so sure.’
‘If she’s on the booze and that, you mean?’
‘Well, we don’t know what her life’s really like over there, do we?’ Allie said. ‘All we get are her letters, and anyone can write a letter that sounds good.’
‘You saw her when she was home. What did you think?’
‘She seemed fine to me. A bit thin, but no, she seemed fine. Though she did lie and say she’d come back to see you, and she didn’t.’
‘Polly’s never been very reliable,’ Sonny said.
‘Well, then, you’ve answered your own question, haven’t you?’
‘What question?’
‘“Can Polly look after Gina?”’
Sonny said, ‘No, I asked if you think she can.’
Allie looked at him. ‘Oh, don’t split hairs. You know what I mean. Anyway, I’m sure you only want to go to shut your mother up.’
‘Look, the only thing that’ll shut Awhi up is me bringing Gina back, and I’m not doing that unless I find her in a bloody awful state. Or if she really wants to come home. It’s not my place to interfere, not this time. Polly’s her mother, not Awhi. I just want to make sure they’re OK.’
‘Well, I don’t mind,’ Allie said. ‘We can afford it, can’t we?’
‘I suppose so. I’ve got no idea how much it costs to fly to Australia. A king’s ransom, probably. And I’ll have to organise time off work. That’ll take a bit of doing. I probably can’t get away for a week or so. I’ll have to see.’ Sonny gazed at the label on his beer bottle, then sighed and said, ‘God.’
‘What?’
‘Bloody Mum. It won’t matter what I tell her she’s still going to think I’ll be bringing Gina home.’
Allie said, ‘One of the women at work said the other day she thought Awhi might be a bit, well, not right in the head over this business with Gina. You don’t think she’s going like Ana Leonard’s father-in-law went, do you?’
‘What, senile? Christ, I hope not.’ Sonny thought back over his mother’s behaviour over the past months. ‘No, I don’t think so. She seems to be managing at home all right. Ha, we’d probably have to ask Gina about that. She’s the one who’d really know. What’s she like at work?’
‘Fine. Her memory’s fine. Well, it seems fine. To be honest, though, her clothes could go through the wash a bit more often. She’s getting that old lady smell. But her work’s excellent. It’s just that she’s always on about Polly and Gina like a broken record, and nasty with it. God. Kura reckons it’s because she loves Polly, not because she hates her. I don’t know. We’re sick of hearing about it.’
‘Join the club. Well, Mum’ll just have to lump it if I come back without Gina. You know, she could bloody well come with me.’
‘No, she said she couldn’t possibly get on a plane,’ Allie said. ‘She’s frightened and too old, end of story.’
‘Then tough shit.’ Sonny stretched out his legs and relaxed his head against the back of his armchair, and stared up at the ceiling. ‘You know, really, Allie, I do feel sorry for Mum. I know how much she loves Gina, and like you say I’m pretty sure she’s miserable because she thinks she’s lost Polly as well. But God, why is it always me who has to sort out all the family shit? I’ve got ten brothers and sisters and they’re all bloody useless.’
‘No they’re not. They just need someone to be the head of the family.’
‘Then why can’t Wiremu or Noah do it? They’re older than me.’
‘They’re not as clever as you. Your family needs someone like your father.’
Sonny’s heart jolted. ‘Who told you what my father was like?’
‘Your mum.’
‘Well, don’t listen to her. My father, the celebrated and revered Pera Manaia, was a fucking great bully.’
Allie stared at him. ‘But I thought he was this famous war hero and tribal leader and what have you?’
‘He was, but he was still an arsehole. And he drank and he was mean and arrogant and threatening and free with his fists. We were all terrified of him.’
Allie said, ‘I didn’t know that. Why didn’t you tell me?’
Why hadn’t he? ‘Well, it’s shameful, isn’t it? It’s not the sort of thing you talk about. None of us talk about it. And anyway he was dead and gone by the time I met you. It was in the past by then.’
A silence grew. Sonny watched Allie struggle with her discomfort, and felt sorry for her so he changed the subject. ‘There is a slight problem with me going to see Polly. I don’t know where she lives.’
‘It’s Kings Cross, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, but I don’t know what her street address is. She’s never told me, or given me her phone number.’
‘Didn’t you ever ask? Where do you send your letters?’
Sonny said, ‘To a post office box. I thought about it, and then I thought, no, that’s her business. If she wants to cut herself off, fine. She is a grown woman, you know.’
‘But what if something had happened here? What if Awhi had died, or someone else in your family? Or, God forbid, Gina?’ Allie said, looking aghast at the thought. ‘How would we have found her to tell her?’
‘Well, either we wouldn’t have found her and she’d have to suffer knowing she didn’t find out for ages and it was her fault, or I’d have had to do what I expect I’m bloody well going to have to do now.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Traipse round all the bloody Kings Cross clubs and find out where she’s working.’
‘The night clubs?’
Sonny nodded.
‘The strip clubs?’ Allie clarified, looking sour.
Sonny laughed. ‘I don’t have to go at midnight when they’re in full swing. And I can take a photo of Polly with me and just ask at the door.’
‘Do you think that’s what she’s doing, stripping?’
‘I don’t know. She might still be on the game but I doubt it. I can’t see her taking Gina if she’s still doing that. She’s not that irresponsible.’
‘She isn’t irresponsible at all,’ Allie said. ‘Usually.’
‘No, she’s not. She said in one of her letters she had a good job, though I took that with a bit of a grain of salt, and she’s not really trained to do anything else so I’m assuming she still in the entertainment industry.’
‘Stripping’s not much better than prostitution, as far as the effect on Gina’s concerned,’ Allie grumbled. ‘“What does your mum do?” “Oh, she’s a stripper.”’
‘Well, I don’t know, she might be waitressing for all I know,’ Sonny said. ‘But I thought I’d start with the clubs. Have to start somewhere.’
‘Why don’t you take a photo of Gina as well, and try the schools in the area? I’m sure Polly would have enrolled Gina by now.’
Sonny grinned. ‘See, this is why I married you. Good looks, great personality and brains. I’d never have thought of that.’
‘Will you tell her you’re coming to visit?’
‘Do you think I should?’
Allie thought for a moment, her fingers twisting the tassel on the corner of a cushion, then her face assumed a slightly guilty expression. ‘This is mean, but if you really want to find out how they’re getting on, no, I don’t think you should.’ She winced slightly. ‘If you warn her that’ll give her time to rush round and –’
‘Hide the drugs and booze,’ Sonny interrupted, ‘and get some food in and clean the toilet and all the rest of it?’
‘Yes,’ Sonny agreed, ‘but it’s done now and we all just have to live with it, including you. It’s time to move on.’
Awhi looked aghast. ‘Move on? What do you mean, move on?’
‘Well, get on with your life. Put it behind you.’
‘Never! I won’t!’
Sonny, who was getting absolutely fed up with Awhi’s rabid bitterness and relentless refusal to accept the situation, said, ‘For fuck’s sake, Mum, you’ll see Gina again.’
‘Don’t you use that sort of language in this house!’
‘They’ll be back,’ Sonny went on, ignoring her. ‘You’ll see. And if you insist on cutting yourself off from Polly, you’ll cut yourself off from Gina as well.’
‘It’s her that’s cut herself off from me. It’s her that prostituted herself and brought shame on this family, it’s her that had a baby with no husband, it’s her that sold Gina, it’s her that’s never behaved for more than two days in a row in her life. Not me!’
‘Have you ever asked her why she’s done all that?’
‘I don’t have to,’ Awhi said. ‘She’s just bad. She’s always broken my heart.’
‘Well, maybe you should have asked,’ Sonny said. ‘Maybe that’s the problem: you never did. I know I wish I had.’
‘Oh, what are you talking about?’ Awhi snapped.
‘This bloody family. Nobody ever asks how anyone is. Everyone’s too busy bitching and bickering and competing.’
‘Rubbish. Where did you get that from?’
‘My eyes and ears,’ Sonny said. ‘I wish I had asked Polly, and I think I might. I think I’ll go over to Sydney and visit her.’
Awhi’s face brightened immediately and her hand shot across the table and grabbed Sonny’s. ‘Oh, love, if you did you could bring Gina back!’
‘I think that’d be up to Gina, don’t you?’
‘Couldn’t you just take her, like her mother did? That’d teach her a lesson.’
Sonny recoiled at the nastily eager tone in his mother’s voice. ‘Mum, is this really about Gina, or about you getting back at Polly?’
‘How dare you! It’s about Gina! You’re getting as bad as your sister.’
Sonny didn’t believe her. ‘If you want Polly to give up Gina, you’ll have to come to Sydney with me.’
‘Me? Go to Sydney?’ Awhi looked appalled.
Sonny nodded. ‘On a plane. I haven’t got time for the ship.’
‘No!’ Awhi almost shouted. ‘I can’t go on those planes. I just can’t! My heart!’
‘Well, then you’re out of luck.’
*
Awhi was at the small Mana Knits factory in Newton, in the tearoom where the ladies did the fine hand-knitting. In the room next door the half dozen knitting machines clacked noisily away, the women operating them chatting as they worked.
As Allie had told Polly when she’d come home, the knitting operation had expanded considerably from the founding group of herself, Ana Leonard, Kura Apanui and Wiki Irwin, who eight years ago used to hand-knit together in one another’s sitting rooms and sell small numbers of items to stores here and there. They’d started off when Kura lost her job and Wiki had to leave hers because she was expecting a baby, and their products had sold so well that the business was thriving now, more staff had been taken on and machine-knitted garments added to their catalogue.
Allie, Ana, Kura and Wiki were all in the tearoom. As she had been of late, Awhi was bending everyone’s ears complaining about Polly. Ana turned on the Zip in anticipation of morning tea.
‘So he’s going to bring Gina back,’ Awhi said. ‘And then that girl will be sorry.’
Allie, who’d been in the stockroom sorting out a delivery for a store in Hamilton, heard her mother-in-law’s comment as she walked into the tearoom. ‘I’m not sure he will be bringing her back, Awhi,’ she said carefully. ‘I think he’s just going over to make sure she’s all right, and to talk to Polly.’
Really, she knew she shouldn’t be saying anything, but too bad, she just had.
‘He will bring her back,’ Awhi insisted. ‘He’s a good boy, my Sonny. Not like that daughter of mine.’
‘She does sound a bit flighty,’ Wiki said, counting off stitches.
‘Did you know she sold Gina?’ Awhi declared. ‘To some family in Napier?’
‘Ae, you have mentioned that a few times,’ Kura said.
‘My Sonny got her back, though,’ Awhi said.
Kura said to Allie, ‘And you, eh?’
Allie nodded. ‘They were nice people, actually.’
‘Can’t have been that nice, to buy a baby,’ Wiki said.
‘It really wasn’t like that,’ Allie said. ‘And they were Ana’s relatives, so be careful what you say.’
‘Ooh, shit, were they?’ Wiki looked flustered. ‘Sorry, love.’
Ana laughed. ‘They had no idea. It was my mad auntie’s fault, really.’
‘No it was my mad daughter’s fault,’ Awhi said.
‘Why don’t you ever say her name?’ Kura asked. ‘She is your girl, you know, even if you don’t get on. Your child. I say my Johnny’s name every day, and he’s been gone for years. You’re so lucky still having your girl. I’d give anything to have my Johnny back, even if we argued every minute of the day. Anything.’
There was an uncomfortable lapse in the conversation then, which was fortunately broken by a child shrieking in the playroom. Allie hoped it wasn’t Tracey, who’d woken up in a very bad mood this morning. The sooner she went to school the better. Still, only one more week till she turned five.
Her sister, Pauline, appeared in the doorway. ‘That was Tracey. She fell over and banged her head. She reckons Willie pushed her. I think he did, actually. They’re not getting on at the moment.’
Willie, who was four, belonged to one of the ladies on the knitting machines, and was a proper little shite, in Allie’s opinion. How Pauline managed to successfully look after six small children five days a week, and keep them generally calm and entertained and toileted and fed, she had no idea.
‘I’m going to give them something to eat now,’ Pauline said. ‘That’ll quieten them down. Did you tell Kura about Donna?’ she added to Allie.
‘Donna, your sister?’ Kura said.
Allie nodded as she scooped tea leaves into the big teapot. ‘The nurse? You know how she joined the army a few years ago? Well, she thinks she might be deployed to Singapore soon, because of the Confrontation. With Borneo.’
‘Why are we fighting with Borneo?’ Ana asked.
‘I don’t exactly know,’ Allie said. ‘Anyway, Kura, your Sam was thinking of joining the army, wasn’t he?’
‘Got his heart set on it, more’s the pity,’ Kura said. ‘I don’t want my boy blown up in some foreign bloody war like his uncles.’
‘So’s my Charlie,’ Wiki said. ‘Pair of little fools.’
Allie carried the teapot to the table. ‘Anyway, I was thinking, if Sam joins up the minute he turns eighteen, and Charlie, Wiki, they could end up in this Confrontation thing too. So maybe they should wait till it’s blown over.’
‘Well, I won’t be saying a word,’ Kura said. ‘I’ve already lost one boy.’
‘Me neither,’ Wiki agreed.
‘My Sonny wants me to go to Sydney with him when he goes to get Gina,’ Awhi said.
Allie noted the barely suppressed sighs around the table, well aware the other ladies were as sick of Awhi ranting on about Polly and Gina as she was.
‘And will you?’ Ana asked.
‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘I’m too frightened. It’s too much for an old lady. I’d die of fright.’
Allie looked down at her Custard Cream, knowing that Sonny hadn’t actually asked Awhi to go with him to Sydney. He’d challenged her.
‘Well, you can’t want to see your moko that much, then,’ Wiki said.
Awhi glared at her, then abruptly left the table for the toilet, banging the door behind her.
‘Ooh, you’ve done it now,’ Kura said.
‘Well, I’m sick of listening to it,’ Wiki grumbled. ‘Every day she comes in here, moaning on about that daughter of hers. Ae, the girl might have run around a bit and disappointed the family, but that child is entitled to be with her mother. If she’s in a position now to look after her, good for her. Is she?’ she asked Allie.
Allie shrugged. ‘I know she’s got a job and a decent place to live, and friends. I think she’s happy. It’s hard to tell with Polly.’
‘I think this business has affected Awhi’s head. I think she’s gone a bit mate porangi,’ Kura said, making a circle with her finger next to her ear.
‘Well, she’s lonely,’ Allie said. ‘She definitely loves Gina. And Gina did a lot for her. I’m not saying she looked after her but I’ve noticed . . . Well, never mind, but I think she did depend on her.’
‘That’s sad.’
‘And she really doesn’t like Polly.’
‘No, I think you’re wrong, there, dear,’ Kura said. ‘I think she really loves Polly. And that’s what’s causing her all this pain.’
*
The girls were in bed, the gas fire was on and Sonny had his feet up on the pouf in the sitting room, drinking a beer.
Allie sipped her tea, her feet folded beneath her on the couch. ‘I shouldn’t have a hot drink this late. I’ll only have to get up for a wee.’
Sonny grunted. ‘Tracey said she did painting today at school. She seems to be settling in all right. I was worried she wouldn’t.’
‘Her teacher says she’s doing well, for her first week. A bit bossy, maybe.’
Sonny smiled. ‘That’s our girl.’ He took a swallow of his beer and let out a growly burp that sounded like a frog trapped in a jar. ‘’Scuse. Do you miss having her at home?’
‘If I say no does that make me a bad mother?’
‘I think it makes you a fairly normal one.’
They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, then Sonny said, ‘Would you be OK if I was away for a few days?’
‘Have you decided you will go and see Gina?’
Sonny nodded. ‘Well, she’s been gone three weeks. I’d say Polly’s not just taken her over to Sydney for a holiday.’
‘Is your mother getting on your back about it?’
‘Mmm, but that’s not why I want to go.’
‘Are you worried?’
‘Not worried worried. I just want to see how they’re doing.’
‘Do you not think Polly can look after Gina?’
Sonny heard something in Allie’s tone of voice. ‘Why? Do you think she can’t?’
Allie set her cup and saucer on the arm of the couch. ‘I think if her life’s going well she’s perfectly capable of being a great mum. If it isn’t, then I’m not so sure.’
‘If she’s on the booze and that, you mean?’
‘Well, we don’t know what her life’s really like over there, do we?’ Allie said. ‘All we get are her letters, and anyone can write a letter that sounds good.’
‘You saw her when she was home. What did you think?’
‘She seemed fine to me. A bit thin, but no, she seemed fine. Though she did lie and say she’d come back to see you, and she didn’t.’
‘Polly’s never been very reliable,’ Sonny said.
‘Well, then, you’ve answered your own question, haven’t you?’
‘What question?’
‘“Can Polly look after Gina?”’
Sonny said, ‘No, I asked if you think she can.’
Allie looked at him. ‘Oh, don’t split hairs. You know what I mean. Anyway, I’m sure you only want to go to shut your mother up.’
‘Look, the only thing that’ll shut Awhi up is me bringing Gina back, and I’m not doing that unless I find her in a bloody awful state. Or if she really wants to come home. It’s not my place to interfere, not this time. Polly’s her mother, not Awhi. I just want to make sure they’re OK.’
‘Well, I don’t mind,’ Allie said. ‘We can afford it, can’t we?’
‘I suppose so. I’ve got no idea how much it costs to fly to Australia. A king’s ransom, probably. And I’ll have to organise time off work. That’ll take a bit of doing. I probably can’t get away for a week or so. I’ll have to see.’ Sonny gazed at the label on his beer bottle, then sighed and said, ‘God.’
‘What?’
‘Bloody Mum. It won’t matter what I tell her she’s still going to think I’ll be bringing Gina home.’
Allie said, ‘One of the women at work said the other day she thought Awhi might be a bit, well, not right in the head over this business with Gina. You don’t think she’s going like Ana Leonard’s father-in-law went, do you?’
‘What, senile? Christ, I hope not.’ Sonny thought back over his mother’s behaviour over the past months. ‘No, I don’t think so. She seems to be managing at home all right. Ha, we’d probably have to ask Gina about that. She’s the one who’d really know. What’s she like at work?’
‘Fine. Her memory’s fine. Well, it seems fine. To be honest, though, her clothes could go through the wash a bit more often. She’s getting that old lady smell. But her work’s excellent. It’s just that she’s always on about Polly and Gina like a broken record, and nasty with it. God. Kura reckons it’s because she loves Polly, not because she hates her. I don’t know. We’re sick of hearing about it.’
‘Join the club. Well, Mum’ll just have to lump it if I come back without Gina. You know, she could bloody well come with me.’
‘No, she said she couldn’t possibly get on a plane,’ Allie said. ‘She’s frightened and too old, end of story.’
‘Then tough shit.’ Sonny stretched out his legs and relaxed his head against the back of his armchair, and stared up at the ceiling. ‘You know, really, Allie, I do feel sorry for Mum. I know how much she loves Gina, and like you say I’m pretty sure she’s miserable because she thinks she’s lost Polly as well. But God, why is it always me who has to sort out all the family shit? I’ve got ten brothers and sisters and they’re all bloody useless.’
‘No they’re not. They just need someone to be the head of the family.’
‘Then why can’t Wiremu or Noah do it? They’re older than me.’
‘They’re not as clever as you. Your family needs someone like your father.’
Sonny’s heart jolted. ‘Who told you what my father was like?’
‘Your mum.’
‘Well, don’t listen to her. My father, the celebrated and revered Pera Manaia, was a fucking great bully.’
Allie stared at him. ‘But I thought he was this famous war hero and tribal leader and what have you?’
‘He was, but he was still an arsehole. And he drank and he was mean and arrogant and threatening and free with his fists. We were all terrified of him.’
Allie said, ‘I didn’t know that. Why didn’t you tell me?’
Why hadn’t he? ‘Well, it’s shameful, isn’t it? It’s not the sort of thing you talk about. None of us talk about it. And anyway he was dead and gone by the time I met you. It was in the past by then.’
A silence grew. Sonny watched Allie struggle with her discomfort, and felt sorry for her so he changed the subject. ‘There is a slight problem with me going to see Polly. I don’t know where she lives.’
‘It’s Kings Cross, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, but I don’t know what her street address is. She’s never told me, or given me her phone number.’
‘Didn’t you ever ask? Where do you send your letters?’
Sonny said, ‘To a post office box. I thought about it, and then I thought, no, that’s her business. If she wants to cut herself off, fine. She is a grown woman, you know.’
‘But what if something had happened here? What if Awhi had died, or someone else in your family? Or, God forbid, Gina?’ Allie said, looking aghast at the thought. ‘How would we have found her to tell her?’
‘Well, either we wouldn’t have found her and she’d have to suffer knowing she didn’t find out for ages and it was her fault, or I’d have had to do what I expect I’m bloody well going to have to do now.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Traipse round all the bloody Kings Cross clubs and find out where she’s working.’
‘The night clubs?’
Sonny nodded.
‘The strip clubs?’ Allie clarified, looking sour.
Sonny laughed. ‘I don’t have to go at midnight when they’re in full swing. And I can take a photo of Polly with me and just ask at the door.’
‘Do you think that’s what she’s doing, stripping?’
‘I don’t know. She might still be on the game but I doubt it. I can’t see her taking Gina if she’s still doing that. She’s not that irresponsible.’
‘She isn’t irresponsible at all,’ Allie said. ‘Usually.’
‘No, she’s not. She said in one of her letters she had a good job, though I took that with a bit of a grain of salt, and she’s not really trained to do anything else so I’m assuming she still in the entertainment industry.’
‘Stripping’s not much better than prostitution, as far as the effect on Gina’s concerned,’ Allie grumbled. ‘“What does your mum do?” “Oh, she’s a stripper.”’
‘Well, I don’t know, she might be waitressing for all I know,’ Sonny said. ‘But I thought I’d start with the clubs. Have to start somewhere.’
‘Why don’t you take a photo of Gina as well, and try the schools in the area? I’m sure Polly would have enrolled Gina by now.’
Sonny grinned. ‘See, this is why I married you. Good looks, great personality and brains. I’d never have thought of that.’
‘Will you tell her you’re coming to visit?’
‘Do you think I should?’
Allie thought for a moment, her fingers twisting the tassel on the corner of a cushion, then her face assumed a slightly guilty expression. ‘This is mean, but if you really want to find out how they’re getting on, no, I don’t think you should.’ She winced slightly. ‘If you warn her that’ll give her time to rush round and –’
‘Hide the drugs and booze,’ Sonny interrupted, ‘and get some food in and clean the toilet and all the rest of it?’
