Second Chances Part 7

'You mentioned a school bus?' asked Kit, without taking his eyes off that view.

I swear I heard the cash register going ker-ching! in Allan's brain. 'Goes past the road gate. Dead convenient.'

We stopped at the beach on the way home. Allan had said he'd show us around Torutaniwha, which we gathered was the local village, and led us to a dirt car park behind some sand dunes. We could hear the rhythmic sighing of surf, and a salty breeze brushed our faces.

'Where's the village?' I asked, s.h.i.+elding my eyes against the glare.

Allan climbed down from his truck. 'Well, you saw the dairy; that's our name for a convenience store. They run a tearoom and sell fuel. There's a marae-Maori meeting place-further along the road. Then at the far end of the beach there's some holiday baches but they're mostly empty through the winter.'

'Baches?'

'Cottages.'

'Ah. But the . . . you know. The village. Houses. People.'

Allan chuckled indulgently. 'Martha, you're in New Zealand! We have a lot of s.p.a.ce. There isn't a village as such.'

'But where does everyone live?'

'Believe me, there's a community. You've got the dairy and the marae. There's the Torutaniwha Tavern half a mile back, but I wouldn't take the kids. It's pretty rough, you get gangs riding out from the towns-they had a stabbing a while back.' He pointed at some nearby buildings. 'Here's the primary school. It'll take the little fellas up to Year Eight.'

Kit whistled. 'That's a school?'

We moved closer. Torutaniwha school was built of white weatherboard, with deep porches. It looked vaguely colonial-an African hospital, perhaps, from the 1950s, tucked neatly under the hillside in sheep-nibbled pasture. There were picnic tables below the trees, and a fort complete with flying fox.

'They've got a swimming pool!' exclaimed Sacha.

Allan nodded. 'Most country schools do. In the summer term the kids'll be in and out of that three times a day. We get long, scorching summers, here in the Bay. Want to take a look at the beach?'

A path of duckboards led us through the dunes. We emerged at the southern end and wandered woozily down to the water. The beach was perhaps half a mile long, fringed by rugged hills. Sacha found a piece of driftwood, bent down beside her brothers and began to etch their names in sand letters three feet high. She was wearing low-slung jeans and a ribbon as a choker, like a hippy chick. The boys raced around her, in and out of the waves, shouting out the spelling.

I was distracted by the distant sight of two riders galloping along the beach. They kicked up a sandstorm, heads high, broad-brimmed hats flying behind them. Kit hummed spaghetti-western music, puffing Clint Eastwood's cigar.

'Cool,' said Sacha, as the riders slowed to a walk, rode into the waves and began to swim their horses. The breeze nudged her hair, striking fiery sparks in the evening sun. Then she smiled, really smiled, and I felt a great weight lift off my chest.

'Do S!' yelled Finn. 'Do S, S, S! S for Sacha!'

She handed him the stick. 'You have a go. Start up here . . . uh-huh . . . then it's like a sslithery old ssnake.'

The glittering sea lapped gently, flas.h.i.+ng with reflected light, and the moving figures of my children became silhouettes against a backdrop of rippling mirrors.

'Will you look at it,' muttered Kit. 'Look at this place. It's . . .' he searched for the right word, 'clean.'

Eight.

Our dream house.

We got a survey, of course. We weren't so head over heels with Patupaiarehe that we didn't check for dry rot and subsidence; but as Allan had promised, it was sound. The vendors even threw in a lawnmower and quad bike. We were cash buyers, and the place was empty. It was ours before you could blink.

We'd been in New Zealand less than a month when we stocked up on the bare necessities-mattresses, bedding, crockery-checked out of a rather comfy motel, and drove to our old homestead on the hill. It was late August; nearly spring, in this topsy-turvy world. A drift of daffodils, unexpected and nostalgically English, greeted us like old friends as we navigated the drive.

But winter wasn't finished with us just yet. Within two hours of our arrival the sea disappeared and the landscape blurred under the shroud of a southerly storm. As a kind of reception committee, bolshy adolescent winds tore straight off the icy wastes of Antarctica and pounded the old house, whose wooden walls bulged inwards with each gust. The rain lashed horizontally; we pitied tiny lambs who huddled by their mothers, clearly wondering what kind of a world this was. In the distance I spotted a farmer-a woman, head bowed against the wild weather-driving among them on a quad bike. The barking of her dogs sounded faint on the wind. It wasn't what you'd call a tropical scene.

All afternoon we draped ourselves over the wood-burning stove in the kitchen, blowing optimistically and coaxing flames with bits of wet wood. I thought longingly of our heated motel room as we watched DVDs on Sacha's laptop-Mary Poppins, because we all needed a comforting nanny just then-and wondered what in G.o.d's name had induced us to buy this icebox. Why not one of those concrete palaces, with their insulation and draught-proof aluminium joinery and heat-exchange systems?

When we ran out of milk, I volunteered to drive the twins down to the dairy. My windscreen wipers squeaked and sloshed as I edged along the unfamiliar road. Rounding a corner, I was forced to brake smartly for a mob of sheep and lambs. They milled all over the road and up the verges, s.n.a.t.c.hing mouthfuls of gra.s.s despite being harried by several dogs. Seconds later a red sports car skidded to a halt behind mine, wheels shrieking on the wet bitumen. The driver was female; I spotted a supersized bob hairdo.

'Look!' screeched Charlie from the back seat. 'A cowboy!'

There was indeed a cowboy, in a real cowboy's hat, apparently untroubled by traffic or downpour. He sauntered alongside his flock, sitting easily on a giant piebald horse and wearing a long stockman's coat with the collar turned up. Dripping hair curled around his neck. I could have gazed for an hour, but the driver of the red car clearly had no eye for picturesque masculinity. Engine revving, she inched forward until the red menace filled my rear-view mirror.

'One, two, three . . . four! Four dogs,' marvelled Finn. One seemed to bark all the time, while the others worked with silent efficiency.

Suddenly, the red car's driver pulled around me and drove into the sheep, trying to scatter them with a long blast on her horn. At first I was shocked, but what happened next had me laughing out loud. Neither the shepherd nor his horse seemed to notice her, but the man turned his head and spoke briefly to his dogs. They sprang into enthusiastic action, charging around the mob and pus.h.i.+ng it right onto the red car. The four of them seemed to be laughing, too. Within seconds the woman was caught in a sea of bleating mayhem and could do nothing but sit and fume. I could see her gesticulating arms.

'b.l.o.o.d.y townies,' I sneered, having lived in the countryside for a full three hours.

When we came to a wider stretch of road, the shepherd pulled his animals off to one side. Mrs Bob Hairdo roared crossly northwards with a final burst of her horn, to which he mockingly tipped his hat. As I pa.s.sed, he nodded to me. I glimpsed a proud nose in a long, furrowed face.

As Allan had promised, the dairy was also a cafe. Its tables were giant cotton reels around a lily pond. The owner wore her hair twisted like a croissant on the back of her head. She was middle-aged and well upholstered, tucked into a tie-dyed skirt with tinkling bells around the hem and, when she discovered we were new residents, she threw in chocolate cake on the house. The rain had taken a breather, so Finn and Charlie pottered outside. I could see them chatting to some creatures in a hutch.

'You're the family that's moving in up at Patupaiarehe?' the woman called from her kitchen. Her skirt jingled.

I warmed my hands beside a glorious gla.s.s-fronted fire. 'Mm. We only arrived this morning, and I've never-ever-been so cold in my life.'

She laughed. 'It'll blow through by tonight.'

I asked her about the shepherd on the road.

'Tall bloke? Big black and white horse? That's Tama Pardoe.' She shook her head. 'He's a law unto himself. Hang on, I'll just get my daughter.' She nipped into the back of the building and reappeared with a chunky young woman jiggling a bald baby. 'I'm Jane, by the way. This is Destiny and Harvey. Say h.e.l.lo, Harvey.'

Her grandson grinned toothlessly, and I cooed on cue. Destiny wouldn't have been long out of her teens. She was blessed with wide eyes and flawless skin but-frankly-a bus-sized rear that should not have been squeezed into those leggings. She offered to get out her rabbits for Finn and Charlie.

'She left her boyfriend,' whispered Jane, once the girl was out of earshot. 'Stashed Harvey and her rabbits in the car and drove away. His mother kept coming round all the time, interfering, nagging, telling them how to run their life. Destiny warned him, time and again, "It's me or your mother," and-you've guessed it-spineless weasel chose his mother.'

'Fantastic name,' I said.

'Destiny?' Jane unloaded a tray with drinks and cake. 'I was a bit of a free spirit when she was born. Used to travel around in a wooden house bus with her father. Canary yellow, it was, like Mr Toad's caravan. He sold crystals. I did a bit of tarot reading. Now I'm just a dumpy grandma. Comes to us all.'

Jane was right about the storm. Maybe she'd read her tarot cards. Weather patterns can move with startling suddenness in New Zealand, and by sunset the front was pa.s.sing away to the east. It left in its wake a limpid sapphire band that gleamed across the Pacific horizon. Sacha took the boys out to explore their new territory. The three had scarcely disappeared into the trees when Lou phoned, wanting to hear how we were settling in. I was delighted to hear my sister's voice, but she sounded indecently pleased to discover we'd spent our first day huddling over the fire.

'I thought you'd be wearing t-s.h.i.+rts and taking little dips to cool off?' she crowed.

'It's still winter, Lou.'

'No, it's not. It's the end of August.'

'But our seasons are reversed. You have to add six months, remember? So August here is the equivalent of . . . um . . . February there.'

'Well obviously. I knew that,' she said testily, but I'll bet she'd forgotten. You can't tell my sister anything.

'How's Phil?' I asked, and she harrumphed even more.

'You've unsettled him. He's getting itchy feet, talking about going back into clinical-oh my G.o.d, Theo! Coming darling, you're all right, that's it, brave boy . . . Sorry, Martha, got to go. Theo's fallen down the stairs.'

I made two cups of coffee and went to look for Kit. He was lounging on the verandah steps, staring down the valley with his sketchbook and a travel set of watercolours on his lap. I rested my head on his shoulder while the setting sun put on a fireworks display, just to welcome us.

'So,' he murmured. 'How d'you feel?'

'I feel . . .' I thought for a moment. 'I can't believe this is our home.'

'This light's so intense,' he said. 'So clear. Strong, vivid colours. I've never come across anything quite like it.'

'Not in Ireland?'

He narrowed his eyes, squinting at the angular peaks and flickering inverted triangle of the sea. 'Not even there.'

We'd been at Patupaiarehe about twenty-four hours when we had a visit from our neighbours. I heard a vehicle on the cattle grid and looked out as a blue farm truck stopped under the walnut's spring foliage. The next moment a vigorous woman sprang out, wearing untrendy jeans and limp hair in a grey pudding-basin cut. Her four limbs seemed slightly too long for her, but she had the posture of a ballet teacher and the stride of a sergeant major.

'Welcome to Torutaniwha,' she announced briskly. 'Pamela and Jean Colbert. We're your nearest neighbours. We're also running stock on your land at the moment so we thought we'd better drop by and say h.e.l.lo!'

I hurried to meet her. 'I saw you braving the storm yesterday. Where we've come from, our nearest neighbour lived five yards away.'

'Well. We're just over two kilometres as the crow flies or the quad bike buzzes. Quite a lot longer by road. Our boundary's the river.'

Pamela, I guessed, was in her fifties. I felt disconcerted by her fixed gaze: slightly vacant, like a seagull. I saw her eyes whisk over my spare tyre-I sucked my tummy in, but it was too late. However, I was prepared to overlook all that because she'd brought a tray with scones and jam and an interesting concoction that seemed to involve cream cheese, sweet chilli sauce and Mexican corn chips.

'Jean!' she called over her shoulder. 'Did you remember the wine?'

Jean was a relief: shorter than his wife, unashamedly balding and faintly paunchy. He trotted across from the truck, cotton trousers rolled up to the ankle, clutching a couple of bottles to his chest.

'From our own vineyard,' he puffed in a marked French accent, kissing me on the cheek in a delightfully Gallic gesture. Funny thing: after a month down here in the Antipodes, I suddenly felt fiercely European. At home, to be a part of Europe meant straight bananas and unelected bureaucracy and insufferable attempts to control the City of London; but here, Jean seemed a kindred spirit with centuries of shared experience and cultural understanding. He crouched down and made faces at Finn and Charlie, who were noisily spying on us from under the house. The boys wore nothing but torn shorts, and they were caked in mud and chicken mess.

'We have boys also,' chuckled Jean. 'Four crazy bruisers. But they grew up. They no longer make dens under our house.' He straightened and moved close to Pamela, taking her arm.

Sacha emerged from the kitchen door and leaned her elbow on my shoulder. She was taller than me by a couple of inches, most of them in her legs, and her hair fountained out of a high ponytail.

'h.e.l.lo,' she said, extending a graceful arm. 'I'm Sacha Norris.' I was proud of her. She almost made up for my filthy sons.

Jean shook her hand. 'And how do you like your new home?'

'It's lovely here,' replied Sacha, with her wide, wonderful smile. 'But I'm afraid I'm rather homesick.'

We showed them around to the verandah, which was a suntrap. Close by, the magnolia was coming into bloom, white flowers skittering in the breeze. Sacha asked the visitors about themselves. Jean was originally from Normandy. He'd visited New Zealand in his twenties, met Pamela and never looked back. Pamela was Hawke's Bay born and bred. Her ancestors arrived on one of the first boats, back in the nineteenth century.

'Where will you be going to school?' Pamela asked. 'There isn't anywhere terribly convenient.'

'I'll be catching the bus into Napier,' said Sacha, and mentioned the name of the co-ed we'd chosen. It had good reviews-excellent for music-and was fifteen minutes from Capeview Lodge, so we could share a car sometimes.

'Where did yours go to school?' I asked.

Jean sighed. 'They boarded. In many ways we regret that, but it seemed the right thing at the time.'

I was still holding the two bottles the Colberts had brought: red wine, dusty and with no labels, which made them seem very chic. I sent Charlie off to find a corkscrew, and Finn to drag Kit out of his studio. Sacha excused herself and disappeared inside to finish an email to Lydia.

'Well,' said Pamela. 'We hope you'll be very happy here.'

We could hear Finn mimicking her accent as he trotted off. 'Virry hippy here, virry hippy here,' he was chanting, quite audibly. 'Virry, virry, virry, virry hippy.'

I giggled feebly, wondering how many more times my children would humiliate me before I grew too old to care. 'Sorry,' I said, flapping my hands. 'It's all new to them.'

Pamela didn't smile. Actually, she didn't seem overburdened with a sense of humour. In an attempt to lighten the mood a little, I reached for one of her scones. 'These are fabulous!'

'She makes the jam herself,' said Jean, piling cream on his. 'Her own strawberries. She gets up at dawn, just to keep on top of the garden.'

'Really? I could no more make my own jam than I could tap-dance.' I was spitting crumbs as well as sycophancy.

'Don't worry,' said Pamela consolingly. 'You'll learn! I'll give you the recipe.'

I thought then that Pamela Colbert and I would never, ever understand one another. I was alien. I would never care about baking scones or cutting a fabric on the bias. I would never swap recipes. I would never spring out of bed at five to tend my garden. I would never be a real pioneer. I was a fraud.

Jean winked at me. 'Be a.s.sured, Martha. After fifty years, you will be a domestic G.o.ddess.'

'No need.' Kit was loping along the verandah with his hands in his pockets and ebony hair rumpled. 'She's got me.'

I was delighted to see him. He saved the day, settling himself beside Pamela, chatting as he uncorked their wine. Pamela seemed captivated. Her features came to life, and I had to admit she had good bone structure. It turned out that she was a pretty competent watercolour artist herself, which I suppose was inevitable. She was interested in botanical studies and sold them out of galleries in Napier. She seemed to think the same shops might promote Kit, which was a leap of faith since she hadn't seen any of his work.

'Is this your first visit to New Zealand?' she asked.

'No,' said Kit, his eyes widening as he tasted the wine. 'Hey-this is pretty good! No-I travelled around as a student. I've always longed to come back.'

'And here you are,' declared Jean, raising his gla.s.s in welcome.

To my delight, the Colberts were gossips. There was nothing and n.o.body in the area that escaped their notice, and they could go back several generations. They gave us the low-down on Jane at the dairy. Apparently her ex was a skunk who physically threw her and ten-year-old Destiny out of the canary-yellow bus before roaring off into the sunset. Then we asked about our neighbour on the northern boundary, whose horses we could see flicking their tails at a haze of insects.

'Tama Pardoe,' said Pamela.