Whale Pot Bay Read Free

couple of times he disappeared. Ifigured he’d headed back towards Eketahuna—just another person who didn’t think much of Hauruanui.
    Dad’s visitors arrived just as we were packing up for lunch. Our warning horn sounded, indicating that a vehicle had rolled in beside the pumps. I knew it had to be them as soon as I walked through the workshop, and straight away I sensed I was in trouble. They’d already climbed out of the car and were gazing around as if it was the most exciting place they’d ever seen.
    ‘You must be Jake,’ said the woman, extending her hand. ‘Hello! I’m Vicky Frew.’ I took her hand before realizing that mine was covered in grease.
    ‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.
    ‘No harm done,’ she said brightly, leaning into the car to grab a tissue.
    As she wiped her hand, I stood there like a big idiot, staring down at the concrete as if I’d never seen it before. Meanwhile I felt the girl looking at me, and I was sure she was laughing at my discomfort.
    ‘There,’ said Vicky throwing the tissue into our waste bin. ‘The rest can wait until we’ve all met each other.’ She looked towards the girl. ‘This is my daughter, Stephanie, though all her friends call her Steph.’
    I recovered enough to look up and say, ‘Hi, Stephanie.’
    ‘Hi, Jake,’ replied the girl, smiling at me. ‘Are you a mechanic?’
    ‘No. Dad is,’ I replied. ‘You’d better come through. He’s out the back.’
    I guided them into the workshop where Dad had just finished washing his hands. ‘Vicky!’ he cried. ‘You madeit!’ Then he took her in a huge hug which went on, and on, and on—lots longer than a normal welcoming hug. Stephanie watched them with a big grin on her face, while I studied the stones in the concrete again.
    When they did separate, it was only to arms’ length so that they could look into each other’s eyes.
    ‘Oh, Alan,’ Vicky said softly, ‘it’s so good to see you.’
    Dad nodded. ‘You, too, Vicky.’
    After another minute or two, they finally parted and Dad was introduced to Stephanie. ‘Hello, Steph. Welcome to Hauruanui,’ he said, moving to also give her a hug.
    ‘Hi, Mr Wrightson,’ she responded, obviously enjoying the attention.
    ‘Call me Alan,’ said Dad, releasing her. ‘Nobody calls anybody mister around here, do they, Jake?’
    I mumbled some sort of response, unable to look at them. I was becoming increasingly upset with all the hugging and friendliness. We were not a hugging family, and here was my Dad hugging everyone within view. It was not the father I knew; all my concerns from the night before came flooding back. This visit was going to be a disaster. It was going to change my life unless I found some way of stopping it.
    Things didn’t improve when we got to our house. I had to carry the bags inside while Dad gave the guided tour. There was no problem with Stephanie’s bag: I took it into the spare bedroom and dumped it on the bed. But I couldn’t bring myself to take Vicky’s bags into Dad’sroom. So I just plonked them in the hallway as if I didn’t know where they should go. Then I went to my room to watch them walking around the section.
    Our house is down the side road that leads to Hauruanui Station. It’s old, but over the past few years we’ve done it up so that it looks pretty good. From my window I see a small patch of lawn, and then our mountains of machinery. And that Saturday, for the first time ever, I also saw women, and I didn’t like it.
    Vicky was reaching up to a branch on a tree, talking about aphids or something. Stephanie was walking around in circles, singing to herself. It gave me the chance to take a decent look at them both. There’s nothing much to say about Vicky except she looked like half of the mums we saw when we went to town: reasonably short hair; not fat, nor skinny; not short, nor tall; just your ordinary mum, aged, I guess, about forty.
    On the other hand, I thought there was something strange about Stephanie.