Rua sighed. The last of the holidays were past, which meant
it was finally time for the decorations to come down.
It
also meant that winter break would soon be over.
She
was lost in thought, staring out at the ocean through the front window. Rua
jumped with a shriek as her brother plopped a large empty tote down behind her.
“Tane,
you jerk,” she scolded.
“What?”
Tane laughed at her. “You should have seen your face just now.”
“You
wanna see stars?” Rua asked with a raised fist.
“Whoa
now,” he said with his hands held up defensively.
“Sorry,”
she started, and dropped her fist. “I was thinking about mom. . .”
“Yeah
. . .”
They
stood for a long moment in the silence of the house.
“Rarotonga
isn’t the same as Aitutaki,” Rua started, “there’s more tourists than anything.
Plus just so many people.”
Tane
looked at her, then started laughing heartily.
“What?”
“You
want to go to Auckland for grad school, and you think Rarotonga has too many
people?” Tane said with a smile.
“Well
. . .,” Rua replied.
“Listen,”
Tane said “Where is our father right now?”
“On
his ship somewhere . . .”
“Right!”
Tane exclaimed as he put an arm around his sister. “Do you think he spends all
those months at sea just so you can doubt yourself.”
Rua
put her head down to hide her red face and grin.
“You’re
THE top student in all the islands,” Tane said. “Have at least a little
confidence.”
“Sorry,”
Rua said.
“No,
but you will be if you give up so soon. You’ve just started school, have some
confidence,” Tane said.
Rua
looked up, thin streams covering her face. Before she could say another word,
Tane tightened his arm around her and started to give her a noogie. Rua quickly
pushed her way out of his arm, laughing.
“Get
back here!” Tane yelled, laughing himself.
Rua
ran out of the room, out the front door, and down the beach. Tane chased close
behind her. Both of the were laughing the whole way.
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