Chapter 11

Mikaere

It is Sunday. Mikaere is due to arrive late morning. Given recent events it seems unfortunate that he is to arrive just now, but as I try to make his room somewhat welcoming I think I appreciate the distraction. Maybe he’ll be company for me. But I hardly know him at all. I wish I’d tried to talk to him when I was in Tuakau for that fateful weekend. I don’t have much food in the house. I wonder if he cooks. He didn’t have much of a chance at the weekend, particularly when Moana took over. The basis of lunch will be roll-mop herrings, from a jar I found in the nearest supermarket, which I can walk to in twenty minutes. I will boil some potatoes and I have some salad, though not very appetising. It’ll have to do.

It is 12.30 when Mikaere arrives, on the Lambretta that Hemi had been working on. While he seemed shy in Tuakau, he seems more comfortable than I expected on arriving at the house. I ask him about the Lambretta. It still looks pretty scruffy and Mikaere says that Hemi had been intending to paint the side panels but at the last minute decided to give it to him and there was no time.

“So Aroha will get her dining table back,” I surmise.

“Perhaps. He has started on a new bike, a large classic British bike, a Norton Commando. He may use my room while I’m up here, though.”

“I expect that big bike is more his style,” I suggest.

“Yes, but mainly he likes to be different. He won’t touch a Harley.”

I show him his room and he seems happy. I suggest he might like to keep the Lambretta in the concrete shed in the back garden, which is currently empty. He has a look at that and is even happier and puts it away immediately. He says he will buy a padlock for it tomorrow. He brought what he could in a backpack and says he will go back to Tuakau next weekend and bring more clothes next time. He doesn’t seem to have a laptop, which is strange for someone about to start an IT course. But he did find room for some produce from the Tuakau garden: some interesting looking tomatoes, which he says are Brandywine Pinks, and a couple of apple cucumbers. I start to prepare lunch and he seems, with hardly a word, to know just how to help. One of the large tomatoes and a cucumber help liven up the salad and we sit down in a quiet companionable way for some lunch. I say I hope he’ll be comfortable here and he beams and says he thinks he’ll be very comfortable. “Won’t you miss your family in Tuakau?”

“Not really. It’s good to get away. It’s a bit crowded down there.”

Oddly, I think this might work. Aroha had clearly already worked that out. After lunch, Mikaere automatically clears away and does the washing up very efficiently. I had wondered how we were going to arrange the food but he seems keen to work in with me and we work out a rough menu for the week. He says he can go to the supermarket on the Lambretta, which is helpful as it is rather a long walk back with shopping. He also asks whether I should get a helmet so I can ride pillion on the Lambretta. At first, I wonder whether this is a good idea. Is this a good look for a new Gender Studies Professor? I decide it is the perfect look.

Mikaere looks over the odd pieces of furniture I obtained and we sit down. I ask him about his course. For the first time since his arrival he seems uncomfortable. He hesitates and then says he has a confession to make. “I told mama I was starting a course on IT, and she’s giving me money for it. I am starting a course, but it’s not for information technicians. It’s for beauty technicians.”

When will this country stop springing surprises on me? I feel I need to say something. “What do you learn there?”

“Skin care, makeup techniques, eyebrow shaping, eyelashes, fragrances, nails. You can specialise.”

“What is your main interest?”

“Just makeup, really.” I evidently don’t use a lot of makeup but even so he says, “You wouldn’t let me practice on you, would you?” I make a vow. Yes, I will be made up, in the privacy of my own home. Yes, I will ride on the back of the Lambretta, but not in makeup.

So, I’m placed on a chair in the kitchen, where Mikaere thinks the lighting is good and he inspects my face rather more closely than I’m really comfortable with, but not in any kind of judgmental way. Then he proceeds to carry out some systematic steps. He clearly knows his craft pretty well already. But I don’t get to see the result until he is finished and hands me a small mirror which he had as part of his kit. I burst out laughing. He looks hurt. But I give his arm a small squeeze and say, “Oh you are so professional. It is just so unlike my usual look.” He seems genuinely gratified. What a contrast! Hemi just wanted to have sex with me. Mikaere values me as a congenial landlady and blank canvas for his makeup skills.

We make some dinner together out of various odds and ends I have in the house. He’s pretty good at improvising meals. He says, very sweetly, that he would like to cook for me but he would also enjoy us cooking together. He starts to suggest ways of rearranging items in the kitchen. It is really very strange. The shy boy I barely spoke to down at Tuakau seems to be instantly comfortable with me, which has the effect of breaking down any reserve I might have. I think he must really have been dying to get away from home and by an odd chance ended up with me, someone still in the process of setting up house and someone who, frankly, could do with some help in doing so.

Lying in bed that night I contemplate how Mikaere moving in could really be a blessing. Best of all, it has been a momentary distraction from the events around Sammy’s death and the whole business with Zoltan. Tomorrow I will meet my ‘new Masters student’ Maria. I don’t know what she’ll have to say, but I’ll try to be helpful.