Just Once More (22 page)

Koti laughed. “And you’re not, eh. Too tough. And yet I could swear I saw a tear or two there.”

“Could be,” she conceded.

“Reka went through an entire pack of tissues,” Hemi said with satisfaction.

“And handed you one,” she pointed out, which got a laugh from everybody.

“It was beautiful,” Kristen said. “They looked so happy.”

“They did. And I may have teared up a bit there too,” Koti admitted. “After yesterday…” He sighed. “I guess I’m still emotional. I’ve never played a test match as tough as that in my life, and I never will. And I’m not sure that I haven’t changed my mind about getting you pregnant again,” he told Kate.

“Too late,” she said. “I have a feeling you’ve done the damage.”

He stared at her. “You can’t know that yet.”

“No?” she said. “You wait and see.”

He looked stunned, and everybody else was smiling.

“We won’t ask when,” Hemi said. “We’ll show a bit of delicacy.”

“So many weddings,” Reka said. “It made me wonder, what happens to the Yaris now? I saw it behind Drew and Hannah’s garage the other day,” she told Kristen. “A bit small for mum and baby, you reckoned?”

“Yeh,” Liam said, his arm as usual around the back of Kristen’s chair. “Time to retire it.”

“It happens,” Reka said. “Though for me, it took three babies.” She looked at Hemi. “But I won’t hold that against you.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Kate was holding up a hand. “The Yaris was
yours?
But I got it from Hannah.”

Reka looked at Hemi, and they were both smiling.

“Because we weren’t allowed to say,” Hemi said. “Drew bought it from me to give Hannah when she moved to En Zed. Didn’t want her to know where it came from. Or, more likely, how much it cost him. She tended to get a bit stroppy about her independence in those days, eh.”

“Those Yank girls can be like that,” Koti said with a grin, which made Kate elbow him in the side.

“Rightly so,” she told him. “You’d have run right over me otherwise.”

“Never,” he pronounced. “Never, ever happen.”

“So you had it first, Reka,” Kate said. “And then Hannah, and then she loaned it to me, and then I got…done with it.”

“And then she loaned it to me,” Kristen said.

“And me,” Ally piped up from beyond Kristen. “I got a speeding ticket in that car. Probably the only one it’s ever seen.”

“Yeh,” Reka sighed with satisfaction. “That little car seems to be a bit of a charm, doesn’t it? Almost hate to see her sell it. It’s like…the Sisterhood of the Traveling Toyota. Makes you wonder where it’ll turn up next.”

“Because surely,” Hemi said, “there’s another pretty girl out there somewhere holding a boarding pass for New Zealand. And another All Black just waiting to take a fall.”

The End

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Turn the page for a Kiwi glossary.

A few notes about Maori pronunciation:

• The accent is normally on the first syllable.
  
• All vowels are pronounced separately.
  
• All vowels except u have a short vowel sound.
  
• “wh” is pronounced “f.”
  
• “ng” is pronounced as in “singer,” not as in “anger.”
  

ABs:
All Blacks

across the Ditch:
in Australia (across the Tasman Sea). Or, if you’re in Australia, in New Zealand!

advert:
commercial

agro:
aggravation

air con:
air conditioning

All Blacks:
National rugby team. Members are selected for every series from amongst the five NZ Super 15 teams. The All Blacks play similarly selected teams from other nations.

ambo:
paramedic

Aotearoa:
New Zealand (the other official name, meaning “The Land of the Long White Cloud" in Maori)

arvo, this arvo:
afternoon

Aussie, Oz:
Australia. (An Australian is also an Aussie. Pronounced “Ozzie.”)

bach:
holiday home (pronounced like “bachelor”)

backs:
rugby players who aren’t in the scrum and do more running, kicking, and ball-carrying—though all players do all jobs and play both offense and defense. Backs tend to be faster and leaner than forwards.

bangers and mash:
sausages and potatoes

barrack for:
cheer for

bench:
counter (kitchen bench)

berko:
berserk

Big Smoke:
the big city (usually Auckland)

bikkies:
cookies

billy-o, like billy-o:
like crazy. “I paddled like billy-o and just barely made it through that rapid.”

bin, rubbish bin:
trash can

bit of a dag:
a comedian, a funny guy

bits and bobs:
stuff (“be sure you get all your bits and bobs”)

blood bin:
players leaving field for injury

Blues:
Auckland’s Super 15 team

bollocks:
rubbish, nonsense

boofhead:
fool, jerk

booking:
reservation

boots and all:
full tilt, no holding back

bot, the bot:
flu, a bug

Boxing Day:
December 26—a holiday

brekkie:
breakfast

brilliant:
fantastic

bub:
baby, small child

buggered:
messed up, exhausted

bull’s roar:
close. “They never came within a bull’s roar of winning.”

bunk off:
duck out, skip (bunk off school)

bust a gut:
do your utmost, make a supreme effort

Cake Tin:
Wellington’s rugby stadium (not the official name, but it looks exactly like a springform pan)

caravan:
travel trailer

cardie:
a cardigan sweater

CBD:
Central Business District; downtown

chat up:
flirt with

chilly bin:
ice chest

chips:
French fries. (potato chips are “crisps”)

chocolate bits:
chocolate chips

chocolate fish:
pink or white marshmallow coated with milk chocolate, in the shape of a fish. A common treat/reward for kids (and for adults. You often get a chocolate fish on the saucer when you order a mochaccino—a mocha).

choice:
fantastic

chokka:
full

chooks:
chickens

Chrissy:
Christmas

chuck out:
throw away

chuffed:
pleased

collywobbles:
nervous tummy, upset stomach

come a greaser:
take a bad fall

costume, cossie:
swimsuit (female only)

cot:
crib (for a baby)

crook:
ill

cuddle:
hug (give a cuddle)

cuppa:
a cup of tea (the universal remedy)

CV:
resumé

cyclone:
hurricane (Southern Hemisphere)

dairy:
corner shop (not just for milk!)

dead:
very; e.g., “dead sexy.”

dill:
fool

do your block:
lose your temper

dob in:
turn in; report to authorities. Frowned upon.

doco:
documentary

doddle:
easy. “That’ll be a doddle.”

dodgy:
suspect, low-quality

dogbox:
The doghouse—in trouble

dole:
unemployment.

dole bludger:
somebody who doesn’t try to get work and lives off unemployment (which doesn’t have a time limit in NZ)

Domain:
a good-sized park; often the “official” park of the town.

dressing gown:
bathrobe

drongo:
fool (Australian, but used sometimes in NZ as well)

drop your gear:
take off your clothes

duvet:
comforter

earbashing:
talking-to, one-sided chat

electric jug:
electric teakettle to heat water. Every Kiwi kitchen has one.

En Zed:
Pronunciation of NZ. (“Z” is pronounced “Zed.”)

ensuite:
master bath (a bath in the bedroom).

eye fillet:
premium steak (filet mignon)

fair go:
a fair chance. Kiwi ideology: everyone deserves a fair go.

fair wound me up:
Got me very upset

fantail:
small, friendly native bird

farewelled, he’ll be farewelled:
funeral; he’ll have his funeral.

feed, have a feed:
meal

first five, first five-eighth:
rugby back—does most of the big kicking jobs and is the main director of the backs. Also called the No. 10.

fixtures:
playing schedule

fizz, fizzie:
soft drink

fizzing:
fired up

flaked out:
tired

flash:
fancy

flat to the boards:
at top speed

flat white:
most popular NZ coffee. An espresso with milk but no foam.

flattie:
roommate

flicks:
movies

flying fox:
zipline

footpath:
sidewalk

footy, football:
rugby

forwards:
rugby players who make up the scrum and do the most physical battling for position. Tend to be bigger and more heavily muscled than backs.

fossick about:
hunt around for something

front up:
face the music, show your mettle

garden:
yard

get on the piss:
get drunk

get stuck in:
commit to something

give way:
yield

giving him stick, give him some stick about it:
teasing, needling

glowworms:
larvae of a fly found only in NZ. They shine a light to attract insects. Found in caves or other dark, moist places.

go crook, be crook:
go wrong, be ill

go on the turps:
get drunk

gobsmacked:
astounded

good hiding:
beating (“They gave us a good hiding in Dunedin.”)

grotty:
grungy, badly done up

ground floor:
what we call the first floor. The “first floor” is one floor up.

gumboots
, gummies: knee-high rubber boots. It rains a lot in New Zealand.

gutted:
thoroughly upset

Haast’s Eagle:
(extinct). Huge native NZ eagle. Ate moa.

haere mai:
Maori greeting

haka:
ceremonial Maori challenge—done before every All Blacks game

halfback:
No. 9 in rugby. With the first-five (No. 10), directs the game. Also feeds the scrum and generally collects the ball from the ball carrier at the breakdown and distributes it.

hang on a tick:
wait a minute

hard man:
the tough guy, the enforcer

hard yakka:
hard work (from Australian)

harden up:
toughen up. Standard NZ (male) response to (male) complaints: “Harden the f*** up!”

have a bit on:
I have placed a bet on [whatever]. Sports gambling and prostitution are both legal in New Zealand.

have a go:
try

Have a nosy for…:
look around for

head:
principal (headmaster)

head down:
or head down, bum up. Put your head down. Work hard.

heaps:
lots. “Give it heaps.”

hei toki:
pendant (Maori)

holiday:
vacation

honesty box:
a small stand put up just off the road with bags of fruit and vegetables and a cash box. Very common in New Zealand.

hooker:
rugby position (forward)

hooning around:
driving fast, wannabe tough-guy behavior (typically young men)