To The Race—A Son by R. Denness After the meeting the old man sat under the shade of the old puriri tree, watching the antics of the laughing, half-naked children as they tusselled each other in their play. For a while he sat there, peacefully leaning against the tree, thinking back to the days of his own childhood. Of the times he fought and yelled like these children before him now—of the times he was the fastest runner—of the times he was battered and beaten in a fight—of the times when no one would play with him, for a reason that he couldn't recall, and of the mischief and accidents that befell him. And the tanning he used to get from his father and the constant worried expression on his mother's face; he could see it all now—how each incident overlapped. Suddenly a cry of ‘a fight! a fight!’ broke in upon his thoughts, and his attention focussed on the children, who had suddenly gathered into a circle. He couldn't see what was going on for a while, but as the children slowly moved away from the scene of the fighting, he saw a young boy standing alone. Raising his carved stick, the old man reached out and jabbed one of the boys, who was playing a type of ‘Simon Says’ game with a companion, and pointing the boy out to them, he asked if they knew who he was. ‘Ah, do you know Rusty Gage,’ volunteered the biggest, ‘he got caught pinching some things off a boat, well, that's his sister's kid. She used to work for Mr Cunningham, the blacksmith, you know him, he tried to put a stop to all that tohunga stuff. My mother doesn't like him because of that, and she said that he was a bit of a devil himself.’ The old man glared at the two, then slowly rose and walked to where the boy was standing. He stood a few feet away from him, looking at the small poignant face with its sandy-coloured hair, and the thin straight body. With his colouring and build he looked so out of place amongst the other brown-eyed, thick-set children. ‘Hey you there boy.’ The boy turned with a start to see where the voice was coming from, and as he turned the old man was surprised to notice the clear