A Home Away From Home He Kainga Atu by Katarina Mataira E noho ana a Hinerau i roto i tona kihini, e unu ti ana, e kai hikareti ana. Ngenge atu tona ahua. Katahi ano nga tamariki ka riro atu ki te kura, ko te ata hoki tenei o te Mane. E putu mai ana nga taputapu paru i runga i te tepu, ka huri hoki ona whakaaro ki nga kakahu paru e takoto mai ana i te whare horoikakahu. Me tona whare hoki—aue te paru ano! Ka pau tonu tenei ra i te whakatikatika whare. Ka whakaaro ia, ‘Koenei te mate o te nui rawa o te tangata i te whare.’ E noho tonu ana ia, ka huaki te tatau. Ko Miha e tu mai ana, kei te miri tonu i te moe ki waho o ona whatu. Katahi ano a Miha ka matiki, kua ki mai, ‘He aha te taima?’ ‘E hoa, kua riro noa atu to pahi. E kore koutou e tae ki te mahi i tenei ata. I haere mai au ki te whakaoho i a koutou, engari pai rawa te moe. Kore rawa koutou e oreore.’ ‘Tino kino te mahi pati nei. Kare koe e taringi wai ki runga i a matau.’ ‘Kare tonu koutou e oho i te wai. Hei aha maku te whakamaku moenga.’ Ka tu a Hinerau ki te mahi kai. Engari no tona haerenga atu ki te ‘fridge’ he paunu pata noa iho i reira, me te toenga miti o ta ratau kai o te po. Kua pau katoa nga heki, nga totiti, me te pekena. Ahakoa, ka timata ia ki te pira riki ki roto i te parai, ka mea atu he hinu me nga toenga kai. Hihi mai ana nga kai i runga i te to, ka puta mai ko Whai raua ko Peta. Haere atu ana enei ki te tepu. ‘Ka mutu tonu nga kai mo ta koutou parakuihi. Kia haere rawa au ki nga toa, katahi ano tatau ka whiwhi kai.’ ‘Kei te pai tena. Ka rawe tenei.’ Ko Whai e korero ana. ‘Mehemea kare koe i whangai i o hoa haurangi kua whiwhi heki tatau mo ta tatau parakuihi.’ Ko Peta e korero ana. Ka ki atu a Hinerau, ‘Hei aha. E kai.’ Ahakoa to ratau moeroa, e katakata ana a Whai raua ko Peta, e whakatoi atu ana ki a hinerau was sitting over a cup of tea and a cigarette in her kitchen. She looked very tired. It was a Monday morning and the children had just scampered off to school. Hinerau looked unhappily at the pile of dirty dishes on the table and shuddered at the thought of all those dirty clothes in the laundry which would have to be washed. As for her house—oh dear—she was going to have to work all day to put it right again. ‘This comes from having too many people in the house,’ she thought. She was still sitting at the table when the door opened. Miha stood there rubbing the sleep from his eyes, having just rolled out of bed. ‘What's the time?' he asked anxiously. ‘Your bus went long ago mate,’ replied Hinerau. ‘Not one of you will get to work this morning. I tried to wake you earlier but couldn’t get a peep out of you.' ‘It's this jolly party business. Why didn't you pour some water over us?' ‘A fat lot of use that would have been. I would have only wet the beds.’ Hinerau stood up to prepare some breakfast. There was only a pound of butter in the refrigerator and some leftovers from the meal of the night before, so she sliced an onion into the frying pan, added the leftovers and a little dripping and set the pan on the stove. Almost as soon as the food began hissing on the stove, Whai and Peta appeared and moved straight over to the table. ‘I’m afraid this is all there is for your breakfast, boys,' said Hinerau. ‘There won’t be anything else until I go to the shops.' ‘That's okay, this is good,' said Whai. ‘If you hadn’t fed all those drunken cobbers of yours yesterday,' said Peta, ‘there would have been some eggs for breakfast.’ ‘They were your cobbers too!’ argued Whai. ‘Never mind, eat,’ said Hinerau.