Free The Bone People by Keri Hulme Page A

Joe.
    Simon smiles a bland smile that somehow makes his face seem empty.
    Joe turns the queen round in his fingers, examining it from all sides.
    "Kerewin, politeness aside, was he good?" His voice deepens further, sounds less strained. The scarring lines that run down his
    cheeks and embitter his eyes and the corners of his mouth, lighten a moment. "You see, you--"
    She says hurriedly,
    "O, he was an excellent guest. He slept most of Saturday, and Piri Tainui arrived before lunch yesterday. At
    breakfast practically. He was no trouble, I assure you."
    "Lucky for you," says Joe to Simon. "Good for you," he amends, and shuffles the child's fringe back off his face. "Hell, I feel as awkward as a cow in a bog... I was going to say that you strike me as someone who'd
    accept a nuisance, and not make a fuss about it, Kerewin. So, for a beginning I thought, if he'd made a pest of
    himself, I'd fix that up before we went any further."
    Fix it up how? And where are we going? And me not make a fuss? Sheeeit,
    but she smiles nastily, while saying,
    "I had every intention of shunting him outa here within minutes of his discovery. But then there was his foot.
    And it started raining. So we had lunch. And then there was the question of who to send him to. All in all, he
    stayed. If he had made a nuisance of himself or pinched something, or something," now she can feel herself
    starting to blush, "I would just have dropped him quietly from the top of my Tower."
    Joe laughs.
    So does Simon, but stops his laughing short.
    "Save a lot of future trouble too, eh," says the man. "Look, would it offend you if I offered payment, say for his board?"
    "Yes."
    "Back in the bog," he says and laughs again, humourlessly. "Well..." dark head downbent, long brown fingers still fiddling with the chesspiece, "that's some of the background. It happens often enough, eh, but generally
    me or one of my Tainui relations pick him up and bring him home before he really gets anywhere. Or the
    police," he says, staring at the boy again.
    Simon is tracing the intricacies of the tatami mat with his forefinger, absorbed in doing so.
    "O."
    "You know, this is the first time he's ever ended up really staying with someone." Joe is still frowning at his son. "I was very curious to find out what was the attraction," glancing at her. Again that charming unlining smile.
    "Surprise, surprise, nothing sentient. It was the Tower itself, I expect. I've had other people come and gawk at it, but never anyone inside before. Now, that's a thing," she looks at the child. "Is he good at climbing?"
    Joe shrugs. "Not particularly. Why's that?"
    "Because he managed to get up into a window that has only a chest below it, and the distance between the
    chest and the sill is rather more than he is, and it's all smooth stone wall. If you follow?" "O?" says Joe, but enquiringly to his son, who sits up and gestures something too fast for her to follow.
    You need eyes like an archerfish, able to see what happens on two planes at once. One set for watching the
    hands, and the other for watching whatever it is he mouths.
    Joe interprets, after looking at her puzzled face,
    "He stood on the upraised lid of the chest and hoisted himself up. But the lid fell down and he wasn't game to
    jump to the floor."
    "Of course... simple and obvious when you know how." She grins, more to herself than either of them. "The only way I could see him doing it was like some kind of caterpillar with suckerfeet, humping up the wall."
    The man guffaws unrestrainedly, "Hear that, e tama?" and the boy smiles, politely, a mere facial twitch that lasts physically for two seconds but somehow lingers.
    "Anyone like more coffee?" asks Kerewin hastily. She gets up before they answer, and brings the pot across.
    The trip is mainly to hide her face. There is something rather hardboiled about that brat, who can smile as
    he's bid and wind up looking like he's wondering how you'd taste.
    As she tops up the cups, the boy stands and