Chapter 50 #2
“Yes,” Scarlett said. “We could start out doing that, and then see.”
“I could be in charge of ordering,” Finlay said. “I’m good at computer things.”
“But who’s in charge of fixing breakfast and lunch?” Scarlett asked. “Skylar will think she is, because she always thinks so. She was in the kitchen this morning to do it until you told her to go back to bed and cooked the eggs yourself.”
“That’s why we have this list,” Zane said. “So she can see it’s taken care of, and she doesn’t have to think of everything and give orders, or start doing it all herself. Very simple meals, I think. Cereal, fruit, toast, eggs, like that. And sandwiches for lunch? Prepared soups?”
“Mum gives us other things along with sandwiches, too,” Finlay said.
“Carrots and apples and kiwifruit and grapes and mandarins, because those things are pretty cheap when they’re in season, and they’re good for you.
She slices everything up, too, because she says kids eat more fruits and veggies if they’re already sliced.
We could do that, and get ham and cheese and tuna for the sandwiches.
Mum likes pastrami and salami, too, and so do we, but they’re more expensive. You can get ham that’s pretty cheap.”
“Sounds good,” Zane said. “And if your mum likes pastrami and salami, buy it. We’ll set up that online thing today, I’ll put in my credit card, and we’ll be good to go. What d’you reckon? Think you two can handle breakfasts and lunches?”
“Yes,” Finlay said, “and the medium kids can do the washing-up, because it’ll just be putting plates and things in the dishwasher.”
“And the frying pan for the eggs,” Scarlett said. “They could lay the table, too. And Finlay and I could switch off on cooking, so one of us does breakfast one day and the other one does lunch, and the next day, we switch. Because lunch is more work.”
“And if you don’t know how to do eggs well enough yet,” Finlay said, “I could cook them with you.”
Scarlett said, “I know how!”
“Oh,” Finlay said. “I just thought, in case.”
Zane’s marker was moving through the list. “Laundry next. That’s a big one. What should we do about that?”
“We could use the dryer,” Finlay said. “It’s not as eco-friendly, and it’s very expensive, but it means nobody has to iron, and ironing is heaps of work and maybe lifting.”
“It would be less work anyway,” Scarlett said, “because you don’t have to hang out the clothes or bring them in. But it’s not good for the environment.”
“We won’t worry about the environment for a few weeks,” Zane said. “Then we can go back to our earth-saving ways.”
“I guess,” Scarlett said. “Although it’s probably bad.”
“Everybody can help fold,” Finlay said, moving on from that. Which was good, because no question, Skylar would’ve been hanging out all those clothes in a heartbeat. Wet clothes for seven people? Sheets? Towels? No. “If we do a wash every day, it won’t be so much at one time.”
“How would you divvy up the laundry responsibility?” Zane asked. “As co-captains?”
Scarlett said, “I can be in charge of putting the laundry into the washer and dryer every morning after breakfast, as long as Skylar teaches me. Nan says some clothes are more fragile, so there are different rules for them. And Finlay can be in charge of making sure everything gets folded.”
“After lunch,” Finlay said. “We should put times on the list so we know when we have to do the different things. And so Mum doesn’t think we won’t do it and starts doing it herself.
That happens sometimes, because she doesn’t really like to yell, especially if she’s already tired.
So I’ll say that I can do the food ordering at breakfast time, so people can tell me what they want, and we’ll fold the laundry after lunch.
We’ll have to make a different plan once term starts, but we’ll know better by then how long it takes. ”
“Good,” Zane said, and wrote it all down.
“And with the little kids,” Finlay said, “I should be in charge of George, and Scarlett should be in charge of Georgia. That’s who’s in our whanau, and it’s also boys with boys and girls with girls, which is better and not embarrassing.
But you should put “Stories” on there and put Mum down for that, because she’ll feel bad if she doesn’t have anything. ”
Zane found some tape and stuck the sheets to the wall, and the three of them stood back and contemplated them.
“We didn’t assign her bathroom,” Zane said.
“We could all do it, I guess,” Finlay said. “Except that I don’t know how.”
“Right,” Zane said. “Bathroom’s mine, then.
I’ll clean it before I go, and again when I’m here on Tuesday.
All this is going to be some work, though.
Think you’ll be able to keep it up? If you don’t, Skylar’s going to think she has to jump in and do it, and it’ll be hard for her to give it up again. ”
“We can do it,” Scarlett said. “It’s only for about nine days, and then some later, during term time. But that won’t be as much, because we’ll be in school all day. Especially if we eat lunch from the canteen instead of bringing it from home.”
“That’s a very good idea,” Finlay said. “As long as it’s not too expensive.”
“I’ll see that it works out,” Zane said. “I think I can see my way clear to buying some canteen lunches for two weeks.”
“What’s wrong with my mum, though?” Finlay said. “Why hasn’t she said?”
“She did,” Zane said. “She had an obstruction. They fixed it, but she needs to recover from the surgery.”
“Yes, but what kind of obstruction?” Finlay asked. “An obstruction can be cancer. I looked it up.”
How was he meant to handle this? He said, “Can we table that for a minute?”
“What does that mean?” Finlay asked.
“We set it aside,” Zane said, “until we finish this.”
Scarlett said, “We should tell the other kids, too. Like a presentation.”
“Good idea,” Zane said. “It’s a team effort, and everybody in the team needs to know their role.”
“What’s your role, Dad?” Scarlett asked.
Zane looked over his rather messy list. “Right now, to rewrite this and tape it up better, because it’s going to stay here. And on Tuesday, I reckon my role is to …” He stopped.
“To help wash all the sheets and towels,” Finlay said, “and then to help us re-make the beds with clean sheets. That’s a separate thing, so you should add it.
It’s heaps of work, and doing big beds is harder.
Also bunk beds. Mum did Georgia’s top bunk when we stayed here before, because you have to be tall and to balance. I don’t think she should be balancing.”
“Right,” Zane said, and added it at the bottom of the list. “I’ll also put myself down for going to the shops and getting anything that’s been forgotten, or anything special your mum wants. And for picking up a takeaway for dinner. Chinese, I think.”
“Or kebabs,” Finlay said.
“We’ll vote,” Zane said. “Everybody will deserve a takeaway after we do all this. A takeaway every Tuesday. That works for me.”
Skylar couldn’t stand it anymore. Too many feet on the stairs, and too many voices. What was going on out there? Also, nobody had brought her that cup of tea, and she wanted it. She headed back out to the dining room.
It looked like a boardroom, with Zane as the CEO. He had two big sheets of paper taped to a wall and was holding forth. All he needed was a laser pointer to complete the picture.
He stopped when he saw her, though, and said, “We’re not ready for you yet.”
She didn’t answer. That was because she was reading the list. And starting to cry.
Zane was there in an instant, his arm going around her as he walked her to a chair and sat her down in it. He crouched beside her, held her hand, and asked, “What? Oh, bugger. I forgot your tea.”
“I’ll make it,” Scarlett said, and stood.
“You—” Skylar said, waving an arm. “You—”
The other kids had crowded around her now, anxiety on their faces. Finlay said, “Why won’t anybody tell me what’s wrong? You never cry. Is it because you have cancer?”
She waved a hand in front of her face. “Get me a box of tissues, please?”
More fuss for the next couple of minutes, after which she had her cup of tea before her and had blown her nose and was saying, “I interrupted you. It’s just so …
so sweet of you to do this. All of you. And totally unnecessary.
I’ll be fine. Of course I can go to the shops and do the washing!
I may need some help hanging things out, but I can—”
“No,” Finlay said, “because we already arranged it.”
“But we need jobs too,” Duncan said. “Olive and I are eight.”
“You have jobs,” Scarlett said. “You’re doing the washing-up at breakfast and lunch.”
“And helping to fold laundry,” Finlay said.
“You don’t have anybody for putting away groceries,” Olive said.
“Even if you order them, they still have to be put away. Duncan and I could be in charge of that. If we don’t know where everything goes, Mum, maybe you could tell us.
You could sit down to do it, and after a few times, we’d probably know. ”
“And George and I could read you stories, Skylar,” Georgia said. “If you needed to rest.” Which was about the sweetest thing Skylar had ever heard.
“You also don’t have anybody for Snowball,” Duncan said. “Olive and I can do that, too. We can feed him, and also clean his litter box.”
“Now that,” Skylar said, “I have no objection to relinquishing. Thank you. But really, this is—”
“What your kids and my kids want to do,” Zane said. “To help you for the rest of the holidays, and then for your first couple of weeks once term starts. As you’ve done so much for them. Whanau strong, eh.” Which made Skylar cry again. Stupid hormones.
Scarlett said, “I didn’t realize how much you did, all the weekends when Dad was gone, until we wrote it all down, but it’s heaps.
And cooking school, too. And in Wellington.
Plus, there are six of us to do things, plus Nan and Mr. Bulstrode, and Dad when he’s back, so it’s not really that much work for anyone, as long as Finlay and I supervise right and everyone does their bit.
If Nan doesn’t want to cook some night, even, I could probably do it. ”
“Or you and I could do it together,” Finlay said. “As long as it wasn’t something very hard. We could probably do burgers. Those are easy. But you never answered me to say what’s wrong, Mum. You didn’t even say when I asked you if it was cancer!”
“It’s not cancer,” she said. “I told you, I had an obstruction.”
“But that’s cancer.” Finlay’s voice had risen a bit. “You don’t want to tell us because you don’t think we can cope, but we can. And if you have cancer, you have to get treatment and things, so you’ll need us to keep helping! We have to know.”
“It wasn’t—” She looked at Zane, who said, “Whatever you think.”
Well, that was heaps of help.