Okarito, Lorne

Lorne was not having a good day. As a matter of fact, it was stink! - the worst day ever.

It started off when he woke up alone. He was used now to waking alongside Logan. They had a temporary bedroom set up in one of the old barns. It was pretty rough, but they hung old blankets around the walls and it was a good bed – warm, dry and comfortable with plenty of room for the pair of them.

But it was way too big for one person and cold too, without Logan's warm body in there with him. It had been two nights so far, he missed him like hell and he hated being alone. And there was still two more nights to go. Dammit!

Logan didn't care. If he did he wouldn't have gone off on his stupid football trip and left Lorne like this – home alone.

It seemed like he'd spent most of his life alone, and here he was back there again. Stuff Logan! He hoped that he was as miserable as he was, but he doubted it. Logan liked football, Lorne didn't.

He was happy to train with him, running up and down hills, lifting weights, swimming and biking, but when it came to actually playing the game – no thanks. He was useless and couldn't be bothered trying.

Rugby was all muddy and grubby and who wants to stick their head between others' butts?

So Logan played and he got to go away on school-trips. Lorne did not and he didn't. That didn't worry him, but he missed his mate when he wasn't there. Today was Friday and he wouldn't be home until Sunday night, which was stink.

Grumpy before he even got out of bed, he wrapped-up in his big dressing-gown, something he never had to worry about before Karen and her boys moved in, and went into the house to get a shower.

The 'House' – that was a joke. It was nothing but an old shack. It was, just, big enough when it was just his dad and him, but now Karen and her boys had moved in too, it was way too crowded. Seemed like he spent half his life these days waiting for someone else to get out of the way.

Sure enough, when he got inside, somebody was already in the shower, so he had to wait – again. He sat and scowled at the fire. Jack was the smallest kid in the place and he always took the longest in the shower. Probably just trying to hold everyone up. It was not like he had a lot to wash anyway.

Brad came in, with an armload of wood, and rudely shoved Lorne's legs out of the way. “Move it will ya!”

“Don't talk to me like that, you little shit!” He didn't kick him, but he felt like it. He just put a foot on his knees and pushed.

Brad staggered back and dropped the woods with a mighty crash. “Now look what you done, ya Ignorant Pig!” he yelled.

“It's your own fuckin' fault anyway!” Lorne yelled back.

Brad picked up a bit of wood and swung it at him. Lorne ducked, then grabbed another bit and fended him off Neither of them was backing down and they cursed and swore at each other.

“I hate you, Lorne. I fucking hate you – Faggety-arsed Prick!”

“I hate you more, you Little Bastard!”

“That will do!!!” Karen yelled at the top of her voice. “I'm fucking sick of this. Stop it and stop the bloody swearing!”

“Well he started it,” Lorne protested.

“I don't care who started it. It's over. Lorne, go and get in the shower. Brad, pick up this wood and clean-up your mess.”

“Not my mess, it's Lorne's. He shoved me and made me drop it all.”

“What? He just pushed you over for no reason at all? A likely story! Pick it up, Brad. Lorne, go.”

“What's all the yelling about in here?” Dan came in from out on the deck.

“Nothing new. Just these two fighting again.”

“About time you started acting your age, Lorne. You're far too big to be carrying on like this.”

“What about him? Am I supposed to just sit and take whatever this Little Shit dishes out, am I?”

“If you've got any complaints, you come and see Karen or me. Keep your hands to yourself.”

“I will when he does!” He stormed off to the bathroom.

Damm. He was starting to feel like a second-class citizen in his own home! His dad always took Karen's side and she always sided with her boys. He had no-one to support him, except Logan and he wasn't there was he? Damm and bugger the lot of them.

He finished in the shower, dried and dressed and went back for his breakfast. Had to get his own, of course. Karen was far too busy to worry about him. He sat down at the table, finally, and scowled at Jack when he grinned at him.

“Not having a good day?”

“Shaddup, Jack. Mind your own.”

“Don't start again,” Karen growled.

“Sheesh! Not even allowed to talk now. Can I breathe?”

“Can you not?” Brad retorted.

Dan said, “That's enough from the pair of you. Not another word! And hurry up. The sooner everyone's finished, the sooner we can go. I've got a big day today.”

He sat eating quietly and minding his own business. Brad and Jack were both trying to get a rise out of him, pulling faces and grinning at each other, but he didn't react. He wouldn't give the little swine the satisfaction.

Damm, he missed the days when it was just his dad, his granddad and him. He wished that Karen had never moved in with her tribe.

Not Logan though, he was okay. It was just his annoying little shits of brothers who were hard to live with.

He finished, went back to his room for his schoolbag, then sat out by the car to catch up on his texts. Nothing! There were a couple from others who he didn't care about so much, but the one he wanted to hear from was Logan and there was nothing from him, not a single bloody one.

Screw him anyway and screw his dumb-arse football mates too! Why Logan would ever prefer them to him, he'd never know. But he did, didn't he? He was with them and not here, at home, where he belonged. Fuck him anyway!

Logan didn't like him using the 'F' word. He said it was rude and crude and showed a dumb lack of vocabulary. But sometimes, like now, it was the only word that fit. Fuck him. Fuck his family and fuck the horse they rode in on. Did that feel any better? Not really.

Dan and Karen and the others came out, so he had to ride in the back with the brats. At least he got a window. He was not going to sit in between them.

Jack said, Are you working in town today, Dad?”

(Lorne wished he wouldn't do that. Dan was his dad, not these two's.)

“Just for a couple of hours. I've got a few things to take care of, and then I'll be coming back home.”

“How are we going to get home,?” Brad asked.

“You're not,” Karen replied. “You're going to your dad's for the weekend. Go to Gran's after school and he'll pick you up from there.”

“Me too?” said Jack.

“Yes, of course you too.”

Dan said, “I'll be back to get Karen at 4.30. You be there waiting at her office, Lorne, or you'll be walking home.”

“I'm just supposed to hang around until then, am I?”

“Of course. It's a nice day; it won't kill you.”

('Would you care if it did? Probably not – you've got these brats to call you 'Dad' now.)

They dropped the kids off outside their school and Lorne had to walk from there. It was only a couple of hundred meters, but that's not the point!

He arrived at the school and his rotten day didn't get any better – it got worse.

He walked in from the steet and passed a group of giggling, gossiping girls. They were like a coven of witches standing around a cauldron, except they didn't have a cauldron. They looked, he frowned and Alison Doyle reacted. “Who bit your bum today?”

“Probably nobody. That'd be his problem, “ Janie Hines chipped in.

“Eww!”

Usually he'd grin and shrug-off remarks like that, but not today. It rankled and he was so not in the mood for this. “Fuck-up you dirty-minded bitches!”

He probably should not have said that, too late now. He walked past them and into school. But they weren't letting it go and they all followed him.

“Who the fuck d'you think you are? We're not the ones shacking up and screwing every night of the week!”

“No. And don't you wish! Maybe you need bigger dildoes, then you wouldn't be so jealous.”

Okay, definitely he shouldn't have said that, but – whatever. He was not in the mood to be nice. They weren't being nice either, and they weren't going to. They all followed him, spitting insults and abuse all the way.

He tried ignoring them, that didn't work. It just carried on all day and others were joining in too. Mobs of kids can be just plain nasty when they've got someone to pick on. Today he was the someone, worse luck.

This wouldn't be happening if Logan was there with him. But he wasn't, was he? Damm him.

By lunchtime he'd had enough – more than enough. He threw his books into his locker, left the school and he wasn't going back. 'Screw the lot of them!'

He went down the road, avoided the main street where Karen's office was, and went through the park to the beach. There were people there, surfing and surf-casting, widely separated of course. Didn't they have jobs to go to?

He sat,out of sight, uder the flax-bushes below the dunes and promptly went to sleep in the sunshine.

He woke, sat up and stretched several hours later. School would be finished for the day, which was good. They'd probably all be gone home by now and that was good too. He didn't want to run into any of them; he'd had enough for one day.

He checked the time on his phone and – whoa! He was going to have to hurry if he was going to get a ride home. Karen's office closed early on Fridays. He stood up, then had second thoughts and sat down again.

Stuff them. He wasn't hurrying for anyone. Actually, he was not going home. If he did, he'd be the only kid there and guess who'd be doing all the chores?

No. He was going to have the night and be by himself for a change. It was weeks and weeks since he'd stayed in his little whare in the bush. He hadn't missed it, but there didn't seem to be much point in having it if he was never going to use it.

So, that was that. He'd sit there, out of sight, for a while. His dad wouldn't wait if he wasn't there. He'd bugger off home and Lorne'd be free for the night. Good job too. They could do their own chores.

He checked his pockets. Yes! He had cash – more than enough to get a feed of fish and chips. He hadn't done that for a long time either. He liked fish and chips, but never seemed to be able to eat a whole order.

So, he'd do what he'd always done. He sit on the beach, down by the rivermouth, and share his chips with the seagulls. They were always good for a grin.

It took ages to get served in the shop when he went there. Friday was not a good day to buy fish and chips because so many people did it. His granddad said that this was a hang-over from the old days when catholics weren't allowed to eat meat on Fridays, so all they had was fish and chips. Now they could eat what they wanted but fish on Friday was how the older generations were raised and it was a tradition.

Anyway, he finally got his order, wrapped in newspaper to keep it warm, and he went down to the rivermouth to eat there.

It was a funny sort of river really. Sometimes the water ran out to sea, sometimes it came back in again. That was because it was tidal and the only outlet for the huge lagoon. Biggest in New Zealand, people said.

He sat down on the stones, opened his parcel and tossed a small handful of chips out for the gulls. It always took a while for them to get the idea, probably because not many people fed them.

It's a different story in Christchurch. Sit on any beach around there and the little sods are everywhere and screaming for food. Even when you've got nothing to give them. Who said we don't have beggars in New Zealand?

What would Logan be doing? He was in Christchurch, but probably not sitting on a beach feeding seagulls and not alone at this time of day. Damm him!

The sun was getting low by the time he finished eating and the temperature was dropping. It was going to be a cold night, but that was okay – he had a warm place to go to.

He threw the rest of his food scraps out, bundled-up the empty coke bottle in the newspaper and went back to the main street to drop his rubbish in a bin. What a tidy kiwi he was!

Satisfied with that, he walked up to Wharf Street and his whare in the bush. The sky was lit-up in spectacular sunset colours, so it was going to be a fine day tomorrow. Excellent! It'd be way too far to walk home in the rain.

He could smell woodsmoke when he was going up the track through the trees. The air in town was often smoky when everyone was getting their fires going in the late afternoon, but not here. There was no house up here. There should've been one, but it never happened.

He came up over the lip onto the terrace where his hut was and it wasn't there! The remains of it were – a sorry-looking little heap of rusty iron and ashes. His whare, his home away from home, had burnt to the ground. It wasn't much but it was his and it was all that he had.

Where was he going to sleep now? Under a tree? He guessed he'd have to. It was going to be cold, good job it wasn't raining as well.

There was a small fire burning in the circle of stones on the ground too. Who had done this? He couldn't think of anyone who would've. It was basically only him and Logan who knew about this place.

Well, he decided, he'd better keep the fire going anyway. At least there'd be some warmth from that. Bending over, he picked up a couple of bits of wood and placed them on the fire. This had been one horrible day right from the time he woke up and finding his hut gone was the worst thing yet.

Then his day got worse.