The Hutchins and Mojica Renovacy Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Turning A Corner “You want to do what?” Uiara said to her twin.
“Buy a horse. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. And look – we have a stable!”
“Stable, yes. Money, no. How could we possibly do this?”
” “I don’t know. You’re the smart one. And I could enter competitions – some of the prizes are worth having.”
Uiara liked her brother’s touching faith in her abilities. “Let me see what I can come up with.” In the meantime, Desmond sat down at the table with the younger ones, to finish his homework and help them with theirs. The more useful he was, the more likely it was that Aunt Regina would look with favour on his outrageous request. Step one: Earn some money. Uiara totally sympathised with her brother’s desires. She loved horses too, though it wasn’t quite the monomania with her that it was with Desmond. But that had been one of the reason their parents had bought this house.
“Stabling attached,” Lincoln had said, reading the estate agent’s details. “Desmond, Uiara – as soon as we can afford it, you can have that horse you’ve always wanted.”
She’d like to make that promise come true for her brother. She had a day’s work today (courtesy of the mother of one of her friends) and she hadn’t told Regina about it, wanting to surprise her with the pay. Now she was rethinking what to do with the money. The twins’ unsuspecting aunt, meanwhile, was at the library. Uiara had found the copy of Regina’s recipe book on the bookshelf , read it, loved it, and told Regina she should write some more.
“At the weekend at least. We’d sort out the garden, the younger ones…Go to the library, where you can have some peace and quiet.” He couldn’t really go and sit at the other table on his own, Viriato thought. He’d look too much like a sulky boy. The others weren’t back yet – busy hunting round for things to sell, painting things to sell…Regina’s veggie rolls smelt really good – and probably were, too. She’d found a couple of cheap tables, painted them cheerful colours and added candles. Eating outdoors in the summer was so much better than eating indoors in the winter. The chairs were still the same old logs though, but hey, they worked. The summer was almost over. But the extra time in the day, time the younger ones had spent hunting for things to sell, time spent on the garden, on painting, on writing (Regina’s book had been accepted. And the publishers wanted more) had brought in enough spare money to build a second bathroom. Inside the house! The bath had been moved in from the hut in the garden, renovated, cleaned up, and they had a second toilet. Cheap, but functioning. At the moment at any rate. “Breakfast’s ready,” Regina called to the older four, all busy in the garden before it got too hot.
“Great,” Uiara called back. “I’m starving!”
“Me too,” Eugenio chimed in. “ Reggie, can I go paint when we’re done here?”
“Don’t see why not.”
Viriato ground his teeth at the easy was Eugenio called her Reggie. As though she was family. “I thought I’d find you here. How’s it going?” Uiara asked her aunt.
“Coming along nicely. This one’s going to be about desserts, and then they want one on food children can grow and cook themselves, or with a bit of help.”
Uiara looked at her aunt, all scruffy hair and second-hand dungarees, and remembered what she used to look like. A sudden wave of affection, appreciation – call it what you will – suddenly swept over her. “Reggie. Log out. We’re going somewhere. I earned some money, I’ve got a present for you. Come with me.” A haircut! Uiara’s present had been a haircut! Regina leaned in close to look at herself. She’d been able to cut the children’s hair, but all she’d been able to do to her own was keep the split ends at bay. And now she had a style again – simple and easy to manage, unlike the elaborate styles of her former life. Which seemed an age ago now. “We won’t be able to eat outside for much longer,” Regina wrote in her blog. She still wasn’t letting on that this was their only eating option.
“But it’s been a beautiful summer and a lovely autumn. And seeing my sister’s children grow up has been such a privilege.” That bit was totally honest.
“My oldest niece surprised me by buying me a haircut – I hadn’t felt I could spend the money on myself when the younger ones needed new shoes, but she’d earned some of her own…” “I want a photo of you all in your school clothes.”
It wasn’t the world’s greatest photo, but it was a memento. Even if Desmond was mostly dreaming of the horse he might have one day in that stable. He’d got some work too – maybe with their money pooled, he could buy a horse. And ride to glory! Viriato finally admitted to himself that he could take a day off without the world coming to an end. He’d impressed on the other older ones that they’d need to see to the garden for him – and then been annoyed when Uiara had said, “Yes, sure. Reggie can’t do it all.”
That wasn’t what he’d meant! Regina quite liked it with Viriato out of the way. The others she got along fine with, but Viriato’s condemnation and dislike of her hung around like a thunderstorm. She was writing her blog again, taking a photo before putting in a hard day’s work.
“Autumn again. We’ve been here for so long now, some of these fruit trees need replacing. I think we’ll plant some now, give them a headstart for the spring.”
Isn’t that what we all need, she thought, as she signed out. A headstart for the spring, for the times of growth that follow the winter of loss. And I think I’ve given it to the others, but not Viriato. After shopping, the first place Viriato went to was the graveyard where his parents were buried. With no-one around to see him or hear him, he could finally open his heart.
“I’m sorry Dad, sorry, Mum. I haven’t been able to look after them on my own. I haven’t been able to get rid of Regina – and those conceived-out-of-wedlock brats of hers. I so feel like I’ve failed you.” He went down to a lonely beach and stood staring out to sea, now losing its summer blueness and fading towards the grey that would be winter. The solitude and loneliness suited his brooding mood – but wasn’t doing him any good. Finally he went to the library, nostalgic for the days when he would take Uiara and Desmond there and make sure they did their homework, make sure they studied. Fern Annan was there too – clever, pretty and sophisticated as ever. Viriato felt like a country bumpkin next to her. But she was still as friendly as she’d been when they were at school together, challenging him to a game of chess, asking after him. It was good to be with someone of his own age. “You’ll be fine, Tesni.” His youngest sister was going to secondary school for the first time. That little baby had grown up now – well, maybe not grown up, but she wasn’t a child any more. And Uiara and Desmond would be truly grown up soon: grown up, graduating and able to earn. Uiara was bright and organised – she could get a good job in business. And Desmond could go and work at the science facility: his science grades had always been high. A germ of an idea was beginning to form in Viriato’s mind. The builders had been again! The summer harvest had been good, and there was enough tucked away in the bank to see them through the winter as well.
For the first time ever, there were no more than two people in a bedroom! And there was a new indoor bathroom as well. Okay, Charlie could only go to bed by going through Desmond and Eugenio’s room, but that didn’t matter. He went to bed first anyway. The girls had the blue and yellow bathroom (and the bath! Essential at times!) and the boys had chosen green and white for the bathroom on their side. And a shower.
“Quicker,” Eugenio said. “Who wants to spend ages in the bath anyway?”
Uiara, who was suffering from major stomach cramps at that point, just gave him A Look, and then exchanged knowing glances with Reggie. The main room was bigger too, and they could all actually eat at a table indoors! Three tables, really, and the same log seats, but still it made such a difference. As did the indoor sink, the re-painted units.. “It’s definitely winter now,” Regina wrote on her blog. “Sadly, our pond’s too small for skating on, but maybe at the weekend we’ll find one that’s big enough and where the ice is bearing. Being so close to the sea, we need to go inland a bit as well.” The library computers were old-fashioned, but they worked. And it was warm in the library. Regina paused and then went on.
“If I had known how long I would be here and how hard this would be, back at the beginning, then I really would have run for the hills. Which was my first reaction anyway: to run for the hills. But now – now that I’ve come so far and gained so much, I’m glad I didn’t know. Because I would have missed out on so much joy as well as so much sacrifice.”