Chapter 13: The Promise

Friday 4-May 2007

Chris was relieved when the weather was better on Friday. Not great, but probably good enough that they could go swimming; he'd had his heart set on that after what Shahia had said. Chris and Shahia had agreed that he'd walk with Shahia to pick up her family, and then they'd all walk to Chris's home.

He was ready with his bag packed before the siren went, and then he was up and out the door like a rocket, following Shahia. She power walked down the drive, and then as she turned out of the drive onto the footpath, she turned to him, gave him a wicked little smile, said, "Let's go," and accelerated away from him.

It took Chris nearly a whole block to catch up with her, and then he matched her pace as she ran. She turned and smiled again. Chris was amazed. This was what he'd regard as a fast training run, something he might do with the other guys in his soccer or cricket team. It wasn't nearly so comfortable carrying his school bag, and after a little while, he became concerned that he mightn't be able to keep up with her.

It was only because he knew where she was going to stop that he held on, ignoring the fire in his legs. They'd done just over a mile, he figured. She slowed as she turned into the daycare centre and walked slowly through the car park recovering her breath. Chris was still gasping when they walked through the front door, though he managed — just — to open it for her.

As he followed her in, he saw a little baby with a huge smile on face, half running and half waddling up to Shahia. "Mama!" it said, and then Shahia leaned down and lifted it up in a big cuddle.

He looked around the centre. There were no other children here. Maria was the last child, though he'd seen several other mums putting kids into cars as they walked through the car park, so she wasn't badly late. Still, he could see why she ran.

There was two staff present, including Leslie. He turned to her and smiled. "Hi, Leslie."

"Chris, how nice to see you." He noticed that Leslie was giving him a long hard stare, and he wondered what she saw. Did she trust him?

While Shahia was writing in a book and talking to the other staff member about Maria's day, Leslie dragged Chris into the little staffroom.

"I guess it's no coincidence to see you here after your mum asked me about Shahia?"

"Uhh, no."

"I'm glad, you know; Shahia needs a friend."

Chris shrugged. "I just hope I can help her."

Leslie thought about that, and then said, "Once upon a time, a little boy from Thailand came to this daycare centre. He couldn't speak much English, and he didn't like it here. I tried to get the other children to play with him, but they wouldn't, and he was so lonely. Then one day, I saw him in the corner over there, crying. I was on the way over there to try and comfort him, when another little boy went over to him and gave him his own chocolate bar. After that he took him by the hand, led him outside and showed him how to swing on the tyre out there. It didn't take much to help, and it made all the difference. After that the little boy from Thailand was much happier."

Leslie smiled at him. "You were that other boy. Just be that little boy who cares, and you can move mountains."

Chris was still turning that over in his mind as they walked away from the daycare centre.

Shahia had produced a stroller from somewhere, but Maria had refused to go into it, kicking her little legs like crazy. She was curled up on Shahia's shoulder, trying to push her way into Shahia's neck, refusing to even look Chris's way. Shahia smiled, "She's quite shy initially, but eventually she'll get used to you."

Chris ended up pushing the stroller with both their bags in it. He felt totally stupid. What would his mates say if any of them saw him? But he didn't dare say anything. As they walked to Bec's school, Maria started to warm to Chris, and it wasn't long before he was playing peek-a-boo with her.

Hassan and Alyssa were waiting for them; Shahia introduced Chris to them, and he got completely different responses. Hassan was like, yeah — hi — whatever, but Alyssa gave him a long, suspicious stare and refused to speak to him at all.

Shahia put Maria in the stroller and they walked to Chris's home. By the time they got there, Alyssa was holding on tight to Shahia's hand, and even Hassan had a tight grip on the stroller. Chris could see that they were all nervous, and they'd hardly said anything at all on the way. Chris himself was starting to get quite nervous. Was this really a good idea?

As Chris turned into his driveway, Shahia asked, "Can you give us a minute?"

Chris turned to see Shahia, Hassan and Alyssa gathering in a huddle over Maria in the stroller. They embraced and put their heads together. Chris could hear Shahia whispering to them; though she seemed to be whispering quite forcefully, he couldn't quite make out the words. Then all three of them suddenly said, "Together!" in unison, and stood up. Chris watched Shahia take a deep breath, and then they set off towards the house.

Chris followed them up the driveway, awed at what he'd just seen, and also alarmed. Was this necessary? Shahia saw the question in his eyes, and shrugged.

"This is the first time we've done anything like this, visiting someone."

"I feel bad now, you didn't have to come."

"Oh, no, we decided that we wanted to do this, but that doesn't make it easy."

"You do that team thing often?"

Shahia made a see-sawing motion with her hand. "Some. Enough. It helps keep us working together."

Instead of going through the formal front entrance, Chris took them round the back past the swimming pool. As soon as Hassan and Alyssa saw the pool, they turned to Shahia. "Can we go for a swim?"

Shahia turned to Chris. "What's the temperature like?"

"So-so. I probably won't go, but Jay and Bec probably will."

At that moment Jay, Bec and Chris's mum came out the back door, Jay and Bec in their bathers already. Once Chris had done the introductions, Shahia tested the water for herself, and then nodded at Hassan and Shahia.

"Okay, grab the bag under the stroller and go and get changed."

"Bec, go with them and show them where."

"Thanks, Mrs Mackenzie. I really appreciate you having us."

Chris's mum smiled at Shahia, "No problems. But in fact, it's Chris having you. And please, call me Helen."

Chris's mum squatted down in front of the stroller and smiled at Maria. "Hey, what a cutie." That was too much for Maria, and she started crying. By the time she had settled down, the other kids were already in the pool.

As soon as Maria quieted down a little, Chris's mum asked. "So, how old is she?"

"Sixteen months old."

Chris's mum smiled. "Any words yet?"

"Yeah, she says 'Mama' now."

"Mama?" Chris's mum looked at Shahia with amusement on her face.

"Oh yes, Hassan and Alyssa are teaching her that. They think it's a great joke."

Chris's mum smiled and looked towards the pool. "How old are Hassan and Alyssa?"

"Hassan is twelve, and Alyssa is ten."

"You know that I know what Chris knows?"

Shahia nodded.

"So, how have Hassan and Alyssa been coping since your parents died?"

Shahia frowned. "It's really hard to know. Sometimes I think they're doing really well, and other times I can see that they're only just holding on. I worry about them such a lot."

"Worrying is part of being a parent. I think you're doing amazingly well just to have them healthy and not upset all the time. They look good now."

"Yeah, well, I don't know how long it will last. Alyssa was real panicky about coming here. She just hasn't been able to get any friends, and she's really suspicious about Chris."

"Why is she suspicious of me?"

"Alyssa is terrified of losing me, losing us. She's had panic attacks about it." Shahia shrugged. "I understand that, I have too. Anyhow, she doesn't want friends, it's too dangerous. She doesn't want me to have any friends either."

Chris nodded. That made sense.

"Chris, you're going to have to work real hard with Alyssa," his mum chimed in.

"What about Hassan?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, well, I'm fighting a losing battle there. He's been lonely for so long, and now he's gotten to be friends with some boys who are just trouble. He knows what it can mean for us, but they're his only friends. I try so hard to work with him, but he needs some man to look up to, to steer him away from trouble."

Chris's mum gave him a hard look. He nodded, and then turned to Shahia. "I'll try to help?"