Prelude...
In the beginning….
Staff at the Advertising Agency pass by the closed door to the office. They wince at the sound of someone whacking the shit out of something coming from behind the door.
Inside, a fired up Lunar Bois circles the punch bag that hangs in place of a light. He wipes sweat on the brow of his one working eye, and then he lets fly a looping right hand that would knock a grizzly to the ground.
“The sky is deeper than the sea….” Lunar seethes through his teeth as he weaves, and then he lets a left hook go, followed by a flurry of points starting at his opponent’s body and ending at his head.
Lunar ignores the knock at the door...until he hears the head honcho’s voice. “Smashing that brief would make more sense….”
“….and so is someone’s feelings, no matter what they say….” Lunar shouts back, and then he flops forward, clinging to the bag as he takes a breather….
PART 2
Aleisha finds a seat in the movie theatre onboard the interisland ferry. She checks her supply of nicotine patches in her handbag and is relieved that she has enough for the journey since she is down to the last of the prescription. Next, she checks her phone. A txt msg from someone she doesn’t feel like talking to right now goes in the trash—while LMLA-ink’s new concept gets airtime. The girl fleeing Christchurch post the swarm of quakes on New Year’s Day is frighteningly familiar, only her best friend also with the same name is still back home.
Aleisha becomes conscious of how short her skirt is as two teenage boys pass by in the aisle and give her legs a look over. No sooner does Aleisha try pulling her favourite dress down to cover some of her thigh than she decides she needs her cardigan since a man her father’s age glues his eyes to her chest as he takes a seat in the row in front of her, nearly falling over as he pushes the seat down….
***
Hone waits at the end of the queue, ready to board the bus to Wellington. His father leans with his arms folded on the Ute across the road. Inside the cab is his mother and on the back of the Ute is his dog HONE II.
“Remember, son! This is your home, eh?”
His father’s words from across the dirt road swirl around in the wind before Hone finds a place in his anxiousness to get out of the small town to reply.
“I! I hear you….” And then Hone turns and walks slowly up the side of the bus to the open door.
“James, son! Don’t forget to write…..” James hears his mother call out as the ringtone for JRA’s latest story with a kid named Hone in it sounds on his mobile. James’ mother’s voice always makes him conscious of his actions. The boy—who was adopted by his grandparents and whom he’s leaving behind unconsciously to seek out his parents who met in the Capital—has already made up his mind he wants to be Hone in “WELLY STORY.”
PART 3
At Stuff.co.nz “Quake swarm rattles Christchurch,” a sobering reminder of what people not far from here are experiencing in their new year. On a brighter note up north, New Zealand’s first baby, born in 2012, “'First baby' star already to parents” goes some way to put a smile on one’s face. While abroad in lala land “Perry asked Brand to file divorce,” on the last day of the year, as if it were the last thing they needed to do so both could see their New Year’s resolutions through….
In WELLY, JRA shakes hands with Mena the developer and an SEO specialist from Egypt in the foyer of the boarding house where John Reyer met Mena. Mena is waiting for his New Zealand citizenship to come through. Mena and his girlfriend, Philippa, are moving out of the boarding house today, which used to be a hospital for advanced dementia patients—the Elizabeth Memorial Home—in Berhampore, which some believe is haunted.
John Reyer goes back into his room where he posts headlines from Stuff.co.nz on the walls of the New Global Realm. And then he crosses off two more of the roles—Developer and SEO specialist—on his list for the team he requires for the WELLY STORY in February, which starts in less than thirty days from now…..
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