The Doctor Quotes in At Hiruharama
“What’s it called?”
“Hiruharama.”
“Don’t know it. That’s not a Māori name.”
“I think it means Jerusalem,” said Tanner.
“He’s a crank, I dare say.”
“He’s a dreamer,” Tanner replied. “I should term Brinkman a dreamer.”
He had made the pigeons’ nest out of packing-cases. They ought to have flown daily for exercise, but he hadn’t been able to manage that. Still, they looked fair enough, a bit disheveled, but not so that you’d notice. It was four o’clock, breezy, but not windy. He took them out into the bright air which, even that far from the coast, was full of the salt of the ocean. How to toss a pigeon he had no idea. He opened the basket, and before he could think what to do next they were out and up into the blue. He watched in terror as after reaching a certain height they began turning round in tight circles as though puzzled or lost. Then, apparently sighting something on the horizon that they knew, they set off strongly toward Awanui.
The doctor emerged, moving rather faster than he usually did. “Please to go in there and wash the patient. I’m going to look at the afterbirth. The father put it out with the waste.”
There Tanner had made his one oversight. It wasn’t the afterbirth, it was a second daughter, smaller, but a twin.
After that the Tanners always had one of those tinplate mottoes hung up on the wall – Throw Nothing Away. You could get them at the hardware store.
The Doctor Quotes in At Hiruharama
“What’s it called?”
“Hiruharama.”
“Don’t know it. That’s not a Māori name.”
“I think it means Jerusalem,” said Tanner.
“He’s a crank, I dare say.”
“He’s a dreamer,” Tanner replied. “I should term Brinkman a dreamer.”
He had made the pigeons’ nest out of packing-cases. They ought to have flown daily for exercise, but he hadn’t been able to manage that. Still, they looked fair enough, a bit disheveled, but not so that you’d notice. It was four o’clock, breezy, but not windy. He took them out into the bright air which, even that far from the coast, was full of the salt of the ocean. How to toss a pigeon he had no idea. He opened the basket, and before he could think what to do next they were out and up into the blue. He watched in terror as after reaching a certain height they began turning round in tight circles as though puzzled or lost. Then, apparently sighting something on the horizon that they knew, they set off strongly toward Awanui.
The doctor emerged, moving rather faster than he usually did. “Please to go in there and wash the patient. I’m going to look at the afterbirth. The father put it out with the waste.”
There Tanner had made his one oversight. It wasn’t the afterbirth, it was a second daughter, smaller, but a twin.
After that the Tanners always had one of those tinplate mottoes hung up on the wall – Throw Nothing Away. You could get them at the hardware store.
