‘Do you live around here now or are you on holiday?’
‘No, we’re not on holiday, we live in Rotorua.’
‘You don’t go to my school?’
‘No, I don’t go to any school. I’m homeschooled but I think I’m nearly finished. I’ve done all the schoolbooks up to Form Seven in every subject, but Dad lets me study what I want now.’
‘You study when you don’t have to?’
‘He sure does,’ said Dad, dropping back to join us. ‘He’s studying botany now and market gardening, aren’t you, son?’
‘Yes, I want to grow vegetables and sell them. The soil on our land is good.’
‘Probably because of the rain here,’ she said. ‘It rains all the time.’
‘It rains a lot in Ireland too,’ said Dad.
‘Have you got brothers and sisters? I got two brothers, they’re always fighting. They’re seventeen and eighteen.’
‘No, I’m an only child. What age are you?’ I asked.
‘Fourteen.’
‘Are you really?’ asked Dad, and I saw a shadow cross his face. ‘I thought you were younger.’
‘Nope, fourteen. What age are you?’ she asked me.
‘Fifteen,’ I said and she looked at me.
‘I like your hair. My mum doesn’t let my brothers grow their hair long.’
I felt myself blushing.
‘Poor Steve has a rare medical condition,’ Dad interrupted. ‘He can’t touch other humans, unless they’re blood relatives.’
I knew straight away that Dad was warning Lindy not to attempt to touch me. It didn’t occur to me until he said it. She inclined her head towards Dad as if he had a screw loose.
‘Really? I never heard of that.’ She turned back to face me. ‘What about if you wanted a girlfriend?’
‘I guess I can’t have one.’
‘Seriously? Ever?’
‘No, he can’t,’ said Dad firmly.
‘That’s freaky. I never heard of such a thing.’
‘Most people haven’t. It’s rare.’
‘What’s it called, this disease? I’m going to ask my dad, he’s a doctor.’
‘Necrotic hominoid contagion,’ said Dad. ‘I’m sure your dad will know plenty about it, but I’ll bet he’s never seen a case. Only one in six million people get it. I was only able to get some info about it from German medical journals and translate it.’
‘Wow, that’s grim. And yet, you can walk around, looking totally normal. What about pets? Can you have a dog or a cat?’
‘I wouldn’t like to take the risk with Stevie. He’s a precious boy.’
‘That’s the saddest thing I ever heard.’
