Across the Globe [COMPLETE]

Hitting The Road

14TH OF JULY

Samantha

As soon as we’re out of Auckland, I can’t keep my eyes away from the landscape. I’m mesmerized, there’s green hills that roll without end only interrupted by patches of pastures growing wild on the side of the road. There’s thousands of cows and other farm animals, and I can see the reflection of my smile on the window as we go past another herd of sheep. 

My hands are sitting on the ledge of the window, my forehead resting against it, and I can feel the coldness of the glass almost touching my nose.

It’s a little surreal being here. I imagined this moment for months, and reality is so much more vivid than anything I envisioned. The insecurities about both of the shocking news from yesterday still linger in my mind, but I’m doing my best not to worry about neither. Tane seems like an alright guy, so I guess that one worked out okay, and there’s nothing I can do about my grandfather's inheritance yet.

I try to stop myself by keeping my hands fisted for a while, but I can’t, a minute after I thought about the inheritance, I take my phone out and open up my emails.

Mum’s email is sitting right there at the top, unopened. I can see various attachments, so I click on it. There’s a short message from mum telling me to enjoy the trip, that she loves me and hopes this doesn’t bother me, and then there’s a few spreadsheets and documents. 

I open up the first one, and find a transcription of the will. As I read the title, I realise I never even asked mum about my grandfather's name. Does that make me a bad person? Should I care for someone that I never knew? There are so many mixed feelings inside of me as I read, but I try to keep to the things I’m good with; so I collect the facts.

Grandad’s name was Mikaere Kauri Tutaki. 

He got married at the age of 23 to a woman named Ani Newea Wihone. 

A couple of years later, Mikaere and Ani had a son: Morris Iaka Tutaki. 

It states my father’s date of birth, and also the date of passing. 

Reading the dates makes me feel a bit queasy, so I put my phone away, deeming that enough information for one day. 

✢✢✢

Emma

We’ve been driving in silence for a while, and silence is not my thing, so I start playing around with some music. I change from the chilled background music we have at the moment to my sing along playlist. I look around for a minute until I find the song I was going for.

I’m hoping this will cheer Sam up a bit. After the chat at the cafe, we went for a good walk together around the city, and she told me about the conversation she had with her mother. She seemed a bit upset with the news at first, she said it was too much responsibility and she was scared, but she hadn’t even looked at what the assets were yet. I took her out for a coffee and cake to cheer her up, and that seemed to do the trick. I think she actually really enjoyed walking around the city, going up the Sky Tower and then up Mount Eden, I know I did.

As soon as the song starts, I feel a little excitement, but Sam’s looking out the window, and I don’t think she’s noticed it yet. I start humming along, and as soon as the chorus nears, I start singing louder and louder.

“Like the moooon,” I sing at my full potential, making Sam laugh in the back seat. 

The music is blasting through the stereo now, and I have the window rolled down, my hair dancing in the wind, my arm dangling out of the car and tapping the door at the rhythm of the song. I lift my bare feet and pop them on top of the dashboard as I keep singing and bobbing my head.