
Short story: Choices / He kōwhiringa, by Averil Robertson
'Just this, thanks.'
It's her staff pick for the week.
'Good choice,' she says.
She pops it in a bag as he taps his card to pay.
'Thanks,' they say at the same time.
He laughs; she blushes.
He keeps coming in each week, waiting until she's free. And each week, he buys her staff pick. She knows it can't be a coincidence, yet the devil in her wants to test him. On week nine, she chooses a book by a right-wing media dickhead. He buys it.
'Good choice,' she says.
He's out the front reading the book when she leaves.
'Enjoying that?' she asks.
He shakes his head. 'Might have to get a refund.'
'You've cracked the spine.'
Hours later, after they've eaten, she walks with him to his flat. His lips are on hers as soon as they're inside, and it's hot as hell, but she stops him.
'I just need to . . . '
She doesn't judge books by their covers, but she has always judged men by their books.
Shelves line the hallway, and she can see the collection of her staff picks on the shelf nearest the door, with her name on a tag. But there are other tags naming her colleagues from the shop. And unfamiliar names. Shelf upon shelf. A thud in her chest as dread replaces desire.
She sees the truth of what he has collected. So many copies of The Da Vinci Code; he's been slumming it at the chain stores.
As he comes for her again, she jerks away and opens the door.
She steps over the threshold.
'Bad choice,' she says.
*
I hokona atu e ia he pukapuka ki a ia i ngā Rāhoroi e rua, ā, i te Rāhoroi tuatoru i kitea tana whanga kia wātea mai ia.
'Ko tēnei anake, tēnā koa.'
Ko tōna whiringa ā-kaimahi mō te wiki.
'He kōwhiringa pai,' tāna kī.
Ka purua ki tētahi pēke i a ia e pato ana i tana kāri hei utu.
'Kia ora,' ko tā rāua tahi i te wā kotahi.
Ka kata ko ia; ka pūwhero ko ia.
Rite tonu tōna hoki mai ia wiki, ia wiki, whanga ana kia wātea mai ia. Ā, ia wiki, ia wiki ka hoko ia i tāna whiringa ā-kaimahi. Mōhio pai ia ehara i te oruatanga, me te aha, ko te kātuarehe kei roto he hiahia kia whakamātau i a ia. Wiki tuaiwa ka kōwhirihia he pukapuka nā tētahi kakī whero i tuhi. Ā, ka hokona mai.
'He kōwhiringa pai,' tāna kī.
I tōna wehenga i te toa kei mua ia e pānui ana i te pukapuka.
'Rekareka ana tērā?' tāna ui atu.
Ka rūrū te māhunga me te kī atu, 'Me whakahoki pea taku moni.'
'Kua pakaru i a koe tōna tuarā.'
Taka mai ngā haora, i muri i tā rāua kai, ka hīkoi tahi atu ki tōna whare noho. Kuhu rawa atu, ka tere pā atu ngā ngutu i ōna, auē te wera hoki, engari ka aukati atu.
'Hiahia ana au ki te . . '
Kāore ia mō te whakawā uhi pukapuka, engari mō ngā tāne āe ka whakawākia rātou mā ā rātou pukapuka.
He pae pukapuka kei te kauhanganui, ā, ka kitea ōna kōwhiringa ā-kaimahi i te pae pukapuka tata ki te kūaha, me tōna ingoa i tētahi tapanga. Engari he tapanga atu anō me ngā ingoa o ōna hoamahi o te toa. Me ētahi atu ingoa tē mōhiotia. Pae atu anō, pae atu anō. Ka pakō mai te poho i te kōingo ki te wehi.
Ka mārama ki a ia ki āna kohinga. He nui ngā kape o The Da Vinci Code; he whairawa ia kei ngā toa iti te utu.
I te tangata rā e torotoro atu ana ki a ia, ka tārutu atu, ka huakina te kūaha.
Ka puta i te paepae.
'He kōwhiringa kino,' tāna kī.
Taken with kind permission from the newly published collection Short | Poto: The big book of small stories | Iti te kupu, nui te kōrero, edited by Michelle Elvy and Kiri Piahana-Wong (Massey University Press, $45), available in selected bookstores.

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