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inside for Aroha to collect. She turned to me,
addressed me by name, and handed me a basket with a
request to retrieve six tomatoes from the garden. It all
happened so fast. Poor Aroha had not had time to
really introduce us.
I wasn’t quite sure what to call her so I settled on,
Miss Grace. Dutifully I picked the tomatoes and could
feel her eyes studying my every move. There was no
sign of a smile on her face and the staring was more
than a little unsettling.

I was glad the Professor was standing close by as I
kept glancing at him for reassurance.
Thank goodness! Aroha arrived just in the nick of
time to break the ice with a friendly introduction to the
Professor. Miss Grace then greeted him in the Maori
way, “Kia Ora”, which means 'Greetings, Be well, be
healthy."

After Aroha settled Miss Grace into her car, she
approached our car and told us, “We will be making an
unplanned stop on our way."
It was a special request that she really couldn’t
refuse as her grandmother didn’t travel often. Miss
Grace had been longing to go to her beloved Lake
Waikaremoana, which was really quite out of the way.

The Professor had a little bit of a conniption (hissy)
fit as he was quite familiar with where the lake was and
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