Closed Lunch Break

[Bryan Duffy]

The Niffler scouts club wasn't anywhere near as scary as Bryan had expected. When his dad had proposed that he join, he had imagined dangerous magical duels, flying broomsticks, and man-eating creatures, his knowledge of magic being limited to these more perilous topics; but after spending the morning wandering around Tākarokaro park, identifying trees and plants and learning their names, he was almost glad he'd acquiesced to come. Apart from his partner, a girl called Tullia, he had hardly even been made to talk to anybody.

He walked beside Tullia now as they headed back to the centre of the park for lunch. There were half a dozen log benches arrange in a rectangle, and a tap that ran down a concrete drain. Bryan had been wearing gloves, but, in an effort to be a good example, he took them off, shoved them in his pockets, and went over to the tap. "Come and wash your hands," he said, twisting the stiff faucet open and standing back. "Have you got anyone to eat your lunch with?"

 

[Tullia Whitlock]

Tullia had been keeping busy with the niffler scouts, when she wasn't at school, she was there, and it made sense, Tessa and Twila didn't have to look after her as much when she was off doing other things, and while helping out at home was fine, she did welcome being able to do something different. School hadn't picked up either and while she didn't describe the nifflers as challenging at least it wasn't her stuck in a boring class for all of the day. She had paired up with a boy, an older boy name Bryan, they were both newcomers to the nifflers, Tullia due to age and from what it seemed Bryan was just new.

They hadn't said much to each other so far, just working away at the badge they were aiming for in their pair. It was about lunch and she was walking behind him, she didn't need to prompting to wash her hands, but took off her gloves began doing so next to him. "No it's just me," she said with her usual thick irish accent, which was proving to be very out of place against the new zealand accents, but she realised that Bryan had an accent like hers. "You Irish too?" she suddenly asked. ​

 

[Bryan Duffy]

"Yeah, me too," Bryan said, watching the water sputter from the tap. Only, neither of them were really alone, because they had each other. "I'm glad I'm not the only new person. We can eat together, if you like. But - if you want to sit with the girls, I totally understand, you know - you don't have to." Under the sound of running water, Bryan could hear the other boys laughing and joking on the logs. Maybe they were laughing at him. Maybe they were calling him funny names for hanging out with a girl. Maybe...

His snowball of thought hit a wall and fell apart. He had noticed, perhaps subconsciously, that Tullia had an Irish accent, but he hadn't considered this fact for long enough to connect the dots. "Oh! That's why you sound like me. I'm from Dublin, what about you?"

 

[Tullia Whitlock]

Tullia shrugged in indifference, the girls her age were fine, a little boring but fine. Most had their own friends already so she wasn't making any headway into being friends with them - not that she was trying. Tullia had brought one of her physics books with her to read during the lunch. "We can eat together," she agreed, the boy was nice, and she couldn't help but be reminded a little of Tyler. But Bryan was nice and she wasn't going to turn that down. "Wow, Dublin, I bet you've seen the spire up close," she said a little in awe, "Donegal, so the middle of nowhere basically, kind of like this place," Tullia thought it pretty cool to meet someone from Ireland. She finished up washing her hands and glanced at Bryan, thinking he'd pick where they'd sit to eat. ​

 

[Bryan Duffy]

Bryan smiled awkwardly, as if the sun was shining in his eyes. There went the last chance he had of looking cool or tough. Still, Tullia wanted to sit with him, and she was pretty cool, even if she was younger than him and, well, a girl. As far as girls went she was on the top of the cool tree. If Bryan had had a younger sister, he’d have wanted her to be just like Tullia.

He washed his hands and turned off the tap. “It’s just a big pin,” he told her. “Well - I guess it’s kinda cool. But not as cool as the Sky Tower. Oh! I know Donegal. My dad went there once for… Oh. For a second I thought I was saying something I shouldn’t, but you’re a witch. I keep forgetting that. Anyway, my dad’s an Auror, that’s why he went up there, I think.” Retrieving his sandwiches from his bag, Bryan sat down on the end of a log and budged up to make room for Tullia. “When did you move here?”

 

[Tullia Whitlock]

Tullia watched as Bryan turned the tap off and gave a little shrug. "It's cool in the pictures," the girl said about the spire. "What's the Sky Tower?" she asked, thinking about if it was something in Ireland that she just hadn't seen yet. It didn't occur to her that it could be else where. She wasn't too surprised he'd known Donegal but thought it cool his dad was an auror. "That's cool, being an auror is a pretty interesting job, does he tell you lots about it?" she commented.

"Does he do that here too?" Tullia asked as she sat down on the end of the log where Bryan had just made room for her. She took off her backpack and after shifting some of the books, she found her sandwich, which had of course been crushed by the books. "Last month. What about you?" she asked before taking a bite of her sandwich. ​

 

[Bryan Duffy]

"It's a really tall tower, in Auckland. You haven't heard of it? You can go right up to the top and see out for miles, and there's a cafe, and ice-cream. It's really fun. If you're not scared of heights," Bryan added. He took a small bite of his ham sandwich, then had to chew in a hurry so he could carry on talking. "No, not really. I think it's like a magical policeman. I don't see him very much... I think he's still doing it now." After years of getting nothing but vague and cryptic answers to his questions about magic, Bryan had stopped asking them. It was clearly all a very well-guarded secret. But magical blood ran in Bryan's veins. So why did it have to be guarded from him?

He didn't mean to look inside Tullia's bag; he had looked down reflexively when she reached into it, and now he was staring puzzledly at a book about physics. "January, for me. Why have you got a physics book? Is it for school?"

 

[Tullia Whitlock]

Tullia hadn't done a whole lot of reading about New Zealand, so she was quite interesting to hear about Auckland and the tower it had. "I've not yet been to Auckland but when I do, I'll be sure to go," she told him. She spoke eagerly, wanting to visit the tower and also now eager to read about it. She didn't have a lot of books on New Zealand but now would be the time to get them. Now would be the time to start learning about it. Tullia wasn't sure what to make of Bryan's tone, she could mention her own parents but decided not to. "I hope you get to see him more," was all she said, and there was an earnestness to her tone as she said it. She look a bite of her sandwich and then looked back into her bag.

"Oh, I'm going to be an astronaut when I grow up, so I've got to start learning about astronomy, the stars, physics now," she told him. There was little debate in her words, she had set her heart on it and she was going to do it. "Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?" she asked, she didn't bother talking about school, since it was boring and she found it unengaging, that she was always done with her work way before everyone else. ​