35. Elle had bought the car on a Wednesday morning

Elle had bought the car on a Wednesday morning. She drove with Scottie to Opua to the other side of Pahia on that very Wednesday night. They wanted to have a drink at the yacht club's bar. Into a pitch dark night they drove, under a beating rain.

All of a sudden in a bend the driver's door opens in a great crash. Bursts of laughter. The two associates drove on, one holding the steering wheel and the door, the other managing the gear stick.

The giggles never left them for the whole night. On the way back, after having fixed the door with a shoe string, they had to work the windscreen wipers by hand. Everyone was asleep at the hostel when they parked Olympic, nicely backing up against the fence.

- "To-day I'm going for a walk in the forest with Kenji!" Liyan announced triumphantly.
- "...Don't do that! just don't do that!" F-sharp replied obviously alarmed, "I am going to explain, just listen carefully. The Japanese are frightening people... I was in Shanghai when they invaded China."

For once, the flute was not talking about Remi. Liyan wanted to hear more.

- "And so?" she said.
- "And so?!... Can you picture how it might feel, to see a foreign army invade your country? It's like a rape. You're ripped naked and you get done. And you can't even defend yourself... the Japanese soldiers broke and killed everything and everybody... The howling in Shanghai... I will never forget that sound."

After a pause the flute had added:

- "Go for a walk in the forest, but don't forget you're Chinese."

Walking up to the Rainbow waterfall was the favorite occupation of visitors at the hostel. It meant a pleasant two hour walk along the river in thick forest.
Kenji was walking in front. He was wearing soft rubber shoes shaped like socks used by deep sea divers. The big toe which was apart from the other toes gave a better grip on the ground, especially on rough terrain like the path going up to the waterfall. European walkers they met, wore thick and heavy walking boots.


Half way up, Kenji's friend, a Japanese teacher on a course in New Zealand, started chatting with a group of walkers coming down. And then, at the top of the waterfall, the rainbow promised in the tourists brochure didn't appear... But who cared!

Back at the hostel Liyan hurried to tell F-sharp that she had had a very good time. The flute did not reply.