Late at night, though, when they were lying together in bed, she facing away and Pearly on his back, his mind in a churn of apprehensive and accusative concern, she said, ‘It’s really good about the insurance news for Kevin. Thank goodness.’

‘It was something we could do for him and it worked out. He seems to have the idea we don’t care, well, that I don’t care. And I do care, but he doesn’t make it easy.’

‘You have to let him be different,’ said Helen.

He didn’t see Snoz any more. Snoz hadn’t done well at varsity at anything except rugby and the formation of friendships. He’d afterwards had various clerical and sales jobs, none of which led to significant advancement. In his fifties he’d decided he wanted to be a real estate agent like Pearly, and they corresponded regularly for a few months while Snoz, with Pearly’s assistance, attempted to pass the necessary online course to gain registration. That plan fizzled out for reasons Snoz never made clear, and he ended up running a five-unit motel in Dargaville. Pearly and Helen visited him there once, but she and Snoz’s wife didn’t click, and so the couples never made the considerable effort needed to meet again. Maintaining friendships becomes more complicated when you’re married. And Pearly had felt oddly alienated by Northland rather than intrigued by the contrast with his own country. Mangrove swamps, for God’s sake, wet heat and the sense of the bush massing to take over the cleared land once again. Even the rivers were different, with brooding, muddy beds rather than dry, grey shingle spreads. Pearly felt oppressed and contained in Northland. He missed the openness, the sparseness, the mountains and plains contrast of the South Island.

But Snoz and Pearly went back a long way, and Pearly had hoped to see him at the high-school celebrations, was disappointed and saddened to learn he wasn’t well and so unable to come. Snoz sent a donation of $100 and requested a photograph of his decade group.