Molly and Anaru's Great Massey Adventure: Chapter 7
Yesterday’s Poll Results
Should Molly and Anaru go to the Post Office?
Yes - it would be a nice thing to do: 67%
No - better to make an excuse and find a way home: 33%
Chapter 7
“Um, how do you get to the Massey Post Office?” Molly asked the farmer's wife.
“You just go up the driveway, turn left and you’ll see Triangle Road - it’s about a 15-minute walk to the main Massey shops.”
Molly and Anaru thanked the farmer and his wife for the first aid. With the letters in her hands and the money in Anaru’s pockets, they set off.
As they walked, the coins jingled in Anaru’s pocket. He pulled a few out and looked at them.
“Oh, these coins are real different from what we have.” He said as he passed a few to Molly so that she could see.
Molly agreed with Anaru as she examined the coins. “Yeah, some of them aren’t even in a circle shape. They remind me of the coins that My Aunty brought back from her trip to England last year”.
They eventually reached the Massey Post Office - a small white building at the intersection of Triangle Road and Don Buck Road. The road sign with Don Buck’s name on it reminded the kids of how they had met the man himself. Molly made a mental note to try and find out what some of the other streets in Massey were named after - if they ever found their way back to 2020 that is…
Inside the Massey Post Office Molly and Anaru waited patiently in line. They reached the counter and asked the lady on the other side for enough stamps to post the letters. The lady told them it would cost “two pounds, twenty-five.”
Anaru turned to Molly, unsure of how much money to pay.
“Just show her the coins”, Molly whispered.
Anaru nodded, grabbed the money from his pocket and held his hand out for the customer service woman to collect the coins that added up to £2.25. She smiled, plucked the correct amount of money from his hand and tore some stamps out of a large book before handing them over.
After dropping the now-stamped letters into a bright red postbox, Molly and Anaru stood outside the post office, unsure of what they should do next.
Image: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections MASS-P-003
They scanned the shops across the roads from the corner of the Massey Post Office. There were a few stores that caught their eyes. They settled on a small bakery that was 5 shops away across the road.
Inside, Anaru selected a couple of delicious-looking pastries and again held out the remaining money for the baker behind the counter - hoping it would be enough. The baker took Anaru’s coins and took a couple of smaller coins from the cash register for change. Anaru put these in his pocket.
They walked to the side of the bakery and found a bench and an alleyway leading to the back of the shops. The pastries were warm. fresh and delicious and both Molly and Anaru (who hadn’t realised just how hungry they were) devoured them within seconds.
As they sat back on the bench and wondered whether they had enough coins for a second helping, the low humming noise started humming. Two sparkling fragments appeared just above the ground in front of them, churning and expanding into the now-familiar portals.
As the portals reached their full size, the edges of both sparked and shimmered with different colours - one was yellow, the other purple. In the centre of each portal, vague shapes started merging and forming a much clearer image than they had before.
Molly pointed to the yellow portal on the left. “Look Anaru, I think that’s your backyard in that portal - see the fence?”
“Oh yeah, I can see it!”, he replied. “But what about the purple one? Looks like some shiny buildings or something - whatever they are, this place looks way more flash than where we are now….”
