Read Online Aunt Dimity Down Under by Nancy Atherton - Free Book Online

brought back distant memories of what it had once been like to be freshly bathed, well-rested, and alert.
    “It’s five twenty A.M. local time, and we’re about to land in New Zealand’s largest city,” Serena informed me. “If you include the suburbs, Auckland covers sixty square kilometers—that’s twenty-three square miles to you Americans—and it contains nearly a third of New Zealand’s entire population. Auckland was named after Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India. It was once the capital of New Zealand‚ and it’s ringed by forty-eight extinct volcanoes.”
    “Volcanoes? ” I said, roused from my torpor.
    “ Extinct volcanoes,” said Serena. “The active volcanoes are farther south.”
    “How much farther?” I demanded.
    “Let’s prepare for landing, shall we?” she asked, and moved on to her next victim.
    I raised my seat back to its upright and locked position, then turned to gaze downward again. I hadn’t expected New Zealand’s largest city to be quite so large. Its glimmering lights seemed to go on forever and a surprising number of them seemed to belong to tall buildings. As the plane descended smoothly toward the runway, I couldn’t help wondering if it was safe to build skyscrapers in a city ringed by forty-eight allegedly extinct volcanoes. In my fragile, sleep-deprived state, I was a bit put out with everyone who’d had a hand in sending me to a place that might blow itself up without warning.
    The family conference had gone exactly as I’d predicted. After I’d revealed the true nature of the Pym sisters’ request, Bill had pulled my suitcases down from the attic and Willis, Sr., had used the world atlas to show Will and Rob where Mummy would be going. There’d been no debate about whether I should go or not. My loved ones had simply assumed that I would leave as soon as possible.
    A phone call to Mrs. Abercrombie had put me on the first flight out of London the following morning. I’d been so busy packing, fussing over the boys, making to-do lists for Willis, Sr., and conferring with Aunt Dimity that I hadn’t had a moment to spare for a last-minute visit with the Pyms. I’d had to settle instead for a hurried telephone conversation with Nell, who’d assured me that Ruth and Louise were doing as well as could be expected.
    Bill had arranged via e-mail for one of his old school friends—a native New Zealander named Cameron Mackenzie—to meet me at the Auckland Airport and drive me to my hotel, which turned out to be a very good idea. By the time I exited the plane, retrieved my luggage, and passed through the customs and quarantine checkpoints, I could scarcely remember how to summon a taxi, let alone how to give directions to a driver, but thanks to Bill’s foresight, I didn’t have to fend for myself. I was simply scooped up at the arrivals barrier by a tall, soft-spoken blur of a man who guided me gently to a car and didn’t argue with me when I refused to relinquish my carry-on bag to him.
    I conked out before he finished putting my suitcase in the trunk and came to when he shook me firmly by the shoulder.
    “We’re here,” he said.
    At least, that’s what I thought he said. To my sleep-clogged ears, it sounded more like “Weah-heah.”
    “Okay,” I said.
    I dragged myself, my shoulder bag, and my carry-on out of the car and allowed the tall blur to lead me into the brightly lit lobby of the Spencer on Byron Hotel, check me in, and board an elevator with me.
    “Who are you?” I asked stupidly, peering up at the tall blur.
    “Cameron Mackenzie,” he replied. “I’m an old friend of your husband’s.”
    “That’s right.” I nodded groggily. “Do you know what day it is? ”
    The corners of his mouth seemed to twitch, as if he were suppressing a smile.
    “It’s Thursday,” he said.
    “Is it?” My attention wandered to the flashing floor numbers on the elevator’s control panel. “Are we in a skyscraper?”
    “A small one,” he said.