Just Keep Going: Just Series, #3

By Donna Blaber

Just Keep Going is a story of blended families, new friendships, marine pollution, a magical stone, a persistent dolphin, and a young girl with a strong will to succeed, adapting to life in a new country.

 

Becky always loved visiting her dad in New Zealand until she returns during the pandemic.

Now he's got a baby with her new stepmum and everything has changed. Worse still, her windsurfer hasn't arrived yet, so there's nothing for her to do but wait for Mum who is stuck overseas because she can't get a spot in MIQ.

Then Becky finds a strange stone at Whale Bay and her luck changes. She makes new friends, joins an environmental group, and has several close encounters with a bottlenose dolphin who simply won't leave her alone. What is the dolphin trying to tell her? Is it sick? And who are the people poaching fish from the marine reserve?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donna Blaber
• Release date: Jul 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781927229798

Book preview

JUST KEEP GOING

Donna Blaber

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental and unintended.

First published by Lighthouse Media Group 2022.

Text © Donna Blaber 2022.

www.donnablaber.com

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Cover: Pro Design.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, storage in any information retrieval system, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

ISBN 978-1-927229-781 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-927229-774 (Kindle)

ISBN 978-1-927229-798 (E-pub)

ISBN 978-1-927229-804 (Audio - retail)

ISBN 978-1-927229-811 (Audio - library)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.

Kei te pātengi raraunga o Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa te whakarārangi o tēnei pukapuka.

Contents

PROLOGUE

1. BORED

2. WHALE BAY

3. THE SANDSPIT

4. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

5. THE DOLPHIN

6. NEW FRIENDS

7. REUBEN

8. ENVIRONMENTAL WARRIORS

9. RUBBISH

10. FOLLOW ME

11. BEN

12. THE STORM

13. A TANGLED MESS

14. RESCUE

15. THE AFTERMATH

16. GOOD NEWS

17. HOMECOMING

PROLOGUE

Set Net Threat

A police inquiry is underway following the discovery of an illegal net set in the Poor Knights Marine Reserve. Marine reserves are protected under the Marine Reserves Act 1971, and it is an offence to remove anything from them.

Local diver, James Jones, found the net at the northern Poor Knights’ island of Tawhiti Rauho.

It was tied to a tree with a green float and an anchor holding it in place at the other end, said Jones, adding that it was well camouflaged and unlike any he’d seen before.

Three pied cormorants, seven juvenile hammerhead sharks, four eagle rays, and two large snapper were snared in the net.

Stacey Smith, spokesperson for the Department of Conservation said, There are no excuses for setting nets in a marine reserve. When the offender is caught they will face criminal prosecution.

The maximum penalty for fishing in a marine reserve is a $10,000 fine or three months in jail.

Locals are asked to look out for a dark blue launch last seen south of the Hen and Chicken Islands. Boat owners are reminded to identify marine reserve boundaries, and to find the markers using the MarineMate app.

We must look after our marine reserves and protect them for future generations, said Smith. She encourages anyone with further information to come forward.

1

BORED

Becky eyed her neighbour emerging from the blue bach next door. As always she was wearing a dazzling floral dress, but they suited this little old lady with her long grey plaited hair and black jandals.

Today’s dress was vivid yellow with white daisies, and it came with a matching face mask. Nothing like the grey suits leaving the rows of domino-stacked terraced houses Becky was used to seeing at home. Here, in the seaside settlement of Ngunguru, on the other side of the world, everything was different.

Ivy was her name. Dad liked her, mostly because when he’d moved in she’d called over with some lemon cupcakes. It was the small things that mattered when times were hard; something Becky had learnt living with Mum in the UK at the start of the pandemic. Anyhow, the baking meant Dad always stuck his head over the fence to chat when Ivy was in her yard, weeding or whatever it was she did.

She was definitely intriguing. Every afternoon, at roughly the same time, Ivy’s gate clicked shut and she walked to the estuary, her eyes flitting this way and that, as if she was looking for something.

Becky had followed her a few times since her arrival. It wasn’t like there was a lot else to do. All Dad ever did was hang out with Deirdre, her so-called stepmum. There’d been others in the past but they’d all moved on swiftly. This time it was different. There was Ben, her new baby stepbrother. And that changed everything. At least that’s what Dad said.

He was right, of course. It did change things. It made him busier. Busy with Deirdre and the baby, so there were no fun times any more. It was no wonder she was bored and was following an old lady around.

Here. In New Zealand. Where. We. Once. Did. Cool. Things.

Becky strummed her fingers against the windowsill as Ivy strolled past, then grabbed her mask and phone and slid out the front door. She texted their family group chat. Gone for a walk, back soon.

She hurried after Ivy, following her across the road, along the grassy banks of the estuary, and down to the shore. The tide was halfway out, and the tops of golden sandbanks glistened.

As usual, Ivy hauled a tiny turquoise dinghy across the sand, fished around for rowlocks in her cloth backpack, and returned to the bank plucking oars hidden in the straggly kikuyu grass. Then Ivy looked up, her twinkling blue eyes catching Becky’s own.

Becky froze. She had the feeling you get when you’ve been caught doing something you shouldn’t. Ivy held her gaze. A long second passed. Becky waved, and looked quickly away, flicking her sandy blonde hair out of her face, before holding up her phone and scanning the estuary. She posted the video on her socials to prove that was her reason for being here. #windsurfgirl #noboard #notfair

2

WHALE BAY

Becky had only been in New Zealand for a few days when she visited Whale Bay for the first time.

It’s one of our favourite spots, said Dad as he helped Deirdre pack a picnic dinner.

You’ll love it, added Deirdre, her brown bob swinging as she turned, fixing her soft tawny eyes on Becky, before passing a carrot stick to Ben in his highchair. He stared at it, his long dark lashes framing his brilliantly blue eyes, acting like he’d never seen a carrot before.

Becky looked away. What had she been thinking, agreeing to come to New Zealand early to spend time with Dad? She should have waited for Mum to sell up so they could travel together.

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Dad bounced Ben in a backpack down the cliffside path leading to the beach, a pretty bay with rocks at each end and a fringe of giant pōhutukawa trees overhanging the sand. Deirdre rolled out a flax mat and topped it with a pale blue blanket. Ben was placed in the middle, Dad and Deirdre forming a protective cocoon around him.

There was no room left. Becky waited politely for them to realise, her big toe drawing a series of triangles in the sand. Two big triangles, one tiny triangle, and a small triangle off to the side. The seconds sped past; no one noticed.

So what. Who wanted to sit under a tree anyway and get knocked out by a baby thrashing a red plastic spade around? She sighed, spreading her towel out in the sun, as far away as she could get without looking rude.

Putting on her sunglasses, she gazed across the bay as the sun seeped deliciously into her skin. It wasn’t too hot, a cool breeze caressed her