Three Times Dead
Page 15
“Spoken like a very old wise man,” Mark said with a smile. “I think the ancestors have taught you a thing or two. I’ll see if I can bring her in.”
He turned to leave but I called out, “Wait!”
“What?” He turned back to me.
I looked over to the door before speaking. “Do you think they have a microphone in here?”
Mark looked puzzled but said, “No, I don’t think so. This isn’t a police state. Why?”
“I brought something back with me – a treasure.”
“A toanga?”
“That’s it – the greenstone mere of my ancestors. It was in my car, but I guess the car has been impounded now. I need you to get the mere from the car and keep it somewhere safe until I get out.”
“I don’t know if I’ll have access to the car, and anyway, whatever it is, the cops will have it by now.”
“They didn’t find it when they searched the car and it was lying on the front seat. I reckon that it will only reveal itself to you. If it does, then you’ll know what to do with it.”
Mark stared at me for a few seconds, then nodded and left the room. A few minutes later the door opened and Gina flew at me, enveloping me in her arms.
“I missed you,” she whispered into my ear. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok.”
She broke down then, collapsing into the chair by the table and dropping her head into her hands.
“It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant …”
I crouched down beside the chair and put my hand on her arm.
“Mark said you didn’t go through with it?”
“No, I didn’t,” she looked at me with tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t do it, really I couldn’t, not after I heard you outside. I was confused, my Mum was at me all the time, how it would ruin my life, but I just couldn’t do it.” She put her hand on her belly. “I couldn’t put an end to the life within me.” She smiled at me. “And not after you showed me that you really wanted this baby.”
“I do,” I said as I put my hand over hers against her stomach. “I really do. I have a history, a whakapapa, and I want to share it with my children.” I looked up into her eyes and said, “If it’s a boy we shall call him Toa.”
“And if it’s a girl?”
“Then we shall call her Ataahua, for she shall be as beautiful as you.”
Epilogue
So what do you get for being an accomplice to aggravated robbery with intent to cause grievous bodily harm? In my case, it was nine months home detention, which is better than Mitch and Scott who got jail time. They did eventually change their story to what was more or less the truth especially as blood tests taken soon after they had been arrested revealed that they had both been high on both cannabis and methamphetamine at the time of the robbery while I’d been clean of any illegal substances. Except for tea which I didn’t think showed up on any medical device.
Witnesses helped too, like Ted and Peter, who came up for the trial and supported me by telling the judge what I had told them about the events. Henry said his piece too, most of it in Maori, which seemed to impress the judge. Maybe that swayed him in sentencing – that and my pregnant girlfriend in the gallery.
At least I was at home for the birth of our daughter, a beautiful girl called Ataahua – Ata for short. When the anklet is off my leg – my right leg, even though I jokingly tried to get them to put it on my left – Gina and I will be married. I’m studying theology with Mark’s help, and learning te reo. Because of my criminal conviction, I won’t be able to do missionary work overseas, but Mark tells me that there are plenty of missionary fields in my own back yard. I can believe that – I’m sure there are plenty of others like me.
Using the internet, I found Toa in Australian records. He changed his name to Tom and took his wife’s surname – Bellamy. They had one child, a boy, before Tom died in an accident on the goldfields. Mary remarried, I guess that’s what women did in those days to survive, and had another three children before she also died. Tom’s son, James, lived in Perth where he had two children, one of whom died in the First World War. The other, called William, survived, and it was his son Robert that came to New Zealand – Mum’s grandfather. So I traced Toa back to me.
Henry is helping me to trace my whakapapa and I hope to be back in Te Awamutu once I am free of my anklet. I don’t think it will be as easy to trace my whakapapa as it was to trace Toa through the Australian records, but I have every faith that my tupuna will show me the way, as they have done since I started my journey.
I keep the mere close to me, for it is the link between me and Haki. He no longer appears in my dreams, but I know that a part of him lives in me, as a part of him also lives in my daughter. For in my journey I learnt that I don’t exist in isolation, that those who have gone before me are as much part of me as those who will come after me. I thought that I could do whatever I liked, decide to be either good or bad, because I was separate from everyone else, but that was a lie I held onto to justify my actions. Only Piripi knew how lost I was, and that redemption would elude me until I acknowledged the threads of life that wove us together. He was right when he first appeared to me and told me that I couldn’t find my way forward until I knew from where I came, although I had no understanding of it at the time.
So I write this as a confession, now putting the old self behind me and acknowledging the new self that emerged after my water baptism - the tapu has been lifted, and a new life awaits me.
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Glossary
hapuextended family group with a common ancestor
Hine-nui-te-poGoddess of Death
iwipeople or wider tribal group
kaifood
karakiaprayer
kaumatuaelder
manastatus or prestige
maraetraditional meeting place of Maori
merewar club made of greenstone
mokotraditional tattooing usually of the face
mokopunagrandchildren
noafree from tapu
padefensive settlement
patuwar club made of wood, stone or bone
Pakehaof European descent
raupobulrush plant used to make traditional dwellings
tapusacred
te kahastand strong
toangaa treasured object
tohungaan expert practitioner of art or skill, spiritual leader
toitoia species of tall grass
tupunaancestors
waiatiasong
whakanoathe act of releasing from tapu
whakapapagenealogy
whanaufamily
wharehouse or building
Historical facts
The Waikato War occurred in New Zealand between 1863 and 1864. The first battle in the Waikato War took place at Koheroa Ranges near Meremere on 17th July 1863. On 7th September a British supply depot named after General Cameron: Camerontown, on the Waikato River was attacked by Maori in attempt to disrupt supplies to the British Army. This was followed by the British attack on the fortified pa at Meremere on 31 October and the decisive battle at Rangiriri on 20th November. The British victory here ensured the push deeper into the Waikato and General Cameron led his forces to the seat of the Maori king at Ngaruawahia on 7th December 1863. By this time the Maori king had moved south of the Puniu River and the Maori defenders reinforced pa at Paterangi and Pikopiko to prevent further advance of the British forces. However the general's forces slipped past these defenses and attacked the village of Rangiaowhia on 21 February. The following day the opposing sides fought at Hairini after which the Maori retreated ever further south, fortifying a makeshift pa at Orakau, south east of present day Te Awamutu, where they were surrounded by British forces and held to siege until the 2 April when the Maori garrison broke out and made for the Puniu River. This last battle became known as Rewi's Last Stand and was the last battle of the Waikato War.
For further information see
:
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/war-in-waikato
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars/page-5
http://www.doc.govt.nz/documents/conservation/historic/by-region/waikato/waikato-war-of-1863-64.pdf