Huia Short Stories 10

by Tihema Baker

  Tamāhine couldn’t follow what he was saying. She was grumpy, rude and not nice like the other girls. She looked at him in silence, shocked. She wanted to cry, so she screwed her face up tight.

  That made Mr Elare mad. He sat up, swung a hand and smacked her on the behind. ‘That’s exactly what I meant, Tank. Horrible faces like that. Now explain why you’re like this.’ He slapped her again, harder.

  Tamāhine stood mutely in horror, an obedient kōtiro who had been taught not to talk back to adults. She tried to make sense of why she was getting a hiding. Mr Elare hit her harder and harder; she jolted with each slap. She was too scared to cry in case he got worse. She heard her grandfather’s voice: E oma Tamāhine. She fled.

  Two teachers in another classroom saw her tearing past crying. They hurried out and called to her. She shuddered to a stop, obedient once more. They stepped over, and one put her hand on Tamāhine’s shoulder.

  ‘What’s the matter, Tamāhine? What’s wrong?’

  She was ashamed and fearful of another hiding, so shook her head. ‘Nothing, Miss.’

  The lady teacher asked again. ‘Please, Tamāhine. What’s wrong?’

  ‘Nothing, Miss.’

  The lady teachers looked at one another and tried once more. ‘It’s alright Tamāhine, you can tell us. What happened?’

  Tamāhine was desperate to get away. If the lady teachers knew she had run away from Mr Elare while being disciplined, she’d be in more trouble. They might even take her back. ‘Nothing, Miss, nothing. I’ve got to go home now. I’m late; my nan will be worrying.’

  She charged down the slope, blitzed past the fence, barrelled over the netball courts, and raced for the sports field, frantic. She stormed across that once safe green harbour to find the grass alleyway, the fastest way to get home.

  She cried when she told Tini what had happened. He whispered, ‘I hate that man. He gives all of us a hiding, then he wants to touch us.’

  Tank went back to school. Mr Elare ignored her. She didn’t care. She no longer wanted to choose a song for the record player. She huffed along for days, till the bruises faded and hate hardened to armour. Secretly she watched the other girls in her class and wondered. Until Mr Elare parked his car, one night, in front of the beautiful mother’s house.

  Tini handed Tank a softball bat he had stolen from school. He’d wrapped it in his jersey. They took turns smashing Mr Elare’s nice car.

  When the police caught them, they were laughing and jumping at home.

  The Authors

  Huia Short Stories 10

  Hana Aranga

  Hana Aranga (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Manawa, Ngāpuhi) teaches te reo Māori at Ngā Puna o Waiorea – Western Springs College, Auckland. Hana’s pursuit of excellence drives her passion for teaching te reo Māori. She also has a strong involvement in Māori performing arts. She says that, although it is challenging at times, using writing to tell untold stories from unheard voices is one of the most stimulating and rewarding passions that she has.

  Tihema Baker

  Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Te Āti Awa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Toa Rangatira

  Nō Ōtaki ahau. I ahau e tipu ake ana, ka whakatōkia te painga o te mahi tuhituhi ki taku ngākau – te tuhinga poto me te pakimaero hoki. E noho ana au ki Te Whanganui-ā-Tara, ā, kua ako au i te reo Māori ki konei mō te tohu BA ki Te Whare Wānanga o te Upoko o te Ika a Māui. Kua mutu taua mahi ināianei, engari kātahi tonu taku haerenga ka tīmata i roto o tēnei ao nui.

  TJ Corrigan

  TJ Corrigan (Upokorehe hapū, Whakatōhea iwi) drew on a chance encounter and the kindness of a stranger in writing ‘Hemi’s Gift’. TJ currently lives in Wellington with her husband and their two dogs. She studied English and creative writing at Massey University, where she earned her bachelor of arts, and plans to go on to study at masters level. She has always loved reading, writing and listening to other people’s stories, and is grateful for the opportunity to add her voice to the mix.

  Shelly Davies

  Shelly Davies (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Porou) teaches business, technical and creative writing through Waiora Design Ltd. She loves plain language and transforming attitudes to writing. She’s kept busy by her three tamariki and her hapū Ngāti Rehua on Aotea, Great Barrier Island. She was a winner of the Auckland University of Technology Creative Writing competition in 2011 with her short story ‘Leap’.

  Kirsty Dunn

  Kirsty Dunn is currently completing her master’s thesis in English at the University of Canterbury. ‘Sam’ was written as part of a larger collection of stories told through various voices spanning five generations of the same whānau; time spent at Kirsty’s ancestral lands in Pawarenga inspired the project. Kirsty also writes poetry – some of which has been published in Blackmail Press, in Potroast and on one of Christchurch’s inner city walls as part of Poetica – the city’s urban poetry project. She is working on a new set of stories exploring the notion of the artist, while the novel inside her bides its time.

  Philip Evans

  Philip Evans (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāi Tahu) was born in 1971 and grew up with ambitions of being the next H G Wells. Sadly, these have yet to be realised. He lives in Wellington with his wife, three children and one eccentric cat.

  Ann French

  Ann French (Ngā Puhi) lives in Tauranga with her husband and best friend of forty-nine years, Chris. Her home is by the sea, where she has lived for most of her life. With five grandchildren who keep her young, she considers the small pleasures in life bring the greatest rewards. She paints silk as a hobby, but writing is the great passion in her life.

  Petera Hakiwai

  I whanau mai ahau i te 12 o ngā ra o Huitanguru i te tau 1992. Ka kōhangatia au e aku matua ki Te whare kōhungahunga o Ahumairangi, ā ka kuraina au ki te kura o Otari. Ka 12 tau taku pakeke ka auraki atu au ki Te Kāreti o Te Aute ki reira ako ai mō ngā tau e rima. I ēnei ra kua tata tutuki i a au taku tohu paetahi i Te whare wānanga o Wikitōria. Waihoki nō ngā tau e toru kua hipa ake nei kua noho au hei kaiwhakapāho reo Māori mō te reo irirangi o Te Upoko o Te Ika. I te tau 2011 nōku te whiwhi ka pōhiritia au e Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo me te aha, katahi anō te ihu ka puta. Ko te reo Māori taku tino, ā, ko te tūmanako ia ka whai wāhi ahau hei roto i ngā tau ki te hoki atu ki ōku marae ki reira whakaako ai i te reo Māori ki ōku whanaunga.

  Eru Hart

  Eru Hart (Ngāti Kahungunu, Pākehā) is a thirty-three-year-old Wellington writer. He is currently working on a breakthrough folio of short pieces, provisionally titled Splendid. What exactly he breaks through, or indeed into, remains to be seen.

  Kelly Joseph

  Kelly Joseph is a writer and artist currently living on the Kapiti Coast with her family. She has previously had stories published in Huia Short Stories 5, 7 and 8, and in Hue and Cry, Takahē and JAAM. Her story in this collection is dedicated to her dad, who was a great storyteller, and who inspired Kelly with his tales of the old King Country.

  Shilo Kino

  Shilo Kino (Ngā Puhi, Tainui) of Te Atatu South, Auckland is a twenty-three year old Auckland University of Technology student halfway through a graduate diploma in Pacific Journalism. She already holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Film, Television and Media from Auckland University. Shilo loves writing about the Māori culture because she sees it as beautiful, unique and – more importantly – magical. While she grew up on prominent authors such as Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace, she believes that New Zealand literature is still missing out on magnificent Māori tales. Shilo believes Māori writers have stories to tell that should make all New Zealanders proud, and the rest of the world open their ears and listen. That is what she aspires to do.

  Anahera Korohina-Bowen

  Anahera Korohina-Bowen is of Ngāti Porou descent, in particular, Te Whānau-a-Hunaara of Horoera and Te Whānau-a-Hinerupe of Te Araroa; however, the Korohina whānau originated from Kiekie, Waipiro Bay. She is mother to four boys and nanny to one darling mokopuna, Mareikura.

  She
has taught English and history for twenty years at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ruamata. Prior to that she coordinated the pre-service teacher training programme Te Kura Pouako in Rotorua, was a reporter for Te Karere and a language teacher. Her passions include the revitalisation of the Māori language, tikanga, waiata and culture, travelling, reading and spending quality time with her family and friends. The story in this collection is based on a childhood memory of life on the coast with her grandparents, pāpā Mohi Turei Te Okeroa Korohina and nanny Waitemata Reretima Korohina (nee Paringatai).

  Arihia Latham

  Arihia Latham (Ngāi Tahu) is often found writing poems and story ideas on the back of bills and receipts. This is because, along with writing, she juggles the varied roles of lecturing, facilitating, health consulting and parenting in Wellington. She has found that bills and receipts are much more palatable when accompanied by a poem. She has had work published previously by Huia, and is currently working on a novel for young adults.

  Robert MacDonald

  Robert MacDonald (Rangitāne ki Wairau, Kahungunu ki Heretaunga) has lived in Waimārama for most of his sixty-four years. He thought he was too old, but after some encouragement from good friends, took a chance and entered the Pikihuia Awards.

  Jacquie McRae

  Jacquie McRae (Tainui) lives in Te Ārai with her husband. She loves her boys, books, yoga and the sea. She was a finalist for the Pikihuia Awards in 2009 and a participant in the Te Papa Tupu programme in 2010, and launched her first novel, The Scent of Apples, at the Pikihuia Awards in 2011. The novel won gold for fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards in New York in 2012.

  Zeb Tamihana Nicklin

  Pāhauwera, Tāmanuhiri ngā iwi. Ka tipu ake ahau ko te reo Pākehā taku reo kōrero ao te pō, pō te ao, ka mutu, he reo Pākehā noa iho kei te arero o ōku mātua. Kia tae rānō ahau ki te kura tuarua kātahi ka tūtaki māua ko Reo, ā, ka moea. I whakapōtaetia ahau i Te Kupenga o te Mātauranga hai kaiako Kura Kaupapa Māori. Ko te reo Māori hai kai ki taku wairua!

  Toni Pivac

  Toni Pivac (Ngāti Whātua, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is twenty-six years old, and lives in her home town of Whangārei with her family. Stories (both reading and writing) have always been a passion of hers, since her dad introduced her to books as a young child. She holds a bachelor of communication studies, but has always preferred the fantastical world of fiction. For some strange reason, her ideas for stories always seem to coincide with the very edge of sleep. Toni squeezes in writing whenever she can while being māmā to her two beautiful tamariki. She loves Mila and Matija, has a huge weakness for fries, banoffee pie, watermelon and puppies, and dreams of one day being a fully fledged author.

  Frazer Rangihuna

  Frazer Rangihuna (Ngāti Porou) is from Te Tairāwhiti (Gisborne), and currently lives in Auckland. In 1992 his fifth-form English teacher told him he was a talented writer, but writing an essay about Othello in his bursary English exam was where his literary jaunt ended at that time. In 2010, he succumbed again. He has no formal writing qualifications – just huge enthusiasm, a craving to learn and a tendency to go off on tangents. He is currently working on his first novel. In between, he is a nurse working in acute mental health, and at home an affable hermit.

  Terence Rissetto

  Terence Rissetto (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha) is a double graduate of the University of Auckland. He has previously been published in Landfall, Huia Short Stories 9 and online magazines including Blackmail Press, Penduline and Bold Monkey. He says, ‘I am a ventriloquist breathing life and dark into the mouths of the unliving. At night I pack my dummies into the suitcase of my mind: sometimes with an arm sticking out, sometimes a leg. Life is not always as tidy. Often I hear voices from within but my lips are not moving. Maybe I’m dreaming.’ Terence has spent time in Europe, and currently lives in South Auckland.

  Horiana Robin

  Horiana Robin (Ngāti Kahungunu, Tūwharetoa, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa) lives in Hastings on an apple orchard that her parents bought. She attributes many blessings in her life to Te Atua, but the greatest blessing is her son Ihakara. Horiana’s grandmother introduced her to her love of words at a very early age. She couldn’t understand why her grandmother always had her nose in a book, and would get very jealous of her inattention to her. Lo and behold, Horiana has had her nose buried in a book ever since. She has been writing maniacally for the last eight years, much to the patient annoyance of her family and friends.

  Marama Salsano

  Marama Salsano is a Gisborne writer who lives and works in Taranaki. She has a penchant for Italian pastiera cake, and cannot fully function without her morning soy mochaccino.

  Rongomai Smith

  Ko Rongomai Smith tōku ingoa. He uri tēnei nō Taranaki me Ngāi Tahu. Kua tata ake nei au ki te otinga o taku tohu paetahi i te whare wānanga o Wikitōria i roto i te reo Maori, me te mātauranga Māori. Kia oti taku tohu paetahi ka hoki atu au ki Tūranga whai mahi ai i roto i te ao o ngā kaiako i ngā kura tuarua. Kua ako au i te reo Māori mō ngā tau e toru ināianei i te whare wānanga. Ko te manako, ka haere tonu tēnei huarahi ki te whai, ki te whakatutuki anō hoki i ngā wawata o rātou mā, kia piki ake te huia kōrero o tātou katoa, kia kore ai tō tātou reo kāmehameha e noho ana ki te pari o te rua e maimoatia ai. Heoi, nei rā aku mihi manahau ki a tātou katoa.

  Aimee Stephens

  Aimee Stephens has been married to her husband, David Tapping, for nearly two years, and is currently teaching Te Reo Māori and English in a secondary school setting. She is of Kai Tahu descent; her hapū is Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki. Her family is her treasure. She hopes to continue sharing kōrero that explore the unique relationship between Māori and Te Taiao, and will continue to pursue a career in writing.

  Mark Sweet

  Mark Sweet was born in Napier. He worked overseas, in Hong Kong and Scotland, before returning to Hawke’s Bay and establishing the Pacifica restaurant. Recreating himself as a writer, Mark was selected for the Te Papa Tupu programme in 2010, where he developed the novel Zhu Mao, published in 2011. He was a finalist in the Pikihuia competition the same year, submitting a short story and a novel extract. Mark is working on his next novel, Of Good and Evil, and is a feature writer for Baybuzz magazine.

  Erin Thompson-Pou

  Erin Thompson-Pou was born and raised in Rotorua. She married a local boy, and they continue to live in Rotorua with their three tamāhine. Erin finds that storytelling is a great way to share, inspire and encourage. Her most recent selection of stories was written to inspire whānau training towards IronMāori and on the road to improved health and well-being. Although Erin juggles a busy life, with whānau, mahi, business and iwi commitments, she hopes to compile a selection of iwi-based stories in both te reo Māori and English in the future, for her whānau to enjoy.

  Karuna Thurlow

  He uri nō te whānau Nihoniho (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou), i tipu ake a Karuna ki te ata o Kā Tiritiri o te Moana ki te rohe o Waitaha. Tokorua āhana kera e haere ana ki te kura tuatahi. Ko tōhona moehewa kia ara ake anō te reo Māori hai reo matua mō ōhona whānau, hapū, iwi.

  Aaron Ure

  Aaron Ure, of Taranaki iwi descent and raised across New Zealand, is the husband of one and father of four. He is a late bloomer when it comes to reading and story-writing. Starting his training at the Waiariki Institute of Technology at forty-nine, Aaron found he had a unique voice and diverse stories to tell. Aaron finds that writing brings harmony and expression to both his Māori and his European heritage.

  Helen Waaka

  Two years ago, after winning the Pikihuia short story award, Helen Waaka wanted to give up her day job and write full-time. Since then, she has completed Whitireia’s graduate diploma in creative writing, but hasn’t given up the day job … not quite yet. The writing is slowly taking over most aspects of her life, though. She thanks her whānau for being so understanding.

  Tangai Waranga

  Tangai Waranga (Ngāti P
orou/Ngāti Kahungunu) studies creative writing at the Manukau Technical Institute. She is a member of Banana Boat (a Māori and Pasifika writers’ collective), has danced hula at the Pasifika Festival and is a past pupil of Tangaroa College, Otara.