Dawn Raid

by Pauline Vaeluaga Smith

  I said to Charlotte, “Why didn’t you just tell Mr. Arbuckle that?”

  She raised her eyebrow again and said, “Well, Sofia, you and I had just had a fight and I didn’t want you to know my business. Besides, I don’t think Mr. Arbuckle would understand.”

  Now that I think about it, she was probably right, Mr. Arbuckle didn’t get why Lenny was protesting, so I don’t think he would get it about Charlotte’s dad being an overstayer.

  I asked why they didn’t all go to Tonga with her dad and she said it was too expensive and her mum is working with the Panthers to try and get her dad back here.

  Poor Charlotte! Poor Charlotte’s mum! Poor Charlotte’s dad!

  I’m glad people are protesting about this.

  TUESDAY, 5 October

  * * *

  Mr. Carter liked my topics. He said using a question for the title was an excellent idea. He showed me how to do a mind map to organise my ideas. It was good and I think it’ ll help me. I told Mr. Carter I’ll be away for the next two weeks, so he told me just to keep working on it while I’m away and we’ll look at it together when I get back.

  I can take the present for Charlotte’s mum. Dad said he wanted to go to the Panthers’ headquarters anyway to thank them for helping with Lenny. This is exciting. I wonder if Tigi will be there with baby Che.

  Payday again. I need to get Mum to take me to get my boots!!!!!!

  FRIDAY, 8 October

  * * *

  We’ve been busy getting ready for the trip to Auckland. I didn’t think Mum would take me to pay off my lay-by and get my boots, but she did. They’re SO amazing.

  I put them on as soon as we got in the car and I am still wearing them. Dad reckons I’ll probably sleep in them. Actually, I was thinking about it, I could dangle my feet out the end of the bed and then I would see them when I wake up. Haha.

  I keep touching them, coz they’re shiny and smooth and I love the feel of the metal clips. I’m supercalifragilisticexpialidocious happy. (I learnt to spell that when we had a class competition to find the longest word. The actual longest word was “antidisestablishmentarianism.” No idea what it means, but mine wasn’t counted as no one thought it was a real word.) Anyway, now I have my boots for Auckland. Hooray! I bet my cousins will love them too.

  Rawiri is going to stay at our house (in Lenny’s room) to look after the animals while we’re away. I wonder if Lenny knows about Charlotte’s dad being deported?

  MONDAY, 11 October

  * * *

  Man, that was a long trip yesterday. We left at 9:00 a.m. and got to Uncle Joe’s about 6:00 p.m. It was so squashy in the car. We started out with Mum, Dad, and Lenny in the front, and me, Lily, Ethan, and Tavita in the back. The Vauxhall Cresta is way bigger than our last car and the bench seat in the front means 3 people can fit okay. We were only allowed a pillow and one small bag each, so I wore my boots to make more room in my bag.

  We stopped at Otaki for fresh hot bread, we haven’t had that for ages. Mum got one loaf for the front seat and one for the back. Mmm, it was crusty on the outside and fluffy on the inside. We all picked pieces off and ate it. She got 2 more loaves to take to Uncle Joe’s.

  Half an hour later Ethan and Tavita were fighting, so Lenny got in the back and Ethan got put in the front. Lenny put Tavita on his knee so there was a bit more room.

  We started singing and took turns picking the song. Tavita picked “Jingle Bells.” Dad said it’s a bit early for Christmas carols but Tavita carried on. Turns out he didn’t really know the words. He was singing, “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, ho Mc fun it is to ride on a one tooth slopping sleigh, hey!”

  We all laughed then joined in using Tavita’s words and laughed some more. When we finished, Ethan said, “Tavita, you dummy, it’s not a ‘one tooth slopping sleigh,’ it’s a ‘one horse open slave.’”

  Hahahaha!

  Dad nearly had to pull over he was laughing so much. That part of the trip was fun, the rest was long and hot and my feet were boiling in my boots. I slept for some of the trip. We stopped at Bulls for a stretch and Dad brought us all an ice cream. I got hokey-pokey. Mum told us when she was a kid they used to make their own hokey-pokey and it’s really easy. She’s going to teach us how to make it when we get back from Auckland. We stopped at Taupo for hot chips and then at a park in Hamilton so the kids could have a play.

  By the time we got to Uncle Joe’s, we were all tired and stiff, but as soon as we got out of the car and started hugging and kissing everyone we got full of energy again. Dad hugged Grandma and Grandpa for ages and they were all crying. I started to get tears in my eyes watching them, and then I saw that most of the grown-ups and some of the kids were crying too. It’s been 6 years since Dad saw them.

  After we unpacked, all the adults sat around talking. Lots of it was in Samoan so us kids went to the rooms. There are 18 of us staying at Uncle Joe’s. Him and Auntie Aletta, and their 2 kids, Suzanne (Suz, she’s my age, her middle name is Lily after Grandma as well) and Alofa (which means “love” in Samoan, which is pretty cool, she’s 11). Us 3 and Lily are sleeping on mattresses behind the couch in the lounge, which is cool bananas. Auntie Loretta (Dad’s older sister) came up from Hamilton and brought a trailer with mattresses and tents and stuff, her husband’s Kevin and their kids are Alex (18), Noah (14), and Paul (13), plus there’s Grandma, Grandpa, and all of us. The big boys are sleeping in tents on the lawn, the adults are in the bedrooms, and Ethan and Tavita are on a mattress in Mum and Dad’s room. They made a big fuss and said they should be allowed to sleep in the tents with the other boys. Dad told them to cut it out, but Mum said if they behave, we’ll see.

  Suz loved my boots. It made me feel great and made it worth it wearing them for the whole trip. By the time we had some dinner and talked and talked it was late, so we got the mattresses out and made up our beds, then we got into bed and talked some more. I fell asleep listening to the adults talking Samoan. It sounds like a lot of vowel sounds all strung together.

  TUESDAY, 12 October

  * * *

  Auntie Aletta cooked up plates and plates of toast for us kids, we must have eaten 4 loaves of bread. Then we heard that there’s going to be a feast here on Saturday night for Lenny’s 18th birthday. We have loads of relatives here in Auckland who want to come see us, so Dad, Uncle Joe, and the others decided to combine it with Lenny’s 18th. Grandma and Grandpa have brought some palusami and taro from Samoa, so we’ll be having that and there’ll be a pig on a spit.

  Grandma and Grandpa brought us presents. Lily and I got a turtle-shell bangle and shell beads. Dad and Lenny got a lavalava and a shirt, Ethan got a small log drum (which is pretty annoying right now), Tavita got a log canoe, and Mum got a fan, a jar of coconut oil, and some shell earrings. I guess she’ ll have to get her ears pierced now.

  WEDNESDAY, 13 October

  * * *

  Lily, Ethan, Tavita, Suz, Alofa, Noah, Paul, and me went to the park this afternoon. The big boys had gone with Uncle Joe and Uncle Kevin to get tables and chairs and stuff for the feast. While we were at the park these kids from Suz’s school came along and were calling us names, they said we were a bunch of afakasi with some swearwords as well. Noah and Paul wanted to fight them and I wanted to as well, I thought I could use my fancy catfighting skills on them hahaha.

  I thought there really was going to be a fight when we heard Tavita yelling like Tarzan. At first I thought he was just trying to get in on the fight, but then we realised he had slipped from the rope-climbing thingy. He fell from quite high up and cracked his head on the concrete and a huge bump came up straightaway. The boys from Suz’s school yelled “HA HA” and took off. Noah started throwing stones at them.

  We got Tavita up and took him straight home. He screamed all the way—Mum said it sounded like a siren coming up the street. When Auntie Loretta saw it she started pushing the lump hard. Tavita screamed more and Mum looked really panicked. Auntie Loretta said this is what they do in th
e Islands. Mum decided to take Tavita to the hospital, so now Tavita has a patient card at Auckland Hospital as well.

  They never got back until late. The doctors said to keep him quiet and rested for a couple of days. Well, good luck with that! I told Dad what happened and asked him what “afakasi” means. He said it’s the Samoan word for “half-caste,” which means someone who is half Samoan and half pālagi.

  “Well, that’ s what we are, so what’s the big deal? Why were those boys being mean about it?”

  Dad said sometimes people use it to put people down. It’s like saying you’re only half of this and half of that, so you’ re not as good as people who are full Samoan or full pālagi. Blimmin’ heck, I wish I had given those mean boys the bash.

  Auntie Loretta taught some of us to play a card game called Sweepy. It was fun—I won twice. Go, me! You have to do lots of adding and thinking. It’s a neat game, we’re going to play it again tomorrow.

  THURSDAY, 14 October

  * * *

  Dad and Lenny took me to the Polynesian Panthers’ headquarters today. I thought it would be like on Get Smart where you have to go through lots of doors and it would be dark with concrete walls and stuff. But nah. Tigi was there and some guys with Afros were with him. I told Lenny he should grow an Afro—he just laughed. One of the guys spoke Samoan to Dad. Charlotte’ s mum and some other ladies were there too. Charlotte’s mum gave me a big hug and said, “Hi, Sofia, it’s great to see you again,” then she hugged Lenny and introduced herself to Dad. I felt really sad for her, now I know what happened to her husband.

  The Panthers call each other brother or sister, it makes it feel like a real club when you hear them say Brother Tigi or Sister Melani. I like it.

  I gave the present from Charlotte to her mum. When she opened it she was a bit tearful. It was a bottle of perfume, called Charlie. “Goodness, how could Charlotte afford this?” I told her about the milk run. “Charlie—it will remind me of her every time I use it. Please tell Charlotte I love it,” she said. And then, “Actually, I’ll write her a note,” which she did there and then and sprayed some of the perfume on it. She gave me a squirt too. It smelled really pretty. The only thing we usually smell is Dad’s Old Spice aftershave.

  Dad made a bit of a speech to the Panthers to thank them for all their help getting Lenny off the arrest. Lenny said a few words too. Then Tigi told them it’ s important we stand together to fight injustice. Tigi gave Dad a legal aid booklet that the Panthers have made and Dad invited them to Lenny’s birthday celebrations. I hope they come and bring the baby. There was a lot of talk about how the city council are talking about evicting the Panther Party from their premises so they can put a car park there. The Panthers aren’t going to let that happen without a fight.

  On the way back to Uncle Joe’s, I said, “Tigi sounds like a real-life Martin Luther King Jr.” Dad and Lenny agreed.

  Maybe that’s what my speech can be about … I’ll do a mind map tomorrow.

  FRIDAY, 15 October

  * * *

  Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Lenny, happy birthday to you!

  Yep, Lenny is 18 today. He got a tank top and two LPs from Mum and Dad, one is Bob Marley and the Wailers, the other is 20 Solid Gold Hits, volume 14. Me and Lily got him a leather wallet and some chocolate peanuts. There’s been tons of action here today—people making food, putting up tables, and setting out chairs.

  Lenny went away with the men early this morning. There was massive excitement when they arrived back with a dead pig on the trailer. When they unloaded it, Lenny came inside and had a shower. We asked where the pig came from and he said he killed it with his own hands. We just laughed—but it turns out he did!

  Us big kids squeezed into the boys’ tent after tea and he told us about it. Dad told him they were going to get a pig for the spit, and Lenny thought they were just picking it up from the butcher’s or something but when they got to the place, the pig was running around in a pen. Dad said, “This is the pig for your celebration, son. You need to kill it.”

  Lenny had been gobsmacked. He’ d asked where the knife was and how he was supposed to do it. The men there all laughed, then the guy who owned the pig said, “You don’t use a knife—you use a pole to kill it.” The guy explained, “First you have to catch the pig, then use the pole to suffocate it.”

  “Ew ew ew,” I said, covering my ears and running out of the tent. When they’d finished telling the story, they called me back in. I don’t think it can have been very good because some of the kids were looking a bit pale.

  Poor Lenny—there’s no way I’ m touching that pig, I won’t be eating a bite. Lenny said all the men had patted him on the back and congratulated him. It was obviously some kind of a rite of passage for Island men.

  SUNDAY, 17 October

  * * *

  Wow, the party was fantast-a-mundo! We got to stay up until 1 o’clock in the morning. There’s lots of cleaning up going on now, so I’m in the boys’ tent hiding for a bit.

  When we were getting ready for the party I asked Suz what she was wearing, and she had a really neat skirt and top, but she only had her school shoes to wear with it so I offered her my boots. I couldn’t believe it when the words came out of my mouth, and as soon as I said it I was hoping she would say no. Of course she didn’t.

  “Seriously, Sofia? Oh man, that’s so nice of you. But what will you wear?”

  “Oh, I have my sandals,” I said weakly.

  “Okay—wow, thanks.”

  I don’t know why I offered and I felt really sad about it at the start, but after a while I thought it was good seeing how great they looked on her.

  We met heaps of relatives at the party and got kissed and hugged by a lot of people. Tigi and 2 of his friends, Aliu (who we met at the HQ) and Jimmy (who is Māori) came. They’ d brought guitars, so they played some songs. I heard Lenny and Alex talking to them. They were saying things like, “Cool sounds, man,” and, “I really dig it.”

  There was a bit of Island dancing, and us girls had to get up and do it too, but we weren’t very good at it. Even my pālagi Mum had a go. I think she was better than us.

  When it came time for the feast the men brought the whole pig in. It smelled amazing and when they cut it up and put it on the plates, I thought, Well it doesn’t look like a pig now … so I ate some. It was so beautiful I had seconds. So much for not touching the pig! The food was so nice—I tried to have a bit of everything, even the taro, which I don’t really like. I loved the palusami though, which is a very yummy taro leaf baked with coconut cream. We were only allowed a little bit of that so there would be plenty for the adults. Then there was pineapple pie for dessert—YUM!

  The best part of the party was when Grandma and Grandpa got up to do some Island dancing. Their dancing was so gentle and beautiful, I want to learn to dance just like them.

  MONDAY, 18 October

  * * *

  THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!

  Dad, Uncle Joe, Uncle Kevin, Lenny, and Alex have all been taken away by the police! They’re at the jail. We are all just sitting around crying waiting to see what happens.

  It all started about 4 o’clock this morning.

  Everyone was sound asleep when we were woken by all this banging and shouting and a dog barking. Next thing we know, the lights are on and there are police standing in the lounge! Us girls start screaming and then everything goes MENTAL!

  Some of the adults came running to see what’s going on and the police start shouting at them to stop and back off. The police dog is growling and barking at Dad and Uncle Kevin. Then we hear screaming from one of the rooms—there’s a policeman in there trying to pull Grandma and Grandpa out of bed!!! Grandma is hitting him with her jandal.

  Dad runs up the hall and yells at the policeman to leave them alone. The policeman shouts at Dad to get back to the lounge and raises his baton. They make Dad stand in the corner and Grandma and Grandpa are told to sit on
the couch. Us girls have to sit on the floor. We try to go and grab some blankets coz we’re in our pj’s but the policeman drags us back. Dad yells at him to get his hands off us and rushes over. Next thing, two cops have Dad with his arm bent up behind his back and they’re putting him in the paddy wagon.

  So much noise! So much confusion. None of us knows what’s going on.

  One policeman yells to another, “Geez, they’ re everywhere! The neighbour was right,” and he pulls Ethan, Tavita, and Mum into the lounge too. “What’s a nice white girl like you doing in a place like this?” he says to Mum.

  Then we hear another cop swearing at Auntie Loretta and telling her to hurry up.

  That’s when Uncle Kevin loses his temper and rushes up the hallway. The police dog goes crazy, barking and snarling. Ethan is so scared that he wets his pants, and the policeman yells at Mum, “Oh for God’s sake! Get this kid out of here, woman!”

  That’s the moment when Lenny and the boys get involved. Lenny goes berserk and hits the cop—bam!—in the face. The police dog grabs Lenny’ s arm and drags him to the floor.

  So Lenny and Uncle Kevin end up in the paddy wagon too.

  Tavita is hugging me and crying. “Are they going to shoot us, Sofia?”

  I whisper back, “No, it’ll be okay, just shush,” then the policeman yells at me to shut up.

  Once we’re all sitting in the lounge, the policeman puts the dog outside. Then they start asking us who we are and demanding our identification papers. They start with Grandma and Grandpa, but they hardly speak any English so Uncle Joe tries to translate for them. The policeman tells him to shut up, but then, when he can’t understand Grandma and Grandpa, he has to talk with Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe explains Grandma and Grandpa are visiting from Samoa and the cop lets him get their passports. Then Uncle Joe says that he, Dad, and Auntie Loretta have been in NZ for about 20 years and they all have NZ citizenship.