Now, with the coffin behind the closed curtain something else had died. But as Lisa finally turned away her face was dry. At that moment Lisa felt completely alone, no Scott, no friends, just alone. And when Scott moved beside her, putting his arm around her, he felt her tense. As they walked towards the door, Lisa, her feelings held in check behind the dam of her own guilt, couldn’t lift her head. Distracted for a moment by the pattern on the tiles beneath her feet she stumbled. It was then, just before she reached the rear door that Lisa looked up into the tear-filled eyes of Jeanette Farmer. In that ‘seismic second’ the dam burst, she lost control of her feelings and her legs. If Scott had not continued to hold her tensed body, Lisa would have collapsed. As Scott held on, Jeanette reached out and Lisa tumbled into her arms. Her body wracked by the violence of her sobbing she was suddenly enveloped by the warmth of the woman who had saved life her in prison and who would save her again.
13.
Dilemma
“Rewa, here’s your tea.”
“Put it on the table for me, would you?” replied Rewa absent-mindedly.
“You’ve been staring into space now for over twenty minutes. Are you going to share whatever it is that’s bothering you?” Petera asked.
“One of my patients has just died, and this article in the newspaper,” – she offered Petera the New Zealand Herald, open at the page she had been reading – “has brought it all back. I don’t know whether you remember those two models, but the younger one died the other week from a drug overdose. The elder one Lisa got hooked on methamphetamine a few years ago and her life broke apart. She lost a baby and ended up on the streets as a whore. She was eventually locked up for eighteen months for possessing a stash of the meth. Her younger sister Sharon is the one who died.”
“Why are you so down about it, love? You didn’t know her, did you?
“I held Lisa in my arms just after her sister died. I feel for the girl. It’s as if she is being punished all over again. When she was a model, she was so beautiful, look you can see. By the time she was imprisoned her looks had vanished. I think she’d only just recovered from being in gaol when this hit her. I just hope that she can recover.”
“I don’t understand. No one asked her to take the drugs, that was her decision. Nobody forced her to chuck her life away, she volunteered to do that. I’m a firm believer in the saying, if you make your own bed you have to lie on it.”
“Bloody hell, I never thought you could be such a hardnosed pratt.”
“Whoa! Back the truck up lady,” Petera declared indignantly, “let’s not fall out about some silly tart who has nothin’ to do with us. I’m merely stating that she caused it all herself. Why should I, or you, feel sorry for a complete stranger who fucked up? Drugs are a choice; she made the wrong one, end of argument.”
“Yep, that’s right, end of argument.” Rewa responded “But, just before you go, and the door is that way if you remember, I just want to say that nursing isn’t a job, it’s a vocation. It’s people that I care for, not hunks of meat. When people need someone to care for them, to help them through the agony they’re going through, it’s me who’s there. I feel for that woman because I’ve felt the loss of a loved one too. I know the agony, the despair, the emptiness that remains after a loved one dies. I don’t give a shit how that person ended up dead. If I did, if I was as judgmental as you are, I couldn’t look after them. It’s about what is in here,” Rewa said, pointing at her own chest, “not what’s in here, in the head.”
Rewa started to cry. They hadn’t ever argued like this. Rewa hated drug abuse, and Petera had without knowing it, touched a nerve. Carl, her dead husband had died because the driver of the car that smashed into him was drunk or stoned or both, and yes, she did blame the person for being in that state. She also blamed the supplier of the drink or the drugs. Just as Lisa felt guilty for the loss of her sister, so Rewa felt guilty for not picking Carl up in the car as he had requested. Rewa had told her husband that she wasn’t going to leave home in the early hours of the morning to drive a drunk home; she had an early shift the following morning. She’d stay tucked up in bed. The pain her final words had inflicted on her were just below the surface, only a thin veneer of acceptance was still covering them.
“I think you’d better go now Petera.” She said tearfully.
Petera was stunned. He had no idea why this whole thing had blown out of all proportion. As he got up, he had a “little boy lost” look on his face. Rewa could have laughed if this hadn’t been so important.
“Go, now, before I say something I might regret.” She told him.
Petera left with his tail between his legs not knowing if he had buggered up another relationship. He was conflicted, he helped make the very stuff that Lisa and her sister Sharon snorted, smoked or shot up their veins. Figuratively speaking, he was the drunken driver, it was his fault that the Lisa’s and the Sharon’s of this world fucked their lives up. Morally Petera was in a heap of shit, up to his bloody armpits in the stuff. He got into his car, but it took him ten minutes to get his head together enough to drive back to The Finches.
As Petera pulled away, Rewa watched from the dark shadows of the kitchen, the tears coursing freely down her cheeks. She held onto the kitchen bench fiercely, to stop herself from running after the man she loved.
***
“Hi bro’,” said Hohepa Morgan. “I see you’ve started without me. I’ll just get another jug, if you can wait that long.”
“OK, said Petera mournfully, “but you’d better be quick, I’ve got a real thirst on me tonight.”
When Hohepa brought the jug of Lion Red back to the table and sat down opposite his best friend, Petera spotted straight away that something was wrong, but he didn’t know what to say next. Only 24 hours ago he had asked Rewa what was bothering her and didn’t get the response he’d expected. Now he was just about to ask Hohepa the same question. What was he in for this time he wondered?
“You’ve got a face like a wet weekend. What’s eating you?”
“I’ll tell you soon enough. Where’s Rewa?”
“We had an argument last night. About a patient that she’d been looking after. I wasn’t very sympathetic, so she asked me to leave.”
“So, what did she say when you rang her today? She still pissed off with you?”
“I haven’t called her today. I don’t know what to say to her.”
“Well, you should have called her when you got home last night. Call her now, you silly prick.”
Putting his own worries aside, Hohepa slid his mobile phone across the table. But Petera just looked at the phone, saying nothing.
“I’m telling you, bro’ if you don’t want to make things worse, call her now and apologise. Don’t sacrifice something good for some stupid principle.”
“OK, I will. But not just now, eh?”
“OK but I warned you, you have to make peace with her. Do it before it’s too late.”
“OK, ok, I will. Give me the phone.”
Petera took the phone then walked outside. It was fifteen minutes before Petera came back to the table. The silly smile on his face told Hohepa that everything had been worked out.
“She’ll be here in about half an hour. I’d forgotten she’d got the night off. You were right, I shouldn’t have left things to go on as long as this, thanks, ‘O wise one.’
Hohepa grinned, “I’ve been there a number of times, so I do speak from experience.”
“Enough of this. What’s bothering you?”
“Ngaire Rakena, that’s what. You know that she blames Sonny for the death of her man, eh?”
Petera nodded, he had seen the venom in Ngaire’s eyes at the funeral. It was obvious to all that she hated Sonny.
“Well, she’s trying to stir up trouble, trying to get some soldiers loyal to Danny to face up to Sonny. She’s having some success too, and I’m in the fuckin’ middle of it all. I have loyalties to her because of my relation to Danny, but I don’t want a war
that’s for sure.”
Petera shrugged. “Danny’s gone now, and Ngaire’s always been a hot head. I’m afraid I’ve got no loyalty towards her, not since she kicked me in the nuts for telling one of her shitty little kids to stop hitting Gary’s little boy, Robert. So, I’ve got nothing but bad thoughts about Ngaire.”
“If I remember you did more than ask Hami to stop. I seem to remember you gave him a clip round the ear for blacking Robert’s eye.”
“Yeah, and the little bastard deserved it. Robbie had done nothing to Hami, it was just Hami being mean.”
“Well, I agree he was, but what should I do about Ngaire? I do have some loyalty to the stupid cow.”
“Do nothing. Leave it to me, I’m seeing Sonny tomorrow.”
“Thanks. Hey, look who’s just walked in. I’ll go and get the lady a drink.”
As Rewa approached the table she smiled at Petera.
“Is it something I said?” She was referring to Hohepa’s retreat to the bar.
Petera hugged her. “Sorry about last night. I’ll be a good boy tonight.”
Rewa smiled. “Come on now big boy, you said all that on the phone. Ask Hohepa to get some potato chips.
“Certainly, what flavour?”
***
The two men embraced. They were not only partners in crime, they were more like brothers. Petera Mokaraka had first known Sonny Rewaka as a child, as he too had attended Karaka Primary School. Together Daniel Tua, Sonny and Petera had formed a type of triple alliance, each one looking after the others. They pledged that they would be friends for life and they were true to their word. In some ways the three of them were the scourge of the playground because they, even though they were so young, ruled it.
At first the teachers tried to break the triumvirate, deeming their control a form of latent bullying, but when they failed, they consoled themselves that the three of them made the playground a safer place. Throughout their time at Karaka there were no fights during morning interval or at lunchtime. All three of the boys had been brought up tough. Daniel’s mother was a drunk, so he and his elder sister Dee had to fend for themselves. Sonny’s father Al regularly beat him after he returned home from the pub. When his mother stepped in to protect her son, she received a broken nose for her intervention. Sonny was beaten till he started intermediate school, then he turned the table on his father and threatened him at knife point that the next time he touched anyone in the family, it would be his last act. That was the last time anyone saw Al Rewaka. He was thought to have returned to his whanau on the East Cape, but no one really knew or cared. He was killed in a pub brawl later that same year.
Petera had the most idyllic childhood of them all. His father, Wayne, worked at the Glenbrook Steel Mill so there was always food on the table in the early days, but after he was crushed by a rolling billet of steel that all changed. There were five children and the only money they had was from the cleaning job their mother had at Pukekohe High School. Eventually, after Petera’s father died, his mother married again and life returned to normal. But the hard years had made Petera tough and self-reliant. Being built like a ‘brick shithouse’ though certainly helped, especially when he and his two schoolmates were ever threatened.
Their control over their school environment lasted till they left Pukekohe High School after the fifth form. By that time Danny had opted out of learning and regularly bunked off school. His regular absences changed nothing, – Sonny and Petera were still kings of the schoolyard. Danny was the one who started the friend’s drug empire when he was fifteen, selling weed to his schoolmates. Even when all three of them had left high school, Danny would still be ‘available’ for those who needed a fix. After Sonny and Petera joined the Skorpions, Danny soon followed. From that moment on their riches from the sale of drugs became legendary. It was because of this reputation that the Sutic brothers became their business partners. They supplied the cook, the chemicals and the lab; the Skorpions provided the sales network. Only Sonny ever had direct contact with their ‘sleeping partners’ and even though Danny tried to muscle in, all he ever found out was that the ‘big boys’ were Croatian. This rankled Danny, from the moment the alliance was forged till the moment he took his last breath at the hands of the Croatian sanitation squad. From the moment Danny refused to give the brothers their full share of the profits, he was doomed. Always hot-headed and impulsive, convinced that he was immune to the actions of the Croatians, Danny signed his own death warrant. Sonny was not consulted by the brothers about the execution, he was instructed what would happen. He had told the truth to Ngaire, – he didn’t have anything to do with Danny’s death, he didn’t know where or how or by whom, only that it would happen. Sonny had been powerless to stop it. The brothers held all the power, the Skorpions could not earn the same amount of money any other way. Besides, Danny had got worse over the years, more self-opinionated, more aggressive, and more intolerable. He was killing the good faith that existed between the Skorpions and the Croatian brothers. In the end his ridiculous demands had inevitably led to his death. Sonny didn’t really miss his old school friend, because his patience with Danny had run out years ago.
Petera knew some of the secrets regarding the organisation behind the manufacture of the methamphetamine, but not everything. However, Petera didn’t know about the Sutic brothers, he had no idea that they were restaurateurs, and he had no idea where Tony Graham-Collins went during his mid-week absences. Though he could always find out more of the details, he chose not to. Sonny had given him good advice, – “keep your head down and your nose out.” Danny had died not really knowing what he was up against. Not that it would have made the slightest difference to his reckless decision to withhold money from the Sutic brothers. Though Sonny had met Dino on two occasions, even he didn’t know much about the “Croatian connection,” as he liked to call it. It was a wise decision to take his own advice.
“This is an unexpected pleasure Petera, fancy a beer, bro?”
“Yeah Sonny, that would be good.”
“There,” said Sonny as he passed his friend the beer, “get your laughing tackle round that.”
“Corona? What’s with this Mexican shit?”
Someone brought a box of twelve last week. It’s good stuff, especially when none of the die-hards will touch the stuff, means more for me. So, what’s up?”
“Well, I don’t know how to start really.”
“Hasn’t stopped you in the past.”
Petera smiled, Sonny knew him better than anyone. “Hohepa and I had a drink last night at the Papakura Tavern and he told me something I thought I’d never hear. Ngaire is recruiting soldiers to oppose you, perhaps even kill you.”
“I’ve known about that for some time, since before the tangihanga actually. I’ve ears everywhere. If it gets out of hand, I’ll have a quiet word with her.”
“I think it’s more serious than requiring just a quiet word.”
“Petera, I was joking.” He paused. “I know what’s going on, really I do. I won’t let it escalate into a war; I promise. Have faith, bro.”
“Janet Packwood, Brian Rupene and his stupid brother have already been recruited. I don’t know names but apparently there are half a dozen more who have switched their allegiance.”
“That would be Roystan, Pete Tawa, Tony Henare, Tuku Kohere, Wiremu C and Tama Paewai. It’s all in hand, believe me Petera. I’ve already moved a few soldiers closer to home, just in case they get brave and try something on. Ngaire, is an aggressive, mouthy bitch, but I’ve got two things in my favour with regards to her: One, she’s only got two brain cells, so any assault against me would be obvious from the get-go. Second, she recruits the same type of soldier, the thick and the stupid. I’m not at all surprised by their actions at the tangi, the hatred I saw in Ngaire’s eyes told me all I need to know.”
“Don’t underestimate her. She might just think of something serious to do and keep it under the radar.”
“You’re right, I’ll take care
, especially when it might involve Mary and the kids. Anyway, I’ve got an ear in their camp and Ngaire is pretty predictable.”
“OK then, message delivered.” Petera stared at his beer. “Haven’t you got anything better to drink than this shit Sonny?”
“Yeah, there’s some ‘Red’ in the fridge, help yourself. I’ll have yours, if you’re not going to drink it, bro.’”
As Petera went to the fridge, he wondered if Sonny was taking Ngaire seriously enough. He would be gutted if anything happened to Sonny, Mary or the kids. He hoped that Hohepa would keep him informed about what that mad bitch Ngaire was planning.
Crystal Ice Page 17