The Whale Rider Page 13

Two weeks after the school break-up ceremony, Koro Apirana took the young boys from the school onto the sea. It was early morning as he put them in his boat and headed out past the bay where the water suddenly turned dark green.

When the sun tipped the sea, Koro Apirana began a prayer. He had a carved stone in his hand and suddenly he threw it into the ocean. The boys watched until they could see it no longer.

‘One of you must bring that stone back to me,’ Koro Apirana said. ‘Go now.’

The boys were eager to prove themselves but the stone had gone too deep. Some were afraid of the darkness. Others were unable to dive so far down. Despite valiant attempts they could not do it.

Koro Apirana’s face sagged. ‘Okay, boys, you’ve done well. Let’s get you all home.’

When he got back to the homestead, Koro Apirana shut himself in the bedroom. Slowly, he began to weep.

‘What’s wrong with my Koro?’ Kahu asked. She was sitting with me on the verandah. ‘Is it because of the stone?’

‘How did you know about that?’ I asked, astonished.

‘One of the boys told me,’ Kahu said. ‘I wish I could make Paka happy again.’ Her eyes held a hint of gravity.

The next morning I was up early, intending to go out onto the sea in my dinghy. To my surprise, Kahu was waiting at the door in her white dress and sandals. There were white ribbons in her pigtails.

‘Can I come for a ride, Uncle Rawiri?’ she asked.

I couldn’t really say no, so I nodded my head. Just as we were ready to leave, Nanny Flowers yelled out, ‘Hoi, wait for me!’ She had decided to join us. ‘I can’t stand to hear the old paka feeling sorry for himself. Mmmm, what a beautiful day! The sun is shining.’

We rowed out past the bay and Kahu asked again about the stone.

‘What stone!’ Nanny Flowers said.

So I told her, and Nanny wanted to be shown where it had been dropped into the water. We went out into the ocean where it suddenly turned indigo.

‘Goodness,’ Nanny said. ‘No wonder those boys couldn’t get it. This is deep.’

‘Does Koro Apirana really want it back?’ Kahu asked.

‘Yeah, I suppose he must,’ Nanny Flowers said, ‘the old paka. Well, serve him right for —’

Kahu said simply, ‘I’ll get it.’

Before we could stop her she stood up and dived overboard. Until that moment I had never even known she could swim.

Nanny’s mouth made a big O. Then the breath rushed into her lungs and she screamed, ‘Oh no!’ She jabbed me hard and said, ‘Go after her, Rawiri. Go.’ She virtually pushed me over the side of the rowboat.

‘Give
me the diving mask,’ I yelled. Nanny Flowers threw it at me and quickly I put it on. I took three deep breaths and did a duck dive.

I couldn’t see her. The sea looked empty. There was only a small stingray flapping down towards the reef.

Then I got a big fright because the stingray turned around and, smiling, waved at me. It was Kahu in her white dress and sandals, dog-paddling down to the sea floor, her braids floating around her head.

I gasped and swallowed sea water. I came to the surface coughing and spluttering.

‘Where is she!’ Nanny Flowers screamed. ‘Has she drowned? Oh no, my Kahu.’ And before I could stop her she jumped in beside me, just about emptying the whole ocean. She didn’t even give me a chance to explain as she grabbed the mask off me and put it on. Then she tried to swim underwater, but her dress was so filled with air that no matter how hard she tried she remained on the surface like a balloon with legs kicking out of it. I doubt if she could have gotten deeper anyway because she was so fat she couldn’t sink.

‘Oh Kahu,’ Nanny Flowers cried again. But this time I told her to take a deep breath and, when she was looking underwater, to watch where I would point.

We went beneath the surface. Suddenly I pointed down. Kahu was searching the reef, drifting around the coral. Nanny Flowers’ eyes widened with disbelief.

Whatever it was Kahu was searching for, she was having difficulty finding it. But just then white shapes came speeding out of the dark towards her. I thought they were sharks, and Nanny Flowers began to blow bubbles of terror.

They were dolphins. They circled around Kahu and seemed to be talking to her. She nodded and grabbed one around its body. As quick as a flash, the dolphins sped her to another area of the reef and stopped. Kahu seemed to say, ‘Down here?’ and the dolphins made a nodding motion.

Suddenly Kahu made a quick, darting gesture. She picked something up, inspected it, appeared satisfied with it, and went back to the dolphins. Slowly the girl and the dolphins rose towards us. But just as they were midway, Kahu stopped again. She kissed the dolphins goodbye and gave Nanny Flowers a heart attack by returning to the reef. She picked up a crayfish and resumed her upward journey. The dolphins were like silver dreams as they disappeared.

Nanny Flowers and I were treading water when Kahu appeared between us, smoothing her hair back from her face and blinking away the sea water. Nanny Flowers, sobbing, hugged her close in the water.

‘I’m all right, Nanny,’ Kahu laughed.

She showed the crayfish to us. ‘This is for Paka’s tea,’ she said. ‘And you can give him back his stone.’

She placed the stone in Nanny Flowers’ hands. Nanny Flowers looked at me quickly. As we were pulling ourselves back into the dinghy she said, ‘Not a word about this to Koro Apirana.’

I nodded. I looked back landward and in the distance saw the carving of Paikea on his whale like a portent.

As we got to the beach, Nanny Flowers said again, ‘Not a word, Rawiri. Not a word about the stone or our Kahu.’ She looked up at Paikea.

‘He’s not ready yet,’ she said.

The sea seemed to be trembling with anticipation.