Harbouring by Jenny Pattrick

Author:Jenny Pattrick [Pattrick, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143776680
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2013-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

Some time later, Huw was as good as his word. And just in time. I was packing a small kete and preparing to leave the Mission. Where to, I was not quite sure, but maybe Kumutoto pā across the stream might have fewer Christian rules and would welcome a strong woman with maybe a male child on the way.

The man making his way across the little bridge with Huw did not look familiar. But then Rere had only been a boy … Could it be him? He looked too old; used a stick. I held my breath as he stumbled, then ran to meet him.

‘Rere? Can you be my brother?’ He straightened; yes of course it was him: that wide grin, the way his hair grew back from his forehead. It was him.

Tears streamed down my face. For a long moment we stood close, noses pressed, hands and elbows grasped. Rere wept, too, a high keening that spoke of sorrow and loss.

At last we pulled apart, stepped back to regard each other. Huw had slipped away. Rere was dressed in settler clothes, rough trousers and a ragged jacket; a cap over his unruly curls. His feet were bare. He coughed.

I smiled at him through my tears. ‘Tungāne! How I have longed to say that … My brother.’

He nodded, then coughed again. ‘Tuahine! We must bless my friend Huw who has brought us together.’ He looked around, but Huw was by now almost out of sight down by the shore, heading towards the growing settlement of Thorndon.

We moved arm in arm into the Mission house. On an empty bench, just inside the door, we sat, out of the wind. Perhaps no one would notice: I was no longer welcome there. ‘You are not well? That cough!’

‘Ah, don’t worry. Not too bad. Many of our tribe are coughing these days. It’s a bad winter.’

‘I know just the herbs to help with that. We will soon have you well again.’

We fell silent. So many questions to be asked; hard to know where to start. Huw had told me about my brother’s escape on a whaling ship and his return with the Colonel on the Tory.

‘Was the tribe annoyed that you ran away?’

‘Āe. At first they were very angry. In the end they left me this jacket and trousers. And gave me a wife.’

‘They should be proud. That was a brave thing to do; join a whaling ship. And also you now surely have knowledge of the ways of these Pākehā who are settling here like flies.’

‘Āe. You speak truly. I have some uses. Te Rangihaeata himself has brought me here today because he is angry with Wideawake and wants me to help Te Whaiti with translation.’ Rere cleared his throat. Spat. ‘Te Whaiti also is very unwell.’

‘Do they still see you as a slave?’

‘Āe. That is how it is. But surely you are the same?’

‘They say the days of slaves are over. Are you free now, my brother? Free to come and go? To jump on another ship?’

Rere looked down at the sand that had drifted into the church.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.