Sky Dancer by Ihimaera Witi

Author:Ihimaera, Witi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742288123
Publisher: Penguin New Zealand
Published: 2010-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

– 1 –

“You mean Deedee is dead?”

Skylark looked into the face of the kaumatua who greeted her at the Maori Language Centre where Joe had said they’d find Deedee. Behind him she could see a young teacher taking children in Maori language lessons.

“Ae, kua mate te koka,” the old man confirmed. “She died three weeks ago. We had a big tangi for her. She was well loved.”

“But she can’t be dead,” Skylark protested. She looked back at the street, where Arnie was waiting for her.

“The children, particularly, will miss her,” the kaumatua continued. “Although Deedee lived way up on the mountain tops, she never missed a day’s work teaching them to look after the forest and the birds she loved.” He gestured in the direction of Deedee’s mountains. The peaks were like arrows pointing at Heaven. “All that you see up there belonged to her,” he said. “The tribe is taking it over. After all these years of complaining about her sitting up there protecting the land, they’ve now realised that Deedee saved a valuable resource for us.”

“I’ve come so far,” Skylark said. “I’ve come all this way just to see her.” She felt as if a wall had arisen between her and where she should be going. There was no way around it, over it or under it. Nothing.

The old man tried to be sympathetic. “Were you a mokopuna of Deedee?” he asked.

“No,” Skylark answered. She saw the look of puzzlement in his face, but she didn’t want to explain. “Thank you for letting me know,” she said. She turned to leave, and as she did so the young teacher gave her a curious glance, her eyes widening.

Skylark went down to the taxi to tell Arnie the news. “Could you ring Hoki?” she asked.

Mitch answered the telephone. “Are you there, Mother Ship? Do you copy?” Mitch thought it was a kid playing jokes, and was about to hang up when Hoki walked in. She snatched the receiver from him.

“I copy, Arnie. What’s the matter?”

“Deedee is dead. She died three weeks ago.”

“Aue, te koka kua ngaro ki te Po,” Hoki wailed.

Now it was Skylark’s turn to grab the phone. “Hoki? Are you there?” she said. “I’m really sorry about Deedee, but Arnie and I have to keep going. Do you have any idea where we should go now, where we should look? I’ve got to find the Time Portal.”

Hoki calmed down. “Deedee may have left a message for you in her house up in the mountains,” she said. “Go up there and see if you can find it. If you can’t, search for the Time Portal itself.”

“What does it look like?” Skylark asked.

“How would I know!” Hoki answered. “A doorway, I suppose.”

Arnie shrugged his shoulders. “A doorway? What kind of doorway?”

Skylark was in no mood for questions. “Let’s just do it,” she answered.

She was halfway into the taxi when she heard a voice calling to her.

“Were you looking for Deedee?” The young teacher was standing on the steps with the kaumatua, who was looking somewhat abashed.

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