Chapter 10: Moe

and the ocean

Photo courtesy of www.michellelevy.net

The waves make me nervous. Tangaroa make me nervous. I should have just kept running. But the pot sitting in my car means I have to sort this out. I could have just waited until they came back. But I didn’t. Something made me walk with them down to the beach front. Seatoun. Something made me go with them into the water.

 “Keep the arms linked,” Maui says. “And breathe in everything around you. Feel everything. See everything.”

My arm is linked into hers. All of our arms are linked into each others and we are walking on the sand in a line. Making our way towards the ocean. Our bare feet hit the first lap of Tangaroa’s tongue. The water is freezing.  

“Tihei, Tangaroa e,” Maui begins to chant.

I can feel my heart rate picking up. I assume this is as far as we will go.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she hisses at me.

I am incredulous. I figure I’m not at work anymore. This is my time. And plus, these waves are making me nervous.

“What the fuck do you think I am here for?” I spit back. She looks a little taken back with my reply.

“How the fuck did you find me here?” she hisses again.

Meanwhile, Maui is now into the karakia as we stand lined up.

“I asked your flatmate,” I say.

“You went to my home?” she says

“Hey you two!” it is the older woman on my other side. She yanks at me. “If you two need to have a hui, then go and have a hui. I’m here to be in this moment. And you two are fucking it up.”

I can feel Girl lean forward. She still says arms linked. I can see her eyes flaring and she is ready to reply back to this brave woman who has just told the two of us to shut up.

Maui finishes the karakia. “Haumie, hui e,”

“Taiki e,” me and the brave woman say in unison.

“Lets go,” Maui says. He begins moving forward. The line takes steady steps. And my eyes open wider. We are walking into the ocean? No bloody way.

The waves are licking at my calves. We are walking in deeper. I am lagging behind. Pulling the line. The brave woman is slightly ahead. As is Girl.

Knees, knees, that is as far as I will go.

The black sheep. I was the one dunked into the water by Mum. Submerged into the water because an Aunty saw a darkness hanging over me. A black cloud, Mum explained. So I was taken to the water. And they tried to drown me. All the while repeating the Lords Prayer.