Witi Ihimaera - Sky Dancer

“Why do you need them all?” Skylark sighed.

“Honey, I just can’t leave all these signs of affection behind. I have to answer every letter personally and, after all, they prove my fans still love me and that I am still a star. Just wait till my agent Harold gets a load of all of this. He’ll be on to South Pacific Pictures and I’ll be back at the top.”

Skylark smiled to herself. It was just great to see her mother on the way to recovery. Of course there was a long way to go, but Dr Goodwin had organised Cora to be admitted to a programme of drug rehabilitation when she returned to Auckland. It had also been good for Cora to have had her summer romance with Lucas. Now that she was leaving, however, he had realised that a bird in the hand was better than one who was flying away and had made up with Melissa.

“I’ll tell Bella you’re ready to go,” Skylark said.

“But I need you to help me!”

“No, Mum,” Skylark answered. “From now on, you must help yourself.”

She left the bach and knocked on the door of the homestead.

“Is anybody home?” Skylark called. When there was no answer, she walked in.

The house was quiet, shadowed. Once upon a time two sisters had grown up and lived in it; now only one sister lived there. The physical impact of the loss could be seen everywhere. Hoki had always been the one to keep the house tidy. Now, dishes were piled in the sink. Clothes were waiting to be washed. The sitting room was a mess. And Bella was drinking like a fish. Vodka bottles, gin bottles, beer bottles and whisky bottles were everywhere.

One room, Bella’s bedroom, however, was perfect: the bed was made up; everything was in place on the top of the bedside vanity. And why? Ever since Hoki’s death, Bella had taken to sleeping in her sister’s room, pulling the sheets and blankets around her as if that would help her get over her grieving.

Through the window, Skylark saw Bella silhouetted against the sky at the top of the cliff. She walked out into the sunlight and up the cliff path. Bella was looking out across Manu Valley to the sea. The forest was mysterious, shining with beauty. Far away, the sea was like a sparkling emerald.

Skylark took Bella’s right hand and kissed it. The old lady pulled her into an embrace. She reeked of alcohol.

“So I was the one after all,” Skylark began. “But why did Hoki have to die for me?”

“She did it gladly,” said Bella. “For you, me, everybody, the landbirds. She did it to keep the order of things.” She was trying to focus with her eyes. “Did you know I didn’t want her to go to rescue you?” she asked, slurring her words. “I thought that surely you must already be dead. But Hoki has always been so stubborn.” Bella let out a bellow of raucous laughter. “She knew it was her job, her responsibility. After all, you were her mokopuna. How could she leave you there! My sister Hoki had a long and wonderful life. Yours is just beginning.”

Skylark saw a seashag and, for a moment, felt a clutch of terror.

“Is it all over now?”

“Better be!” Bella laughed again. She swayed, made some drunken steps to the cliff edge and raised her fist to the world. “But the manu whenua face an even greater threat today than the seabirds ever posed. It comes from men now, you bloody buggers!” Bella pointed in the direction of the logging trucks. “I had another fight with the road builders today. Those beggars, they take liberties with us. They don’t only want what’s theirs. They want what’s ours too. Greedy. Like the seabirds, they eat everything up. When will it stop? Someone has to be around to tell them to stop. Me and Hoki may have been just a couple of crazy ladies to them, I know, but at least we drew the line. Someone always has to be here to draw the line. And the line, Skylark must be drawn at the valleys that are left to us. Someone has to keep the boundaries in place. Someone has to say no to the bulldozers. Someone has to drive them back to the sea. Someone has to say no to the pollution. Someone has to say yes to the Earth and the people of the Earth.”

Bella raised a defiant fist in the air. “I may be drunk,” she said, “but I’m not down for the count. The line will always be drawn here, Skylark. At Manu Valley.”

Then it was time to leave.

Skylark was wearing one of her favourite badges: Please Leave Me A Green And Peaceful Planet.

Bella had recovered somewhat from her drunken state and, shamefacedly, had put herself together to say goodbye to Cora. “Where the heck is that nephew of mine!” she scolded. “He knows you’re going north today.”

Skylark coloured. At first, on her return from the other side of the sky, things had been really good between her and Arnie. But, after a few days, he’d stopped coming up to Manu Valley to see her. He seemed embarrassed and withdrawn, offering excuses about how he was busy at the garage, as if he couldn’t get away quickly enough.

Well, Skylark thought, if he won’t come to me, I’ll go to him. “I’ll stop by the garage on the way out.”

Bella hugged Cora. “Your daughter, Skylark, she’s a wonderful girl.”

“She’s always been a good girl. I don’t know why she puts up with me.”

“You’re her mother. The only one she’s got.”

“Yes, well, some people don’t know when to give up, do they.”

“Will you be all right back up north by yourself?”

Cora gave Skylark a rueful look. “I guess I’ll have to be.” With that, Cora stepped into the ute.

Skylark drove down Manu Valley, and they were soon in Tuapa. She stopped outside Flora Cornish’s diner.

“I won’t be long,” Skylark said to Cora. “Why don’t you go and have a cup of coffee.”

If there was a problem with Arnie, Skylark wanted to have it out with nobody around. Her heart was beating nervously as she approached the garage. What if he wasn’t there?

He was. When he saw Skylark, his face fell. “So you’re on your way then.”

“Yes.”

“Well, thanks for coming around.”

Skylark wasn’t going to let him get away as easily as that. “Arnie, what’s wrong with you? I could never have done it without you. I thought I could, but I was wrong. You got me around the country, up to Parengarenga, down to Tauranga and across to Nelson. You came with me through the portal and I don’t know how I would have got on when I had to tell the Runanga a Manu about the seabirds. If you hadn’t been my warrior —”

Arnie had a spanner in his hand. At Skylark’s words he threw it across the garage. It clanged against the breakdown truck. He turned to face her and there were tears in his eyes. “Please don’t do this to me, Skylark. Please, just go, will you? I let you down. I mean, I was the one who left you there. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Skylark stared at Arnie. “Is that what all your silence is about?”

“Don’t you understand? I was supposed to look after you and I didn’t do my job. When we were flying in the upper Heavens, I lost it, and I went running across the sky, and that’s when the pouakai saw me. And you saved me. You! Some sidekick I turned out to be. Some intrepid hero —”

Skylark felt herself going numb. She didn’t know what to do. “Well, that’s that,” she said quietly. Then she put out her hand. “Would you like to give me the keys to your wagon?” she asked. “We left it at Wellington airport, remember?”

“My keys? What for?”

“Didn’t Mum tell you? I’m taking her across on the ferry as far as Wellington. While I’m there I thought I’d pick up your wagon and drive it back. That is, if you don’t mind. If you do, I’ll just catch a bus back.”

“You’re coming back? You’re not going away for good?”

“I thought you knew,” Skylark answered. “Didn’t Mum tell you?”