Witi Ihimaera - Uncle's Story

Sam crawled over to the dry creek bed and rolled into it. Enemy bullets whizzed over his head and kicked up small puffs of dust. Five minutes later he hauled himself up beside George and Turei. The two were talking dirty.

‘Did I ever tell you that your sister was a great lay?’ George asked Turei. Squeeze the trigger. Bang.

‘Not as good as your mama, you bastard,’ Turei answered. Line up the sights. Squeeze.

‘I heard about that. Mum told me you got a tiny one.’

Enemy fire. Duck your head.

‘Is that so? Well, my sister said that you were all blow and no go.’

Turei saw Sam and, at the same time, heard the thunder of gunships approaching from the north.

‘Oh, hi Sarge,’ Turei smiled. ‘Hey! Isn’t that the cavalry?’

Sam grinned and remembered all those bad B-grade Westerns Mum had taken him to at the Majestic in Gisborne. Sometimes Turei or George would come too. The wagon train was surrounded. Those Redskin Injuns were riding their horses around and around it, picking off the poor defenceless settlers. You could never trust them, those mean snakes-in-the-grass varmints. The settlers were down to their last bullets and were getting ready to go to Heaven. The heroine, either Rhonda Fleming or Joanne Dru, was trying to look brave and resolute. Whaddyknow, on the soundtrack came the strains of ‘Oh! Susannah’ and, yippee, the cavalry arrived, their horses high-stepping onto the battle scene. Then, it was Guy Madison, Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrae or Errol Flynn crying, ‘Lower sabers!’, ‘Charge!’

The reaction force was landing, giving cover fire.

‘Time to go, my beauties,’ Sam said.

‘You said it, Sarge.’

Turei stood up. He walked a few steps.

All of a sudden there was a shift in the air, as if something was approaching. A sense of whirring wings as something which had called out a name on a long-forgotten evening came flying into the valley.

The owl, uttering a harsh hunting cry.

George looked up, his face blanched, and he put up his arms to protect himself.

‘No—’ Sam roared.

Turei looked back. He began to run towards George. But the owl beat past George, so close — and that’s when Sam realised:

‘Turei.’

Somewhere on the hillside, an enemy machine gunner zeroed in on a standing soldier. He sighted. Tracer began to flow, so beautiful, so mesmeric, floating like wings down and around its target.

And Turei fell.

‘Hey, you bastard,’ George yelled at the owl. His eyes were raging and the hupe was flowing. ‘You were supposed to come for me . It’s me you want. Me . ’

He stumbled to where Sam was already crouched beside their wounded companion. The blood was spilling out, everywhere. Every time Turei moved it spurted like a fountain.

‘Jeez,’ Turei said.

His eyes rolled up, he began to shudder, his mouth pouring blood. Then he was gone. And, as he held his friend, Sam began to break apart with the horror of it all. Even though there had been no physical transgression, it was already happening.

‘This is all my fault,’ he thought. ‘I caused this. Everyone around me will be punished.’

The company was in shock when it returned to Nui Dat. Sam made his report to Major Worsnop, and Captain Fellowes telephoned Army Headquarters in New Zealand to tell them about Turei’s death. The news would be delivered to Lilly, through official channels but:

‘I’ll do it,’ Sam said. ‘Turei was my responsibility. It will be better for Auntie Lilly to hear the news from me.’

When the connection was made Sam, devastated, was already weeping, and Lilly knew straight away what had happened.

‘I blame your father for this,’ Lilly said.

She was already screaming with grief and, in the background, Sam could hear others of Turei’s family yelling and screaming with her.

‘I want Turei returned to me immediately, do you hear? I don’t want my son to stay a minute longer among the people who killed him.’

Lieutenant Haapu was the one who should have accompanied Turei’s body back to New Zealand, but he was still in a critical condition. Sam pleaded with Captain Fellowes on his and George’s behalf.

‘Sir,’ he said firmly. ‘It’s our job. We came together. Turei was George’s best mate. As for me, I failed to look after him. I have to front up to the iwi — and to my father.’

‘Okay, Sergeant,’ Captain Fellowes said. ‘I understand. I’ll do my best.’

Spent and exhausted with grief, Sam was walking back to his tent when Cliff Harper stopped him.

‘Hey! Sam —’

Harper looked so wonderful, his blond hair glowing in the moon’s light. He was the only person that Sam would have wanted to see at that moment. But then Sam thought of Turei’s death — and he knew what he had to do.

‘Harper, I know what you’ve come about, but I don’t want to hear it. I want you to turn around and walk away.’

Harper’s face was set with determination.

‘You’re not getting away as easy as that. I’m a stubborn Illinois boy and I confront everything that happens to me. I don’t walk away from anything.’

‘In that case,’ Sam said, ‘I’ll do the walking.’

He went to pass by, but Harper pulled him back.

All Sam wanted to do was to take a stone, dive into the river and stay down there forever.

‘No you don’t,’ Harper said. ‘I want to have it out with you. I thought I could get over what happened the other night, but I can’t. So I’m going to put it on the line for you, Sam. Something happened to me—’

‘Put it out of your mind, chopper boy,’ Sam answered, brutally. ‘Whatever you thought happened, didn’t happen. Okay? Now let me pass.’

He pushed past Harper. He was three steps away, his heart thudding, when Harper’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

‘Listen,’ Harper shouted. ‘All I want to know is: did it happen to you? If it didn’t, fine, you go your way and I’ll go mine. But if it did —’

Sam turned. Harper was standing in the moonlight, his fists clenched, his arms outstretched in a gesture of helplessness.

‘Sam, do you think I want to admit to myself something that would disgust me?’ Harper was flailing to explain himself. ‘But what do you do when something big hits you between the eyes? I’m in big trouble and I’m burning up inside. You know what I did last night? Me and Seymour went into Vung Tau and had us three women apiece, but something’s happened to me in here.’ Harper jabbed at his heart. ‘I keep thinking of you.’

With a cry of anger, Sam launched himself at Harper and they were sparring with each other.

‘Listen, you bastard,’ Sam said, ‘you’re a handsome heterosexual son of a bitch and you like to fuck girls. Stay that way. End of story. It was just a kiss, damn you, just a kiss —’

With that, Sam let Harper have it between the eyes, and Harper fell to the ground. But Harper grabbed him and, rapidly began to sign:

Was that all it was? Just a goddam kiss?

Harper held on to Sam and looked into his eyes and made Sam confront himself. When Sam’s eyes flickered with evasion, Harper knew without needing to be told.

‘So I was right.’

‘Even if you were, I can close the door —’

‘I knew something was happening between us,’ Harper said, running his fingers through his hair. His voice lightened up with incredulity and relief. ‘From the first time I saw you I knew . Jumping Jehosophat, Sam —’

‘Stay away from me,’ Sam warned. His voice was rising with fear. ‘I told you I can close the door and I can keep it shut. It’s Pandora’s Box. Who knows what might be in it?’