Cowrie Read online

  Tell the collective I’ve finally met the original Neanderthal Man. He’s a Pakeha Texan, built like an ox and belongs in Jurassic Park. Treats his gorgeous Hawai‘ian partner like she’s a slave-mother and he prefers McDonalds to local kai which he calls ‘nigger food’! Such a caricature that no one would believe a description of him. I’II leave it to your imagination! Oh, yeah, he’s called Chad. That should help! Hopefully he’ll return to Texas and Ela will fall in love with a delicious woman like Koana (safe cos they’re rellies!) She deserves better, whatever her final choices are.

  Thanks for always accepting me, no matter what, Suzy. You, Kuini and Mere are the most constant people in my life. I appreciate that.

  Mahalo—Cowrie.

  Keo calls Hale and then Ela to find out where Koana is. Ela explains they left about an hour ago and the trip shouldn’t have taken more than a couple of hours. That they intended having lunch at Volcano and taking the twins through the Thurston lava tube. No more than three hours in all. But it’s been four since they left.

  Keo ponders how best to break the news. Early this morning he was woken by a call from the main Ka‘u police station enquiring about Koana’s whereabouts. He said he could locate her but what was the trouble? The cop handed the phone over to Keo’s old mate, Mika, who brought the news and was still at the station.

  Mika told Keo he’d gotten up at 4 a.m. to go fishing. When he arrived at Ka Lae, he lowered his rope ladder to the canoe still in the dark. Climbing down, he noticed a large shape bulging out of the cliff. He shone his torch sideways and it fell on Vile’s face strangled in the ropes of his ladder, eyes bulging in shock. Mika couldn’t get over how frightened he looked. Vile had scaled these cliffs a hundred times and never slipped. Something was wrong.

  Still clinging to his own ladder, Mika tried to reach his mate. He couldn’t. He climbed to the top of the cliff and drove home to call the police. When they arrived with searchlights, they found Vile’s canoe smashed on the rocks below and Aka lying among the wreckage, his neck twisted and the same look of shock on his face.

  After the police abseiled down the cliff and dragged both bodies back up, they found machine gun bullets through Vile’s heart and lungs and Aka’s head. They had been shot from behind as Vile attempted to scale the cliff and Aka to secure the canoe. They reckoned Aka had been shot first and Vile next. Vile had turned to see who fired the shots and the rope twisted around his neck.

  Like Prometheus, he’d hung from the cliff, awaiting the vultures. But the birds of prey here were people who owned machine guns and a boat large enough to fire from standing position while its captain negotiated the lethal surf. Perhaps they had wanted it to look like an accident since they had fired at the cliff-face, possibly to frighten the men into falling to the rocks below, then they’d had to finish it off. Or perhaps they intended to warn other fishermen to keep away from their patch.

  As he listened to Mika, Keo remembered Vile’s tale of their defiance of the US military in rebuilding the sacred heiau on Kaho‘olawe. He hoped they didn’t go back there and get followed to Ka Lae.

  Mika explained Vile and Aka had been away on a fishing expedition for over a week. They wanted to get enough fish to sell around the coast as they travelled and some to bring home to smoke. Mika knew they would never poach the nets of others. Besides, none of the local Hawai‘ians had access to such powerful guns or the boat needed to fire them from. It had to be outsiders. But why they had been so violent eluded the police and Mika.

  Mika’s voice trailed away as the policeman re-entered the room. He took the phone away from Mika and told Keo to contact Koana, Aka’s next-of-kin, but not to mention the bullet shots yet. It might stop the police following some leads they had. It was best to say it was just an accident for now. Keo agreed to do this and added he hoped that the police found the bastards. The cops said they’d do their best and put down the phone.

  Keo could not go back to bed so he walked into the kitchen and made a pot of kona. He felt sick at the thought of telling Nele and Peni that their father had been shot by some greedy fishermen. But it didn’t make sense. All they had to do was warn the men. Vile and Aka were both reasonable guys. And there were still fishing grounds unexploited. They could have gone anywhere.

  A deep suspicion hung over Keo all morning. Later, when he told Paneke that the men had slipped in the dark securing their canoe and had fallen to their deaths, she wept. Afterwards, she questioned him more closely. She could not believe that such an experienced fisherman as Vile could put them in such danger. No, it wasn’t possible. Keo couldn’t say more, but he did add that it seemed strange to him also. Privately, he had his own suspicions. But he’d keep them to himself until he knew.

  After calling Meleana and Ela and finding that Koana was due home soon, he excused himself from work at the sugar-cane factory, explaining he had to break the news of the ‘accident’ to Koana. His boss told him to take the rest of the day off. Keo drove down to Na‘alehu and informed the post office that Koana would not be back at work the next day and that Aka had been killed in a fishing accident.

  Keo sits on the steps of Koana’s house going over the morning’s events. The facts, as he knows them, do not add up. But he must not alarm Koana. The news of the death will shock her enough. Even though she and Aka parted ways a few years ago, they were still close and shared the kids well. Peni and Nele were devoted to him.

  Keo stares at a pig crossing the road at the end of town and notices a truck outside the shop. Koana getting supplies. He draws in a deep breath and stands, ready for their arrival. Moments later, Honu turns into the drive and Cowrie honks the horn loudly. Peni and Nele are excited to see Keo at their house on a weekday. But Koana feels a lump in her throat. She fears something has happened to Paneke. Or Aka. The happiness she’s shared with Cowrie disappears down a steam vent in an instant. The pit of her stomach is on fire, her throat dry. Keo’s body is set in rigid stone but his eyes are moist.

  Cowrie notices that Keo is not relaxed. He seems to be bracing himself against a strong wind. Koana stiffens beside her. Keo tells them all to come inside. He embraces Koana and holds her for a long time. Cowrie busies herself by lighting the stove and boiling up the kettle.

  Keo speaks first. He tells Koana, Nele and Peni to sit down at the table. Cowrie asks if he wants her to go. Keo says no. It is important she hears this too. He explains that Aka has died in a fishing accident, that Vile is also dead. They do not yet know all the details but he will tell them as soon as he finds out more. That the police have been informed. That Meleana and Hale, Paneke and Koana’s sister on Maui have all been notified and they will help Koana with preparations for the ho‘olewa, along with relatives from Kauai.

  Koana weeps bitterly. She cannot believe they have died fishing. She asks endless questions. Keo can only soothe her. Peni and Nele do not understand fully where Aka is. They sense the grief but still expect him to walk in the door. After a while, Koana sends them down the road to Aunty Lukia’s. They are reluctant to go but relieved that their mother has stopped crying.

  As soon as they depart, Koana breaks out in anger. She wants to know all the details. What really happened. Keo is afraid she will arrive at the same conclusions he has and scream them out to the police, thereby endangering herself if the military really was involved. The cops are hand in hand with the US military and will be sure to protect each other. He assures her that he will tell her as soon as he knows more, that he also feels strange about the accident.

  Cowrie feels helpless. She wants to comfort Koana, yet she hardly knew Aka. They only met on that one fishing expedition. She remembers the eerie chill that stiffened her body as they passed the cliffs at Ka Lae on the way to Puako. Maybe she’d had a premonition of things to come? But why? The story Keo has told them does not seem complete. Were there mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths? She vows to find out. The best she can do now is be here for Koana and the twins.

  That night, after Nele and Pen
i are in bed, Cowrie asks Koana if she’d like to sleep alone or would she like some comfort. Koana wants Cowrie near and spends most of the night crying quietly into her breast. But she is distant again at breakfast, after the kids leave for school. Cowrie suggests she take Koana up to Paneke’s. She knows that neither of the women have transport and each will want to be there for the other. Koana nods, and adds that she’d like some time with the children, so perhaps Cowrie could stay at Paneke’s for a while.

  Cowrie agrees, on the condition that Koana calls if she needs anything. Cowrie senses that Koana is retreating into her grief and it may take a long time for her to come back again. She mentally prepares herself for the weeks ahead and collects her books and a few supplies for Paneke.

  Paneke holds Koana, crooning into her cheek. Then she leads her to the lomilomi room out in the open air, surrounded by trees. While Koana is undressing, she shows Cowrie how to light the fire under the steambath. It is an octagonal building made of timber. In each wall is a stained-glass window featuring Hawai‘ian myths. Under the building, which is raised on poles, is a clawed porcelain bath, visible from the floor of the steamhouse. Below, an iron cauldron holds the tinder.

  Cowrie likes playing with fire. She begins collecting the driftwood and timber from Keo’s pile by the side of the barn. She is glad to be of use, able to help Koana in some way. After she has stacked a few cardboard boxes with a pyramid of driftwood and kiawe on them, she lights the end of a rolled taper of the Hawai‘i Herald Tribune and offers it to the pyre. There is a whooshing noise as the flame eats the oxygen inside the boxes and flares up to reach the waiting driftwood. At that moment, Paneke’s ritual chant marks the beginning of the lomilomi treatment. Her cry seems to fuel the flames and a wave of fire engulfs the bath and nearly reaches the floor of the steamhouse. Gradually, it dies down, as does the chanting, until an unearthly silence fills the valley, interrupted only by the passing wingbeat of a manuku.

  Her next task is to carry buckets of water into the steamhouse which will be used to douse the flames and encourage the resulting steam to issue up through vents in the floor. A bit like preparing a hangi, thinks Cowrie, having watched the men heat up the stones and later throw water over them to steam the food. Here the stones are across a grate directly above the bath. Both the water in the bath and the heat off the stones contribute to the steam.

  She feeds the fire many times before it is hot enough to generate the necessary steam. It is hard work. Sweat pours down her body. Smoke surrounds the bath until all that can be seen are the claws. In the distance, Cowrie sees Paneke and Koana gliding towards her. Koana’s face is so serene, so beautiful. Carefully, Paneke guides Koana into the steamhouse and motions Cowrie to join them.

  When Paneke opens the door, steam billows out and the three women enter the misty cavern. There are wooden benches at different heights and Paneke takes Koana up to the nearest rung gesturing Cowrie to the next so she can more easily exit to replenish the flames. Koana is now sobbing in Paneke’s arms.

  The cooler air hits Cowrie’s naked body each time she leaves the steamhouse to add logs to the fire. They have been inside a long time. Paneke gestures to her to let the steam gradually die down. She smiles and invites Cowrie up beside them, on the other side of Koana. Koana looks at her through a haze of steam and lays her head on Cowrie’s shoulder. Now able to move, Paneke whispers to Cowrie that she will make some herbal tea and to bring Koana in when she is ready. Cowrie nods.

  Paneke disappears in a cloud of steam and Cowrie settles comfortably beside Koana. Their shoulders lean against each other and the glass beads run down their bodies until it is impossible to tell whose sweat is dripping on to the floor. Cowrie holds the stone weight of Koana’s grief. Her eyes are glazed and her breath slow. Her rounded body glistens with moisture, shines a copper-gold glow into the wooden cave. Cowrie cannot bear to look at her for too long. Instead, she begins to make out the shapes and colours of the stained glass.

  As the steam thins, the window facing them slowly emerges revealing Pele on her fiery path down to the ocean to meet her brother whom she has turned into a shark. Her flaming hair trails down her back and over the slopes of Kilauea, sparking into sizzling waves as it hits the ocean. A shark waits beneath the water.

  She cannot see the next window but the third one is closer and the steam thinner. Gradually, a woman emerges through the mist, riding the surf, her hair trailing in the sea. A wave circles over her head and she looks frightened and elated to be surging through the ocean. Cowrie squints. Steam obscures her vision. When it rises, she makes out a small head in front of the woman. She is riding a sea turtle.

  This revelation excites Cowrie. Is this the turtle depicted on Apelahama’s coconut shell fragment, or Ika‘Aka’s ‘ukulele? In the bowl Keo handed her at their first meal together? On the rocks at Puako? Is this the woman in Cowrie’s early nightmares?

  Koana’s body goes limp. It is time to get her out of the steamhouse. She leans on Cowrie who gradually eases her down the ledges and over to the door. The cool air stuns them. On Paneke’s guidance, Cowrie places Koana carefully on the bed, brushes her dry with a towel then lays a duvet over her. Koana looks so peaceful. She is only partially conscious of the movement around her. Cowrie bends and kisses her gently on the forehead and Koana manages a faint smile.

  Out in the kitchen Paneke is preparing food. She sends Cowrie outside to pick ti-leaves to cook the pork in and to dig a few potatoes and kalo. With the meal steaming on the cooker, they sit down to fresh green ginger tea. Paneke slips Diane Aki into the tape deck and turns the volume low so they do not wake Koana. Cowrie smiles, as memories of their day together in Pele’s crater swim across her emotions.

  “So you’ve grown fond of Koana, eh?”

  Cowrie nearly splutters tea across the table. “Yeah. She’s a good woman. And I like Nele and Peni a lot too.”

  “So I see. Does that mean you’ll be around for a while?”

  Cowrie is surprised at Paneke’s directness. Does she know about her feelings for Koana or is this an acknowledgement of their friendship? She replies that she wants to remain with Koana and her children as long as they wish her to do so. But Koana needs some time alone with them and has asked if Cowrie can stay with her and Keo until Nele and Peni come to terms with Aka’s death.

  “That’s fine,” answers Paneke, and tells Cowrie that she is ‘ohana to them and can stay as long as she likes. That it’s good for Koana to have a break to deal with this loss on her own terms. That the lomilomi and steambath will reach the deepest part of her grief and the way from here is up hill.

  Cowrie asks about the funeral process and how she can be of help.

  Paneke replies she can be her assistant in preparing the food and that the ho‘olewa will take place in Ka‘u with several days of weeping, talking and feasting afterwards when all the relatives will gather. Aka’s family will then take the body back to Kauai to be buried where he was born.

  “The loss is great, but the gods will look after him,” explains Paneke.

  Cowrie wants to ask if she believes that Aka and Vile died in an accident or whether there is more to it but she senses the time is not right. Perhaps an enquiry after the funeral will yield further details. She remembers meeting Vile and his tale of the rebuilding of the heiau on Kaho‘olawe. She wonders if the US military who shot at them that night finally tracked Vile down and Aka happened to be in the firing line also. She has a fair idea that Keo suspects this and perhaps even Koana.

  Paneke turns over the Diane Aki tape. This is Cowrie’s favourite song, where she sweeps into mystical high notes from the guttural earthy ones. Paneke swings in tune with the music as she minds her pots.

  “Paneke, remember when I asked you and Keo about the woman riding the turtle on the coconut bowl that first night we met…”

  “Laukiamanuikahiki?”

  “Yes. Can you tell me more about her?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Wel
l, she fascinates me. She seems to surface wherever I go. And you have her depicted on that round stained-glass window in your steamhouse.”

  “She is a powerful figure for us too,” explains Paneke.

  “The stories vary from island to island, but this is what I know. A visiting chief, Maki‘ioeoe impregnated Hina and left her with a child named Lau-kia-manu-i-kahiki. That means, ‘Leaf for a bird trapping in kahiki.’ He asks that she send the child to him in a red canoe with guardians clothed in scarlet robes. In Kuihelani, he plants a beautiful garden of palms and sculpts a bathing pool in the middle. When she discovers the truth of her origin, she refuses to travel by canoe to Kuihelani. So two grandmothers, who know she must go, roast bananas and cause a bamboo shoot to sprout carrying the child high into the skies until she is lowered down again in the chief’s garden. There she becomes close friends with a beautiful girl and they make lei in the garden planted for her and bathe in its sacred pool, where a turtle comes and rubs her back…”

  At this moment, Koana walks dreamily into the room. Her dark hair flows down her back and her lavalava is tucked around her waist. She kisses Paneke then Cowrie and thanks them for taking care of her. She takes the red stone Cowrie dived for in the pool and shows it to Paneke, placing it gently on the table. Cowrie, still stunned by Paneke’s retelling of the story of Laukiamanuikahiki, and remembering her day with Koana at the sacred pool, tries to utter, but her lips do not move.

  The joint funeral for Vile and Aka is held over the next few days and their bodies taken by their families to their respective burial sites. Koana misses Cowrie but is glad to have some time with her children to prepare them for life without Aka. Cowrie sees her daily but returns home to Paneke’s at night. Koana is immersed in memories of her marriage and what it means to have her former partner no longer here.