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Chloe
Heeni started to cry. It was such a sad story. Chloe put her arms around her and Mereana did the same from the other side. She cried and cried. Chloe had never experienced something like that.
Keri got up and motioned to Jess.
“We’ll just go and get some cold drinks,” Keri said.
They walked softly to the side of the house and out to the road.
Chloe and Mereana kept their arms around Heeni, as her cries gradually turned to sobs, and then eventually she stopped her crying. She sighed heavily. She patted their arms.
“You’re good girls,” she said. “I’m proud to have you as my granddaughters. I’m just sorry I messed up so much.” She hiccuped and gave another little sob. The three of them sat there, without speaking, just holding each other and rocking.
They were just starting to stand up when shouting from the road startled them. Keri and Jess came running around the corner.
“Did you hear that yelling? It’s Pani and some of her friends. Saying we shouldn’t be in here. They said it’s tapu and haunted and all kinds of things like that.” Jess was agitated. She kept looking over her shoulder towards the front of the house.
“Pani, my other granddaughter?” Heeni asked.
“Yeah, and Wiremu and some others I didn’t know,” Keri said. “They were saying someone died here. But that doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t look like anyone has been here since you left, does it?” she asked Heeni.
“No,” she said slowly. “No, it doesn’t. We’ll find out what they are talking about.”
She moved slowly, uncurling herself from the ground. She straightened up, and put her shoulders back then walked resolutely to the front of the house. Jess and Keri gathered all the photos and documents together and followed behind at a distance. Chloe and Mereana walked closer to Heeni, giving her time to compose herself before she confronted the kids by the gate.
As they turned the corner, the kids started yelling again, until they saw who it was. They stood respectfully as Heeni reached them.
“What’s all this about tapu?” she asked.
“We got told it was tapu,” Wiremu said earnestly. “All the whānau said we can’t go there. Someone died in that house.”
“Who died?” Heeni directed this at Pani, who was the eldest.
She squirmed. She looked away and shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said.
“I think you do,” Heeni said. “But never mind. I’ll go and ask someone who will tell me.” She turned and headed off towards Nanny Anahera’s place.
Chloe turned towards the other girls, and they all nodded at her and began to follow. Behind them straggled Pani and Wiremu and the rest of the group. Pani moved closer to Mereana and began talking to her quietly so no one else could hear. Chloe saw Mereana flinch and move away from Pani. Pani kept it up, quietly goading her, but Mereana ignored her. She drew down her eyebrows and clenched her jaw and moved closer to Chloe.
“Whatever she says,” Mereana said to Chloe, “Ignore her. She is not worth the effort.”
Chloe nodded. She already knew that, but it was good to have an ally. They moved closer to Heeni. Pani was unlikely to say anything that Heeni might hear.
At the gate, Heeni turned to Pani and said, “I will come and see you soon, but now I want to talk to Anahera.”
“What about them girls? How come they are allowed in?”
“Because they are staying here. I will see you later.” Heeni turned and walked inside, motioning the girls to follow her in.
Nanny was in the kitchen as usual, preparing for the hui tomorrow. She had pies and savouries and cakes over every surface. She looked up in surprise as they all trooped in.
“Kia ora! What have you all been doing? Make a cup of tea and have something to eat. Come on, come on.”
Keri put on the kettle, Jess got out cups and the teapot, and Mereana got out the tea, milk and sugar, and some side plates. They sat at the table while Nanny wiped her hands and sat with them.
“What’s this all about?” she said.
“Who died at my old house?” Heeni asked.
“Oh.” Nanny looked down at the floor. “It’s been so long,” she said. She sighed. She was quiet for a while. Then she started.
“After you left, that husband of yours, he was very angry. He went around the whole whānau trying to find his boys, but it wasn’t hard to hide them. Even Hoani. We cut his hair short, and bought him nice clothes, and said he had come from Auckland, that we adopted him. That man was drunk a lot of the time, so he wasn’t really looking right. After a while he gave up, but he was drinking more and more, and he took a young girl to that house, and something happened we don’t want to talk about. But she pushed him down the stairs and he died. The police decided he fell down when he was drunk. There was an inquest and it came back ‘accidental death while intoxicated’. They sent the girl to Christchurch, to family down there, and we heard she got married and had children. She’s okay now. The elders put a wahi tapu on the place, and no one went near it again.”
“We went there today,” Mereana said. “We wanted to find out about the house, and then Heeni came, and we were looking at photos and stuff from the house, then Pani and Wiremu were yelling at us to get out.”
Nanny went white. Heeni wasn’t looking too good either. “I never knew all that,” she said. “I’m so glad I gave my boys to good people. They had a better life.” She started to cry again, and Nanny got up and put her arms around her. Two old ladies comforting each other. Chloe felt so sad for them both, but words of comfort were completely absent from Chloe’s mind. She looked to Mereana for help, and they both got up and put their arms around the two old ladies.
Eventually, Nanny and Heeni stopped crying. Nanny made some more tea and put out some scones with butter and jam. They looked at the photos and Nanny and Heeni laughed about how they used to look. Stories were told and things were remembered and at last Heeni seemed comforted.
She put her hand out to Nanny, then to Mereana and Chloe.
“I haven’t got much time left,” she said quietly. “Maybe just a week or so. My doctor gave me strong pain medication, but it’s not working much now. Today I can feel everything, and it’s not good. I can’t eat and I can’t sleep, but I just had to come here and find my mokopuna. They are all good mokopuna, but these two here,” she smiled at Chloe and Mereana, “Well, they have been so accepting and understanding. I couldn’t have asked for better.
“Tomorrow, at the hui, I don’t want any of the mokopuna around. I just want to talk to the adults. I need to make my peace with the people who knew me.”
“That’s ka pai, Heeni. There’s always older kids around who can babysit. Maybe you girls can help out?”
“Of course,” Mereana said. “Let’s get back to Chloe’s place and see who needs looking after. Then we’ll go for a swim. After that we’ll come back here and help you with dinner.” She looked at Jess and Keri. “Is that cool?”
Jess shrugged.
Keri said, “Sure.”
They helped clear the table and left the two old ladies talking about the past.