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No. 27 (June 1959)
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– 14 –

GOODBYE

by TIROHIA

“Aue! Where is my blanket?” moaned Granny. “Those Pakehas hurry, hurry all the time.”

“Well they have to be on time with a bus, and they won't wait for us,” replied Koro.

“E Tuhou! Hurry up boy; your bus will be leaving soon. Put your cases in the back of the car.”

Tuhou laughed. He had been ready for ages and his bags were already in the car. He looked at his watch—a present from the Headmaster at the local high school—in 10 minutes his bus would be leaving and he would be on his way to Auckland and thence to Dunedin.

Today was the day he had been waiting for. Tuhou was going to be a doctor. Ever since he had been in hospital when he fell off his horse—about ten years ago—Tuhou had wanted to be a doctor; it had been his one ambition. He was a gifted child and at school had worked well, passing all his exams. Now he was going down to the University to study. “No more cow-spanking for a while,” he thought as he straightened his tie and ran a comb through his well-groomed hair.

Granny came in, her favourite blanket wrapped around her, and her long black hair tied below her shoulders.

“My you look nice,” she said. “You're a man already boy—just like your father.”

Granny was smiling—a sad smile that seemed to make her wrinkled face shine. Poor old Granny; she belonged to another world—a kind, peaceful world not infested with clocks and timetables. Her youth had been spent in the far North in a small village with little Pakeha contact. Often she looked back on those days and sighed longingly. Somehow she could not get on with the Pakeha way of life—she was too old to say goodbye to the Maori ways to which she had been accustomed for 71 years. She greatly resented the fact that even her own children and grandchildren were speaking Pakeha instead of Maori. “Everyone is becoming a Pakeha,” she would complain. And now she felt that she was losing her favourite mokopuna to the Pakeha. She did not like it.

“Come on boy—your father's waiting.”

Together they walked out to the car—Granny with her rug and long hair, Tuhou with his new brief case and neat sports clothes.

“Any more bags, son?” asked Tuhou's father as he closed the boot of the car. Rangi wasn't too happy just now. He felt he was losing his son—his dearest interest since the death of his wife some twelve years earlier. He thought it would never be the same when his wife died, but Tuhou was with him and together they had overcome their loss. Rangi worked on his father's farm now and his son and he lived there with the old folk.

At last Koro was ready and they all climbed into the car. Rangi was driving and Granny was with him in the front seat. Koro and his grandson were in the back. The car drove past the cow-shed and out towards the road. Tuhou felt funny inside. He tried to laugh at his father's joke, but was only half successful. Even the cows seemed to sense he was leaving; some of them slowly raised their heads, stopped chewing their cuds and mooed. Dreamy animals. Tiny, Tuhou's horse, neighed and galloped towards the fence. The sheep rose and ran from the path of the car.

“Just as well we got that hay in,” said Rangi. “Might get a bit of rain tomorrow.”

The smell of fresh hay drifted pleasantly into the car—only yesterday they had been “flat out” stacking it. The car stopped and Tuhou hopped out to open the gate. He looked back at the old homestead and the cow-shed. His stomach seemed to rise. Suddenly he wished that he were not leaving this dear place. For the first time in his life he liked the cows—they seemed to remind him of something—something he didn't understand—something that made him tingle all over.

Now they were driving down the narrow road towards the bus stop.

“Ah at last they've started pulling old Timoti's house down,” broke in Koro as they passed an old house standing back by a clump of trees. Koro had known this area for 69 years—when it had been all bush and had belonged to his family. He remembered well the times, when as a child he used to play in the bush—sometimes staying out all night. Why it didn't seem that long ago that he had gone to school—a church school it was, near the coast. His grandfather had been one of the first Christians in that area and they had all been brought up with a religious background. They used to ride bareback to church once a month in those days. Koro used to take a short-cut through the bush and across the river, thus beating his two late brothers, Timoti and Walton.

– 15 –

“Things are a bit different now,” he thought. “All that land has changed hands and now our own people have to go away to find work. Perhaps it is just as well that boy is going to the University. There is nothing for him here and we need some Maori doctors too. I wish I had a better schooling. Huh! poor …”

“Ah there's old Hiria!” Granny interrupted Koro's thoughts. “She's always working—fancy that. Those boys of hers should come back and help her.”

“They won't return Mum. They've got good jobs in Auckland. Anyway there's nothing left for them here.”

“Aue! All our young people are going to the city. What a shame! They should stay at home—this is their land.”

“Not now,” broke in Rangi, “they've given it all away.”

“Given it away?”

“Near enough! Look at that farm of Jock Goldsack's. It's the best land around here and that silly Materoa sold it for less than 8000 pounds so he could set up a canteen in Auckland somewhere. Goldsack's making thousands out of it now.”

Granny laughed. Rangi was always the same—always picking on old Jock. Perhaps it was because Jock was the best farmer in the district.

“E Tuhou! What time do you get to your school?”

Tuhou started. His mind was back at the farm. He was thinking of his horse and the day that he had raced bareback with a friend from the river right up to the cowshed. Tuhou was riding Tiny and she never let him down but that day she just wouldn't go fast. He lost the race and almost his horse, for the next day Tiny had a fever and couldn't stand up. Tuhou sat with her in the stables until the vet came and “fixed her up”. He never raced Tiny after that—not even when he was late for school. It was just like that time at the woolshed when … Granny's question brought his mind back.

“Oh, about 3 o'clock on Friday I think,” he answered.

“Dear me, what a long way it must be.” Granny

– 16 –

would soon be saying goodbye to her grandson. At times she was glad he was going to be a doctor, but it was such a long way from home that he had to go. Still he was a good boy and she did not want him to finish up working on the boats or in the streets as others from the village had done when they had sought work in the city. She thought that was wrong—“The Maori belongs on his land,” she would argue, forgetting that there was no longer enough land for them all. Granny could not realise that Maori boys had to go to the cities for education and employment. To her, the city was an evil or a luxury (she did not quite know which) created by the Pakeha for the Pakeha only. But Granny was wrong.

And now Rangi was talking to his son, “Get stuck into those books boy; plenty of time for the pictures. It's a busy place in the city.” Rangi briefly recalled his own days in Auckland. He had been working in the Freezing Works there for a while—for experience he always said. It was sure some place—especially for the boy from the backblocks. There were pictures every night, dances, parties and plenty of girls. That's where he met his wife. Poor old Hine—killed in a taxi accident. When she died the city seemed strangely empty and Rangi took Tuhou back to the farm—far away from the bustle and row of modern civilization. Yes, Rangi had lived in the city; Tuhou was too young to know it but Rangi knew it well and did not want his son to fall into the traps that could

be awaiting him. “And don't forget to keep warm,’ he was saying. “They say it's pretty cold in the South Island.”

The car stopped at the main road. It was a lovely morning with just a slight breeze. “Here it is!” The bus rounded the corner. Tuhou picked up his coat. Rangi began unloading the car.

“Well, goodbye boy;” it was Koro. Strangely enough, Koro had wanted to be a doctor when he was young. He too had done well at school and was a natural student. But in those days it was very different. His people would not let him go too far away from home. Besides that they were all a little suspicious of doctors. The local chap—Dr Adsett was a great old chap but the old people in the pa were a little afraid of his medicines. Koro grinned; they were funny then. “Look after yourself down there,” he went on, “and work hard. We all want you to do well with your studies. Goodbye boy.”

His firm hand, toughened by years of hard work, shook Tuhoe's.

Now it was Rangi. “Keep warm down there Tuhou. Let us know how you're getting on won't you. Cheerio. Look after yourself now.”

Tuhou forced a “Yes” as he grasped his father's hand. He felt that funny feeling inside again and his throat seemed to be in his mouth.

Granny put an arm around him. She was crying. “Now be a good boy down there. Don't go round with those bad boys—some of them are not very nice in the city. And don't forget your church Boy; try and go to church when you get time.” Now she took his hand and squeezed a crumpled ten-pound note into it. “Keep that dear. I saved it just for you. Goodbye Tuhou, God bless you boy.” She kissed him.

Inside the bus, Tuhou looked through the back window. The three of them stood there waving. Tears were flowing down Granny's cheeks.

“Haere ra e tama” she called but the noise from the bus drowned her.

Tuhou waved back and kept waving till the bus suddenly turned a corner and they disappeared. He had fought to hold back tears. Now he turned round and took in the view of fleeting trees and cows. The engine droned on; conversation buzzed around him; cigarette smoke drifted into the air and circled curiously out the window; someone coughed. Tuhou had left the country. He had left his home and was going to another place—almost another world. He was leaving a quiet, happy world with its own melodious language and entering a busy, noisy world with harsh sounds in every corner. He felt very lonely as he gazed out of the window—almost like a love bird on a long migration to another country. He had left the nest.

It had been hard to say Goodbye.