The Porangi Boy E-Book

Shilo Kino

• Herausgeber: Huia Publishers
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Twelve-year-old Niko lives in Pohe Bay, a small, rural town with a sacred hot spring – and a taniwha named Taukere. The government wants to build a prison over the home of the taniwha, and Niko's grandfather is busy protesting. People call him porangi, crazy, but when he dies, it's up to Niko to convince his community that the taniwha is real and stop the prison from being built. With help from his friend Wai, Niko must unite his whanau, honour his grandfather and stand up to his childhood bully.

Leseprobe

First published in 2020 by Huia Publishers 39 Pipitea Street, PO Box 12280 Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand www.huia.co.nz

ISBN 978-1-77550-399-6 (print)

ISBN 978-1-77550-500-6 (ebook)

Copyright © Shilo Kino 2020

Cover images © Miriama Grace-Smith 2020

This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the prior permission of the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.

Published with the support of the

Ebook conversion 2020 by meBooks

‘Take care of our children. Take care of what they hear, take care of what they see, take care of what they feel. For how the children grow, so will be the shape of Aotearoa.’

Dame Whina Cooper

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Acknowledgments

Shilo Kino

1

BEFORE

‘Pōrangi boy, I know it’s you!’

I recognise Kaore’s ugly voice and picture his stubby fingers rattling the door. I look up at the ceiling, wondering if I can escape through the tiny window just above the toilet. Nah, probably not.

I jump down to the ground, throw my bag over my shoulder and push the door open, ready to do a runner.

Tū, Kaore and Hone are standing in front of me. Tū’s got a big smirk on his face. He nods slightly and Kaore lifts me up by my bag and shoves me against the toilet.

‘Tsk tsk, boy,’ Tū says. ‘You reckon you can hide from us, aye?’

‘What do you want?’ I ask, rubbing my head.

Tū’s eyes narrow and he grabs my bag and tips it upside down. Pens, scrunched-up paper and a packet of Twisties fall out.

‘Oh, yo!’ Hone says and snatches at the Twisties like it’s the first time he’s ever seen food.

‘What’s that over there?’

‘Noth–’

Tū picks up the book Miss Martin gave me. ‘Matilda,’ he says.

They all look at each other and crack up like it’s the funniest thing in the world.

Tū throws me back on the floor and drops the book into the toilet. It makes a splash before it bobs up and down in the water.

‘You better get your book.’

I bend over to scoop it up, trying not to put my hand in the mimi water for too long.

Suddenly, my arms and legs are jerked from behind.

‘Let me go!’ I try to swing my arms, but Kaore and Hone are holding on to both of them.

‘How does it feel to have no one liking you, pōrangi boy?’

Tū pulls down his zipper and starts pissing in the toilet.

I’m pushed back and my head’s dunked into Tū’s piss. A gush of water swirls around. The toilet flushes and my head is yanked back up. I gasp for air, coughing and spluttering. They all start cracking up. I feel a kick to my back. Hone chucks the empty Twisties packet at me and then they disappear.

I shake my hair and quickly wrap the book in lots of toilet paper. The pages are soggy and it smells. I grab my bag and walk outside.

A hand touches my shoulder. Miss Martin’s big blue eyes are staring into mine.

She looks me up and down. ‘Oh geez, what happened to you?’

‘Nothing, Miss,’ I say, trying to pretend my hair isn’t drenched in piss.

She screws her face up but still looks pretty.

‘Those boys been picking on you?’

‘What boys?’

She gives me a look. ‘Don’t you let those boys push you around, Niko.’

‘I don’t, Miss.’

‘What did they do?’

‘Nothing, Miss.’

She raises her eyebrow. ‘What’s that?’

I glance down at my hands. Matilda’s wrapped up in toilet paper. I quickly hide it behind my back.

‘Nothing.’

She fiddles in her bag and pulls out a set of keys. ‘You come see me at the library if you ever need a place to hang out, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘See ya, Miss.’

Her ponytail swings back and forth as she walks to her car. She’s humming a song, probably Taylor Swift. She presses a button on her keys and hops into her little red car.

2

AFTER

I pick up a rock and chuck it at the river. It skims the surface one, two, three times. I sit down and stuff my leftover peanut butter sandwich in my mouth.

‘Hey, pōrangi boy!’

I spot one of the Paki boys peering out from behind the toetoe grass. ‘What do you want, aye?’

Kowhai shuffles his way closer, his hands in the pockets of his baggy pants. I smell mimi.

‘Got any food?’

‘Nah,’ I say, quickly swallowing the last of my sandwich.

He scratches his kutu-infested hair.

I wriggle back.

‘Got any money?’ He holds out his hand.

‘What? Do I look like the bank?’

‘But Tyson said you a rich fulla now, since your pōrangi koro died.’

‘Shut up. He wasn’t pōrangi!’

‘Yes, aye! Tyson said he climbed the big tree and the policeman took him away.’ He wipes his snotty nose and laughs.

I move closer until I’m towering over his head. ‘Wanna hear a joke?’

He nods.

‘What’s black and smells like mimi? Answer: Kowhai.’

His bottom lip drops and he runs away in tears.

‘Far, Niko. That was stink as.’

Wai’s leaning on the bridge rail, her Warriors shirt flapping in the wind. She’s been watching us the whole time. She strolls on over and dumps her ratty brown bag next to mine.

I smooth my hair over with my hand.

She pulls out a packet of chips and rips it open. The smell of salt and vinegar makes me want to vomit. She grins, shoves a chip in her mouth and then shoves the bag in my face.

I wave them away.

‘Geez, you really are pōrangi,’ she says, her mouth half-stuffed with chips. ‘These are the best! What flavour do you like, then?’

‘Twisties.’

‘Twisties? Yuck! Hey, Kowhai!’ she yells.

He appears out of nowhere, tears still in his eyes.

‘Wanna chip?’

Wai empties the packet into his cupped hands.

‘Niko doesn’t like this flavour. He must be pōrangi.’ She winks, and Kowhai giggles before stuffing the chips in his mouth.

‘Here, share these with your brothers and sisters, k?’ She reaches into her bag and pulls out two packets of chicken-flavoured two-minute noodles.

Kowhai’s eyes go big, and he snatches them from her hands. ‘I’m gonna give this one to my sister Mereana!’ he yells, running back up to the bridge.

Wai pulls another packet of chips out of her bag and puts a handful of chips in her mouth.

‘So what’s your deal then, aye?’ she mumbles, her mouth half-full of chips. ‘Picking on little Kowhai.’

‘Yeah, well, he called me pōrangi.’

‘Oh geez, he’s only five! And anyway, you shouldn’t listen to what people say! What people say about you ain’t none of your business. That’s what my dad says, anyway. Heapsa people call him good for nothin’ but he’s the best dad. Hey, I never see you here. You alright?’

‘Yeah.’

She looks out at the river and turns back to look at me, pushing her hair behind her ear.

‘Why do you come here? Do you like looking at water or something?’

‘Nah, I just –’

‘You waiting for the taniwha, aye?’ She cracks up laughing.

I feel my cheeks getting hot. I reckon if my skin wasn’t brown, my face would be bright red.

‘You are!’ She giggles. ‘You seen him yet?’

‘Nah.’ I pick up a stone and it skims the top of the water four times.

‘Stink.’ She lowers her voice to almost a whisper. ‘You want me to push you in the river and see what happens?’

‘Nemind yours!’

She crumples up the chip packet and stuffs it in her bag. ‘Oi, I got an idea!’ She hands me my bag and tosses hers over her shoulder. ‘Follow me.’

‘Where are we going?’

She doesn’t answer. The stones hurt my feet, but I don’t care. I run after Wai, wondering what magical place she’s taking me to.

3

BEFORE

‘You got eyes for Christmas, pōrangi boy?’

Tū shoves past me and walks towards Tatiana and her group of friends. They’re all dressed in short skirts and crop tops, taking selfies on their phones. Tatiana pouts her lips and waves.

‘Hi, Tū!’ She giggles.

‘Sup.’

‘Can we touch your taiaha?’

Tū proudly holds it out. They rub their hands over it like it’s gold.

‘Wow, so cool, oi!’

The sound of boots stomping the ground tells everyone Uncle Elliot’s arrived.

‘Kia tere son, they need you on stage.’

Tū nods.

‘Bye, Tū!’

Elliot’s eyes smile proudly, his black singlet hugging his body so tight it looks like one of Mum’s crop tops. I used to think Elliot couldn’t afford to buy singlets his size, until I realised he wore extra-small singlets on purpose.

Tū runs on stage and everyone starts screaming.

‘Shot, Tū!’

‘You the man, Tū!’

And then Waikohua Henare comes out. Wai’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Honest. She’s got the kinda face you gotta keep looking at ’cause you just can’t believe someone could be that pretty. When we were eight years old, she stood up to sing a waiata for show and tell and that was when I knew I more than liked her. I had never liked a girl before. I think it was her big brown eyes and the way she blinked a million times per second. And her lips. I can’t help but stare at her big juju lips. It always looks like she’s wearing lipstick, even though she’s not.

‘Niko, Niko!’ My little cousin Moki taps me on my shoulder.

‘What?’

‘I need to go mimi!’

‘Can’t you go by yourself?’

Her bottom lip starts trembling. I grab her hand and we tiptoe our way through the crowd, but scolding eyes are everywhere. Even Aunty Rangi’s giving me her stink eye. It’s not like she can talk. Her big mouth’s always yapping away.

The show’s over by the time Moki’s finished mucking around in the bathroom. She runs out, wiping her wet hands on her pants.

‘Hey, kutu girl!’

Tū’s leaning against the bathroom door with a stupid grin on his face.

Moki frowns and runs behind my legs.

‘Niko, Tū said I have kutus!’

‘Ew, yuck!’ Tū says, raising his voice so everyone can hear. ‘I can see them all jumping around your hair! Hey, everyone, come look at Moki’s kutus!’

Moki tugs my pants, her voice shaking. ‘N-niko! He’s being mean.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

‘Hey, look, it’s pōrangi boy and kutu girl!’

‘Shut up!’

He smirks. ‘What you gonna do about it? Yeah, that’s right.’ He picks up his taiaha. ‘That’s why I’m the mātāmua of our whānau and you’re a nobody. You know nothing about mana, about being a Māori warrior.’

He starts prancing around with his taiaha, chanting the words he said on stage. ‘Tika tonu mai, ki ahau e noho nei. Tika tonu mai –’

Spit shoots out of my mouth and lands on the side of Tū’s cheek.

Moki gasps and then starts giggling.

Tū freezes, wiping it away slowly with his hand.

‘Moki, go.’ I nudge her towards the hall.

‘But –’

‘Kia tere!’

She runs off only moments before Tū charges at me. His fist smacks my face and I land on the floor, my back stinging and blood dripping from my nose to my mouth. He lunges at me and I’m squirming, trying to fight him, but he’s like a solid paperweight and I’m the sheets of measly paper trapped under him. I close my eyes and wait for a big smack across my face. But it doesn’t come. Instead, I feel drops of water dribble on my cheek. Until I smell it. It’s not water.

‘Aw, yuck!’ Tū leaps to his feet. ‘Far, man, you pōrangi! What’s wrong with you!’

I lift my eyes and catch the man Tū’s talking to. His dopey smile beams at me, his pants rest at his knees, one hand waving at me and the other holding onto his willy. The pōrangi man from Pohe Bay, they call him.

Also known as, my koro.

4

AFTER

Wai runs up the stairs of Koro’s house. She bobs up and down like an excited puppy. ‘What are you scared of, the bogey monster? Come on!’

I wait for him to limp over, one hand clutching his tokotoko and the other gripping that chipped mug Aunty Rangi always threw out. Somehow, that cup always found its way back into his hand.

‘Niko, there might be some clues in here that can prove the taniwha is real. I mean, if he’s actually real …’

‘He is real!’

‘Well, hurry up then!’

I walk inside; Koro’s tea’s still left untouched by his bed. My heart beats fast, remembering that day. I shake the thought away and stare at the big empty space on the wall above the couch where Koro’s flag usually hangs. I sniff the air; Koro’s smell still lingers.

‘It stinks in here!’ Wai goes straight to the kitchen and opens the fridge. She twists the cap off a bottle of milk and sniffs it.

‘Far, make yourself at home.’