Wild Song, page 3
Kinyo had hardly translated everything when I decided it was time to leave.
‘I’ve had enough,’ I whispered to Samkad. As I picked my way through the crowd I heard Tilin say, in a loud whisper: ‘There she goes. She just can’t help calling attention to herself.’ I blushed angrily and tried to move more quickly, but only succeeded in stepping on a man’s instep. A very loud man, it turned out, because he gave out a yell that sent a flock of rice birds fluttering out of the Council House’s thatched roof.
‘Miss! Excuse me, miss!’ I was startled. Truman Hunt was calling me?
I felt all the blood rush to my face. I was really hurrying now, practically leaping over the heads of people sitting on their heels.
I felt a large hand close around my shoulder.
‘Miss, I’m talking to you!’
I looked up, aghast. Truman Hunt had actually waded in to get to me.
‘Oh my,’ he said. ‘You’re the girl in the tree!’
My mouth dropped open.
I had thought I’d heard someone in the bushes this morning. It was Truman Hunt!
I began to splutter, ‘No! Let go of me! I don’t know what you’re talking about!’
‘But I saw you!’ Hunt said. He took my arm and began to tug me towards the ancients. I wanted to pull away. I wanted to run. But my feet stumbled after him obediently.
‘She dropped out of a tree and killed the boar with one thrust of her spear.’ My English was good enough so I didn’t need Kinyo to translate Truman Hunt’s words. ‘At first I thought it was a boy, but I soon realized that it was a girl.’ He grinned at the ancients. ‘You should have seen her! The boar attacked, but she was ready with her spear. It died right on top of her. It was the most extraordinary thing I’ve seen in my life!’
The ancients were all glaring at me, Mother. I could see them listing all my past misdemeanours in their heads. I glanced at the crowd and saw Samkad’s face, jaw slack with shock.
‘Don’t believe him!’ I cried desperately. ‘The American is lying!’
Mister William had risen to his feet. He lived in the village, he knew exactly how serious this was. ‘Hunt,’ he said urgently. ‘Shut up.’
‘But you were magnificent!’ Hunt turned to me. ‘Magnificent – do you know the word?’ He turned to the old ones. ‘Kinyo, translate! Tell them she must come to America. Tell them, I am begging them to let her come! Tell them I had no idea your women were hunters too.’
Then he made a tiny squeaking noise as I grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him into the fire.
5
A Betrayal
Mother, you should have seen the look on everyone’s faces. The crowd was agog. The ancients were boiling mad. Kinyo was in a panic, his usual smugness wiped from his face.
And Truman Hunt? He continued to beam at me as Kinyo extracted him from the sputtering fire, smoking and sooty, like a pork chop carelessly tumbled from a pan. He was laughing, Mother, as he brushed himself off and patted the smoke from his hair, as if the whole thing was a joke. ‘Ha ha! You were extraordinary. Better than a man! So strong! I’ve never seen anything like it!’
Everyone was agitated now, the courtyard hummed with disapproval. The girl killed the boar? Impossible! But didn’t Samkad say he had done it?
Samkad was suddenly behind me, he put an arm around my shoulders as if that would shield me from all the gawking eyes.
The ancients were barking angrily at Truman Hunt. ‘Mister Truman, Mister William.’ Kinyo looked from one American to the other as he translated. ‘The ancients are saying this meeting is over. You both have to leave now.’
Mister William was shaking his head, looking sympathetically at me. He tapped Truman Hunt on the shoulder. ‘Let’s go, Hunt.’
The other American looked bewildered. He tipped his hat at the crowd, saying in a bright voice. ‘I will be at the school, just in case anybody decides to sign up.’
‘NOBODY IS GOING TO AMERICA!’ snapped Salluyud, the oldest of the ancients, not even bothering to wait for Kinyo’s stuttering interpretation. Now everyone was gawking at him, astonished that he had spoken so much English. ‘LEAVE NOW.’
They left.
The ancients tottered to their feet and ordered everyone to clear the courtyard. Everyone except Samkad and me.
‘Shall I stay?’ Kinyo said.
Salluyud just glared at him until he shuffled away, rubbing the back of his neck.
The ancients gathered around us. Salluyud, Pito, Dugas, Maklan. These snaggle-toothed and wizened old men had been ancients since we were children. They had watched us grow up, performed the rituals that eased us from age to age, taught us the names of our ancestors, punished us for misdeeds, rewarded us when we did well.
Right now they were glowering at me, their crumpled faces more deeply cut than usual, like the bark on ancient trees.
‘YOU killed the boar?’ Salluyud croaked.
‘No!’ I said.
‘Yes!’ Samkad said. I noticed that his arm tightened over my shoulders. He wasn’t holding me to comfort me. He was trying to stop me running away. I shook his arm off.
‘No!’ I told the ancients. ‘I didn’t kill the boar.’
‘Yes!’ Samkad said. ‘She did.’
He tried to put his arm round me again, but I slapped it off. ‘Stop it!’ I hissed. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Then I looked at the ancients and fear curdled in my belly. They knew! I could see it!
I glanced at Samkad fearfully. As the man, Samkad would bear the brunt of any punishment the ancients had in store for us. Samkad’s face was smooth. He looked serious. But he did not look worried.
‘Samkad,’ Old Dugas spoke heavily. ‘We discussed this yesterday, did we not?’
‘Yes, old one.’ Samkad bowed his head.
Discussed this yesterday? Yesterday?
There was a buzzing in my head, as if a swarm of bees had suddenly taken up residence behind my eyes.
Dugas shook his head. ‘You confessed, and yet still you were lying.’
Confessed what? Lied about what? Samkad, what did you discuss with them?
Samkad hung his head and suddenly we were both small children again, lined up in front of the ancients, accused of some prank. Which one of you put the dead snake on the path? Speak, or face a harsher punishment!
‘So, Little Luki.’ Now it was Maklan speaking, pointing a crooked finger at me. ‘It was you who killed the boar today, yes? Speak the truth. Samkad has already admitted that he takes you on secret hunting expeditions.’
‘YOU IDIOT!’ I shoved him hard in the chest. He staggered, stopping himself in time from tumbling into the fire, like Truman Hunt. ‘WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?’
‘Old one,’ Samkad croaked. ‘I was sincere in telling you that I had been hunting with Luki. That was all true. The only thing I lied about were the boars. I didn’t think you were ready to know that they were not mine. Luki killed all three.’ Sam stepped in front of me, as if his broad chest could shield me from their sharp glances. ‘Weh. Three boars. Surely Luki deserves praise for bringing so much meat home.’
But the old faces were gurning with anger.
‘PRAISE?’ Pito cried. ‘We indulged you when you said you took her hunting even though hunting is not a woman’s job. We have all known Luki since she was born. We have always known about her deviant impulses. But you, Samkad. You allowed her to make the kill.’
‘But we brought you food!’ Samkad insisted, his voice desperate.
‘You brought us SHAME!’ Dugas snapped.
A voice piped up over my right shoulder, shrill and mean. ‘She wears a breechcloth as well! I’ve seen her!’ It was Tilin, hovering by the entrance to the courtyard.
There was an intense buzzing in my ears. I wanted to grab her by the hair, I wanted to scratch her hateful eyes out. I threw myself at her, but Samkad dragged me back and held me still. The hard stares of the ancients poked into me like pointing fingers.
Mother, now that they knew, they could see the evidence all over me. The dried mud on my knees, the deep scratches on my arm, the dark circles under my eyes.
Old Pito flicked his long hair away from a bony shoulder. ‘Samkad, when you came to speak to us, we thought highly of you. Yes, we thought you were soft to indulge this girl’s silly desire to hunt … but we also thought you were brave to come to us and speak about it so openly.’
‘We thought you made up for it because you were such a great hunter,’ Salluyud said. ‘But now we know: not only are you weak, you are a liar.’
They were all gazing at Sam now like he was dog dirt plopped on the stone paving before them. Panic churned in my belly. Now I was afraid they could banish him, send him far away.
‘It’s not Samkad’s fault,’ I cried. ‘I forced him to take me hunting!’
‘Silence!’ Dugas smacked his hands together. ‘Young man, we have agreed a solution, have we not?’
A solution? Mother, I looked at Sam but he was looking everywhere except at me.
‘The truth about these hunting trips has not changed the outcome we have decided.’ Pito said. ‘The girl must be taken in hand.’
‘Taken in hand!’ I snarled. ‘What do you mean?’
But still they ignored me.
‘I was hoping to find the right moment,’ Samkad mumbled.
Right moment for what?
‘Samkad,’ Salluyud said evenly. ‘Now everyone knows what you have done, if things continue as they are, we will look like fools. You know what you have to do.’
‘Yes, you will fix this as we agreed,’ Maklan said.
‘You must do your duty,’ Dugas said.
It was as if the ancients were holding me under the churning waters of the Chico River. I was floundering, desperate to breathe.
I grabbed Samkad’s hand, searching his eyes.
‘Luki,’ he whispered. ‘We need to talk. Not here. Come with me.’
Mother, as I followed Samkad out of the courtyard, I glanced back at the ancients. They were all smiling.
Not once did Samkad look at me as we made our way to his father’s house. And even when we got there, his eyes still avoided mine, gazing at the carcass still hanging on the scaffold. He shook his head.
‘Luki, I had to tell them. They kept praising me, saying I was a great hunter, like my father. I felt awful because I knew that it wasn’t true.’
‘But you are a great hunter!’ I cried. It’s just that I’m better than you, a small voice whispered in my head.
‘They wouldn’t stop saying it. “You are a hero, Samkad”, they said. “You will save the village, Samkad”, “Because of Samkad, nobody will go hungry”.’ He shook his head. ‘It felt so wrong. It wasn’t fair. They had to be told the truth. My plan was to tell them bit by bit. So I started by telling them I took you along when I went hunting … and then, maybe a few weeks later, I thought I could tell them who really killed the boars.’
I was speechless. How could he? I didn’t want praise. I wanted to hunt. And now …
‘They were so grateful for the meat, I thought they would understand,’ Samkad continued. ‘But instead they were furious that I had taken you with me.’
I shook my head. How could he sound so astonished! Did he expect them to say, well done, Samkad, for indulging that headache of a girl?
He swallowed.
‘They said I didn’t deserve to live in the village. They said they would make me leave.’ He looked stricken. ‘I was devastated. I begged them to reconsider.’
He paused.
‘Then Maklan said there was a solution … He said I might even like the solution because it means you and I can hunt as much as we like. He said …’ Samkad paused, and for the first time, he looked directly at me. ‘He said we should marry.’
I stared at him. I felt like all the warmth had suddenly drained out of my body. Mother, wasn’t this what the ancients had always wanted? A way to tether down this wayward girl who would never do what she was told. And they’d convinced Samkad to do it for them.
Samkad’s face slowly turned a dull red. ‘Stop looking at me like that.’ He held up his hand as if to shield his eyes, even though we were standing in the shadows and there was no sun to guard against.
‘Luki, I thought you would be pleased,’ he whispered.
Mother, I said nothing.
Samkad took a big gulp of air. ‘But can’t you see, they’re right! We should marry. Our parents are dead. You hate living in the House for Women and I can’t wait to leave the House for Men. We can make our home in Father’s house. We have your mother’s and my father’s paddy fields to till. And once you’re mine, you can do anything you like! You can hunt as much as you want! I won’t be like the other men. I will allow you to do it!’
I will allow you to do it.
‘You will be my wife. We will live together. And we will have a family. The ancients are eager to announce it. They will give us a good celebration.’
I didn’t resist when Sam gathered me against him. He would repair the roof of his father’s house, he whispered. The yield of the rice paddies he’d inherited from his father would easily feed up to six children. He would build a small chicken house to one side of the house.
And as he mused, all I could think was: I am not a wife. I am not. Mother, now you were dead, I was no longer a daughter. So who was I? An annoyance, according to the ancients. A sluggard, according to the other women. A nothing, according to me. I squeezed my eyes shut and I saw them again, those children with his eyes, reaching as if they wanted me to take them in my arms.
‘NO!’ I cried, pushing him away.
Samkad staggered backwards, his face a picture of surprise and hurt. ‘What?’
‘I do not want to be your wife.’ I glared at him.
‘But …’ Samkad’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. ‘Luki, don’t you love me?’
I turned on my heel and began to walk away.
‘Luki! Where are you going?’
I glanced briefly over my shoulder. ‘I’m going to the school to give my name to Truman Hunt. I’m going to America.’
6
It Will be Grand
Mother, I was not afraid to leave, but I was afraid of what would happen if I stayed.
So I made my way through the village and out the other end to Mister William’s school where the ground began to drop down to the mossy forest. Samkad did not chase after me. No doubt he had returned to the Council House, asking the ancients what else he could allow me to do.
I remember how we all turned out to help Mister William build the school, with a room where Mister William could sleep and a large veranda that would soon become our classroom. It was so exciting when a blackboard arrived from Manila, balanced on the back of a small pony. We helped Mister William nail it the wall of the veranda. How we loved writing on it with those sticks of white, crumbling rock called ‘chalk’. We pinned Mister William’s stripy flag above the door to his bedroom. It’s mildewed and stained by the weather now. Remember how Mister William made us sing to it? I can still sing the first lines: My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty …
On the other side of the door, that portrait of President Roosevelt you like so much still hangs. I am sorry to say that a speckled brown patch has spread over Roosevelt’s forehead. But it only adds to the ruggedness of his pose, in his deerskin suit and fur hat with a knife in his belt and a rifle on his knees.
They saw me approaching from a distance. Even from afar, I could see Kinyo’s shocked, wide open mouth, his eyes black dots leaping out of his head and the pleased white grin spreading over Truman Hunt’s face.
Mister William stared over the pot he’d been stirring on his fire. ‘Miss Luki, what are you doing here?’ he asked.
‘She’s here to sign up for the trip!’ Truman Hunt said, pulling the hat from his head and pressing it against his heart. ‘Aren’t you, miss?’
‘You’re coming too?’ There, just behind Hunt, dismay on her face, stood Tilin.
She had signed up? Mother, it had not occurred to me that Tilin might want to go to America. I could have screamed.
‘But who’s going to look after Sidong?’I exclaimed.
‘Sidong is coming too,’ Tilin said. ‘We have no parents to hold us back. We are free to go where we like.’
I glared at her even though in the back of my mind I was thinking, I too have nobody to hold me back now.
‘Everyone is talking about how you are going to marry Samkad,’ she said. ‘When I left the Council House, the ancients were waiting for the two of you to come to them and ask for their blessing. What are you doing here? Where is Samkad?’
‘It’s not going to happen,’ I said bitterly. Then I squared my shoulders. ‘I’m going to America instead.’
Tilin’s eyes widened. ‘You have refused Samkad?’ For a second she looked at me and then her nose and mouth began to twitch. And then, Mother, she burst out laughing.
We all watched, bewildered, until at last she swallowed a final giggle. She smiled at me.
‘They wanted me to marry too. But like you, I said no. That’s why I’m here. They can’t make me get married if I’m in America!’
I felt something spark inside me, like a firefly had suddenly lit up in my belly. I wanted to smile at her, to throw my arms around her and laugh about our shared predicament. But I had not forgotten her mean little jibes: Luki’s no help. Luki’s no use.
Abruptly, I turned my back on her and nodded at Kinyo. ‘Tell the American to put my name on his list.’
Truman Hunt listened carefully to Kinyo’s translation, then turned to me. ‘Are you sure? I realize now that I put you in a spot back there. I wouldn’t want you to do anything you were uncomfortable with. Do you really want to go?’
I nodded firmly. Yes, I was sure.
Truman Hunt wrote my name down with a flourish, talking some more, too fast for me to follow. I looked at Kinyo.
