DANCES/Gaugau

"DANCES WITH FIRE"

Chapter 2

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In the prolog and first chapter you saw Tavita dancing in front of this falls. He built a large pool, at the bottom, and tourist come to see it and dive from the upper level, where you see the children playing.  My Penny learned to do the same during her stay with us.

This picture is also from the special publication of 

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

"ISLES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC"

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Some of the passengers had taken taxis, others walked, but most of the thirty five were crowded onto the bus, while their luggage overflowed the roof.  Tavita, however, held tightly to his small parcels as the driver jerked the vehicle into gear and roared off down the road.  Black diesel smoke billowed from the exhaust and snaked up through the gaping floorboards.

What the hell is this?  Tavita tried to escape the black fog.  Is this what I've come back to?  Is this the best they can do?  A smoke belching bus that creeps along so slowly that I could walk faster.

The others didn't seem to mind as they carried on conversations and some even fell asleep, their mouths hung open as their heads bounced up and down on the seat backs.

"How can they do that?" he wondered out loud.  He could carry on a self conversation, with no one the wiser, while the engine bellowed laboriously pushing the vehicle around curves that hugged the beach.  "Okay Tavita, you're home.  Now what?"

After a few miles, even he began to relax as he marveled while one village after another seemed to string endlessly along the beach.  Open thatched fales (houses,) perfectly manicured yards and boundless arrays of multicolored flowers greeted every turn of the bus. 

"I had almost forgotten how beautiful this place is," he shifted from side to side..

Palm trees bowed toward the beach.  Breadfruit hung in abundance, for the taking, while kapok fluff escaped a few  pods and drifted lazily across the road.

"Yes, Tavita, you're home, and you're going to make the most of it, just like Dr. Link said you should."

He looked around nervously.  The thought of Dr. Link also made him think of Shirley.

"Dear Shirley.  Sweet, crazy, beautiful Shirley," he mumbled.  "Love you sweetheart, I hope you're all right.  Sorry that I had to leave you, but I had no choice."

The bus screeched to a halt, interrupting his thoughts and waking the sleepers.  An old sow, teats swaying, followed by ten or twelve squealing piglets strolled across the road, without a care in the world.

The procession passed and the driver ground the gears and jolted the bus forward again.  Tavita craned his neck to see if Apia was in sight yet.  The further they went, the more excited he became.  Apia, the only city in all of Samoa.  Apia.  As a boy, it had been the most exciting place in the world.  The picture show was there.  Ice cream was there.  The Marines were there.  The Marines and Hank, his good friend, Hank.

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"Hey kid," Tavita remembered Apia park had been turned into a bivouac for a battalion of Marines, stationed on Upolu.  He went most every day with fruits from his own plantation to sell to the soldiers.  One day an overbearing corporal had yelled at him.  "Hey kid!"

Tavita had finished selling his produce and was just hanging around the area, enjoying the excitement of the  place.  The men, in their uniforms, their guns, their cigarettes, and their funny talk.

"Hey kid, didn't you hear me?  Get over here."  The corporal ordered.

After looking around to see who the man meant, Tavita realized that it must be him.

"I?" he  pointed to himself.

"Yes, you, stupid." 

Tavita trotted over, not understanding that he had been insulted.

"Here, take this dollar bill and go get me an ice cream cone at Aggie's."  The corporal made hand signals.  "Bring it back with the change.  You understand?"

Tavita nodded, as he understood a few words, especially ice cream and Aggie's.  He took the money and hurried away.

Aggie's was a hotel/hamburger joint/home away from home, for many of the young men, who were stationed in Samoa.  Some, the first time in their lives to be away from family and home.

Out of breath, Tavita ordered the cone, paid, received the change, and turned for the half mile run back to the park.  The tropic sun blazed.  The confection began to melt, Tavita licked, but he couldn't lick fast enough and soon, all that was left was just the cone and cream.

"That's okay," he thought.  "I still have money, I'll get another and run faster this time."

He tried several times, but the faster he ran the faster the ice cream melted.  At last he was out of money and had no ice cream except what was all over his lavalava (sarong.)  Defeated, ashamed, and afraid, he went back to the camp.

"You little bastard!"  the corporal bellowed.  "You stole my money and ate the ice cream!"

"Leai (no)," Tavita didn't understand everything, but he knew enough to know that he was in bad trouble.

"Yeah!  You probably gave ice cream to all your fuckin' little buddies!"  He grabbed his rifle and pointed it at Tavita's trembling little body.

"Hold it right there, you son of a bitch!"  The shout came from a big Marine Sergeant who grabbed the corporal's arm.

It was Hank .

"You harm one hair on that boy's head and you'll answer to me!"

He wrenched the gun from the soldier.  "Now YOU!  You walk in front while Tavita and I ride, in the jeep.  We'll go get YOUR ICE CREAM CONE!  If you make it back here without it being melted, then I'll give you FIVE dollars, but if you don't------- then you'll give him five dollars.  Do YOU understand?"

The corporal glared at Hank, but nodded.

"Now MARCH!"

"Get in here kid," Hank motioned Tavita to get in the jeep, with him.

They all returned to Aggie's.  The marine bought the cone.  He took a lick and started to walk and continued to lap at the melting cream.

"No!  You bastard, you're going to carry the whole thing back to camp in this boiling sun, just as you expected this kid to do.  Understand?"  He pushed the rifle into the soldier's back.

In only a few steps the ice cream had melted all over the corporal's fatigues.

"Okay, okay, Sarge, you win."  He turned toward the jeep for them to stop.  "Here kid, here's your five spot."

"Fa'afetai (thank you,)" tavita put the bill on top of his head in a show of appreciation as a huge smile lit his face.  "Fa'afetai, Haank!"  His favorite Marine's name came out a little Samoanized.

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Tavita looked again and realized that they were finally reaching the outskirts of Apia.  "Hank, what ever happened to you?" he wondered out loud.  "Someday I'd like to thank you properly."

Most everyone else had gone to sleep now, even though it was broad daylight, but excitement tingled through him as he anticipated seeing his family soon.  He also noticed that every time he looked forward, the driver seemed to be studying him through the rear view mirror.  What did he see?  What did he know?  Do I know him, Tavita wondered?

Just then they rounded a bend, crossed a bridge and THERE IT WAS!  Apia!  Just as he remembered it.  How could a place change so little in such a long time?

"But this is Samoa," he reminded himself.  "Things happen and change in their own time, no one or thing hurries for anyone or anything.  Can I fit in?  Can I slow down to this way of life?

The city was alive!  Changes may come slowly, that didn't mean that there wasn't plenty going on.  They passed the open market, where farmers had everything from fruits and vegetables, to fine mats and brooms, to fish, poultry , and freshly butchered beef.  Buyers milled through the aisles, pricing and selecting.  Pedestrians stepped in front of the bus with their new purchased items, unaware and uncaring that they had stopped traffic.

The driver blasted the horn, only to be rewarded with a scowl and an angry shake of the fist.  Finally they forged ahead and rounded the town watchee (the clocktower).  Brakes squealed and the bus jerked to a stop, right in the middle of the street.

"Tavita!" the driver called!  "You are Tavita Vaoifi, aren't you?"  He turned and looked directly at Tavita

"Yes," he was amazed and stunned as he looked around to see if anyone else answered.

Horns blew, drivers swore, and onlookers craned to see what had just happened.

"There's your dad!" he pointed across the crowd, ignoring the horn blasts and shouts.

Tavita turned to where he pointed and sure enough there stood Vaoifi.  He looked just the same, a few more lines on his ageless handsome face, lots more gray hair, but still noble, a true Samoan Chief.

Tavita bounded from the bus, not even bothering to find out how the driver knew him.  He raced toward Vaoifi.  Heedlessly he brushed people aside as he tried desperately to reach Vaoifi in one stride.  Tears streamed from his eyes and blinded him to everyone else but Vaoifi.

Stunned, Vaoifi stepped aside from this strange young man who hurled himself across the street toward him.  But in the next second he recognized his long lost son, his first born, his Tavita!

"My son!" Vaoifi now returned the embrace that Tavita had locked him into.  "My son, you're home!  Thanks be to God!"

At last the blaring horns broke through their reunion and Tavita realized that the bus still blocked the road.  He ran and retrieved his belongings.

"How did you know who I was?" he asked the driver.

"Hey everyone knows Vaoifi's son," he waved at the horn blowers.  "You're the first Samoan to make a hit.  The first Samoan to run with the "big wheels.  Hey man, you're a celebrity.  We've seen magazines with your pictures.  We've heard stories about you and your WOMEN!  I knew it had to be you, no other Samoan could come back lookin' like that," he pointed to Tavita's clothes.

Tavita reached into his pocket, took out a twenty dollar bill, shook hands, with the driver and pressed the bill into his hand.  "Thanks friend.  Thanks for seeing my dad and waiting through all this.  I'll see you later."

He stepped from the bus and waved, as it moved slowly away while horns and curses followed after it.  Then he returned to where his dad patiently waited.

"That's my son, Tavita."  Vaoifi told everyone within hearing distance.  "That's my boy, home from America."

"Let's go dad," he took Vaoifi's arm.  "Let's go HOME!"