Free The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera Page B

Paka happy again.’ Her eyes held a hint of gravity.
    The next morning I was up early, intending to go out onto the sea in
     my dinghy. To my surprise, Kahu was waiting at the door in her white dress and sandals.
     There were white ribbons in her pigtails.
    ‘Can I come for a ride, Uncle Rawiri?’ she asked.
    I couldn’t really say no, so I nodded my head. Just as we
     were ready to leave, Nanny Flowers yelled out, ‘ Hoi , wait for me!’ She had decided to join us. ‘I
     can’t stand to hear the old paka feeling sorry for himself. Mmmm, what a beautiful
     day! The sun is shining.’
    We rowed out past the bay and Kahu asked again about the stone.
    ‘What stone!’ Nanny Flowers said.
    So I told her, and Nanny wanted to be shown where it had been dropped
     into the water. We went out into the ocean where it suddenly turned indigo.
    ‘Goodness,’ Nanny said. ‘No wonder those
     boys couldn’t get it. This is deep .’
    ‘Does Koro Apirana really want it back?’ Kahu
     asked.
    ‘Yeah, I suppose he must,’ Nanny Flowers said,
     ‘the old paka. Well, serve him right for —’
    Kahu said simply, ‘I’ll get it.’
    Before we could stop her she stood up and dived overboard. Until that
     moment I had never even known she could swim.
    Nanny’s mouth made a big O. Then the breath rushed into her
     lungs and she screamed, ‘Oh no!’ She jabbed me hard and said,
     ‘Go after her, Rawiri. Go .’ She
     virtually pushed me over the side of the rowboat.
    ‘Give me the diving mask,’ I yelled. Nanny Flowers
     threw it at me and quickly I put it on. I took three deep breaths and did a duck dive.
    I couldn’t see her. The sea looked empty.
     There was only a small stingray flapping down towards the reef.
    Then I got a big fright because the stingray turned around and,
     smiling, waved at me. It was Kahu in her white dress and sandals, dog-paddling down to the
     sea floor, her braids floating around her head.
    I gasped and swallowed sea water. I came to the surface coughing and
     spluttering.
    ‘Where is she!’ Nanny Flowers screamed.
     ‘Has she drowned? Oh no, my Kahu.’ And before I could stop her she
     jumped in beside me, just about emptying the whole ocean. She didn’t even give me
     a chance to explain as she grabbed the mask off me and put it on. Then she tried to swim
     underwater, but her dress was so filled with air that no matter how hard she tried she
     remained on the surface like a balloon with legs kicking out of it. I doubt if she could
     have gotten deeper anyway because she was so fat she couldn’t sink.
    ‘Oh Kahu,’ Nanny Flowers cried again. But this
     time I told her to take a deep breath and, when she was looking underwater, to watch where I
     would point.
    We went beneath the surface. Suddenly I pointed down. Kahu was
     searching the reef, drifting around the coral. Nanny Flowers’ eyes widened with
     disbelief.
    Whatever it was Kahu was searching for, she was having difficulty
     finding it. But just then white shapes came speeding out of the dark towards her. I thought
     they were sharks, and Nanny Flowers began to blow bubbles of terror.
    They were dolphins. They circled around Kahu and seemed to be talking
     to her. She nodded and grabbed one around its body. As quick as a flash, the dolphins sped
     her to another area of the reef and stopped. Kahu seemed to say, ‘Down
     here?’ and the dolphins made a nodding motion.
    Suddenly Kahu made a quick, darting gesture. She picked something up,
     inspected it, appeared satisfied with it, and went back to the dolphins. Slowly the girl and
     the dolphins rose towards us. But just as they were midway, Kahu stopped again. She kissed
     the dolphins goodbye and gave Nanny Flowers a heart attack by returning to the reef. She
     picked up a crayfish and resumed her upward journey. The dolphins were like silver dreams as
     they disappeared.
    Nanny Flowers and I were treading water when Kahu
     appeared between us, smoothing her hair back from