____
Yani was living with Percy in a hut in the native community adjacent to the official buildings. Percy had a wife and three children in a building that was, like the man himself, halfway between the two cultures. He had a table and chairs. On it was a calico tablecloth, and a wine bottle with flowers stuck in the neck. The Vailala Madness was not wasted on him. He had acquired the very things many of the natives identified as “living like the Witman.”
Nevertheless, Mrs. Percy, as she was known to the residents of the neighboring white enclave, still kept a taro garden, and had two pigs. She knew a number of English words and was highly prized as a housekeeper for the High Commissioner.
The Percys were the social lions of the native community.
Yani enjoyed all of this. He displayed his shaman tattoo the first few days, so everyone knew he was not a kanaka they brought back from one of the islands. He wore a Policeboy uniform, and carried a homemade baton, similar to the ones British Officers were seen carrying. He learned quickly.
The other four native boys were not so well respected. They were boarded out with working class black families. They spoke a variety of dialects — none of which were understood by the local people. Fortunately, they all spoke Pidgin, which was the reason they had been selected for their new jobs. It was also the language they used to communicate with each other.
____
The English Lieutenant in charge of the Coast Watcher’s Program assembled the black half of the future teams on the steps of the Government Office Building. He made an eloquent speech, telling them about the war with Japan, and how they would each be paired off with a white man. Said white men were being trained in the use of two-way radios as he spoke, and would be ready to take on their new duties in a few weeks. In the meantime, the black men would be sent to Brisbane for a week of special military training and enhancement of their language skills. He told them he had complete faith in their ability to perform their duties as subjects of the British Empire. He assured them that their behavior was consistent with the oath of “One king, one cause, one flag” in the prosecution of the war against the Axis.
When he finished, Percy snapped to attention in full British military style, and had his new troops do as close an imitation as possible. The Training Officer saluted and returned to his office in the building. Not wanting to spoil the noble moment, he chose not to inform the Lieutenant that since he spoke in English, his men did not understand a word of it.
____
Once back in the native quarter, Percy told the boys, “We are going to Brisbane today. Bring all the clothes and other things you own with you.”
For the most part, the boys were wearing everything they owned, and had the rest of their worldly goods in kit bags Percy had gotten from the Army depot. They were left from World War I and were in rough shape. This made no difference to the boys who had never owned any kind of manufactured item, besides their ever-present knives.
“The boat we were supposed to take to Australia has been sunk by the Japanese,” Percy told them in Pidgin. “We will fly there in the belly of a big bird.” Since none of them had ever seen an airplane, and Percy had never been in one, he had no words to describe the event in any other manner.
“How do we keep from dying inside the bird?” one of the boys asked. “We will be birdshit when we get out!” he cried, since he was quite familiar with the natural processes of life.
“I think we will be safely inside an egg,” suggested Yani.
They all breathed a sigh of relief. That made more sense. There was no point in sending them to Australia if they would be dead when they got there.
Everyone was delighted when they were loaded into the back of an open government lorry for the ride down to the plane. This, too, was a first for most of them.
“There is no end to the gifts Kilibob made to the white man,” Yani said to Percy. “We can have all this, if we can get Kilibob to return.”
Percy was puzzled by the remark, and then realized that all things mechanical were virtually unknown to Yani and these boys. How would he ever be able to explain any of it to them? The answer was simple — he couldn’t possibly. He barely understood it himself. The best he could do was teach the boys to pretend to understand what was going on. No one could figure out the mind of the Witman.
____
Even Percy was frightened when the lorry pulled up on the wharf next to the huge U.S. Navy PBY seaplane. It bobbed on the choppy water like an albatross with immense wings extended. A gangway had been connected to make it easy to board — except none of the natives wanted to be the first to cross the little bridge.
On an impulse, Yani bounded across the gangway, and into the passenger cabin. He felt the floor of the plane bob like the deck of a boat and looked at the rounded interior of the fuselage. He went back to the entrance and said, “It is an egg, just like I said it would be.”
Percy cautiously came across and told the others to follow. Finally, they were all inside the “egg.” An American petty officer made them sit down and secured each of them with a seatbelt. “No walking around until we are airborne,” he said. No one made a move to do anything. There was a glint of terror in each man’s eye, as the hatch was slammed shut. When the engines were cranked and then roared to life two of the boys peed in their new Policeboy khaki shorts.
____
Yani had a seat next to the window. Percy sat on the other side of the plane. The plane skimmed across the water like a hydroplane, feeling the thump of each wavelet. Then suddenly it was smooth and airborne, and entering into a steeper angle of ascent.
Yani could see the small harbor at Port Moresby getting further and further behind them. This was like being on the volcano’s rim at Christ’s Despair without having to make the long climb up the side. When the plane banked, he could see much of the mountain range that backed up the island port.
The plane leveled out and then began a gradual climb. He could see them approaching the strato-cumulus clouds just above them as they neared 5,000 feet. His heart quickened as they entered the fluffy clouds and there was a complete white out on the windows. He waited for what he knew must come, and within ten minutes it happened — they broke through the top of the cloud bank and he was looking at the bright sunlight reflecting of the tops of the clouds beneath him.
The rays of the sun took a myriad of shapes as they sailed through wispy cloud formations. He strained his eyes and scanned the immense horizon, even looking out the windows on the other side of the plane. Yani wished Big Man Duff were here with him now. If the pastor were with him, Jesus would surely reveal himself. There was no doubt about it. It was just like the stained glass picture back at the church. Yani and his friends were now on their way to Heaven.
Chapter 20
A few hours later, the PBY circled an airfield, and spotted the prepared landing place on the water near the Navy installation.
During quiet moments back on the island, Yani and McDuff had had many discussions about Heaven. Now below him lay the City of God that the missionary had talked about. It was grander than anything Yani could have imagined. Port Moresby was the first Witman town he had seen, and this exceeded that by far. His heart throbbed wildly.
When they had landed and the “egg” was opened again, the boys were anxious to get out. They did not necessarily share Yani’s passion for this trip. No one had ever promised any of them that they would go to Heaven, so the idea was more foreign than exciting.
They were met by one of the strangest sights any of them, including Percy, had ever seen. In addition to the usual military officers, whom they accepted as normal, there stood a black man whose facial features were clearly Papuan, but his hair was cut short and he wore a white shirt and a tie like an Englishman.
There was complete silence among the black islanders as they walked in a circle around the Papuan looking him over from head to toe. He wore khaki shorts, which were ironed, knee socks, and shoes. Even the American Navy Commander had to look twice.
He had seen Negroes in “Sunday-go-to-meetin” clothes in his native South Carolina, but a South Sea Islander in such an outfit took him by surprise.
The Papuan introduced himself. “How do you do. Commander Henry, I presume.” He offered his hand to shake, which Henry reached for hesitantly. “I’m Reggie, the Indigenous Liaison Officer.”
“How do you do,” Henry said cautiously.
“I can see you’re surprised. That’s the usual reaction I get from both Blackfellas and white men alike.”
“Well, you’re the first colored fella I’ve seen here who speaks English ... and dresses like a white man,” Henry confessed.
Accustomed to explaining the situation, he said, “I was taken in by the wife of the former Governor General of the Island Territories when my real mother died in childbirth. I was raised and tutored with her own child while they lived in the islands. When they moved back to Australia, she refused to leave me behind and I have lived here ever since.”
“You must be worth your weight in gold in dealing with the natives since you speak English so well.”
“Would that it were so, Mr. Henry. I can hardly speak any of the native dialects, and have to get by in Pidgin like anyone else.”
“Well, here are the boys I promised to deliver. My crew and I are ready to go into town as soon as our plane is secured. I’ll be back in a week to fly them back to Port Moresby. Meanwhile, they’re all yours.”
____
Reggie looked over his charges and said to the man in the Policeboy uniform, “You must be Percy. I’m Reggie. I will be in charge of your group while you are here.”
“I am pleased to meet you,” Percy said, showing off his own knowledge of English. “I am the head Policeboy in Port Moresby, and these are my boys.”
“You speak English very well,” Reggie said. “Where did you learn?”
“From the Patrol Officers,” he said. “Yani, here, speaks some English also. He learn from churchfella. Others speak Booga-booga. All speak Pidgin.”
Reggie addressed the rest of the group in Pidgin from then on, and used English only to convey things to Percy he felt the boys did not need to know. “We are at war with Japan. Do not believe that the Japanese are friends of the Blackfella. They will kill you as easily as they will kill a Witman.
“You are going to be Big men on your islands. You will work with a Witman who will watch for Japanese ships from the mountains on your islands.
“Does anyone know what wireless is? Radio?” he asked.
When Percy nodded his head, Reggie said, “Can you tell the boys what it is?”
Percy said, “Witman magic. He speak in box. Man in other box he speak too. We have on Patrol Boat — talk to Headquarters on other side of sun.”
“Close enough,” Reggie conceded. “The Witman will have box on your island. He will talk with other Witman on Patrol Boat. Say when he see Japfella boat.”
“What Blackfella do?” Yani asked.
“Blackfella make sure Witman O.K. Get food. Water. Make sure island fellas friends of Witman. Not friends of Japfella. You go back to your island tell your Big Man that Witman help Blackfella after war.”
Yani thought of how helpless he had been in protecting McDuff from the angry natives on Christ’s Despair. But this will be Chase Island. This is my island, He thought. I tell Ooma this churchfella, O.K.-fella.
____
During the next few days, Reggie took the boys to a section of the Army training grounds. He taught them how to fire a rifle and a pistol. With the help of Percy, he taught them to come to attention, and to march. They thought it was great sport and called each other to attention repeatedly just for fun. They would snap to, render a salute, and all would burst out laughing.
Yani was fascinated with Reggie. He had replaced Percy as his personal role model. Percy was dignified, but Reggie was elegant. He sought him out during spare moments and the man would talk with him in English.
Reggie warned him in much the same way Percy had. “You know, there are many Witmen who do not like Blackfellas to speak English. I am made fun of by many of them, but I have the protection of my white family. You do not. Be careful.”
“I have a good reason to learn English,” Yani told him one day. “My Big Man Duff knows all the Witman magic. He is churchfella. He teached me to say magic formulas — called prayers. But I learn Pidgin words. Not have the power his English words have. He made to happen very good things. He ask for knife — God send iron axes, knife ...” He was unable to remember the word for machete. He drew one in the air with his finger and made a hacking movement with his arm. “... chop knife.”
“Oh, you mean a machete?” Reggie asked.
“Yes, machete.” Then he added mournfully, “Blackfella on island use chop Big Man Tomsin head. We leave. Japfella try to kill us with tinken fish.”
Eventually Reggie pieced together the story by consulting Percy. But Yani got around to his favorite topic: “Big Man Duff, he ask God for food — tinkens come. Tinkens come from Heaven.”
Reggie laughed. “Tin cans are made right here in Brisbane. There is a canning factory only a mile from here. I’ll take you there tomorrow. I want you to see where tinkens really come from. I want you to be better educated than the other people on your island.” He laughed to himself as he left the trainees and went to the headquarters to make arrangements.
___
The next morning Reggie had the boys line up and march up the road to the cannery. He made arrangements with the man at the gate to allow them to walk around. Reggie had been there before and knew the factory.
According to the prevailing beliefs in the islands, people’s spirits turned white when they died. This was one of the reasons many shamans covered themselves with ashes when doing certain rituals. The canning factory employed only white people to work on their manufacturing lines. Yani was pretty sure he had it all figured out, and explained it to the other boys. These hundreds of white people were ancestors who had died, turned white, and went to work for God in Heaven, doing what they were obviously doing — making tinkens for their people on the islands.
When they went into the tuna packing section, they were processing several fish that were larger than any that had ever been trapped in the Chase Island lagoon. All the boys were duly impressed, as they watched a bandsaw slice the monster fish into workable sized pieces.
From a huge hopper thousands of cans rolled down an assembly line. Ah, they are coming from another part of Heaven where tinkens are made, Yani deduced. Since metal did not exist on his island, all things made of that material had to be made by God himself. He wished he could go watch God making them, but was satisfied to get this close.
When they reached the shipping department, everything was stuffed into wooden and cardboard boxes. Yani observed one of the men making certain marks on the boxes. He had a stencil and an ink brush. With this equipment, the man placed the shipping addresses on the cartons. However, while he was there, an error had been discovered, and while the first man went to lunch, his supervisor came through with a paint brush and painted out all the addresses on the boxes.
It was then that Yani’s suspicions were confirmed. He saw the second man put new addresses on the boxes. He had seen it with his own eyes. The first man, an ancestor, addressed the cartons of tinkens to the Blackfellas on the islands. The second man came through and covered up those addresses and sent them to a Witman somewhere. All the tinkens that were rightfully the property of Chase Islanders were being diverted to somewhere else.
He toyed with the idea of raising the question with Reggie, but decided against it. It might get Reggie in trouble, and that would never do.
When they left the factory and were marching down the road back to the Army base, they passed a farm where a large number of animals were grazing along the road. Yani became animated. His excitement was unbounded. He broke ranks and ran over to the flock to touch one of them.
Reggie went over to him, and said, “What’s t
he problem, Yani?”
Yani was grinning like a fool. He was almost jumping up and down, pointing at the animals. “Sheepy-sheep. Sheepy-sheep. Now I know I am in Heaven for sure. This is where God keeps his Sheepy-sheep.”
***
On their last full day in Brisbane, Reggie took Percy and the native boys downtown to the business district of the city. The sights and sounds of the strange environment turned out to be more than they could handle. Along with automobiles, it was not uncommon for men in business suits to be found riding horses to work. On their home islands, these strange, huge beasts were unknown and were thoroughly frightening to the young men. One of them thought that the man on horseback was one animal — a centaur of sorts. After less than two hours, most of the islanders were on the verge of a nervous breakdown — with the exception of Yani. He did not know when he would visit Heaven again, and chose to make the most of the opportunity.
Seeing the boys virtually huddling together as they moved from place to place, Reggie decided that the cultural shock was too great for them and started loading them into the open lorry that brought them.
Yani was disappointed. He was ready to spend the day in Brisbane, and told Reggie how he felt. “Yani in Heaven first time. Maybe not come again for long time. I not want to go back to Army house and sleep. I stay here.”
“Well, I can’t very well leave you alone in the city now, can I? There’s no telling what would happen to you here. I could lose you anywhere and not have you ready to fly back to Port Moresby,” he said.
Yani had been eyeing a large building. “Maybe we go in that place,” he said pointing.
Reggie looked across the street. “That’s the Queensland Natural History Museum,” he said. Then, after a brief moment added, “Maybe you fellas would be happy in there, after all. They’ve got lots of things you’re familiar with.” He stopped the loading procedure and said, “Percy, let’s take them into the Museum. I think you’ll enjoy it, too.”
____
Inside, Reggie got a real kick out of watching the boys approach the stuffed animals. They stalked a kangaroo that stood frozen in flight in a display at the center of a great hall. They approached slowly, surrounding it from three sides, and could not figure out why it did not flee when they were almost within tackling distance.
When John Frum Came Page 17
