The Adventures of Vela

by Albert Wendt

  receiving his people’s miraculous cargo and you know what happened

  when Maifea’s? relatives and their cargo arrived …

  No he doesn’t and neither do you! Vela interrupted callously

  Vela had no right enjoying the priest’s suffering I decided

  I was in the action with my own feelings reactions observations

  and the right to make decisions and influence outcomes

  Enough of my utterly egotistical self-centred adopted father taking

  me for granted as his obedient arselicking chronicler!

  So what really happened? I confronted him and he blinked realising

  his ego had betrayed him Yes Mr Patel what did happen?

  High noon the sun stood directly above us and even the dogs

  were slinking into the panting shade as Vela struggled to invent

  his way out of my conundrum and Father Macdonald hoped for release

  from his self-destructive addiction to a Goddess of incredible sensuality

  knowledge and utter disregard for pitiful whining lovers like him

  Like when my wife had betrayed me and I’d known the depths of dying

  According to Vela Vela-as-Patel began his escape some of Nafanua’s

  own congregation who’d seen the Papalagi and their work

  in other districts invited the Catholics into Falealupo

  Who were the traitors? I pursued him Yes who? Father Macdonald echoed

  He didn’t say Vela evaded and that’s not important to what happened!

  It’s important to me! the priest insisted his eyes alight with righteousness

  Yes they betrayed Her! I encouraged his desire to avenge Her

  (and Vela’s entrapment) In one of my discussions with the Cardinal

  he hinted at Her taulaaitu betraying Her Father Macdonald added

  (How was Vela going to get out of that one? I wondered gladly)

  Vela mentioned nothing about that Vela tried manoeuvring

  And where did our surveillance-expert chronicler feature in that? I asked

  Vela’s anger with me was a tactile palpable heat that threatened

  to cinderise me but I was determined to expose his posturing

  As Her most trusted chronicler Vela must have been with Her when

  the Albinos invaded Her queendom! Father Macdonald demanded

  Yes what was Vela’s reaction to that? I chorused and for a moment

  I glimpsed panic and distress in Vela’s eyes and enjoyed it

  Vela did not say anything about that but he must’ve stood with Her

  against the invasion Vela-as-Patel insisted but I knew he was lying

  —the disguise in his voice and demeanour was utterly transparent

  (Catching your father lying for the first time brings shock dismay

  sadness and the desperate wish you hadn’t caught him at it!

  Besides I owed Vela all his tales and training this priest was a stranger)

  Mr Patel is correct the Vela I’ve researched wouldn’t have betrayed

  his atua I told Father Macdonald finally What would he have gained

  converting to Christianity and having no power in the Albino kingdom?

  Judas betrayed our Jesus for forty pieces of silver! Father Macdonald countered

  Unlike Judas though our Vela did not suicide and when I met him

  in Bombay he was well over two hundred and thriving! said Vela-as-Patel

  Yes would a guilt-ridden sinner have survived that long? I added

  and once again my adopted father and I were aiga but I now

  had more power independence and the courage to oppose him

  Have you continued your healing with the Cardinal? I asked

  the remorseful Father Macdonald who nodded and murmured

  the Cardinal has cured me of my ma’i aitu and in accepting

  Nafanua as just one of my atua I’m finding inner balance he replied

  The Cardinal has also asked that I transfer to our Apia parish

  well away from Nafanua and Her dangerous allurement

  His smile was a lantern that lit up his whole presence

  and once again I could see him as Lawrence of Arabia on

  the white stallion thundering across the desert wilderness

  Sometimes we have to distance ourselves from the very people

  we love most deeply or be consumed by their fire Vela-as-Patel

  encouraged him Vela too had to finally leave Falealupo to do that

  I must find out about this Vela Father Macdonald said

  For a long time now my aide and I have been researching

  and recording Vela’s life in a book of chronicles Vela told him

  (Vela’s revelation punched away my breath for a moment)

  We’re publishing it soon and will send you a copy Vela offered

  (He had no right revealing claiming and offering my lifelong work

  to a stranger without my permission! He didn’t own me!)

  I got up thanked Father Macdonald hurriedly and fled down the veranda

  steps and across the noonday sand to our landrover

  (1) Mauga-o-Fetu

  He wrenched open the vehicle door jumped in slammed

  the door shut and staring straight ahead hissed through

  clenched mouth So you still haven’t forgiven me for not

  being there when your marriage fell to pieces eh?

  I unleashed the handbrake slammed down on the accelerator

  and the landrover surged forward wheels screeching angrily

  Sulk then See where that gets you! he shouted over

  the landrover’s roar as I increased speed and the wheels coughed

  up sand that streamed out behind us and started coating every thing

  Even the people in the fale looked frightened as we sped by

  You’re going to kill us! Vela finally admitted as I rounded

  a sharp bend and nearly ploughed into some stone graves

  Once out of the village I pushed into a thick stretch of palmtrees

  along the shoreline the landrover rocking over the uneven

  stony road like a boat in rough seas heading for the end

  of the world the Fafā without having to be directed by Vela

  for I now had all his maps in my memory and in my manuscript

  Please! he pleaded and I slowed down and stopped at Mauga-o-Fetu

  He was drenched with sweat and I handed him a hand towel

  got out and wandered over to the creeper-smothered stone paepae

  on the other side in the shade of sprawling talie fau and palms

  I stood before the paepae and let the swishing sound of the surf

  and Vela’s stories and maps of the Fafā heal my anger

  I was home even the air and smells were familiar and embracing

  I knelt down and started clearing the creepers and weeds

  Lizards gnats dragonflies and other creatures scuttled away

  as I worked to reveal the black-stone paepae to the sun again

  Mauga-o-Fetu three-tiered mound with a circle of twelve flat stones

  on the top seats for the taulaaitu as they nightly deciphered

  our fate in the mountains of stars above the end of the world

  When I turned Vela was sitting on the trunk of a fallen palm

  I used to come here and sit with Auva’a and Tupa’i and … Vela began

  I know you’ve told me many times I cut him off and getting

  our packed lunch from the landrover handed him his

  I then walked with bowed head to the paepae and sat down

  on the central seat while Vela shuffled over and sat opposite me

  We ate in silence and when an anguished Father Macdonald cut

  into my thoughts I wished him into the seat to my left for

  he too would feel at home in that healing circle of priests

  And Maifea? and Father Hatherly and the Cardin
al would too

  and we would share our food and read the stars as they in turn

  observed and read us into existence and out of it into the Pouliuli

  And I no longer needed Vela to reveal to me why we’d come

  and what Nafanua’s final prophecy and his release were

  To use trite expressions: Those are already written in the stars!

  and Every thing comes to him who waits! I started laughing

  So you’re not angry with me anymore? Vela asked softly

  I shook my head and said I forgive even your bloody selfishness

  Thank you Alapati he murmured and it was wondrous

  and freeing hearing him say my name for the first time

  Later as we strolled down through the undergrowth

  to the beach and the pools where the agaga cleansed before

  taking the lava tunnel down into the sea and Pulotu he wound

  his arm round my waist and I put mine round his shoulders

  That evening at the hotel we had dinner on his veranda and watched

  the moon almost at its full pregnancy struggle up from the black

  edge of the world and labour breathlessly into the heavens

  It will be full in two days Vela remarked trying to sound casual

  but I sensed fully his boundless expectation (and was dread

  exhilaration and unconditional resignation mixed in with that?)

  20

  Nafanua Returns

  (1) The Oracle Again

  The next morning he didn’t need to tell me where he wanted to go

  and as we drove there through a light drizzle and a village of fale

  with their blinds still lowered he hummed a song he’d taught me years

  before about a beautiful pilgrim who’d consulted Nafanua (through

  Auva’a Her oracle) about curing her husband’s philandering

  and was told she should castrate and leave the ugly bastard

  I found myself singing the melody while Vela sang the bass

  as we pushed our way through the drizzle to the village’s edge

  and another thickly forested hill inexplicably located in the middle

  of clearings and neat plantations It’s still here Vela whispered

  as he followed me out of the landrover They’re too scared to touch it!

  I stripped the hill of forest and recalling Vela’s maps of that location

  restored the Temple the pond in front of it for the pilgrims’ gifts

  of live bonito and the lava tube Cave which housed the oracle’s throne

  Unafraid Vela and I followed the track like an aorta into the forest

  Pigeons cooed from the gigantic tamanu trees and canopy

  Our eager reflections fell onto the pool which

  to my surprise was clear of any floating vegetation or rubbish

  We stopped Vela knelt down and leaning forward dipped his hands

  into the water that rippled away in circles hit the banks and returned

  Look look! he said pointing at the ripples that were zigzagging

  across the surface and I recognized the dark shapes of bonito

  So some of them still consult Her! he declared putting his hands

  under the belly of a bonito and tickling it while I gazed into

  my reflection that was alive with joy and thankfulness

  Across the pond gripped by liana and the twisted roots of the trees

  that now grew on it the Cave gleamed black and wet and waiting

  At its narrow entrance we sat down crosslegged bowed our heads

  and Vela chanted: Your Lordship the Voice and Anchor of our Lady

  we come in all humility to seek your advice help and judgement!

  Paused waited and then Vela shuffled carefully through the entrance

  and I followed into the Cave that Vela’s stories had woven

  permanently into my eyes moa breath veins and sinews

  No visible oracle on the lava throne or evidence of recent occupation

  Vela sat down crosslegged again and using his hands lifted his body

  and moved behind the throne where he found a hand salu and roll of mats

  I salu-ed the floor carefully collecting all the rubbish and taking

  it outside and then we covered the floor with two layers of mats

  and decided we would later get pillows sleeping sheets food and

  water from the hotel and sleep there that night Is Auva’a here? I asked

  If he was you’d know it Vela replied And She isn’t here either

  I stretched out on the mats put my hands behind my head and gazed up

  The intensifying light from the entrance was now an arrow cutting

  across the glistening Cave dome and I imagined it arrowing

  into the heart of the Va-Atoa that held every thing together

  And for the first time I was free of the self-pity remorse and guilt

  associated with my marriage breakup Are you comfortable? Vela asked

  I nodded closed my eyes and inhaling the scent of rain was soon asleep

  Muffled sound of two men talking themselves into my focus:

  one on the stone throne one crosslegged on the floor and I didn’t mind

  them having no faces because I was in a dream at the edge

  of the darkness watching convinced a fabulous revelation

  to my benefit was at hand as the tataued figure on the throne clapped

  once —SSLLAAT! — and the hairless wizened pilgrim on the floor

  staggered up and extending his arms and hands like wings

  started siva-ing to a tune in his head and one I craved to hear

  so I could dance with him but SSLLATT! the throned man clapped

  again and the dancer froze in the pose of the crucified Jesus

  I’d seen earlier in the church blood streaming from

  His right side and dousing my expectations

  Is that all? It wasn’t even as spectacular as Yeats’s beast slouching

  towards Jerusalem to be born or Cecil B. DeMille’s Moses parting

  the Red Sea or Father Macdonald’s besotted infatuation with our Lady!

  C’mon you guys! I taunted the two men and almost pissed my ie lavalava

  when they swivelled their heads my way and I recognised their faces:

  the clapper wore the terrible face of Dracula the dancer that of Auva’a

  I screamed out of the dream into the Cave and Vela clutching

  my shoulders and shushing shushing me out of my fright

  Shortly after as we drove back to the hotel I described my dream

  to Vela who said it was real proof I was getting closer to seeing

  Auva’a (and perhaps Nafanua) As for the two men conversing in

  my dream it was him and Auva’a talking while I’d slept

  Why didn’t you wake me? I voiced my disappointment

  All in good time all in Her time he chuckled and then cautioned

  we should continue keeping our mission and activities a secret

  The moon that evening was even heavier as it staggered up

  out of the ocean and watched us gathering our provisions

  and the mosquito nets and emergency lanterns from our hotel fale

  Later it looked even more tormented in weight and gaze

  as we drove back through its tide of ponderous golden light

  now smothering the sleeping village to the Cave and its forest

  cover that shimmered danced and squealed with flyingfoxes

  They’re all assembling for the welcome Vela declared

  And tomorrow night Nafanua’s gafa will be completed

  Just before we re-entered the Cave a silver shower of stars burst

  in the western corner of the heavens and then sprinkled down

  until every fleck of it was swallowed by the pouliuli and I knew

  that the total stretch of my life was at a crucial convergencer />
  a new beginning that the Oracle would read for me and

  if I had the courage be able to accept and fulfil with gladness

  We placed the two lanterns around the throne put our provisions

  and drinks behind it strung up our mosquito nets got into them

  and talked and waited while more stars tumbled and the flyingfoxes wove

  together the whole moon-drenched forest with their chorus

  Listen! Vela stopped talking their crying ended abruptly

  and every thing was a hushed expectant silence that turned my eyes

  to the entrance and the vapourlike shadow slipping in swifter

  than I could identify it and solidifying instantly on the throne

  as a smiling Auva’a aged about forty (Tagaloaalagi’s favoured age)

  Vela head bowed sat up and on his knees went to him

  You’re looking so old man! Auva’a greeted him as they sogi-ed

  Mate remember She cursed me with Tagatalua’s fate Vela said

  Yeah immortality while aging in body! Auva’a chortled

  Otherwise I am fit in mind spirit and language! Vela added

  So different from the dispirited disillusioned ulcer-ridden Vela

  who left us in what seems like only yesterday said Auva’a

  By the way this is my adopted son Alapati Vela introduced me

  Auva’a’s unconditional embrace was the indefatigable strength of all

  the chronicles I’d inherited Welcome home he whispered as we sogi-ed

  I bet you had no say whatsoever in your adoption eh? he laughed

  None whatsoever! Vela interjected and I said I couldn’t say no

  to such an ugly suitor! and our laughter surfed swiftly round the Cave

  and swept out into the forest and the curious flyingfoxes and the moon

  now at its zenith of pregnancy and indifferent to our gaiety and plotting