Authors: Charles Montgomery
The Shark God (36 page)
Do thou draw the canoe, that it may reach the land; speed my canoe, grandfather, that I may quickly reach the shore whither I am bound. Do thou, Daula, lighten the canoe, that it may quickly gain the land, and rise upon the shore.
âFlorida Islanders' invocation of a frigate-bird
tindalo
, in R. H. C
ODRINGTON
,
The Melanesians
By dawn the storm had engulfed Makalom. The scrub oaks groaned in the wind. Palms hissed. The surface of the lagoon vibrated with exploding raindrops. The wall of surf that marked the fringe of the reef had grown, and so had the swell in the open ocean beyond. The sandbar that trailed from my side of the island had been consumed. I stood knee-deep in the water and scanned the blackened swell for boats, but the world had disappeared.
The fishermen's sons yelled at me from shore. “Nobody will leave Nukapu until the storm has passed. Nobody will rescue you!” The boys were drenched, grinning. “You will stay on Makalom many, many days, unless!” bellowed the elder of the two above the roar of the storm.
“Unless what?” I shouted back. I wanted to get as far as I could from Nukapu.
“Unless
yumi padel long
Pileni,” shouted the younger. There was a village on Pileni, and a longboat with an outboard engine that could ferry me back to the trading post at Pigeon Island, then on to Santa Cruz.
“But how will we find Pileni?” I asked. “We can't even see past the edge of your reef.”
The boys shifted in the sand, conferred with each other, considered the sky, then clapped their hands. “The waves will tell us which way to go!”
We pushed the fisherman's dugout canoe out into the shallows. I jammed my pack into the bow, and the boys passed me a crude, hand-carved paddle.
The surf had now wrapped itself around Makalom, rendering even the sheltered lee side treacherous. Each approaching wave sucked the reef plateau almost bare before rising to curl and collapse across the exposed coral. We measured the rhythm of the wave sets.
Three rollers, then two calves, then a set of seven.
A lull.
We charged, paddling for all we were worth across a sheet of foam, cutting diagonally over the collapsing shoulder of the next wave and high along the crevassed edge off the reef; on over the abyss, rising, falling, rising again through the foothills of the Pacific. We left the scant shelter of Makalom's wind shadow. The first gust hit us like an explosion, transforming the ocean into a confused stampede of chop, whitecaps, and spindrift.
“Pull, Charlie!” yelled the elder. “Pull!”
I pulled. So did the elder, and his exhalations were like the snorting of a bull. The younger, wide-eyed and delirious with the excitement of the moment, held his paddle like a rudder at the stern. The wind came from the southeast. The waves came
from the east. They peeled over the bow, filling the canoe with warm water. It rolled, but it did not tip.
We pulled until my shoulders ached, until blisters rose on my hands and knees. We pulled until Makalom became a silhouette behind us, then a phantom, then nothing but a memory pressed into vapor. The sky collapsed. The line of the horizon disappeared. The universe beyond the veil of mist and spray became formless, malleable, a thing of conjecture. The world was reduced to the roll of the canoe, the plunging of our paddles and also the swell, which existed to guide us. We pulled through the folds, keeping them at an angle, trusting the message they brought from the edge of the world. We pulled, knowing our faith would conjure an island from the mystery of the sea.
Most conversations relayed in this book were conducted in Bislama or Solomon Islands pidgin. Many of those exchanges have been translated into English to avoid confusion. I was assisted in the translation, and also in correcting the spelling and syntax of Bislama and Solomons pidgin, by Helen Tamtam of the University of the South Pacific and Richard Carter of the Melanesian Brotherhood. However, I have deviated from their advice in several respects and have certainly introduced errors along the way.
I have generally used the most common (and mostly phonetic) modern spelling for Bislama and Solomons pidgin words, but in some cases I have fallen back on the spellings used by earlier traders and travelers. For example, I use
rubbish
instead of
rabis
or
ravis
, to mean “of bad character,” to reflect that word's metaphorical origin. I use
savve
to mean “to know/to be able to” rather than the now more popularâyet confusing for English speakersâ
save
.
When the same words appear in both Bislama and Solomons pidgin, I have stuck with the first Bislama spelling, rather than switching to the Solomons standard, for consistency. For example, the word
you
is spelt
yu
throughout the book, rather than switching to
iu
once we reach the Solomons.
My apologies to those who are working to standardize both languages.
I owe first thanks to my mother and my favorite storyteller, Frances Montgomery, for keeping the old myths alive, and to my family and friends for encouraging, forgiving, and supporting me through my geographical and emotional absences.
Many people shared their homes and their lives with me in the United Kingdom, Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands. I hope this story respects their truths. In the Solomons, thanks go especially to the members of the Melanesian Brotherhood, and in particular: Brothers Harry Gereniu, Albert Wasimae, Clement Leonard, John Blythe, and, for help with pidgin and other mysteries, Brother Richard Carter. Thanks also to Bishop Terry Brown and his household, David MacLaren, Geri and Alvin Gaines, Roni Butala and his
wantoks
, John Palmer, Grant and Jill Kelly, John Roughan, Ben Hepworth, Robert Iroga, Henry Isa of the National Museum, Johnson Honimae, Morris Otto Namoga, and Andrew Nihopara at the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau. In Vanuatu, I was assisted by the Anglican Diocese of Banks and Torres, Jirus Karabani, Alfred of Mota, Sabina Hess, Don Fockler, Rona Dini, Eli Field, Ralph Regenvanu at the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta, and Linda Kalpoi and Natasha Motoutorua at the Vanuatu Tourism Office. The wise and patient Helen Tamtam of the University of the South Pacific taught me Bislama and performed triage on my translations. Laura Palmer and Alex Wolf offered refuge in Fiji.
Alastair Macaulay saved me from the wilds of North London. Catherine Fitzpatrick and Paul Hatton provided shelter and surf lessons in Sydney.
I was assisted in research by the shining Catherine Wakeling, archivist for the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, John Pinfold at Rhodes House Library, Richard Palmer at Lambeth Palace Library, Allan Anderson at the University of Birmingham, Fergus King, Ben Burt, David Hilliard, Robert Withycombe, Thorgeir Storesund Kolshus, Viscount David Montgomery, Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, Manfred Ernst, Adele Plummer, and Pierre Maranda.
Support from the following magazine editors opened doors for me across the Pacific: Jim Sutherland at
Western Living
, Matthew Mallon at
Vancouver Magazine
, Chantal Tranchemontagne at
enRoute
, James Little at
Explore
, Anne Rose at
WestWorld
, Ian Hanington at the
Georgia Straight,
and Aryn Baker at
Time Asia
. Crucial support also came from Air Pacific, Solomon Airlines, Air Vanuatu, and VanAir.
Friends, family, and colleagues read and critiqued my early proposal and various chapters of the book. Thanks to Michael Scott, Carol Toller, Daffyd Roderick, Erik and Kathi Lees, Andrew Mayer, Colin Thomas, Michael Prokopow, Edward Bergman, Kevin Griffin, Jeff Hoover, Deborah Campbell, James MacKinnon, Brian Payton, Alisa Smith, and in particular Chris Tenove, who offered regular doses of savage and necessary criticism. The Vancouver FCC kept the creative fires stoked. Jorge Rivero-Vallado showed me new ways to imagine language and stories.
I am grateful to Scott McIntyre for giving me the means. My editors, first Saeko Usukawa at Douglas & McIntyre, then Christopher Potter, Courtney Hodell, and Catherine Heaney at HarperCollins, led me to an infinitely stronger manuscript. My agent, Anne McDermid, worked miracles for me on two conti
nents with the help of her team, Rebecca Weinfeld, Jane Warren, and Martha Magor. The journey was kick-started with financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the B.C. Arts Council, but I would never have considered it without constant encouragement and badgering from Michael Scott, who was the first to believe.
M
ANUSCRIPT
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