1952

My mom Latu and I went to visit our relative, Tongatu’a in Fangale’ounga. While mom talked to my uncle Tongatau’a and his mom I rested outside the house. This uncle of mine was a great farmer and he also was a whaler. He had a whale boat with sails. This boat had a bow in each end allowing forward motion from either side after the whale has been harpooned and changes direction. I saw a knife sitting on a life boat that went with the whaling boat. It was a bad day for my uncle. I got that knife and starting cutting away at the bottom middle of the boat. Unconsciously I was just whittling away being thoughtless. Before long I’d cut a hole all the way through the boat. I liked knives as you can tell.

We returned home after the visit. He sent one of his kids to say he wanted to talk to both mom and me. We went back to his house but I already knew why he wanted to see us. When we arrived he called me over and gave me a big hug. I saw in his face that he was so sad despite his smile. He said to me, “Peila, if you’d been here earlier I would have killed you for what you did to my life boat. But now I have nothing but love for you.” I could see that my mother wished she had a hole she could fall into with shame for what her son had done. We both apologized and then we left.

My mother hardly spoke a word while we were walking home. But once we arrived she asked me, “What in the world were you thinking”. I had nothing to say except that I was sorry. She gave me a good whipping with a taufale, (a hand broom make with coconut sticks). They can really inflict pain. It hurt but I knew I deserved every lash.

I don’t know where my brother ‘Inoke was, perhaps he was soldiering at the time, lucky for me. For sure my mother took them some food as a token of apology. And I learned never to repeat this particular brand of naughty thoughtlessness.