The Dragon Beside Me

“Look…” I pointed to a large bird-like apparition in the window; it was white, with glowing feathers that moved like flames – not wildly hot and flaring, softly, gently flowing, and it was watching me – intently…

“It’s come to take you away,” my mother informed me, she could see it, so could my grandmother, but my father could not…

I was in hospital, with bronchial pneumonia, pleurisy and collapsed lungs, and my parents had just been informed that I would not last the night – I was only three years old, knew nothing of death, yet I did realize that I was going away – I was going to fly away with the magnificent bird in the window, and to a small child, that seemed exciting to me, and I accepted my destiny…

My Maori grandmother though, did not. “Take her to the local Tohunga Maori doctor!”

“No!” My mother had been baptized a Christian, “Maori medicine is evil, and of the devil!”

My father, an atheist, did not see the bird. Still, he picked me up and ignoring the hospital staff’s objections, said that if I was not going to survive the night, he was willing to try anything, and carried me out of the hospital with my mother crying ‘no’ and my grandmother crying ‘yes’, following behind him.

I remember watching the bird flying above us as we made our way to the Maori doctor’s place; what would be described as a pretty ‘Bali hut’ nowadays, but would have been called an old shack, back then – I also remember the bird settling in the shack’s window, still watching me, as my father placed me on the flax mat – I do not remember what the doctor did, or for how long, I just kept watching the bird until the doctor finally put his head between the bird and me, told me that I would not be needing that bird for a long time now, and when the doctor moved his head so I could see the window, the bird had gone…

My grandmother then suggested I recuperate at her place, as she had medicinal plants, and before my mother had a chance to object, with a foul look directed her way, my father agreed…

The first thing my grandmother did was lay me down on the ground below a tree and I actually remember my lungs clearing – with each breath, breathing became easier and later on in life, much later, when discharged from hospital with pneumonia, saying that there was nothing more that they could do for me and to go home and tend to my affairs, I remembered what my grandmother did, went home, sat under a tree, and within hours, my lungs cleared, and I’m still here today…

I’ll never forget those few weeks at my grandmother’s place recuperating as a young toddler – the drops of various plants either put into my nose direct or a small cup of water – plants she’d put next to my bed at night – and how we’d even sit outside at night because she said that that’s when the aromas of the plants were strongest – and to this day, I still do all these things…

Later, during school holidays, she suggested I attend Maori school – mum said no, dad said yes, and this time are my most favorite memories in my life – during the day we children were taught how to ‘read the signs’ of where varying shellfish were, and also how to ‘read the signs’ of where fish were – hauling baskets of food up the cliffs while hitting out at birds with our arms to keep them from stealing our food – for a child, those times were both a lot of fun and adventurous and at night, the ‘old people’ would speak of our ancestors while we dozed off to sleep…the most precious memories of my life…

A rather unusual life, being born to a Christian mother, atheist father and natural Maori grandmother, thank you dad, for listening to my grandmother and thank you grandmother, who when a young teen, you taught me more about my Maori heritage – you saved my life when a child – you are my heroine…