The Moai Murders

VERI AMO

ANA O KEKE—It was the third day that the food hadn't come, judging by the cycle of light and darkness seen through the narrow opening in the rock, and Veri Amo could feel the pangs in her stomach growing fierce. The others were hungry, too, of course, but secure in the knowledge that sustenance would come, brought and pushed through to them as it always had been. After all, were they, the Neru, not essential to the coming of the birds? But why had the food not come? That was what Veri Amo wanted to know.

She could feel her bones already, through the still abundant flesh, and this was not good. For three days they had been forced to eat the skins from the bananas and potatoes brought before, but now even these were gone. Surely they were not forgotten! No, that would not happen. Her father, after all, was the one who brought the food. But where was he? Veri Amo missed her mother, but she had told Veri Amo to be brave, and brave she would be. Was she not, after all, clan Miru, direct descendants of the great Hotu Matu'a, the first ariki mau at this, the center of the world? Was the king not always chosen from clan Miru?

It was her brother she missed most of all, Veri Amo thought. He had been taken away in the big ship, and she feared he might never return.

It would be possible to go out, she thought, to slither on her back, headfirst through the narrow opening, and thence on to the narrow ledge, high above the rolling sea. Then, she could make her way cautiously up the rocky slope. She would enjoy the feel of the wind on her face after all these weeks. But if she did that, then the carefully cultivated pallor would, like the folds of flesh, be gone. She and the other girls, the chosen, had to be pale and corpulent. They would emerge to take part in the ceremonies at Orongo as soon as the birds came.

She wondered if already the wisemen who scanned the heavens for a sign that the birds were near had taken their places at Haka-rongu-manu to await the signal that the sacred first bird's egg had been found. If so, then soon they would be sent for. No, she would wait, with the others, in the darkness. The food would come as it always had.