Chapter 31
When we get to the watering hole, located only a few hundred yards from the village, I am shocked to see how murky and dirty the water is. I guess when you live out here, you get used to it.
She steps into the water, which only comes up to her knees and starts to wash her clothes. She has a big bucket, and a flat washboard that she uses to scrub the dirt out of the clothes. I am in the water right next to her up to my ankles. It is a perfect, beautiful, day with temperature in the high 80’s. Akala has a huge pile of clothes that are ready to be rinsed, so she returns to the water to exchange the soapy water for clean water.
Before I even knew what was happening, a giant crocodile charges out of
the water and grabs Akala’s arm, and starts pulling her into the water. I run over to her, grab the other arm, and start pulling her. The crocodile is so strong and I’m afraid I am going to rip her apart. Akala is looking at me and begging me to get her out of the croc’s mouth. I can see the crocodile has most of her arm in his mouth, and he is not letting go. I know he wants to pull her into the water, so he can drag her under and perform the death roll. He would probably let her sit underwater for a few days before he eats her. All of these horrible thoughts are rushing through my head, and I just keep pulling. She is crying loudly now and I start screaming, hoping someone in the village will hear me. I refuse to let go of her other arm.
I look back toward the village and see several men running in my direction. I am hanging on to her arm for dear life. Then I hear a snap, and she falls on top of me. The crocodile has let go of her, and I feel relieved and excited. My excitement turns to horror in a split second, because I see that her right arm has been ripped from its socket. She is lying on top of me, very silent, and bleeding badly. I am on my back, with her in my arms, frantically trying to push away from the water with my feet. It is really hard to maneuver with her in my good arm and no other way of getting leverage. I am terrified that the croc will come back for her, so I push with all my might. I can hear the men approaching from behind me, so I collapse, totally exhausted.
The men pick her up and rush her back to the village for immediate medical attention. One of the young men helps me to my feet and we walk back to camp. I am in total shock. There is blood all over me and I can’t say a word. Derrick sees me and comes running over to me, terrified that I have been injured. I tell him that it’s not me; it’s Akala.
I am waiting outside her house, hoping to get an update on her condition. The mother eventually comes out crying and sees me. She walks over to me and gently touches my arm. I ask, “Is Akala going to be okay?”
“Chief Kanuti says it doesn’t look good. She has lost a lot of blood and we don’t know if we can stop her bleeding. One of our fastest runners has already left for town to get the doctor. He will bring his car back with some blood and medicine. All we can do is wait right now. She wants to see you, Kobi.” That seems unusual to me that she would want to see me right now, and that her mother would even allow it, but this little girl just took to me, as did I to her.
I go inside the house, see Akala on the kitchen table, and immediately have flashbacks of Taku. I walk over to her and hold her hand. There are tears falling down her face, but no cries of pain, which surprises me.
“Kobi, are you okay?”
“Yes, Akala, I am fine. The doctor will be here soon. You hang on and be strong.”
She nods her head yes, and closes her eyes. I feel the grip in her hand loosen, and she is gone. My eyes well-up with tears, and I can’t believe it; just like that, she’s gone.
What the hell just happened? One minute, we are two girls having fun in the water, and the next minute--this. The mother walks in, sees me crying, and she knows, her little girl is gone.
“I am so sorry about Akala.”
“Thank you, Kobi, but it is our custom that when a loved one dies, their name is to never be spoken again.”
“Oh, I am so sorry, I didn’t know.”
I politely leave the house so the family can mourn.
The doctor from town arrives at the village about 45 minutes later, and is told by one of the family members that she has died. The doctor knew the family very well, and will stay overnight to grieve with the family and the village. In the Aboriginal culture, when a family member dies, the entire village mourns and grieves with the family. Everyone paints themselves white, and the women will cut themselves and bleed out of respect and sorrow for the family. This is a way of saying “sorry” to the family of the loved one.
Sometimes the family members will throw themselves upon the deceased body, hoping to rejuvenate the soul. Mourning is very dramatic and extremely vocal. The women will wail and chant over the body. The ceremonies have to be done correctly, or the spirit will not be able to return to its sacred place. The ceremony is organized in such a way as to allow the body and spirit to separate. The name of the dead person is never spoken again because it will act as an attachment for the spirit to hold on to and may prevent them from making the great journey. If there is another person in the village with the same name, they will have to change it to something else.
This particular tribe doesn’t place the body in a tree, or cremate the body. They bury the dead in a four foot deep grave, in the sitting position, facing the place where they were born. This is their custom because they believe that the spirit will leave in the direction it is facing and become part of the land. The site of the attack will not be visited again for a very long time, and going near the place is very disrespectful. Since the little girl died in her house, the family will vacate the house and no one will ever live there again.
Derrick, Henderson, and I are going to stay in our tent for the remainder of
the day because we think the family and village may not want outsiders witnessing their traditional ceremonial procedures and rites. I ask the doctor if he would mind bringing us with him when he returns to the town in the morning, and he politely says, “Sure. I will bring you back with me.” Dane is still out with the hunters and has no idea what has happened. The girl told me earlier that the hunters usually return in the mid afternoon.
Sitting in our tent, we can hear the wailing and crying outside. It is so painful to watch and hear the village grieve that hard. The wailing escalates outside, so I take a peek out the tent and see the hunters returning and being greeted by the village with the sorrowful news. Dane drops his head and slowly walks over to the tent. He walks in and has tears streaming down his face. He sees me and walks over to hug me. This is the first time I have seen Dane emotional. He is usually very strong and fierce. I know Derrick isn’t concerned about my comforting Dane, so I embrace Dane harder and we cry together. I open my eyes and look at Derrick and Henderson, and they are both crying too. It is a very emotional moment for us all. After a few minutes, Dane breaks contact and sits down at the small table in the tent and asks me to explain what happened.
“You did everything you could have done, Kobi. At least they have a body to mourn over and bury--thanks to you. That may not sound comforting to you, but for them, it is important. You fought hard, and with only one good arm. You are lucky the croc didn’t take both you and the girl under. I am surprised you were able to hang on to her. How big do you reckon the croc was, if you had to guess?”
“I would have to guess around 10 feet. It’s hard to say because it happened so fast. One minute we were in the water, she was tending to her clothes, and the next, she was in the mouth of the crocodile. It blew my mind! The only reaction I had was to grab the other arm and start pulling her. I felt my feet sliding on the dirt toward the water because he was pulling so hard. Luckily, my left foot wedged on a rock and kept me from sliding into the water.”
“What a horrifying experience for you Kobi,” Dane says.
“They sent a runner to town to fetch the doctor, but by the time he got here, she was gone.
I did speak with the doctor about our returning with him to town tomorrow and he agreed to take us. He has a car, so we won’t disturb any of the villagers during their time of mourning.”
“That’s nice of him. Have any of you spoken to the Chief since the girl’s death?”
Derrick replies, “No, we didn’t want to interfere with any of the ceremonies. Since we are outsiders, we thought it best to remain in the tent, out of sight, while they grieve. They may not appreciate our presence during the ceremonies”
“Yep, that was probably the best thing for you to do. Later on this evening, I will go talk to the Chief and thank him for taking care of us and fixing our injuries. I will bid him farewell for all of us.”
“Yeah, that would be great. I would really like to thank him myself, but totally understand,” I agree.
We have a tray of fresh fruit in the tent and decide to eat a little dinner. We will turn in early tonight after Dane talks to Chief Kanuti. Henderson is looking forward to seeing his little girl, hopefully tomorrow. He managed to pull one of her gifts out of his suitcase before we left the crash site; a koala bear picture frame. He is holding the picture frame and starts to cry.
I ask him what is wrong and he says, “I am just imagining how I would feel if it were my own little girl. I don’t know how parents cope with such a loss. I can’t imagine that the pain ever goes away.”
He stares at the picture frame for a long time, then replaces it inside his shirt. He will be okay now. Derrick and I don’t have kids, so that emotion is something I can’t empathize with him; I can only sympathize.
We have finished eating, and it is getting dark. The death rituals and ceremony will most likely continue into the night, so Dane decides to walk over to the Chief and have a conversation. We can’t hear the conversation from inside the tent, but we see Dane shake the hand of Chief Kanuti and sit beside him at the fire. They talk for a long time and then Dane gets up suddenly. He runs over to the tent and invites all of us to join the village at the fire. Surprised and flattered, we immediately exit the tent and walk to the fire. The Chief motions for me to come sit by him, so I do. Derrick and Henderson are seated on the other side with Dane. The Chief stands up and signals for the ceremony to silence. He begins to speak.
“Kobi pulled the girl from the croc’s mouth in the water and brought her back to the village for us. For this we are grateful and would like to publically thank you. You showed great courage and love for my people. I hope your journey back to Darwin and your country is a safe journey.”
He sits down, and the rituals commence. The doctor politely acknowledges us and informs us that he will be leaving at 10:00 a.m. for town. We say our goodbyes and return to the tent for the night.