Her heart pounded so violently, she felt her hair shiver. Skin stood up on her neck and arms.
“Vanya! Oh, Vanya ...” Then she remembered Simon Weir. “Do you know what happened to the haole? The man who was with her?”
The boy turned and looked at her. His eyes were sad. He raked a stick across the sand, drawing a cross.
“He dreamin’ now in soil of Waipi‘o.”
Jess cried again, her head still, but her body shaking. Vanya had hinted at Simon’s past and now Jess thought, Maybe death for him wasn’t the end of life. Maybe it was the end of guilt. After a while the sobbing subsided to a deeper place. When her eyes cleared, when she was calm, the boy said one more thing.
“She send one word for you.” Very casually he raked the stick across the sand again.
IMUA. Go forward! Press on!
It was as if he had raked a coal across her brain, the word imbedded there forever. After a while he strolled back to the water. She sat very still, so full of the moment, she could not move, did not know what the next move was. Time passed, it was the hour of tides, the ocean seemed to moan. Then, by a play of light, Jess saw countless images spring up before her in the waves, the light like a well chain drawing up not water, but faces, all, each of them, faces from other eras, and those more recent, their history more beautiful in remembering. She spoke their names, Kelonikoa, and Emmaline, and Lili, Pono, Duke, and Emma, Mina, Hernando, Ming, even Hiro, lives still attached and flowing, in myths, dreams, imaginings. Lives permanent because someone, Jess, was there to pass them on.
From the water’s edge the boy waved, pointing to an old woman far in the distance, casting her fishing net. The net flew up and spread out of her hands, a bird opening its wings. Jess wondered why she was there, net-casting in dangerous shark waters. The old woman worked patiently and slowly with her net, drawing it in, untwisting and unfolding. Then she cast it out again, leaping, billowing, the four corners stretched, the center slack, like a great suspended awning. It hung in the air a long time, an eternity.
The old woman raised her arms, praising her mastery, the haiku of net-casting. She clasped her breast, then raised her arms again, as if flinging her heart up to join the net, still floating beyond the pull of gravity, of logic. Then the old woman turned her head and gazed at Jess. Their look held, steadfast, for the longest time. Jess felt such sudden peace, she closed her eyes, and for a while she dozed. When she looked again, the net had fallen to the water, floating now like moving skin. The old woman had disappeared. But one single fin huge, dark and brilliant, bladed toward the horizon.
“PONO!”
They were all out there watching, assembled, in formation, in ancient dialogues. She was not abandoned, she would never be alone. As long as they lived, she lived. She looked down at the sand. Wind had blown it clean. And yet the simple, potent word remained.
IMUA.
It hovered in the air round her, a sound of spirits soaring, a sound ringing and pure. A sound that echoed ancestral beliefs that would flow on forever, beyond the measure of human life. Beyond the measure of time.
Slowly, as in a trance, Jess drew from her bag a pen and sheet of paper. She would start with the story she knew best. Pono and Grandfather. She would work her way backward. What she did not know, they would tell her. They would come from other eras, other generations, each and each, they would come to her in dreams. She clutched the black pearl in her hand, rubbing it like a heart she had to keep beating. She felt its warmth reflected in her palm. Her pen was poised.
And she began:
“. . . Peacocks skittered on polished floors . . . He was dark, and tall and noble .. . She was dark and beautiful . . . She wore a Paris gown . .. they waltzed. Soon they would be running through green fire . . .”
IMUA
Glossary
Hawaiian-English Glossary
* * *
‘A‘Ā (ah-ah) . . . Sharp, rough hunks of lava
‘AHI (ah-hee) ... Tunafish
Ā (ein-ah) . . . Land, earth
AKAMAI (ah-kah-my) . . . Smart, clever
AKU (ah-koo) . . . Skipjack tuna
ALI‘I (ah-lee-ee) . . . Noble, royal, former kings and queens
ALOHA (ah-lo-hah) . . . Love, mercy, greetings
ALOHA ‘OHANA (o-hah-nah) ... Love for the family
ANIANI (ah-nee-ah-nee) . . . Mirror
‘AUMAKUA (ow-mah-ku-ah) . . . Family or personal god (Plural: ‘AU-MĀKUA)
AUWVĒ (ow-we) . .. Alas!
‘AWA (ah-vah) . . . Slightly narcotic tea from kava root
BRAH (bra) . . . Pidgin-English for “brother”
CALABASH (cal-a-bash). . . Mixing bowl. Also people not blood-related, but “family” because they eat from the same bowl.
DA KINE (da-kine) ... Pidgin-English for “the kind”
E PŪPŪKAHI (ay-poo-poo-kah-hee) ... We are one
FLIP (flip) ... Slang for Filipino
HA‘AHEO (hah-ah-he-o) ... Pride
HALE MAKE (hah-le-mah-ke) ... House of death
HALENANI (hah-le-na-ne) ... House of Splendor
HĀNĀI (ha-ni) .. . Foster child, adopted child
HANA MAKE (hah-nah-mah-ke) ... Killer, thing of destruction
HANOHANO (hah-no-hah-no) ... Dignified
HAOLE (how-lee) ... White, Caucasian, foreigner
HAOLEFIED (how-lee-fied) ... Made white
HAPA (hah-pah) ... Of mixed blood
HAPA HAOLE (hah-pah-how-lee) ... Half white, half Hawaiian
HAPA-PĀKĒ (hah-pah-pah-ke) ... Half Chinese
HĀPU‘U (hah-poo-oo) ... Medicinal tree fern
HAU‘OLI MAKAHIKI HOU (hey-oo-lee-mah-kah-he-ke-ho)... Happy New Year
HAWAI‘I PONI‘Ī (hah-vy-ee-po-no-ee) .. . Hawaii’s own people
HE‘E (hey-ey) . .. Octopus
HEIAU (hey-ee-ow) ... Ancestral temple of worship
HIKIE‘E (hee-kee-e) ... Large movable Hawaiian couch
HILAHILA (hee-la-hee-la) ... Bashful, shy, embarrassed
HŌHĒ (ho-he) ... Coward
HOLOKŪ (ho-lo-koo) ... Long formal dress with train
HO‘OMAKE (ho-o-mah-ke) ... To kill
HO‘OMANA‘O (ho-o-mah-nah-o) ... Remember, commemorate
HUHŪ (hoo-hoo) ... Angry
HUKIHUKI (hoo-kee-hoo-kee) ... Disagree, quarrel
HUKILAU (hoo-kee-lau) ... fish with a seine, fishing feast
HULI (hoo-lee) ... Short for ho‘auhuli, revolution, to overthrow
IKAIKA (ee-kah-ee-kah) ... Psychologically strong, powerful
IKI (ee-kee) ... Little
‘ILI‘ILI (ee-lee-ee-lee) . . . Stone
‘IMI ŌLELO (ee-me-o-lay-lo) .. . Slander
I MUA (ee-moo-ah) ... Go forward! Press on! Spoken as one word
KAHIKO (kah-hee-ko) . . . Old, ancient person (Plural: KĀHIKO)
KAHUNA (kah-hoo-nah) . .. Prophet, seer, priest (Plural: KĀHUNA)
KAIKU‘ANA (ki-koo-ah-nah) ... Sister, formal
KALAHALA (kah-la-hah-la) ... To forgive
KALAIMA (kah-leem-a) ... Criminal
KALIKIMAKA (kah-lee-kee-mah-ka) ... Christmas
KĀLUA (kah-loo-ah) . .. Bake in ground oven
KAMA‘ĀlNA (kah-mah-ein-ah) ... Old-timer, native-born
KAMALI‘I (kah-mah-lee-ee) .. . Children, plural of child
KANAKA (kah-nak-ah) ... Slang, for Hawaiian (Plural: KĀNAKA)
KANE (kah-ne) ... Man
KAPU (kah-poo) .. . Forbidden, taboo
KEIKI (kee-kee) ... Child
KEIKI KĀNE (kee-kee-kah-ne) ... Boy, male child
KEIKI MANUAHI (kee-kee-mah-noo-ah-hee) .. . Illegitimate child
KĪKEPA (kee-ke-pah) ... Sarong, also pa‘u
KINIPŌPŌ (kee-nee-po-po) . . . Baseball
KOA (ko-ah) . .. Fearlessness, also a type of Hawaiian wood
KOALI (ko-ah-lee) ... Kind of morning glory
KŌKUA (ko-koo-a
h) ... Helper, assistant
KŌKUA ‘OHANA (ko-koo-ah-o-hah-nah) ... Help the family
KONAKONA (ko-nah-ko-nah) ... Strong, muscled
KUKUI (koo-koo-ee) ... Candlenut used for oil, cooking, jewelry
KUMU (koo-moo) ... Base, foundation, beginnings
KUPUNA (koo-poo-nah)... Ancestor, grandparent (Plural: KŪPUNA)
KUPUNA KĀNE (koo-poo-nah-kah-ne) . . . (Formal) grandfather
KUPUNA WAHINE (koo-poo-nah-va-hee-ne) ... (Formal) grandmother
LĀNAI (lah-ny) . . . Porch, veranda, balcony
LANI (lah-nee) . . . Sky, heaven, highborn
LĀ‘Ī (lah-ee) ... Ti leaf
LAULAU (lau-lau) . .. Meat wrapped in steamed ti leaf, banana leaf
LEI (lay) ... Flowered necklace, wreath for the neck
LELE KOKE (le-le-ko-ke) ... Quick to fight
LEPOLEPO (lepo-lepo) ... Filthy, contaminated
LILIKO‘I (lee-lee-koy) ... Passion fruit, the juice
LOKAHI (lo-kah-ee) . . . Unity, agreement
LOKO ‘INO (lo-ko-ee-no) ... Evil
LŌLŌ (lo-lo) ... Feeble-minded
LOMI (lo-mee) . . . Pressed raw salmon, tomato, and onion
LŪ‘AU (loo-ow) ... Hawaiian feast
LUNA (loo-nah) ... Foreman
MAHALO (mah-hah-lo) ... Thank you
MAHIMAHI (mah-hee-mah-hee) ... Sweet dorado fish
MAILE (my-le) . . . Native twining shrub for lei
MA‘I PĀKĒ (my-pah-kee) . . . Leprosy (literally, Chinese sickness)
MAKA (mah-kah) ... Eye
MĀKA‘! (mah-kah-ee) ... Police
MAKAPŌ (mah-kah-po) .. . Blind
MAKA‘U (mah-kah-oo) ... Afraid
MAKA‘U WALE (mah-kah-oo-wah-lee) ... Coward
MAKE (mah-ke) ... To die
MAKIKA (mah-kee-kah) . .. Mosquito
MALIHINI (mah-lee-hee-nee) ... Newcomer to the islands
MĀLAMA ‘AINA (mah-lah-mah-ein-ah)... Preserve, care for, the land
MALO (mah-lo) .. . Loincloth worn by men
MANA (mah-nah) .. . Divine power
MANAKĀ (mah-nah-ka) ... Boring
MANA PĀLUA (mah-nah-pah-loo-ah). . . Doubly endowed with divine power
MANŌ (mah-no) ... Shark
MANè ‘AUMĀKUA (mah-no-ow-mah-koo-ah) ... Shark ancestors
MEA HUNA (me-ah-hoo-nah) . .. Possessor of a secret
MELE KALIKIMAKA (may-lay-kah-lee-kee-mak-ah) ... Merry Christmas
MENEHUNE (mee-nee-hoo-nee) ... Legendary race of small people
MIKANELE (me-kah-ne-le) ... Missionary
MILIMILI (mee-lee-mee-lee) ... Dearest, beloved
MIMI (mee-mee) ... Urine
MOAMAHI (mo-ah-mah-ee) ... Fighting bird
MO‘O (mo-o) ... Lizard, dragon, reptile
MU‘UMU‘U (moo-oo-moo-oo) ... Long, shapeless Mother Hubbard dress
NĀ MANAWALE‘A (na-mah-nah-way-lee-ah) ... The caring hearts
NELE (ne-le) ... Lacking, without
NIU (nee-oo) ... Coconut
NONI (naw-nee) ... Medicinal roots and fruit of mulberry tree
NUI LOA (noo-ee-lo-ah) ... With very much (love, thanks)
‘OHANA (o-hah-nah) ... Family, extended family
ŌKOLE (o-ko-le) .. . Behind, the buttocks
‘ŌKOLEHAO (o-ko-le-how) . . . Liquor from fermented rice, pineapple
ŌKOLE MALUNA (o-ko-lee-mah-loo-nah) ... Bottom‘s up! A drinking toast
‘OLE (oh-le) ... Nothingness
OLE KINE (ol-kine) ... Pidgin-English for old-fashioned
ONE-FINGAH POI (one-fing-ah-poy) ... Pidgin-English, poi thick enough to scoop with one finger
ONE MIMIKI (own-ee-mee-mee-ke) ... Quicksand
‘ONIPA‘A (oh-nee-pah-ah) ... Steadfast, determined
‘ONO (oh-no) ... Good, delicious
‘ŌPAE (oh-pay-ee) ... Prawns
‘ŌPAKAPAKA (oh-pah-ka-pah-ka) ... Snapper
‘ŌPIHI (oh-pee-hee) ... Limpet
‘ŌPŪ (oh-poo) . .. Belly, stomach
PA‘A (pah-ah) . . . Strong, firm, solid.
PĀHOEHOE (pah-hoy-hoy) ... Smooth, unbroken lava
PAHU HULA (pah-hoo-hoo-lah) ... Hula drum
PĀKĒ KANAKA (pah-ke-kah-nak-ah) ... Chinese-Hawaiian (slang)
PANIOLO (pan-ee-o-lo) .. . Hawaiian cowboy, derived from Español
PANIPANI (pah-nee-pah-nee) .. . Sexual intercourse (vulgar, slang)
PAU (pow) . .. Finished
PAU HANA (pow-hah-nah) .. . Finished work
PAU MANŌ (pow-mah-no) ... Eaten by shark
PELE (pe-le) ... Goddess of volcanoes, of fire
PĪKAKE (pee-kah-kee) . . . Jasmine
PILAU (pee-lau) ... Rotten, contaminated
PILIKUA (pee-lee-koo-ah) . . . Powerful, from manual labor
POI (poy) .. . Pudding of taro root
POMELO (po-me-lo) ... Hawaiian grapefruit
PONO (po-no) .. . Goodness, morality, excellence
PŌPOLO (po-po-lo) ... Nightshade plant
PRIMO (pree-mo) ... Brand of beer
PUA KALA (poo-ah-ka-la)... Prickly poppy, juice of which is narcotic
PŪ‘ALI (poo-ah-lee) ... Warrior
PUMEHANA (poo-me-hah-nah) ... Warmth, affection
PŪNANA LEO (poo-nah-nah-le-o) ... The Language Nest, Hawaiian-language immersion preschool program.
PUPULE (poo-poo-le) ... Crazy
PUPULE HAPA (poo-poo-lee-hah-pah) . .. Crazy mixed-blood
PU‘U ‘O‘Ō (poo-oo-o-o) ... Leaping, bleeding peak
SHAKA (sha-kah) .. . Greeting by wriggling little finger and thumb
SOAH (so-ah) . . . Pidgin-English, sore
TITA (tee-ta) ... Sister (informal)
TŪTŪ (too-too) . .. Grandmother (informal)
‘UKULELE (oo-koo-le-le) . . . Hawaiian guitar, literally “leaping flea”
VOG (vog) ... Volcanic ash and fog mixed
WAIWAI (why-ee-why-ee) ... Rich, wealth
WAHINE (va-hee-nee) .. . Woman (Plural: WĀHINE)
WELA (we-lah) ... Hot, fiery
WIKIWIKI (wee-kee-wee-kee) .. . Hurry, quick!
Japanese-English Glossary
* * *
FUGU ... Poisonous puffer fish
GAMAN SURU .. To endure
GANBARU ... To presevere
GETA ... Clogs
GOMEN NASAI ... I am sorry
HAI (hi) ... Yes!
HARIGATA ... Artificial penis
HIGOZUKI ... Cage put between the legs
HOSHIDANA ... Sun-drying roof for coffee beans
ISSEI ... First-generation Japanese, immigrant to United States
KIBEI . .. Japanese-American born in Hawai‘i
KOI ... Carp fish
MIZU SHOBAI ... The low life, underworld
OKONOMI MAME . . . Rice and nut snacks
SAIMIN . .. Type of noodle soup
SENSEI ... Master teacher
SHODO ... Superior art of writing
SHOYU ... Soy sauce
TABI ... Toed socks (often of rubber for fishing on rocks)
TATAMI ... Rush mats
TSUNAMI . . . Tidal wave
YAKUZA ... Japanese Mafia
YUKATA ... short jacket
Chinese-English Glossary
* * *
BAIJIU ... Rice liquor
CHEONGSAM ... Mandarin-collared, form-fitting dress
DIM SUM ... Assorted steamed or fried dumplings
GWAI GOO ... Ghost stories
KOWTOW ... Bow in a servile way
MI YAO ... Stupefying powder
Personal Acknowledgments
Mahalo ‘a nui to the people whose assistance, love and faith made writing this novel possible.
On the U.S. mainland: Kaye Burnett and Morris Shaxon, Peter Dee and Ed Nemeth, Kimiko Hahn and Ted Hanna, Camille Hykes, Edith Konecky, Florence Ladd and Bill Harris, Richard Miller, Joyce and John McGinnis, Nancy Nordhoff, Elizabeth Nunez-Harrell, Tillie Olsen, Kathrin Perutz, Patricia Powel
l and Teresa Langle, Alix Kates Shulman and Scott York, Mary TallMountain. And my mainland family, Mary and Braxton B. Davenport, Anita Bergin, Braxton R. Davenport, Denise Davenport, and Pauline Kreitz.
In the South Pacific: Peau Lomu, Momata, and Suliana Fifita, Vava‘u, Tonga; Peter Kafcaloudis, Brisbane, Australia; Jeanette and Sanele Mageo, Pago Pago, American Samoa; Papu and Alofa Va‘ai, Savai‘i, Western Samoa; Captain John Sloane, Papua New Guinea; and Buffer Joe and Jim Jim, singing their Dreaming through Arnhem Land.
In Honolulu: Marie Hara, and Esther Kiki Mo‘okini.
On the Big Island of Hawai‘i: Lana and Lorenzo Aduca of Honaunau; Gus and Flo Beckldund of Kailua; Paul Gomes of Kapa‘au; Jill Olsen, Kona Historical Society; Fusao Sugai and Lee Sugai of Sugai Kona Coffee, Kealakekua; Luke and Ron of the Ocean View Inn, Kailua; the Manago family of Captain Cook.
Special alohas to my ‘Ohana in Honolulu for guidance and assistance in tracing our family genealogy: Lucille and Daniel True Houghtailing, Jr., Helene and Calvin Bailey, Hazel Stone, Evelyn and Richard Liu, Pearly and George Kam, Jr., Leinaala and Arthur Kam, Rosemond Aho, Teddy and Mary Houghtailing, Raenette Ing, Aileen Rodriques, George Stone, Vernon Stone, Marshell and Richard Raymond, Dannette and Bill Gardner, Kathleen Viela, Pat and Clifford Everett, Carrie and Sonny Chang.
And to Uncle George Ayau Kam, Sr., ninety-three years old, husband of Minnie Kelomika for sixty-eight years. A love story.
E Pūpūkahi
Author’s Note
While some of the characters in this book are based on historical figures, and while many of the areas described—such as Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka‘i, and Waipi‘o Valley on the Big Island—exist, this is a work of fiction. Portraits of the characters who appear in it are fictional, as are some of the events.
Conversely, it is important to stress that the overthrow of our queen, Lili‘uokalani, in 1893, by forces seeking an American alliance, and the illegal annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the U.S. government in 1898, is documented fact. The tragic history of leprosy in Hawai‘i, and the development of the Kalaupapa Settlement on Moloka‘i, is historically accurate.