She
smiled at Ono, then me. “Pali, I’m giving you the front guest room. It has a
beautiful view of the harbor. And you, my dear,” she laid her hand flat against
Ono’s cheek and held his gaze, “will sleep in your usual place; right where I
can keep my eye on you.”
***
The
next morning I woke up early. I lay in the soft bed wondering about proper
guest etiquette for making coffee in someone else’s home. Is it rude to sneak
into the kitchen and rustle through her cabinets? Or is it considered polite to
step up and not leave everything to Tomika?
After
fifteen minutes of debating the issue, my need for caffeine settled it. I
tiptoed to the kitchen in my tee-shirt and panties and quietly opened doors and
drawers looking for coffee and filters. All I found were whole beans, which
meant grinding, which meant waking up Tomika and Ono. I abandoned that idea and
was slinking back down the hallway when Ono popped out of the bathroom. I
gasped and pulled at the hem of my tee-shirt in an attempt to cover myself up.
“Sorry,”
he said, giving my legs a quick appraisal. “I didn’t realize you were up.”
“Yeah.
I’ll cop to my caffeine addiction. I can’t do morning without a cup in hand.”
He
smiled. “You sleep okay?”
“Like
a rock.” I didn’t ask him how he slept; it might open the door to more
information than I could handle so early in the morning.
“I
almost came in to check on you last night, but I didn’t want Tomika getting the
wrong idea,” he said.
I
stared at him. What was that about?
He
nodded toward my room and continued. “You better put on a robe. Tomika’s sort
of a prude about flashing too much skin.”
“I
didn’t bring a robe.”
“Check
in your closet.”
I
looked in the guest room closet and, sure enough, I found a silky jade green
robe hanging on a padded hanger. I slipped it on and was about to return to the
kitchen when I heard voices in the hallway.
“Good
morning, my sweet.” It was Tomika.
“Good
morning. How’re you feeling? You get rid of that headache?” Oh yikes, the woman
had feigned a headache? I wanted to clap my hands over my ears to avoid
overhearing any more.
I
opened the bedroom door and Tomika smiled at me. “Oh, that robe is so pretty on
you with your lovely blond hair and blue eyes. You look beautiful in green.” I
guess some people don’t need coffee to be cheery in the morning—or flattering.
My hair’s more dishwater than blond, my eyes more hazel than blue, but if she
wants to call me blond and blue, I’ll take it.
“
Mahalo
,”
I said. “This is a lovely robe. Is it silk?”
“Yes.
It’s from southern China. I don’t admire their politics, but they do make
gorgeous heavy silks.” She paused a moment, then continued. “I want you to have
it.”
Without
coffee in me it took me a few seconds to respond. “Have this? You mean this
robe? Oh,
mahalo
, but no. I’ve already imposed enough staying here with
you and Ono.”
“I
insist. It’s not every day I get to meet someone new and give them a little
present. Please don’t disappoint me.”
I
looked over at Ono. His head was down and he was rubbing his eyes as if he was
still waking up, but it looked more like a ruse to avoid casting a vote on
whether or not I should accept the expensive robe.
“Well,
I don’t know what else to say but
mahalo
. It’s a very generous gift.
I’ll think of you every time I wear it.”
“There,
you see,” Tomika said, turning to Ono. “I told you she was a nice girl. You
would do well to surround yourself with nice friends like Pali when you’re back
home on Maui.”
CHAPTER 10
I’m
not one for puzzling things out. I prefer the direct approach. Schemes, mind
games and sarcasm don’t work for me. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what was
going on with Ono and Tomika’s relationship but I figured I’d wait until we
were back on the boat for the trip home and then I’d just come right out ask
him. I spent a pleasant Sunday morning with Tomika poking through the immense
cathedral of commerce called Ala Moana Shopping Center, but I didn’t buy
anything except a new cell phone battery. As soon as we got back to her condo I
installed the battery and my phone fired right up. The screen showed I had
messages waiting, but I chose to ignore them until I could return the calls in
private.
A
few minutes after three we were in the town car heading back to the harbor. Bub
pulled to the curb at Holomoana Street, across from the harbor entrance, and Ono
and I got out. We trudged down to the moorage and I waited while Ono fiddled
with the keypad on the metal gate, since getting to the actual dock required
punching in a code.
“You
and Tomika have fun today?” he said. We’d both been quiet on the ride down, as
if each of us was waiting for the other to bring up the subject of Tomika.
“Yeah.
She’s a sweet lady.”
“That
she is. I probably should have clued you in on our relationship before bringing
you over here.”
“I,
uh, well…” I was about to say something dumb, like it wasn’t any of my
business, or something equally phony. Truth was, I was dying to know.
“She
saved my life. Literally. There’s no doubt in my mind,” he said.
I
waited.
“Yeah,
I was one sorry son-of-a-bitch when I showed up in Honolulu three years ago.
When my wife Penny died, I didn’t take it well. For one thing, I quit my job—or
to be honest, I got fired. I’d started drinking pretty heavy, and the only way
I could keep myself from putting a gun in my mouth was to keep pouring liquor
in there instead.”
I
looked over at him, but he wouldn’t catch my eye.
“It’s
hard to think about,” he said. He stopped and put his duffel down. He stared
toward the far end of the dock like he didn’t have any idea what he was doing
there.
“Hey,
you don’t have to go into the ugly details if you don’t want to,” I said.
“No,
it’s good for me to talk about it. I came to Hawaii on a whim. I think I blamed
the dark and rain of Portland for my drinking and depression, so I figured if I
moved someplace warm and sunny I’d snap out of it. Problem was, it didn’t work
out that way.”
I
nodded.
“Once
I got here I started hittin’ the booze even harder, if you can believe that. I
had no friends; I lived in a ratty
ohana
shack I rented from a guy up in
Waianae. I’d take the bus down to the city and get so drunk I couldn’t figure
out how to catch the bus back home. One night Tomika was out with some friends
and I…” He paused and sucked in a breath.
He
continued. “Wow, this is harder to talk about than I imagined. I don’t usually
unload on people like this. Sorry.” He dragged his hands down his face.
“Hey,
I’m serious,” I said. “You don’t have to air all your dirty laundry at once.
I’m fine with just taking it one pair of socks at a time.”
He
smiled. “Yeah, thanks. But if you don’t mind, I’d rather get it over with. I
haven’t told this story very often. They tell me it gets easier every time.”
I
wanted to tell him ‘they’ were usually full of crap, but I kept quiet.
“Anyhow,
I panhandled Tomika and she gave me a fifty dollar bill wrapped around a
business card. I couldn’t believe it. Then she told me I could count on more
where that came from if I’d go to the address on the card and call her when I
sobered up.” He smiled. “I had no intention of sobering up, and with the price
of the rot gut I’d been drinking, fifty bucks was more than enough to kill me.”
He
went on. “Funny how stuff works, you know? I took that fifty and started
walking toward an ABC Store. I was planning to buy the biggest bottle they had,
but then I just kept walking until I got to a Christian mission down on Pau’ahi
Street. That was the address on the business card.”
I
said nothing. It was tough for me to imagine this good-looking, energetic man
panhandling and sleeping off rot-gut in a homeless shelter.
“Anyway,
I got into a program and Tomika offered to be my sponsor.”
“Isn’t
a sponsor usually another recovering alcoholic?”
“Yep.
That’s how it works.”
Okay,
picturing Ono as a pathetic alcoholic was one thing; picturing Tomika pounding
down the booze took more imagination than I possessed.
“She
was a drinker?”
“Yeah.
When you’ve got money, it’s even worse ‘cuz it’s a much longer fall before you
hit bottom.”
I
nodded.
“I
can’t talk about her story, but trust me, she’s got demons we wouldn’t wish on
our worst enemy. Saving people isn’t a hobby for her, it’s a necessity.”
***
At
a quarter to four, Chico showed up carrying two bulging plastic shopping bags
of juice and gin. I watched as he set up the bar and I wondered how Ono and
Tomika felt about having all that liquor around.
The
first guests began arriving at five. There were lawyers and real estate tycoons,
business owners and politicians. I couldn’t quite figure out what they all had
in common, but it wasn’t my job to scrutinize the guest list; I was there to
make sure they had a good time.
After
everyone was aboard and had a drink in hand, Ono fired up the engine and we
pulled out of the harbor. We cleared the channel and were headed north, toward
the Honolulu airport, when one of the male guests got up on the steps leading
to the stern and bellowed for everyone’s attention.
“I’d
like to offer a toast to our hostess.” He had to yell to be heard over the
rising wind. “We’ve all benefitted from Tomika and Willie’s generosity and I
think I speak for everyone here when I offer my
ko’u
mahalo
for
your kindness, and wish you all the best in your retirement. The
Honolulu
Press and News
will never be the same without you.”
I
looked over at Tomika, standing on the deck holding a glass of fruit juice
festooned with the obligatory paper umbrella and cherry on a pick. She was
looking down. When she raised her head, her eyes were shiny and her lips
tightly clamped, as if she were walking a thin edge between sorrow and pride.
“
Mahalo
to all of you, my good friends,” she said. “You have stood by me and my dear,
late husband through all kinds of happy times and hard times. Your
aloha
and good wishes mean more to me than the most precious of jewels. My home is
always open to each and every one of you. May you have the good fortune of a
long and interesting life, and may each of your families be safe and prosperous
for generations to come.”
She
may have looked like she was struggling to keep her emotions in check, but I
couldn’t have been that eloquent if you’d given me two days’ head start.
We
sailed up the coastline almost to Ewa Beach before turning around. It was dark
when we returned to the harbor and the partygoers had become quiet. One by one
they made their way off the catamaran, kissing and hugging Tomika while
whispering their
mahalos
and best wishes. She left arm-in-arm with the
last departing guest—a woman who’d offered to drive Tomika home.
“Whew.
That was fun, but I’m exhausted,” I said as I picked up plastic cups and
appetizer plates and stuffed them into the garbage bag Chico held open for me.
“I
think Tomika was amazed everyone showed up,” said Ono. “We were pretty much at
capacity.” He sounded tired, but I chalked it up to the stress of keeping the
boat on course and getting all those mucky-mucks safely back without incident.
We
swept and wiped up and hauled trash for the better part of an hour. Then Chico
slipped on his sandals and waved good-bye.
“We’ll
be pulling out no later than six,” said Ono.
“Got
it, boss. I’ll be here.”
While
we waited for Bub to come down and pick us up in the town car, we made small talk
but avoided revisiting the topic of Ono and Tomika’s struggle with
sobriety.
I
was eager to get back to Maui. Back to home base and my normal life. But, as
they say, be careful what you wish for: it wouldn’t be long before I’d be
hard-pressed to remember what my normal life even looked like.
CHAPTER 11
At
five-thirty on Monday morning we were back in the town car and Bub was driving
us down to the harbor. The sun had barely lightened the sky beyond the Ko’olau
Mountains and by the time we got underway the wind was blowing hard from the
south. The crossing was rougher than it’d been on Saturday, but we still
managed to make it to Lahaina before dark. Ono slipped the catamaran carefully
alongside the dock and Chico jumped out and tied it up. As I gathered my
belongings and picked up my sandals, Ono pulled two white envelopes from a
drawer in the cabin and handed one to Chico, the other to me. Chico gave Ono a
fist-bump of thanks and bounded onto the dock. I hung back.