At thirty five years old the Hawaiian man’s wife looked much older than she really was. Her hair was more completely white than dark and the features that were once warm and supple were now wrinkled and varicose. For years she thought to herself that the man she married 15 years ago was not the man that she was married to now. Lately, she'd come to realize that the complete prick that her husband turned out to be was the person that he'd been all along.
He had her completely fooled until it was too late to do anything about it.
She and the boys were in the way most of the time, otherwise she was there to obey him and fulfill his needs. The boys were her problem except when he needed them to clean the yard or take out his anger on. Mostly it was his anger that was at the center of everything and it showed.
Other campers near by who got a good catch happened by the other tents and shared whatever they had. Kamalo’o Lono was one such person who appeared at the Hawaiian man’s tent with an arm full of fish and some poi to share. The Hawaiian man blew him off and said that he wouldn’t eat anyone else’s fish except for the ones he would catch himself. As for the offering of Poi, the Hawaiian man refused that as well. Not discouraged by the inhospitable attitude of the man, Kamalo’o stepped forward and introduced himself and offered his hand in greeting. In turn the Hawaiian man replied,
“ I no shake hands bra, cause I neva know which hand going stab me in the back,”
The wife could not hold Kamalo’o’s eyes when he looked at her, it would cost her a beating if she did, so she kept her gaze to the ground and waited until her husband walked down the beach to examine his fishing poles.
“I’m sorry,” the wife said. “Please just go, my sons and I don’t want any trouble,”
Bewildered, Kamalo’o left and went back to his own camp site. The wife retrieved juice boxes from the cooler and grabbed napkins and a container of fruit for her sons to snack on. She popped an apple slice in her mouth just as her husband returned, she asked him if there was anything on the line and his reply was a punch right on her chin. It knocked her out cold and caused the boys to jump out of their chairs. While their mother lay there on the dirt and sand with the juice spilling out of the boxes and the fruit strewn about, the boys sunk back in their chairs with their heads down and did not dare to look. Their father kicked their mother in the ribs and hip, growling at her to get up. Her body jerked with no life in it, her eyes were rolled over and her face was turning blue. The apple slice was lodged in her throat but her husband was oblivious to that fact. He pulled her up by her hair and began to accuse her of wanting to run off and sleep with the man who came offering freshly caught fish and poi. When he finally realized that she was choking, he wound his hand back and slapped the area between her shoulder blades with such tremendous force that it left a bruised palm print. The apple slice came flying out, and the wife crumbled to the dirt coughing and gagging at the same time.
“Get off your ass and make me one sandwich,” the husband spat.
The other campers who witnessed the beating were already on their cell phones calling the police but the husband didn’t miss a thing.
“You know the routine when the cops come, right stupid?”
“I know the routine,” the wife replied.
….
Although witnesses came forward and verified the assault, the wife not only denied everything but she screamed at the other campers, accusing them of being jealous of her husband because of the wealth of fish he caught. The police saw no sign of any catch but the wife convinced them that some of the other campers stole everything. Looking at the scene as it played out, Kamalo’o was saddened by what he saw. The poor woman was caught in a cycle from which she would never escape, her husband had terrorized her so thoroughly that she would lie for him in spite of the abuse he had heaped upon her. In the meantime, the officers could not do a thing if the victim was not willing to help them, so they left.
The last light of the sun slowly disappeared behind the point of Kaena while the Hawaiian man and his family were finally packed and prepared to leave. There was not an ounce of a bite on his line for the entire day. The husband was sure that it was the fault of his wife somehow and he was certainly going to find an excuse to take his anger out on her until he was satisfied. The wife herself knew very well that she was going to suffer for the police showing up and for the lack of fish that her husband couldn't catch. The boys were fast asleep in the back seat and her husband snored loud enough to drown out the radio. The opportunity was at hand, it was now or never. She pressed slowly until the needle passed the eighty mile mark and made it’s way to ninety, ninety five and then one hundred. The SUV plowed past the cave and the wife could barely keep the vehicle on the pavement. Thank goodness the turn was a wider one. The telephone pole that became the focus of her attention was of a few years old and still planted firmly in the ground, it was the perfect target and she drove straight toward it. With her left hand on the steering wheel, the wife kept the SUV as steady as possible, there were only seconds left now, she had to act quick. She reached over to her husband and grabbed a handful of his hair and shoved his head into the window with everything she had. The glass shattered instantly and left a deep cut in his scalp with blood spurting everywhere. Even before her husband could figure out the situation and retaliate, she pointed toward something up ahead and screamed excitedly,
“Look! Look! Look!”
The wife didn’t take the telephone pole head on, instead she veered a little to the left so that the passengers side of the SUV would receive the full impact of the crash. There was not going to be a beating at home, he wasn’t going to take it on her sons. Her husband saw his own death coming and could do nothing to stop it and it scared the shit out of him. For once, he had no control.
….
On nights where the moon is in it’s last phase before it goes completely dark, one can witness a phantom SUV plowing past the cave in an eerie silence. A few yards down the road it obliterates itself into a blinding ball of fire as it collides with a road side telephone pole. Many who understand the strange haunting say that the spectral vision was one woman’s way to escape her suffering.
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