Witch Time
1994 Stanford University
The lovemaking began in the morning when he brewed the first coffee cup for Crystal while she was still asleep. A younger Boy Napualawa gently massaged her feet until her eyes opened, and then he kissed her on the forehead. She could smell the vanilla aroma of the cup of Joe as it sat on the stand next to her bed. "Coffee is ready when you are," Boy whispered. His foreplay style is the intimate food prep of human interaction at the end of an evening because real lovemaking was a process that happened for an entire day. After Crystal showered and readied herself for class, Boy prepared a small plate of eggs, Benedict, to take with her. While at class himself, Boy would spend the remainder of the day tossing pebbles into her cerebral pond by sending little notes to say something as simple as, 'I can still smell your fragrance,' or 'Thinking of you.' All he could do was hope that words like those ensured that his ripple would continually radiate to her shores and prepare her mind and body to receive him later that evening. Boy wouldn't take Crystal in an animal-like fashion by ravaging her completely and leaving her to lay there covered in sweat and out of breath the second she arrived. He first massaged every part of her feet and knew the locations of all of the pressure points that would bring her relaxation and comfort. He let her rest afterward and then went to wash his hands before preparing dinner. Sitting across from her, he listened intently while she shared the news of her day; Boy didn't reply until she was done. Later, he left her to bathe on her own for as long as she wanted. He joined her toward the end, helping to scrub her back and legs.
Entering the bedroom, Crystal jumped on his back and wrestled him to their oversize bed and pinned him down by holding his wrists and applying her full weight on top of him. 'I know what you're doing, Mr. Napualawa,' she whispered. 'Tryna be all romantic and sly.…coffee in the morning, sending me sexy notes while I'm in class and then a foot massage, dinner, and a shower. If I didn't know any better, I would think that you were trying to get into my pants."
Without missing a beat, Boy smiled and asked, "Is it working?"
Looking at the bed for a second, Crystal replied, "Well, you and I don't have any pants on, do we?"
"It seems that we don't," Boy nodded and glanced around the bed as well. "I am led to believe that we are both naked."
Laying flat on his body so that he could feel every part of her, Crystal gently placed her forehead on his chest and began kissing her way up to his lips, 'First I'm going to ravage you, then I'm going to make you cross-eyed, then you're going to pass out. Then, I'm going to wake you up the same way and start all over again.'
Crystal kept good on her promise, but she was pleasantly surprised to find out that Boy had more in his reserves than she gave him credit for. Their lovemaking went on into the early hours of the morning, where Crystal suddenly awoke and realized that she had only an hour to get ready for the first class of the day. Boy's first-class wouldn't start until 11 am. She rushed to put herself together and hurried out as fast as she could; a second later, the door opened, and she peeked her head back in, "I'm not done with you yet, be prepared."
….………
They were both Leland scholars and part of the residential program at Stanford. Her name is Crystal Mc Faire, but Boy's pet name for her is 'Mac Fairy.' She calls him 'Mister.' Boy typically had time to have breakfast and catch the news before he got ready for class, but this morning he had to go to Safeway to get more eggs and probably stop in Mitsunobu's on the way back. He hadn't given any attention to the news in the past few weeks, but suddenly something caught his attention and stopped him before he got to the door.
….………
Crystal was pleasantly surprised when she saw Boy waiting outside her class. There was a serious look on his face as if something were wrong. Pulling her aside, he spoke to her as quietly as he could without raising any great concern, "Have you seen the news lately?" Crystal shook her head slowly, "No, I haven't; what happened?"
"Police found five dead bodies all around Larsen and Arboretum Grove. The authorities said that these people died within weeks of each other. There are five weeks this month, that means one death a week," Crystal had never seen Boy this way before, and it began to make her worry.
"Alright," Crystal said calmly. "Then walk me to and from all of my classes, but you also need time to study yourself, right?"
"Alright," Boy agreed; still, something didn't feel right, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Time went on, and things went back to normal and Boy no longer had a fear for Crystal's safety since there weren't any more dead bodies turning up on the outskirts of campus. The fiery lovemaking was also back in full swing, which always left Boy with a silly smile on his face. One morning while Crystal was already in class, Boy made a bowl of sticky rice, hot dogs, scrambled eggs, and natto. He had only enjoyed two bites of his concoction before he accidentally dropped it on the kitchen floor. Now there was a sticky brown mess all over the carpet. Boy hunkered down and opened the doors to the kitchen cabinet, searching for a roll of paper towels or at least a giant sponge to clean everything up. He found a short stack of cloth towels, which was just what he needed. Upon removing it, he discovered a collection of mason jars filled with different kinds of herbs: Angelica root, Bindweed, Chicory, Hemlock, and Vervain.
….………
Later that evening
The house was unusually quiet when Crystal got home, and she found the lights on; that's when all the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Walking into the living room, she found Boy standing behind the dining room table with five mason jars in front of him, each filled with a different kind of herb.
"You get only one chance to explain why you have herbs that are used for placing curses on people. Don't try to appease me, don't pull the sorry girlfriend act. One chance, Crystal, don't blow it." Boy's demeanor was frightening, and Crystal could only bring herself to ask one question. "What does that one chance hinge upon?"
"Your life," Boy's answer was short and to the point.
He turned each jar around so Crystal could see a sticker on the front of each one. They were names scribbled in Crystal's handwriting. 'Clarence Must, Al Claimesh, Pan Nial, Greg Alvero, Ben Struthers,' She gave Boy a blank look and stared at the jars and looked at Boy again. Pointing to the jars, Boy said, "Those are the names of all those guys who were found dead a few months ago, you know the ones I told you about on the news?" Boy then removed the sixth jar from his jacket pocket and put it on the table next to the other jars.
This one had Boy's name written on a sticker, 'Hanson Napualawa.'
"Asafoetida in that one, used in voodoo black magic to make someone forget and leave you alone. You were going to make me forget you and leave you alone?"
Crystal was very nervous, but she had to tell the truth, "I didn't expect to fall in love with you."
"And these other poor idiots, who were they ?" Boy's eyes were like a quiet flame ready to burn at any second.
"They were in my way, that's all! I needed to be at the top of the class, and I could not afford to get less than an 'A' plus! I'm a Leland scholar! Do you know what that means?! Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Health, I had to be the best in every class I had to!" Crystal's teeth were bare; her eyes were wide and bloodshot. Her features changed all of a sudden as if a kind of realization overcame her. "Wait a minute, how do you know so much about those herbs.………unless?" A look of panic came over Crystal, and she shot her open palm toward Boy and screamed an incantation, "Anahl nathair ortha bas ocus betha do cel debumh!"
Boy crossed his fists over his chest as an orb of black flames erupted from Crystal's body and streaked straight toward him. His palms flew open, and he uttered a phrase in Hawaiian, "Ho'i a 'ai i kou kahu!" The black flame spun right around and went back to Crystal and sent her flying across the room. Her body hit the reinforced wall with a sick thud and crumbled to the floor. Boy walked over to where she lay, not even bothering to offer her comfort. "Mister, I didn't expect to fall in love with you.…. the others were nothing...he wanted me to kill you too but I couldn't. I thought if Asafoetida made you forget, then he wouldn't want to harm you,"
She was dead, her spinal cord snapped, but she held on for just a few seconds more because she thought she could tell Boy about the man that wanted him dead but to no avail. Death took her before she could say anything else.
….………
Today
Betha and her sister Abigail sit in front of Boy's desk while uncle Tiny fidgets in a chair next to him. Uncle Ivan hisses at his cousin to stay still while Aunty Rita shakes her head and rolls her eyes. Boy's patience is running thin, but he'll have to address Uncle Tiny's problem after the meeting.
"So," Boy begins while shooting a glance at Aunty Rita, "you're practicing witches on the lamb after being kicked out from your local coven in Los Angeles?"
The two women nodded and looked at one another, "Yes, that's right."
"You moved here to Hawaii and kept a low profile and stayed out of everyone's way and wanted to live your life in peace, is that also correct?" Boy was recounting his conversation from their phone call earlier that morning. The women nodded again and replied at the same time, "Yes, that's correct."
"Would you mind rolling up your sleeves and showing us what happened?" Boy was very polite and not at all demanding. Because of that, the two women removed their sweaters to reveal angry black and blue bruised human bite marks all over their arms and neck. The bites were child-sized, and the teeth marks were very pronounced. The two women wept quietly to themselves and were too ashamed to look up, but Boy assured them that it was alright and that no one in the office would gloat over their plight.
"Thank you," Betha's voice was shaky and still cracking. "We may have been wrong, but we didn't deserve this."
The women trusted Boy now, but they were still hesitant because they were in his territory, and the sisters wanted to be sure that they would not unknowingly disrespect him. Boy continued with his questions, "Tell me, what led the two of you to believe that this was a curse that someone put on you?"
"Betha and I were at a native plant sale at Windward community college," Abigail adjusted herself in her chair as she began to speak. "There was one last Hawaiian Jasmine plant on the shelf, and when I reached for it, a Hawaiian man grabbed it at the same time."
"He was very handsome with beautiful eyes; we were instantly charmed because he apologized and paid for the plant and gave it to my sister and me to take home." Betha smiled just a little over the memory. "We struck up a conversation, and he invited us to join him for lunch and drinks and insisted that he pay for the whole thing."
"We wanted to thank him somehow for being so nice," Abigail confirmed. "He ended up coming to our home in Hau'ula, and we spent the weekend together."
"You mean with yourself and the Hawaiian man you met?" Boy asked.
"No," Abigail replied in a very matter of fact manner. "With both my sister and myself.…he was great!"
"His stamina was unending," Betha sighed as she recalled that weekend. "We kept having to ask him if he was finished or not because he just kept going!"
"And going," Abigail added. The two sisters fanned themselves with their hands as they were now flushed and red.
"That sounds great as the three of you enjoyed each other's company. When did things go wrong all of a sudden?" Boy had already known the answer, but he had to hear it play out so that it would make sense to him.
"The Hawaiian man, he wanted it to be more, he said that he'd fallen in love with us, but we were still recovering from all the hurt and the emotion from being kicked out of our coven. We weren't ready to commit to anyone or anything. We were honest, but he didn't take it well. A month later and suddenly every hour of the day and night, we were covered with these bite marks!" Betha broke down with Abigail, only being able to rub her shoulder.
"So, you believe this Hawaiian man cursed you because of an unrequited love?" Boy asked again. The women said nothing and only nodded. "Do you know who this Hawaiian man is?" Betha and Abigail nodded and pointed at Tiny.
Ivan and Rita shifted very uncomfortably in their chairs, and at that point, Boy excused the two women and promised them that the cursed bite marks would never trouble them again. The two witches saw themselves out of the office and took the elevator down to the first floor. It seemed like forever before the double doors would slowly shut on their own. A second later, Tiny whipped around in his chair and shot a glance of disbelief at Rita, "For real?! Really?! Seriously?!"
Ivan was not happy either, "What?! What the hell are you doing?!" Rita ignored both men and quickly got up out of her chair and headed toward the door but not before Boy spoke up. "Aunty Rita..."
"I have to get home and get dinner started; Tabby must be hungry by now." Her charade was not working.
"We live in the same home; I'm your ride." Boy said firmly. "Why did you curse those women!!?? This had nothing to do with you! It was none of your business! Why did you interfere?!"
"Yeah!" Tiny's veins were popping out of his neck, and he seemed as if he were going to have a heart attack. "You made me look weak! You betta not try say you neva do 'um cause we know the bite marks is your signature so no ack stoopid!"
There was no answer from Rita as she sat there, appearing smug and unsympathetic. She could feel Boy staring at her and knew very well that she would not be able to leave the office until she offered a valid explanation for what she did.
"Alright, dammit," she sighed with disgust. "You've all seen how he was acting these past few weeks? Moping around the office, half focused staring off into space with this hangdog look all the time, listening to those damned sad 70's songs on his Pandora, hiding in the damned bathroom weeping and sobbing! I could hear it down the damned hallway! How was I expected to get any work done? I swear if I had to listen to one more damned Lind Ronstadt song again, I was going to shove that damned phone down his throat! I had to do something to make him stop! And all of this over what?! Two skinny haole witches, who were only looking to sleep with a Hawaiian man so they can make a notch on their broom? I NO 'TINK SO! Of course, I had to step in and curse them! And what better way to do it than with Nahu bite marks?"
Rita stormed out of the office, leaving the three men speechless. She and Tiny were always at odds, but if she did care for Tiny somewhere deep down in her heart, she had a unique way of showing it.
"Witch," Tiny muttered to himself.
"You better not call her that to her face," Ivan warned his short-fused cousin to stay the storm and not incur any more of Aunty Rita's wrath.
Boy could only sit back in his chair and recall his witch who nearly took his life many years ago; it left him wondering about the man who charged Crystal to kill him. Who was he? Where was he? Was he still out there somewhere, watching and scheming and waiting for the right time to try and kill Boy again?
Hawai‘i’s Spirits and Legends: ‘Ōlelo ‘Ino (Curses)
Featured_exhib_event_lopaka_oct17
SAVE THE DATE SHARE
Performance:
Hawai‘i’s Spirits and Legends: ‘Ōlelo ‘Ino (Curses)
Showtimes:
Saturday, Jan 27 07:30 PM
Location:
Doris Duke Theatre
Price:
Museum members: $12.00
General Admission: $15.00
Purchase_tickets_but
About the Performance:
Lopaka Kapanui returns to tell stories about Hawai‘i's spiritual realm.
If you had the power, would you put a curse on someone? A slight in traffic, a missed promotion, your in-laws. Your immediate reaction may be “no” but most of us have at least entertained the idea of “what if…” Come hear true stories of people who have put a curse on someone and have lived to regret it. Well, almost lived.
No comments:
Post a Comment