AIA KE OLA I KA POHAKU
From the time of her infancy when she could only crawl, Melia loved the feeling of the grass between her fingers and toes. There was such a large amount of space in the front yard of her house that her parents would follow close behind her as she could crawl all day in the grass if they allowed it. More than the grass itself, Melia loved to run her little hands along the unusually shaped ridges of a large pohaku which stood upright in the eastern corner of the yard.
The strange oblong-shaped rock had been there for as long as Melia’s parents had lived there and their parents before them and so forth. As Melia grew older, the pohaku was always her favorite place where she could be found sitting on a lauhala mat reading or playing with her toys. It was also a place where she sought refuge when she experienced her first heartbreak and her first love. Throughout the entire time that Melia kept company with the large inanimate rock, they noticed that she never failed to douse it with water until it was completely soaked. The pohaku would take on an even darker hue than when it was dry, on a few occasions Melia’s parent’s said that they were not sure if it was an optical illusion that was caused by their daughter’s pouring of water in the rock but they swear they saw it move. Otherwise, they thought nothing of Melia’s affinity for the pohaku because it did not seem to have any kind of effect on her personality or behavior and so they let go.
During the four years that Melia was away at college, she would call at least twice a week in order to make sure that her parents watered the pohaku. It goes without saying that they did, but one day her father jokingly told her that normal people keep pets, so why was she keeping a boulder? Melia’s reply floored her folks and left them speechless, “It’s not just a pohaku, it’s a kupua and it protects our property.”
When Melia finished college and found her first job, she was able to transfer to her company’s sister office which happened to be located back home in Honolulu. That’s where she met Carl and fell in love, within a year they were married and the ceremony took place in the yard of Melia’s home. Wedding photographs were taken in front of the pohaku and when the pictures were later developed, everyone noticed that the pohaku had turned a light shade of blue. The photographer assured her that it was nothing but camera flare.
The unfortunate day came when Melia’s parents passed within months of one another, after both services the reception was held at the house, Melia was a wonderful hostess and at one point during the gathering, she gave her husband Carl a plate and told him to take it out to the pohaku and to leave it at its base. It was an unusual request but Carl attributed it to some Hawaiian custom which he hadn’t known about, he figured it was safer to just do what his wife asked.
“I swear,” Carl would tell me later, “when I left that plate of food in front of the boulder, I thought I heard my stomach growling but I swear it wasn’t me. Later that day after everyone left, I happened to glance out the window and I noticed the plate of food was empty. I just thought that some animals had gotten a hold of it.”
Life went on and children came along and so there had to be more space added to the old Tudor style house. On the weekends Carl spent time with his construction buddies putting the addition together, little did Carl suspect that one of his workmates had an eye on his wife. Melia herself was clueless as to Roger’s ulterior motives but she remained ever the faithful wife and consummate hostess. One afternoon, Carl happened to take a needed break so that he could use the bathroom. Passing the kitchen, Carl happened to see the Roger grab Malia and lay a kiss on her but that was the second time in which Roger had taken such liberties. A moment earlier, he had done the same thing but Malia slapped him when Roger grabbed her a second time and kissed her is when Carl walked by. All hell broke loose and a fight between Carl and Roger spilled out to the yard and the children were screaming in fear. As much as the other men tried to break up the fight, no one could tear Carl away from Roger, he was out to spill blood. By the time Melia inserted herself between Carl and Roger, Carl had already become possessed by such a hot murderous fever that he drew his hand back to hit Melia, but he never got the chance. Something grabbed him by his forearm and lifted him off the grass with no effort, Carl’s feet dangled as he was brought face to face with a dark Hawaiian man who stood more than eight feet tall and was massively built.
“Mea hupo! Mai hana ‘ino ke keitimahine!”
The voice was deep and scratchy and whatever it was that the Hawaiian man was saying, he was definitely upset. The firm grip was released from Carl’s forearm and he crumbled to the grass, while Melia and the three men gathered around Carl to see if he was alright. The dark giant of a Hawaiian man sat down cross-legged and upon resting his head on his hands, he turned back to stone. For his own safety, Roger left but not before he was forced to tell the truth of what happened with Melia, he did so without hesitation for fear that the behemoth of a Hawaiian man would return to do him in. Carl admitted that he was wrong and he apologized to his wife but things were not the same after that day, he finally told Melia that he did not want to live in fear of some monster that was hiding in a boulder and that he also feared for the safety of their children. Melia simply told Carl that he could leave if he wanted but that the Pohaku was going to stay and that their children had nothing to fear.
….……..
“Our kids grew up, went to college and would go home during the summers. I’d go over to spend time with them; Melia and I remained cool for the kids' sake. She had boyfriends every now and again, but it is what it is. I did notice that she’d always send one of the kids out to the boulder with a plate of food but I don’t blink an eye. I do keep my distance from it because if that thing has been there for as long as it has then it probably also has a long memory. I’m pretty sure it hasn’t forgotten the day when I almost hit Melia for something that was my fault.” Carl said as he threw back a shot of Captain Morgan. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure, but you can bet that Melia is never going to leave that house and it's more than likely that it will be passed down to our children with the stipulation that they care for the pohaku in the yard."
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