In the 1970s and 1980s, Waikiki was not run amok by sidewalk circus acts and designer outlets that today are out of place in what used to be such a pristine paradise. Waikiki, at that time, was where one could go to listen to Hawaiian music. If you were lucky, you could catch the Cazimeros at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's monarch room or Booga Booga at The Canoe House at the 'Ilikai.
The drinking laws weren't as stringent as they are today; back then, you could walk around with an open can or bottle of beer in your hands, and it was no trouble. My father tells me of a story when he and mom were still dating. Mom worked waiting tables at Lau Yee Chai while he worked the docks at Sand Island. On one of the few occasions where both of them had the same day off, they decided to stay at the Sheraton for the night. After spending most of the day relaxing and lounging about in their room, they finally surfaced for dinner at the Halekulani. From there, they found an ABC Store on Lewers where they bought a case of beer.
"At that point, you would have thought that mom and I went for a romantic walk on the beach?" My father flashed that half mischievous smile at me and shook his head. "Nope, we went to the Sheraton Garage parking lot to go make out!"
" Ugh, geez dad, you could have skipped that part," I couldn't handle the imagery of my parents caught in a tight lip-lock in a parking garage of all places.
"This story isn't going to make sense if I don't include that part," he insisted. Whatever, anything to get him through that part of the story.
"Okay, please go on for god sake," he loved every minute of this torture.
He went on the say that he hiked mom up on a short wall next to the elevator to put her in a particular position where he could.....well, you know. He hadn't realized that the wall was a dangerous place for anyone to sit because if someone fell over, well, that was a 14 story drop straight down. No sooner did he grab mom by the waist; they heard a strange female voice come from behind them.
"Excuse me? Can I have a beer?" My father said he turned around while simultaneously, my mom hopped off the wall and stood next to my dad. "I love to drink."
He said it was a young Hawaiian woman wearing an old-style muumuu. Her hair was about shoulder length and wrapped around her head was maile but woven together in a lei Po'o style. She held her hand out, gesturing toward the six-pack of beer that my father held in his hand. Without a second thought, my mom handed her a beer but forgot to give her their bottle opener. The young Hawaiian woman twisted the cap off in one snap. Then, my father said, the young Hawaiian woman did something that still un-nerves him until this day. She giggled like a little girl and jumped up and down like she was just given a piece of candy. Then she walked up to the short wall where my parents were only a minute ago were going to......well, anyway. She dusted off the top of the wall and took a quick turn and hiked herself up. She tanked back the bottle of beer like it was water and let out a satisfied gasp. My father said the young woman's facial expression changed suddenly, she had become severe and pointed at both my parents, regarding them as if they were her own children.
"You two kids be smart next time and choose somewhere else to play lei needle and flower; like your hotel room."
My father said, right there, without warning, the short wall crumbled beneath the young woman's weight, and she fell backward. My parents screamed and lunged forward to grab her, but it was too late, she and the rubble plunged 14 stories to the pavement below.
My dad said they immediately contacted the police and the ambulance. They both gave their own accounts of what they witnessed to the authorities. A later search for the young Hawaiian woman's body turned up nothing but busted concrete. Of course, my parents left out the part about their on the spot make out session. The officers told my folks that maybe they had too much to drink, and they imagined the whole thing. My father said it was useless to argue the point; besides, they didn't want to get into any more trouble.
"One thing," my father shook his finger at me as an afterthought. "One thing I never forgot, and your mom said she never saw it, but when that young Hawaiian girl fell backward off of that short wall? There was no look of panic on her face, she just held up the bottle of beer to me as if she were making a toast and then.............that was it. Like the cops told us, they never found a body."
"What do you think that was?" I asked. I had to hear what his assumption was that even if it was something ridiculous.
"Pele," he nodded and shook his leg at the same time. "It was Pele, she saved us. That's why she showed up and interrupted us from doing...well, you know because the short wall was unstable, but we didn't know that."
"Okay, Dad, I know that part.....thank you," Geez is this ever going to end with him? "What does mom say?"
"Mom agrees, there couldn't be any other explanation for it." My father stood up and got himself a beer from the fridge and headed up the stairs.
"I'm gonna.....," he started to say, but I cut him off.
"I DON'T CARE, DAD!!!" Every time this guy, every time! I think he does it on purpose!
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