"What's on the agenda tomorrow?" Malani asked while spreading his blanket out on the trunk of the Dodge.
"Go see my mom and then pretty much nothing until later on. I was gonna go qualify for my black belt," Lehua lay on the blanket, her head resting on the windshield while she took her boots and socks off and unbuttoned her jeans.
"You know, we could've gone to my house," Malani said, lying beside her after removing his shoes and socks and quickly removing his pants.
"We can do that after," Lehua said while removing her particulars. "I just want this moment and this place for us; it's ours,"
"By the time we're done, it's gonna be pitched dark," Malani laughed.
"Are you gonna complain, or are we gonna fuck?" Lehua got on top of him and began slowly moving.
"Is that what this," they could still see each other's faces in the last glow of the setting sunlight. "You're always about not having time to nurse someone's feelings, but once in a while, you could stand to be a bit nicer,"
"Sorry, it's just the community, you know? It's the culture, and the language comes from it," Lehua explained. "It's a lotta hurry up and wait, but it's mostly not knowing when especially seeing people around you die,"
Malani sat up and held Lehua close; they kissed tenderly for a long while, not moving but cherishing the moment together.
*
The following morning, Lehua sat on the other side of the table like all the others sat at their tables at the women's facility, waiting to spend time with who they came for. Lehua's mother was the last to come out. She wore sandals, socks, acid-washed jeans, and a white shirt with faded unicorns and rainbows. It appeared she might have just woken up or was still on her medication. Lehua could never tell when she came for these visits.
"Hey, mom," Lehua reached across the table and warmly squeezed her mother's hands in hers. "How've you been doing?"
"Lehua," her mom replied with a tone of embarrassment while pulling her hands away. "How can you even show your face here?"
"I'm home, so I wanted to spend time with you," Lehua said. "Aren't you happy to see me? I'm happy to see you,"
"You stole Kimo from me; why would I be happy to see you?" Her mother replied in a hushed tone of voice. "People talk in this place, don't you know that?"
"Mom, you're talking about Dad's second wife, Emma. Not me, I'm your daughter, Lehua, and you're my mother, Mamane," Lehua confirmed.
"I know who you are, and I don't need to be told who I am, and I certainly know who Emma is," Mamane replied. "You have to be at the center of everything; everything has to be about you. You suck all the air out of the room, and you suck the life out of everything and everyone. It was so bad that Kimo's attention went to you while I got nothing. You stole your father from me; that's how I ended up in this shit hole because of you. Your father put me here to get me out of the way so you could have him to yourself,"
"That's not me, you're talking about Mom," Lehua's eyes began to water, slowly at first. "It's you; you did that with Grandpa. Grandma kicked you out of the house when she found out. Everything you're talking about is what you did, not me."
"If not you, then what?" Mamane demanded. "What other reason would your father have to leave me and put me here?"
Now, the tears come freely. Flowing without having to be coaxed. "Because you tried to kill me when I was nine years old,"
Mamane paused, fiddling with her fingers and looking off to the side. Taking in a deep breath, the tears came along with the silent realization that she couldn't openly admit to. Lehua was right. She stood up and signaled the guard, who opened the reinforced steel door and let her back into the facility, where she would shrink into the confines of her quarters.
*
After the Kaju-Kenpo class, Kimo found his daughter sitting at the bar drinking a glass of coke with a lemon wedge in it. Taking a seat next to Lehua, he ordered the same thing. "You missed your black belt qualification tonight,"
Scoffing, Lehua replied. "It wouldn't have been a good idea, Dad, not tonight anyway,"
"Are you able to tell me what happened?" Kimo adjusted himself on the bar stool.
"I went to see Mom," Lehua looked at her father. "It wasn't good, and with everything I'm feeling, I wouldn't have been in my right mind if I went to qualify. I would've taken it out on those guys, and it wouldn't be fair,"
Kimo reached into the pocket of his windbreaker and removed the new black belt, held together with thin strips of white tape. He placed it on the bar and slid it across to Lehua until it was right in front of her. He removed the certificate of qualification from the other pocket with her name handwritten in Spencerian on the front of it and slid it over to Lehua. "You could have come to qualify tonight and used all that negative emotion to take out on my five black belts. The fact that you showed restraint and chose not to makes you more than qualified for your black belt,"
Lehua got off the bar stool and hugged her father, crying for the first time since she'd been home. "I just want her to let me love her Dad, and she won't. She won't let me,"
"I know it's hard not to take it personally because she's your mother, but don't give up on her. She needs those visits from you; she just doesn't know it," Kimo reassured his daughter.
*
Lehua sat in Malani's garage while he fiddled with the 445 Hemi, handing him a tool or a shammy cloth if needed. "So, I was thinking," she began.
"Oh no," Malani shook his head. "That could be dangerous,"
"No, I'm serious," she insisted. "Are you listening?"
"I'm listening," he said while stepping out from under the hood of the Dodge.
"Let's get married," Lehua smiled and shrugged. She got no reply from Malani, who stood there and stared at her. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"The other night, you asked me if we were going to fuck or not, and now you're asking me to marry you?" Malani posed the question honestly.
"You could've always asked me the same question, but you're too much of a Boy Scout," Lehua laughed. "That's why I do it; I like to see you cringe!" She walked over to Malani and tickled him.
"Why now, all of a sudden?" Malani asked.
"We're good together," she kissed him. "And I love you because despite my fucked up-ness, you get me, and you don't judge me,"
"Aren't I the one that's supposed to get on my knees and propose?" Malani kissed her back.
"You can get down on your knees right now and propose," Lehua said. "You can also do a few other things while you're down there,"
"Why do you have to make it creepy?" Malani shook his head.
......to be continued
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