My brother Kainoa had autism, but growing up, my folks told me that he was in his own space and that he'd be fine.
Our dad built a really high fence in our backyard with intricately small eyes so Kainoa couldn't climb it. That's cause my brother could run for hours around the backyard. He'd stop and do full-formed push-ups like a maniac every few minutes and then start running again. When he wasn't a full-on Iron Man athlete, Kainoa sat in front of the TV and watched some random show my mom would put on while my brother had his deviled ham sandwiches without the crust. On one of these days, Kainao saw an actual spirit that appeared to him in the middle of him watching a movie. We saw the spirit as it appeared to Kainoa before disappearing after a few seconds. From that moment, whether we were there to witness it or not, we knew when the spirit showed up because we could hear Kainoa muttering out loud to himself, 'Mahkthaaahmpsen, Mahkthaaampsen, Mahkthaaampsen!'We, or one of us, would get there just in time to see the spirit dissipate. None of us knew what the incomprehensible babble meant whenever Kainoa freaked out because of the spirit. The spirit itself was that of the previous owner's son. We knew that because we met him when we purchased the house from him. He died a week after we were moving in. Funny that he never appeared to us during that time, so why would he wait until fourteen years after we were very much settled? It made sense that he would appear to Kainon of all people because my brother's autism put him on a different level of perception, so why not, Kainoa? The late owner was Charles Kunishege, who was in his mid-forties when he passed. He was of average height and slim, with hair thinning at the top. He wore horned-rim glasses and a flannel shirt with sleeves rolled up, sporting a pair of corduroy jeans. He was what my grandparents called a Katonk, a mainland Japanese who was here on Oahu, closing out the estate he inherited from his parents.
I was home on my day off, sitting in front of the TV while Kainoa and I had lunch together. I was only half paying attention to what was on the screen, and our mom was in the kitchen. The movie Kainoa is watching takes place in Hawai'i. A new kid from the mainland attends his first day at school in Kona. In the scene, he turns to his class and introduces himself as Mark Thompson. Immediately, Kainoa jumps up from the couch and screams, "Mahkthaaampsen! Mahkthaaampsen! Mahkthaaampsen!"
A second later, Charles Kunishege's spirit manifests, and I hold on to Kainoa, gently calming him down. Our mom has had enough and is yelling at the spirit, 'Leave us alone, Charles! This is our house! You go away!' His spirit is gone. I told my mom what it was in that one scene in that movie; Charles's spirit must have shown up at that exact time when the character in the film introduced himself to the class.
"That somehow got locked into Kainoa's brain, and that's why he does that," I told her.
"Mark Thompson," our mom mused. "What til your dad hears this."
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