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Pakalaki Memories: 7

Kirby Wright

I waited with Gramma out in front of the hotel. A haole family walked by wearing the same Aloha print on their muumuus and shirts. I swung the paper bag that held Ben's brownie. A Filipino bellhop asked Gramma if she needed a cab. She told him she was a kamaaina and that her son was a big time attorney with a new Olds. The bellhop nodded and opened the hotel door for a Japanese woman exiting a cab.

It was strange seeing Gramma standing there in something besides ranch clothes. Instead of her usual jeans and palaka blouse, she wore a dress with an orchid print. Instead of cowboy boots, she wore sandals with one-inch heels. There was a string of champagne-colored pearls around her neck that she'd bought on sale at Kaunakakai Drugs. She still wore a lauhala hat, but she considered this one more sophisticated because it had a fine weave and narrow brim. She held a big purse with both hands and shifted her weight from one sandal to the other as we stood on the edge of the driveway. There was a look of discomfort on her face, as if she were worried about doing or saying the wrong thing in a city full of businessmen and criminals. She had applied her rouge unevenly—one cheek looked like she was blushing and the other had only a hint of pink. Red lipstick clung to her thin lips. Her eyeliner highlighted the slant of her eyes.

Out on Bishop Street, the lanes were jammed with traffic. A bus spewed exhaust. There was a light on the corner next to the Hob Nob Restaurant and the cars braked. Portuguese boys jogged along the median strip selling The Honolulu Advertiser. "Pay-pah," they called, "Hanalulu Advatizah!"

Gramma watched the boys. "These damn Portagee kids got moah guts than my mo'opunas."

"Do not," I said.

"What grade yah in now, Peanut?"

"Fourth."

The light turned green and Gramma watched the boys dodge traffic.

"That big horse spoiled yah."

I tossed the package with the brownie up in the air and caught it with one hand.

"Christ," Gramma said, "that brownie'll be busticated by the time yoah brothah gets it."