Speaking of Kakaʻako…. 800 words. Trigger: No can blame us for trying!

Honey Girl- Yeah, and speaking of Kakaʻako,
you know dat rock wall, you must remember da one?

J Boy- Which one you mean? By da crack seed shop next to the hamajang house where da pupule man used to live?

Honey Girl- No, da uddah rock wall. By the yard where had all da overgrown weeds and da big bambucha  mango tree, all leaves, no fruit. But come to think of it, I think there was one different hamajang house behind the mango tree. Where the roof wen collapse one night and you can hear weird noises like one old man laughing real loud at you if you walk past real late at night.

J Boy- Oh, dat rock wall! That’s where dat “horrible thing” happened.  He went “make” inside and nobody else knew about it for months.

Honey Girl- Eh, Jared Kahakulani Bento! I thought we promised never to talk about it, ever again. Not even to Officer Friendly, if he ever came around and got too nosy, niele as Tutu used to say.

J Boy- Eh! You da one brought it up! No blame me! Okay, change subject. You know, we always managed to buy something with our loose change from that crack seed shop. I tink even wen we had four and a half pennies between all four of us, we could buy something. And ‘ol man Matsumoto always gave us the crack seed in one nice, crispy, clean! brown paper bag. He used to peel ‘um out of da stack like was fresh dollar bills.

Honey Girl- So what, we never gonna talk about da rock wall for as long as we live?

J Boy- Not unless we have to. Like if da FBI come around and start flashing shiny badges. (pauses thoughtfully) Why? What’s your story?

Honey Girl-  You really wanna hear? (she hesitates, then begins) He didn’t die dat nite. In fact, he’s still alive. (after a pause) I tink(pauses again)  I tink I saw him one night after Mokie wen beat up his wife, kids were screaming, dogs were barking and da whole neighborhood woke up, even Sissie Girl, Tutu’s favorite cat. I dunno how anyone can forget dat nite! Was unreal, I mean fo real, was unreal.

J Boy- You know, dis is giving me da creeps! Let’s talk about something else, like pickled mango or mochi crunch or even better,hot malasadas aftah da Holy Ghost Parade!

Honey Girl- Yeah, we can talk about hot malasadas,  but first, I think it’s about time I told somebody about dat nite.
You see, I was walking past dat uddah rock wall we wuz talking about, and da bambucha moon was shining right on da bambucha mango tree. Da one no give mango, jus leaves. And wen look like had about four bambucha mangoes, on da highest branch. Of course, we was always scared of climbing dat tree on da way home  from school cuz we were always told by da kupuna, “no go aroun dat hamajang house, cuz get plenty you know whats ova deah, no baddah dem, bumbye, plenty pilikia”.
Soooo, I thought, would be one nice surprise if I could pick da mangoes and bring ‘um home for Tutu. You know how she like make mango chutney wit da raisins. And you know how she always scolding me, getting tired of hearing her complain about me and my “kolohe ways” all da time. You know us kidz, good fun act kolohe, but we sometimes,  we like make Tutu happy. No can blame us for trying!
So I wen climb da tree. Lila mo wen make ‘um all da way to da top branch wen I saw one small light on in da hamajang house. Den, I heard somebody coughing, kinda loud. I saw da shape of one man, walking across da room… I wanted to dig outta dea, but wen I wen look down, couldn’t jump, I was up too high, so close to da mango chutney mangoes, I could almos touch ‘um. Could definitely smell how ʻono was going be wen you first hemo da skin.
All of a sudden, somebody wen shake da branch right below da one I was on. I neva know what to do. I wanted to jump, but I knew someone or some ting,was right below me. An I was so high off da ground, like da King Kong movie wen he wen pick up da wahine on his big bambucha fist, an he wen lif her real high like one fas elevaddah ride. No way I could jump. Den, ba branch wen shake again, dis time, was even longer and harder. Like dat ting, whateva it wuz, wuz trying fo tell me someting. I was in deeeeep pilikia now!

To be continued….