Retribution
Chapter 2 (Continued)
Dusk veiled the falling day. Soon darkness would again
claim the night.
When Levi opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was
that Lani had disappeared. No doubt flown off to his nightly perch
high up on some ohia or koa tree.
He stood himself from the comfort of the old rocker, which
time and his constant weight had molded to fit hsi shape perfectly,
and walked over to an old oil lamp that hung on a nail high up on a
cross beam. He lifted the sooted glass top with one hand as he
searched his pockets with the other for a match. He finally pulled
one free and struck it against the rough leather of his belt,
watching as the flame crowned the little kindling stick. He lit the
wicker tongue inside the lantern and let the glass top slide back in
place. The glow of the thing slowly intensified until the whole
width of the veranda was cast in a yellowish haze.
He stretched the kinks from his bones and graoned a
relaxing groan, bending himself slowly forward and unbuckling
each of the three straps that held the thick leather chaps to his legs,
finally undoing the big buckle that held the thing about his waist,
stripping the scratchy garment from his body.
Opening the battered old screen door he disappeared inside
the cabin. Once he had hung the chaps in their proper place,
alongside his gunbelt and hat, he proceeded to the kitchen, sitting
the half empty wine skin upon the smooth top of his cherished koa
supper table. It sloshed and gurgled as it compressed itself into a
comfortable stance.
“Where the hell is that kid?” he mumbled to himself as he
reached for and placed a variety of pots upon the old table. He
then turned his attentions to the pot bellied stove that stood a few
feet away from the table. He filled it’s echoing belly with wood.
“I told him to be here before dark,” he mumbled some more.
“Never could count on his timing.” He struck another match and
held it to the paper and kindling that rustled noisily under the
heavier plum wood logs that he had tossed into the round chamber
moments before.
All around the cabin hung, and lay, the paraphenalia of the
paniolo. Old saddles, well worn, sat atop wooden horses made
especially for the burden. Neatly coiled ropes hung from the walls
like wreaths of twine. Spurs, horse blankets, branding irons, long
rifles, mounted heads of boar, goat and other assorted wild things,
all either hung or lay about the warming cabin. The stove blazed
away in it’s corner, it’s tin chimney stack thankfully funneling the
smoke up and out through the rook. Only the mild sweet aroma of
the burning plum remained within the confines of the toasty cabin.
Levi felt himself falling into the old ryhthm of days long
ago. Days that had been filled with the glory of a young boy
excited with the workings of a kitchen. A boy only too happy to
help his beloved makuahine cook and toil in the preparation of the
day’s meals. Many a happy hour he’d spent in this very kitchen
with his sweet mother. He could see her face, so smooth and
young and familiar, her full countenance red with the warmth of
her labor. It seemed like only yesterday that life was so good.
He waved his arm suddenly as if he were trying to chase
away the memories. He had no time for such reminiscences. The
pain they invoked felt too comforting after awhile.
He continued his puttering, wiping roughly at his
moistened eyes. Memories, he thought. They only fill one with
sadness. His hands moved swiftly as he cut the jerky into
managable bite size pieces, throwing them into a heavy black
skillet which he had placed upon the stovetop, a chunk of lard
slowly melting within it’s sizzling depths.
. . .
“We must get back to Malu,” offered Neki suddenly. He
and Ilish had fallen into a silent rythmic walk, hand in hand, along
the carressing sands of Hilo Bay.
“What and where is this Malu?” Ilish asked, her eyes wide
with anticipation.
“It is my makuakane’s ranch,” Neki established as he
pointed toward the sinking sun, only a sliver of it’s blazing sphere
remaining as most of it had already sunk behind the great heights
of Mauna Kea mountain. “And it lays, in all it’s granduer, up
there. Upon the slopes between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea
mountains,” he explained.
“I can’t go up there with you,” she replied, stopping and
facing him. “I know you don’t like the term improper, but I must
use it yet again. It would be most improper for me to go with you
to such a place. Your home is fact.” Her eyes were filled with
concern.
“Being proper is important to you, isn’t it?” he asked. Ilish
nodded. “Well for all my complaints about it I would not wish you
to do anything that would offend or tarnish what is proper for
you.” His tone was filled with sincerity.
“Thank you,” she said softly, lifting herself high up on her
toes so as to kiss Neki’s golden smooth cheek. “Without your help
and company through out this day I can only imagine what foul
trouble I would have gotten myself into.” She held his big, warm
hands with her delicately grasping fingers.
She turned an instant later and ran swiftly into the coming
night. Before Neki could react to the unexpected act, she had
disappeared into a stand of closely nestled coconut trees, their
fronds rattling scratchily in the brisk breeze. He thought of
pursuing her but for some reason he held himself back.
This strange, soft, tough, sad, beautiful woman had
suceeded in filling him with emotions he had never felt before.
How could he just let her disappear like this? How would she
survive in this foreign place without his guidance? It tore at him,
but something kept him from giving chase. He would see her
again, of this he was certain. He stood and stared after her for a
long time.
The last of the setting sun finally vanished behind the
majestic stance of Mauna Kea, darkness shrouding the land as the
ancient cycle renewed itself.
End of Chapter 2
Unpublished Works © 1997 GJB
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