Stories - Chapter 02
Last Sip of Coke
Mother, Dad, George, and I went up to the lava fields at Kiluea for a picnic day trip. The volcano wasn't active and we just played and hiked around. Just before leaving we all split a 10oz coca-cola. I was third after Mother and Dad and there was about two inches of coke left. I drank about an inch and a half, because I wanted to make sure I got my share. George started crying because there wasn't much left for him. I felt bad, but there was nothing I could do then. This sounds trivial, but I always remembered it. My lesson was to think about others and be generous and not take more than my share. If in doubt, take less. - 1/5/2010
Loss of My Jewel Piece
When we lived on Halai Hill, I came into a medallion like piece of costume jewelry. It was about two inches across and was round. It was bronze colored and embedded with different colored glass beads. I felt like it was valuable and special. At the end of the street at the top of the hill, I showed it to one of my playmates who lived on the street. He said it was his and we began arguing. An older neighbor kid, named Jimmy, came along and asked what was going on. We told him and he took the piece from my playmate and threw it from the top of the hill into the the cane fields below. With the wisdom of Solomon, he resolved our dispute. I remember feeling a deep sense of irretrievable loss. This was my first experience of that. Looking back, it may have been my playmate's piece, or he could have been just trying to get it from me. We both got over it and played together as long as I lived on Halai Hill. - 1/5/2010
Fireworks
We arrived in Hilo in 1955 in time for New Year's Day. Fireworks were very popular then and when I went back to live in 1973. I think for safety and health reasons things have calmed down. Big fireworks days were New Year, Chinese New Year, and 4th of July. We went to a New Year party during the day of January 1 at the Chillingworth's, I believe, and everyone was lighting and throwing firecrackers, including kids of George and my age. George and I had a ton of fun lighting and throwing firecrackers, one at a time. We threw hundreds. Mother and Dad would never in a million years have allowed us to do that in Tennessee. Because the other kids were allowed to do it, we were too. I don't know if they felt peer pressure or just figured the other adults knew what they were doing. I was 7 and George was 5. Yama and Puna Chillingworth were at that party. They were a little older than me. Maggie Kay Stearns (Bill and Maggie's daughter) was probably there too. She was younger than me. Later on I found a Boy Scout knife buried in the sand at the Hilo Yacht Club near the pool. Mother let me keep it. I was actually pretty surprised that she did. Before then, once when I asked for a knife, Mother gave me a carrot peeler. She was always overprotective, I thought. - 2/24/2010
