My father explained that while we hadn’t found any record of a sale from the Pierces to Harue Shimura, there had been a sale by the Pierces of a property in Chinatown to Clara Liang during the war years. I added in the bit about Josiah Pierce selling land to various Asian women, who were perhaps former plantation workers.
“What if…” Tom began, then stopped. We all looked at him expectantly. “What if Josiah Pierce wrote the letter we heard about to Harue and meant to formalize the sale with a regular transaction, but something happened to stop that?”
“Such as?” I asked, not following his train of thought.
“What if she died before the transaction was formalized? It was during 1945, when Yoshitsune was away in Idaho, that his mother died. So Mr. Pierce decided to keep the land, and then leased it to Clara Liang instead.”
“But there was a long time in between the letter-which Yoshitsune claims he saw in the 1930s-and 1945. It seems to me if ten or more years elapsed, Josiah wasn’t exactly eager to get the money for the sale, nor was Harue in a hurry to get the deed to the land.”
“But they lived there,” Tom pointed out. “Perhaps because they were freely living there, they simply trusted Mr. Pierce had done everything in order. It is the traditional way in Japan for the landlord to treat his workers kindly, and the worker to respect the landlord. It might even have been a gift.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why would a smart, powerful landowner just give away waterfront property? He sold to other Asian women for sums ranging from a few hundred to ten thousand dollars. Why would he give our great-great-aunt land without the deed of sale the other ladies received, and filed with the state?”
“Everything is a mystery to you, Rei-chan,” Uncle Hiroshi said.
“It’s worth understanding everything before we make any commitments.” My father spoke directly to his brother. “If we help Edwin attempt to regain the property, we will surely pay high legal fees. It’s a stretch for me, especially if I have to retire because of my health.”
“Oh, we will help with the expenses! Don’t worry about that. Please take care of your health,” Uncle Hiroshi said, and I looked away to hide my smirk; my father was playing up his health condition, just to suit his purposes.
“I almost forgot, Rei-chan, you had a telephone call today,” Tom said.
“Oh?”
“A woman from the Waikiki Yacht Club named Georgina asked for you. She said she’d been instructed to telephone you about four fellows?”
“ Four Guys on the Edge ?” I caught my breath, thinking about the oddly named boat on which Michael was crewing. Had something happened at sea, and that was why a stranger was telephoning me about the boat?
“Yes, that was it. The yacht is arriving sometime tomorrow afternoon at the Waikiki Yacht Club.”
“But are you sure? Mich- My friend told me he thought it would take just under two weeks.” I wasn’t ready to introduce the topic of Michael Hendricks with anyone.
“Georgina said it will be coming in on its tenth day, and is apparently the first to arrive in its class. She also said that you may attend the boat’s greeting tomorrow afternoon.”
“Tomorrow night is the big family dinner,” Uncle Hiroshi said.
“No problem,” I said, unable to hide my happiness. Michael was arriving, and soon I’d be swept away, temporarily, from the trials of family life. “I’m doing the grocery shopping for the party in the morning with Uncle Yosh, so I can prepare most of what we’ll eat before I leave. And we’re doing seafood, remember? It rarely takes more than twenty minutes to cook a large fish. I mean, your dinner’s practically ready now.”
“Heh?” Hiroshi said.
All the while we’d been talking, I’d been chopping and sautéing. The ahi tuna was under the broiler, giving off delicious, hissing sounds.
“Given the topic we’ll be discussing tomorrow evening, I don’t think it’s appropriate to bring four strangers,” Uncle Hiroshi said stiffly.
“Oh, I’m not bringing anyone. And Four Guys on the Edge is a boat name; it’s not like four boyfriends.”
“My daughter has many talents,” said my father. “I think we can spare her for a few hours, if seeing the end of this boat race is so important.”
“Thank you,” I said, relieved and slightly surprised to have my father as the ally in my corner.
“Not at all.” My father’s eyes remained on me, as if he could see straight through to what really was important, even though he’d never heard Michael’s name before.
12
I WAS AS good as my word, and got up before six the next morning. I even skipped my run in order to cook. Spinach was washed three times, shaken and tied up in kitchen towels to dry. I put together a trifle from ladyfingers, rum, the whipped soymilk and the remaining fruit we had-ripe mango and banana. When the rest of the family came in, I gave them a breakfast of pineapple, low-sodium miso soup, rice, and a bit of pickled daikon radish and then persuaded everyone to make a part of dinner. For my father, it was mincing scallions to use as a garnish and in multiple dishes; for Tom, it was chopping long green beans for me to stir-fry later with a ginger sesame glaze. Uncle Hiroshi seemed too shell-shocked to do anything but set the table, for which I complimented him lavishly.
Everyone was having fun by the end, and my father had to remind me it was time for my appointment with Uncle Yosh. I arrived at his door five minutes from the time I left Kainani.
Braden answered the door, looking sullen in just a pair of yellow and orange shorts. He rubbed his eyes; it was nine o’clock, apparently quite early. “Jii-chan!” he hollered, and stalked off.
Uncle Yosh emerged, dressed in a faded but clean T-shirt and wrinkled pants. He looked surprised to see the van, and kicked its tire. “This thing safe to travel?”
“So far, so good.”
“Where we going?”
“You mentioned a fishmonger on North King Street in Honolulu. I hope that’s not too far…”
“No, no, it be worth it. But tell me the truth-your fadduh gonna let you drive this wreck all the way to Honolulu?”
“Yes, of course. I drove it downtown yesterday.” As we started off, I got right down to business, asking Uncle Yosh if he thought it was a good idea for us to pursue the land claim one more time. He shrugged, saying nothing.
“It’s really your house, not Edwin’s. I mean, it’s your house if there ever really was a letter or deed-”
“It was ours in writing, for sure. I remember Josiah Pierce coming to our house one evening when I was a kid, Kaa-san sending me out. That musta been when the papers were done.”
The papers, or something else? I eyed my great-uncle, and struggled for the right words. “Did you see Josiah Pierce at your home again after that?”
“No, never.”
“And your father? How did he fit into all this? Where was he during this talk?”
“He got transferred to work at a plantation in Maui, around the time I was two. Never saw him after that, ’cause he died in an accident there.”
“Why didn’t you and your mother go with him?”
“The school. She was teaching here, and got paid for that. She wouldn’t have such an easy job if she went to Maui.”
“I’m sorry that you grew up without a father. That must have been very hard.” As I murmured the apology, my thoughts were spinning. It seemed more and more likely that Harue had had a secret relationship with Josiah Pierce.
“Truth is, you don’t miss what you don’t know. Lot of men around the plantation seemed too angry. The men in those times drank a lot, and the wives hated it. That’s why no drinking in my house, ever.”