“So I don’t have to be fixed up with him, then?” I asked while pulling into our driveway.
Uncle Hiroshi and Tsutomu were relaxing at the teak table on the lanai with frosty bottles of Asahi Super-Dry beer before them. The two of them had the unmistakable redness of a long day in the sun. The Hawaiian sun was too much for all of us-even though I’d slathered myself with sunscreen before running, I knew I had acquired a reddish tinge.
“You two are starting to look Hawaiian Japanese,” I greeted them cheerfully. When they appeared mystified, I added, ‘You’re getting a local person’s tan.”
“Really?” Tom said, looking pleased. “We were only on the golf course two hours today. The realtor picked us up, and then we were quite busy doing research in Kapolei the rest of the time!”
“Tell me while I cook,” I said, starting to take the cooler out of the car. Tom gallantly took it from my arms and I followed him into the kitchen, as did Uncle Hiroshi, who gave my father a glass of water and settled down with him in the living room
“So, I learned about real estate today,” Uncle Hiroshi said. “Prices here are great!”
“Ah, but you’re biased. This is the first or second highest priced housing market in the US,” I said.
“Actually, the realtor explained that the Leeward Side is a bargain,” Hiroshi said. “Here there is more sun, and with it dry, good weather, for a better price, because of the distance from Honolulu.”
“I don’t think this is far at all,” Tom said. “Of course, this area would be more convenient if a train service existed. I wonder about the old days, because I saw old train tracks running through the golf course.”
“I saw them, too. My guess is they were used by the plantations for moving products rather than people,” I said.
“This is not about trains!” Uncle Hiroshi said. “I’m teaching you about real estate. Apparently, Kikuchi Mitsuo, the developer of this resort and father of Jiro-san, who we met yesterday, has bought many small packages of land over the last few years.”
I nodded, thinking this was perhaps a tedious way to put together enough land for a resort, but perhaps the only way. I asked, ‘Why was the realtor so forthcoming with you?”
“He has a colleague in the office who knows one of the holding-out people, a young Hawaiian who believes some things are worth more than money.”
“Kainoa!” I said aloud, and everyone looked at me. “Kainoa is the owner of the coffee shop where I go during my morning run.”
“Ah so desu ka.” Tom looked thoughtful. “Now I finally understand why you enjoy getting up so early in the morning.”
“Hey, stop it!” I made a punching gesture in Tom’s direction.
“Rei can’t seem to be without a boyfriend for even a day,” my father said dryly.
“It’s a shame, because Calvin Morita seems like he won’t have a chance. He might be…how do you say…Mr. Right?” Uncle Hiroshi asked.
“Dr Right,” Tom corrected. “Or should I say Dr Muscles? Otoosan and I saw him outside the golf club restaurant at lunchtime. He drives a Mercedes S Class.”
“I’m interested to hear what you learned from the lawyer.” I looked pointedly at my cousin. “What was his name? Yamaguchi?”
“Bobby Yamaguchi,” my cousin answered, his lips curling around the incongruous first name. “Our conversation was by telephone, and he didn’t have much time, but Yamaguchi-san told me he was sorry he even agreed to help Edwin.”
“Why?” I asked. “Was it because he thought Edwin’s case had no merit?”
“I think so. All he could do was suggest that the letter proving ownership might have been intentionally destroyed, but the judge wasn’t sympathetic. Yamaguchi-san also didn’t care for Edwin’s personality. He found him hard to work with.”
We all exchanged glances then, but didn’t say anything. I guess family loyalty was silencing us even within our small unit.
“We have something to report from our own research today,” my father said as I put the fish in the fridge and began unloading the vegetables and fruit on to the kitchen counter. “Things are looking quite interesting.”
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?”
“
“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 sauteing. 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
