O'ahu Lonesome Tonight? (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series #5) (18 page)

It
would
be
an honor to be part of such a happy event.

***

The alarm went
off at six-thirty and I got up and slipped on my clothes. I ate a bowl of
cereal for dinner and checked the bus schedule on my phone. The next #42 came
in exactly ten minutes so I had to hustle. Even if I made it I wouldn’t make it
to the hospital before seven-thirty. I normally pride myself on punctuality,
but only when I have control over the situation.  Here I was away from
home, without a car, and my sleep cycle was all out of whack. So, like every
other local I’ve encountered in my lifetime, I cut myself some slack on being
tardy.

 
Moko
had a little kid with him in the waiting room. He
nudged the boy, who from his size I figured was the nine-year-old, and they
both stood to greet me.

“
Pali
, this is my son,
Kiwini
,”
Moko
said.
Then he stage-whispered to the
boy, “Shake her hand, Kiwi.
This is your Auntie
Pali
.”

The little guy
shot out his hand but kept his head down. I was so moved by being called
“auntie” that I gave up any urge to tell the kid he was supposed to look the
person in the eye when he shook hands.

“I’m happy to
meet, you
Kiwini
,” I said.

“Yeah.
My friends say, ‘Kiwi’.
Just
‘Kiwi’.”
He was a more sullen version of
Moko
.
Built kind of square, with dark hair and eyes, he could’ve passed for a native
Hawaiian.

“Got it.
I know all about having two names. I’ve got another
name that I never go by. So as far as I’m concerned, your name is ‘Kiwi’.
Nothing else.”

The kid looked
up and smiled. Then he flicked his eyes to his dad.

“Uh, Kiwi’s
kinda
hungry,”
Moko
said. “We
were waiting for you to get here.”

“Sorry I’m
late. The bus comes when it comes.”

“No worries.
But if you don’t mind, we’re
gonna
head out.”

“Any word from the doctor?”
I said.

“Nah, Stu’s
still in surgery. The nurse came out a little after four and said they hadn’t
started yet. So it’ll be more like eight when they’re done.”

“You go home,”
I said. “I’ll call when I hear anything.”

We hugged
good-bye and I bent over to give Kiwi a hug. His eyes grew wide, like he was
bracing himself for a shot, so I just patted his shoulder. “I’m glad I got to
see you. I don’t know too many of my new
ohana
and you’re the first nephew I’ve met. You’ll always be special to me.”

 He smiled
and nodded, and they left. I heard Kiwi questioning his dad about what I’d
meant by ‘new
ohana
’ as they made their way to
the elevator.

It left me
thinking about everything that had happened in the past six months. Finding my
long lost father; learning the truth behind my mother’s tragic death. For a
person who grew up an orphan, I’d certainly had my share of family tragedy.
Maybe that’s why it was so important to me that Stu pull through this. I was
starting to feel like a jinx.
Like being related to me would
bring down a world of hurt on anyone who claimed me as
ohana
.
 
But that was stupid.
Right?

CHAPTER 24

The doctor
didn’t show up until after ten o’clock that night. I was half-heartedly reading
a book I’d gotten free on my Kindle and I couldn’t remember the plot or the
characters or even what kind of book it was supposed to be.

“Miss
Wilkerson?” the doctor said. Since I’d told him I was Stuart’s sister, it was a
reasonable mistake.

“Yes?” I stood
up to get the news.

“Your brother
came through it just fine. He’s in Recovery, but we expect to bring him back up
here to the ICU within the hour.”

He paused. I
guessed he was giving me time to ask a question, but what could I say? Is he
going to be all right? Is this going to stem the infection? Does he know you
sawed his leg off? Rather than ask questions no one could answer, I stayed
silent.

“You’re
probably wondering about his prognosis,” he said. “And I wish I could be more
optimistic. But only time will tell if this latest effort pans out.”

I thanked him
for his work and for coming to talk to me.

He looked
around the deserted waiting room. “Oh,” he said. “You may want to alert other
family members that these next few hours are critical.”

Talk about
cryptic. I wanted to ask him to explain what the heck that
meant, but
then I figured it out for myself.

I looked behind
the potted plant and the pillow was still there. I scrunched it up and crammed
it in between two of the lightly padded armchairs. I said my second prayer in
less than a day and then curled up and drifted off to sleep.

***

I awoke to the
feeling of being watched. I opened on eye and saw Jason standing over me.

“I see you’re
using the pillow I brought,” he said.

I sat up. “You
brought me this? I really appreciate it. They design these waiting rooms to
make ‘waiting’ about as comfortable as ‘water-boarding’.”

“Yeah.
I came by to see how Stu was doing but they still
wouldn’t let me see him so I left you the pillow.
Hoped it
would help.”

“You walk
around carrying a pillow?”

He smiled.
“Nah, I had it because I thought Natalie might be here. Thought she might
appreciate a little comfort. She hasn’t been answering her phone so I thought
maybe she was here.”

“As far as I
know, she hasn’t been here since we talked with the doctor about taking Stu’s
leg. I guess her morning sickness has really kicked up and—”

“Yeah, so I
gathered. I’m not dissing her or
nothin
’ but if it
were me in there, I’d hope my
wife
would at least stick around and see
how I was
doin
’.” He
squinted
his face in disapproval; then must’ve thought better of it. “Like I
said,
no diss. I’m just
sayin
’.”

I asked him if
he’d like to go get a cup of coffee and he accepted. As we walked toward the elevators
I wondered what it would be like for me if Farrah was in the hospital fighting
for her life and I wasn’t allowed to go in and see her.

“Do you have
any questions for me?” I said. “You heard they took off his leg last night,
right?”

He skidded to a
stop. “No.” The look on his face was pure horror. “How’d that happen? Stu is
going to freak out when he wakes up. Why did Natalie allow them to do that?”

I put a hand on
his arm. “There was no other way. The infection in that leg was getting worse
and worse and they couldn’t stop it. The only way to stop it was by amputating
the leg.”

“Oh my God.
You don’t know Stu,” he said. I marveled at how
he was echoing Natalie. “Stu’s a man’s man. He’s
gotta
always be the best. The top dog,
ya
know? This is
gonna
hit him hard.”

“Well, trust me
when I tell you nobody wanted to do it. But it had to be done. If they hadn’t,
he might’ve died.”

Jason pressed
his lips in a tight line and shook his head. “This is
not
what I
expected would happen.”

***

Just before
noon, Wendi Takeda showed up. She wore what I assumed was her ‘journalist
uniform’ of white shirt and black slacks and her hair was pulled back in a
tight bun that made her look bald as she approached.

“Wendi Takeda,”
she said as she came into range. “Remember me?”

How could I
forget?

“Certainly.
Are you here about my brother?”

“Yes. My
sources here in the hospital have kept me up on his progress. Or should I
say,
his lack of progress. Are you willing to answer a few
questions now?” She sat down beside me.

“Look, Wendi. I
haven’t been keeping up with the news. The only channel they’ve got in here is
CNN and all they’re talking about is that pervert in Utah who’s on the run.
I’ve been reading my Kindle.”

“Well your
brother’s situation is all over the local news.” She reached into her black
messenger bag and took out a folded copy of the
Honolulu Journal-Dispatch
.
She snapped it open and on the front page in big-as-my-thumb type it said, ‘
Local
Man Fighting Bacterial Infection
After
Falling in
Ala
Wai
Canal
.’

“You know what’s
wrong with that headline?” she said.

“No.”

“I still don’t
think he fell.”

“What
difference does it make?” I said. “Regardless of how he got there he’s still
plenty sick. Did you hear they amputated his leg?”

“Yes. And I
also have the results of his lab tests. Have they told you exactly what kind of
infection he’s got?”

“No. But to be
fair, I didn’t ask. I figured whatever it was they were treating him for it and
that’s all that matters.”

“Wrong. They’re
treating him as best they can but he’s got
three
different strains of
bacteria. And any one of them is nasty enough to bring down a draft horse.”

“What are you
saying?” I said.

“I think you
know exactly what I’m saying. And I’m asking you to help me get this story
out.”

“There is no
story, Wendi. My brother is resting after a gruesome surgery that will
hopefully save his life.
Happens every day in this hospital
and in hospitals around the world.
It isn’t news.”

She folded the
newspaper back up and stood. Then she reached into a pocket and took out another
of her white business cards and held it out. “Here’s my card.”

“I already have
one.”

“I know, but I
figured you may have tossed it. Call me when you’re ready to talk.”

“There’s
nothing to talk about.”

“I’m sorry,” she
said. But she didn’t look one bit sorry. “Sooner or later you’re going to
realize you’ve got a whole lot to talk about. And then I hope you’ll call.”

CHAPTER 25

I went in to
see Stu as soon as Wendi left. I donned the sterile gear and slipped into his
room in record time.
As if getting to my brother quickly was
the only way to purge Wendi Takeda’s mocking prediction from my brain.

He didn’t look
much different from the last time I’d seen him. Oh sure, his leg was gone; the
blanket several inches flatter on one side of his body than the other. But
overall he still looked the same: all puffed up, with tubes coming out of
various parts of his body, and machines marking the efforts of his heart and
lungs.

“Stuart,” I
said. I knew he couldn’t hear me, but it made me feel better to talk to him
like a person instead of a body hooked up to an array of machines. “I’m here.
If there’s anything I can do, or if there’s anything you want—”

His eyes
fluttered. He opened one eye until it was a thin slit. I could just make out
the contrast between his iris and the white part, but if I hadn’t known his
eyes were blue I wouldn’t have been able to tell.

“Are you
awake?” I said.

He made a
little motion with his head like he was checking to see if he could.

“Can you tell
me what happened?” I knew it was a ludicrous question. But I had to ask.

“Na-nah.”
He said in a whisper. There was no voice behind
it; only air escaping his lips.

“Water?
Do you need water?” I reached over and grabbed the
lidded plastic cup on his hospital tray. I shook it and heard the rattle of ice
chips in a small amount of water. A straw stuck out of the cup and I angled it
toward Stu’s mouth.

He turned his
head away. Obviously I’d misjudged what he was trying to say.

“Na-
na
-nah,” he said, this time more urgently. It was still
just a stream of air, no vocal cords involved.

“Natalie! You
want to see Natalie?”

His face
contorted in pain but he managed to nod his head once.

Of course he
wanted to see Natalie. I wasn’t sure how I’d swing it, but if it would give my
brother something to live for, I’d bring that woman to him if I had to knock
her over the head and drag her in unconscious.

***

Taking the bus
was becoming a hassle. I’m all for being ‘of the people’ but it was looking
more and more like I’d be in Honolulu for at least a few more days so when I
got back to the apartment I called the bellman and asked if he could order a
car for me.

“No problem.
Would you like a standard size? Maybe a Jeep or something fun
like
a convertible?”

“Fun isn’t
necessary,” I said. Then I thought that sounded a little rude so I followed it
up with, “I just need a small, inexpensive car. My brother’s in the hospital,
at Queen’s. I just need something to get back and forth.”

“Oh, sorry to hear.
You
kama
’
aina
?

“Yeah, I’m from
Maui. My brother’s the guy who got fished out of the
Ala
Wai
Canal this week.”

“No! That’s
rough, man. I saw it on the news. Tell you what—my
sista’s
over on the mainland for a couple of weeks. She left her car
wit
’ me so she don’t have to park it at the airport. You
can use it, no charge.”

“Oh,
mahalo
, but I couldn’t—”

“No, no, I mean
it. It’s
nothin
’ fancy.
Just a
little car.
Pretty old too.”

I didn’t say
anything for a couple of beats and he went on, “Oh, I
gotta
ask: you know how to drive a stick? The thing’s got a stick.”