Free O'ahu Lonesome Tonight? (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series #5) by JoAnn Bassett Page B

I felt him look over at me
but I didn’t look up. “I mean, professionally, this is where I should be. But
personally, I love my life on Maui. It would be hard to leave it for what’s
over here.”
    “You mean
horrendous traffic and astronomical rents and a crime rate that’s pretty much
the main topic of every newscast?” I said. I thought I was simply pointing out
the obvious but both guys glared at me so I figured maybe it’d come out more
snarky than I intended.
    “Yeah.” Steve didn’t sound like he wanted to discuss it. Which was a good thing, since I was about a breath away from
throwing a full-blown guilt trip at him.
    I got up and
made a pile of toast. As we chomped on sweet bread toast with guava jelly,
Steve perked up. “Say, are you guys planning to use your car today?”
    “I don’t know,”
I said. “Why?”
    “I was hoping
to drive up to the North Shore. Maybe check out the surf. The news is saying
this storm’s brought in some killer waves.”
    “Operative word
there is ‘killer’,” said Jeff. “You’re not planning on surfing, are you?”
    “Not sure. I’ll
have to decide when I get there. But I’d love to see ‘ em .
Word is all the surfing greats will be out there.”
    “Well, be
careful,” I said in my ‘mom’ voice. “You know the story of Eddie Aikau ?”
    “Is he the guy
on the ‘Eddie Would Go’ signs?”
    “Yeah, that’s
him. He was a terrific surfer and a strong swimmer. In fact, he was one of the
first lifeguards up on the North Shore where the waves can get real hairy. He
got picked for the second Hokule’a expedition—the
Tahiti to Hawaii trip in a raft like the ancient Polynesians used to get to
Hawaii. Anyhow, the raft capsized south of Moloka’i and they were stranded.
Eddie offered to swim to Lana’i to get help. It was twelve miles away. The
channel between Moloka’i and Lana’i is one of the most treacherous straits in
the islands. He never made it. And they never found his body.”
    “Did you tell
me that to scare me out of surfing today?” Steve said.
    “No, I told you
so you’d realize even the toughest guy out there can get in over his head.”
    “Got it.”
    Steve left soon
after and Jeff and I headed out to catch a bus to ‘ Iolani Palace. Neither of us had been there since we’d toured it as school kids. In
the past decade the palace had been given a major facelift and we wanted to see
the changes. We got off at King Street and bought tickets for the tour.
    “You know,
coming here is as much an act of remembering as going to Pearl Harbor,” I said.
“The overthrow of the legitimate government of the Kingdom of Hawaii is also a
part of our Hawaiian heritage we should never forget.”
    “Yeah, but in
this case, our ancestors were on the wrong side of things,” said Jeff.
    “Still, it’s
our duty to pay our respects.”
    We went on the
tour and were amazed at the spectacular rebirth of the palace. The work
included restoring the original colors as well as replacing much of the antique
furniture and accessories from the time of King Kalakaua .
The authentic furniture had been painstakingly tracked down.  Many palace
furnishings were sold following the overthrow and after a hundred years pieces
had been scattered far and wide. In some cases, when the ‘ Iolani Palace restoration team contacted the owners and explained where the item had
originated, the owners graciously donated a valuable family heirloom to the
restoration. In other cases, the owners balked and only relented after
receiving payment of the current value—which in most cases was a lot of money
due to the historical significance of the piece.
    When we got
back on the bus we were in much the same somber frame of mind as when we’d
returned from Pearl Harbor.
    “Let me see if
I’ve got this straight,” said Jeff. “The Queen abdicated to avoid a possible
bloody battle which she knew her loyal subjects would lose.”
    “That’s right.
She only gave in to save