Shimura Trouble

by Sujata Massey

  “The paper’s gone,” Yoshitsune said, dashing my hopes. “Everything was gone when I came back from the mainland.”

  As if to put an exclamation mark on the disappointment, there was a bang at the front door, and after a moment, a teenage boy stuck his head around the corner of the dining room. He had the same attractively tilted dark brown eyes as his sister, but wore his black hair shaved close to his head. A Hawaiian skinhead, I thought, taking in the ripped T-shirt with its Quiksilver logo and way-too-long board shorts.

  “Braden, you get your sorry self in here!” Edwin roared. “Where you been so long?”

  “Nowhere you need to know about.” Braden scraped his chair loudly as he sat down with a plate containing nothing but pork.

  “Braden, please. It’s Jii-chan’s belated birthday celebration,” Margaret said. “Your cousins have been waiting to meet you!”

  The boy glanced at each of us as his mother made the introductions. Tom and Hiroshi made slight bows from their positions at the table, but I didn’t bother. I had a feeling that Braden would mock anything Japanese about us. His sister was watching him too, as if she expected something to happen.

  Edwin picked up the conversation we’d been having before the sullen teenager’s arrival. “Now, like I was saying, this land, it was very nice because it’s waterfront. Even on the Leeward Side of Oahu, waterfront property is worth a lot of money. The Japanese developer who built Kainani wants to buy twenty acres, of which our land is a small part—but probably worth five or six million.”

  “Are you talking about the developer called Mitsuo Kikuchi?” I asked, glad for something to distract me from Braden. He was chewing with his mouth slightly open, a disgusting sight.

  “Yes indeed,” Edwin answered me. “Mitsuo Kikuchi wants to buy all that land from the Pierces to make a restaurant development.”

  “That’s a tough situation for you, isn’t it?” My father said. “If you want to get the land back, for nostalgic and emotional reasons.”

  Edwin looked as if he thought my father was deranged. “Of course I want to sell to him. I want to get the property, and then sell it. I mean, that’s what my fadduh wants to do. Right?” He shot a look at Uncle Yoshitsune, who only raised his white eyebrows.

  “It would be good for your whole family, economically,” Uncle Hiroshi pronounced. Money was the one thing he understood.

  “Uncle Edwin, how will it be possible to sell the land if your father doesn’t have a title?”

  “We can prove it other ways. The evidence is all around.” Edwin waved his hand around as if the proof was floating somewhere above the dining table. “You see that I’m a simple working man. I never had the funds to hire a lawyer. A good lawyer would have won the case.” Edwin looked at me again. “Your ex-fiancé, he went and helped complete strangers for free! He could still help us. “

  “I don’t think it’s appropriate,” I said tightly, and noticed both my father and Aunt Margaret look at me with concern.

  “We must bring out the truth, quick as possible. And I’m willing to make it worth everyone’s while,” Edwin rasped. “Since Hugh apparently isn’t an option, we’ll have to hire a real-estate lawyer from one of the good Queen Street firms. Somebody better than the last guy, Bobby Yamaguchi. I’ll need you guys to help me with the retainer; they charge you thousands, just to get started. Whaddya think, Hiroshi? You a money guy, right?”

  Uncle Hiroshi nodded, and after looking at him, I saw my own father and Tom nod as well. The family wouldn’t let each other down, even if it was heading straight for disaster.

  Taking a deep breath, I spoke. “Uncle Edwin, I’m deeply sympathetic, but I’m concerned that this might actually be a personal matter handled better by you and your father.”

  “I give you this promise.” Edwin was looking at the men in my family, as if I hadn’t even spoken. “You get me the legal help to fix this situation and then I’ll flip that land to Mitsuo Kikuchi for a price even more than it’s worth—you know me, I can be persuasive. And we’ll split the proceeds three ways—my family, yours—’ he nodded at my father—‘And yours.” A final nod to Hiroshi and Tom.

  “This could be a lot of effort and expenditure for…” I cut myself off, not wanting to be rude enough to say ‘nothing’. Instead I continued, “How do you know the property’s value?”

  “I ordered a commercial appraisal earlier this year. You can see the paperwork, if you like.”

  “Yes, please,” Tom and Uncle Hiroshi said, almost in unison. Margaret jumped up and hurried into another room, coming back with a small sheaf of papers. After Tom and Uncle Hiroshi studied it, they passed it to my father, and then it was mine.

  I scanned the appraisal. 1 Kalama Street was a ratty-looking shack in the midst of weeds, and a line of type below listed it as a rental property owned by Pierce Holdings. The appraised value was five million dollars, which the appraiser had calculated based on the prospect of selling the cottage as a teardown property.

  “You can go out there, see it yourself. Me, I got a court order to stay away from the place, so I can’t go there anymore.” Edwin turned to look directly at the men at the table. “So how about it? Do you want to help us? If I’m being too pushy, let me know. We’re family.”

  To my surprise my father said, “I think we’d like to think about this…challenge you have presented. May we give you our answer in a few days?”

  “Of course!” Edwin sounded aggressively jovial. “I didn’t mean to surprise you with too much news at one time, but you are just here for just a month. We got to use our time well.

  No, I thought to myself. It’s not about using our time well. It’s about using us, period.

  I BROKE THE law right away the next morning, by heading across the Pierce fields for my run. Everything I’d learned about the Pierce Holdings in the last day had predisposed me to dislike, and I seriously doubted the lands manager would shoot a small woman in a red running bra and purple shorts, if he came across me. I prepared an innocent response, in case I was confronted, but I was not. I saw nobody there, or in the plantation village, and I fairly swaggered into Aloha Morning and downed a bottle of ice-cold Fiji water while I waited for my latte, feeling the sweat cooling against my almost-bare back. It had been a wonderful run, largely because of the absence of traffic. The only car I’d had to watch out for had been a speeding Mercedes driving through Kainani, and I’d just let it pass.

  On this, my second full day on the island, I felt myself falling into a routine. At the coffee shop I’d exchanged the shaka sign with Kainoa when I’d walked in; he’d grinned but remained in leisurely conversation with customers lounging on the lanai. While I waited for my coffee order to be made by a young, bleached-blond Asian surfer boy, I ambled around the shop, looking at the various things for sale. In addition to surfboards and macadamia nuts, there was a clothing section selling Hawaii-themed T-shirts, sarongs, board shorts and swimwear.

  “You plan to swim home?”

  I jumped at the sound of Kainoa’s voice. He was right behind me, with a paper cup in one hand. “Here’s your latte. I had Joe make it with a double shot, no extra charge.”

  “Thanks.” I saw his eyes go to the small crocheted bikini in my hand. “Don’t tell me you’ve got nuns in a convent going blind making these?”

  Kainoa laughed. “My cousin Leila crochets them, hanging out in her backyard while the kids play. They sell here and on the beach at Haleiwa, where of course the price is twenty per cent higher.”

  “Cute, but a bit too young for me.” I put the bikini down, glad that my three-year-old Speedo was still serviceable. “So, where’s Charisse?”

  “Didn’t show up.” Kainoa shrugged. “Second morning this week it’s happened. If she gets in, I’m going to have her give the espresso machine a good cleaning—I can’t handle this place all on my own, you know? And about the bikini, just take it home, yah? Forget your age, which is what, twenty-six?”

  “Thirty. You’re a very good s
alesman,” I said, smiling despite myself.

  “It’s not the only thing I’m good at.” His eyes held mine for a moment. “What are you doing tonight? I’m going over to a club on the North Shore, nice little hangout where Jack Johnson used to play. I hear he’s back on the island, which means he might even stop in and jam.”

  “What a nice invitation.” I paused, thinking how I could rebuff him without causing offense. “I’m sorry, but I can’t go. Family obligations.”

  “You got kids?” His thick eyebrows rose.

  “No, but I’m caring for my father. He had a stroke recently, so I’m working on his physical therapy and diet every day, and I don’t like to leave him alone at night.” I’d poured it on a little heavy, but I didn’t want Kainoa to ask me out for another night. “My morning run is the one thing I do for myself, and I treasure it.”

  Kainoa followed me over to the bar, where I decided to use a squeeze bottle of local honey instead of my usual sugar. He said, “All right then, I can take a hint. So how you getting along with your Hawaii relatives? Is your uncle still chasing waterfront property dreams?”

  “He is—and no matter how lolo or annoying he may be, I’m sympathetic. So many Japanese-Americans lost property during the war. There are heartbreaking stories throughout California, where I grew up.”

  “Hawaii’s totally different,” Kainoa said. “People here weren’t put in the camps. Nobody stole their land—”

  “That’s not exactly true. If you look at the whole chain of islands in Hawaii, about twenty thousand were taken to camps on the mainland. In our case, Uncle Yosh worked at the post office, so he was accused of reading classified military mail.”

  “Yosh Shimura—you talking ’bout the old buggah who raises koi? I didn’t know he was interned.”

  “Yes, he’s the one.” I took a sip of coffee. “Hey, this latte is perfect. Maybe it was the double shot.”

  “I’d think you would have ruined it with the honey you added,” Kainoa said.

  “It’s my new habit; I’m trying to cut down on refined sugar.”

  “Whatever,” Kainoa said. “And regarding your crazy family business, don’t even think about it no more. You got enough going on with your father. You don’t need more life troubles.”

  “What do you mean by that?” His tone had startled me.

  Kainoa looked at me. “You want to stay in good health, keep up your running, go swimming, try the honey in your latte. Where you might get hurt is going somewhere you shouldn’t, especially on this side of the island.”

  “Are you talking about the Pierce lands?”

  “No, I’m not.” Kainoa looked at me levelly. “I’m talking about the past. And it’s just a tip, because I’d hate to see a nice girl like you get hurt.”

  HAD KAINOA BEEN threatening me? I wondered as I lounged in the pool with my father a few hours later. No, I decided. It was just the language gap between us. All of a sudden, I wished I really was a kamaaina, and not just another hapa-haole stumbling her way through misunderstandings.

  The sun had warmed the pool to the most amazingly pleasant temperature, and the sky was beautiful and cloudless. The sun was high, but gentle trade winds kept me from overheating. From my supine position, I heard rumbling. Someone was talking; my father, no doubt. He was the only other person in the pool with me, and he’d been talking almost nonstop, all through the morning’s workout of exercises taken from my new bible, Move and Groove Past Your Stroke!

  I felt a hand slide under my back, and I jerked upright to find myself looking not at my father, but a much younger Asian man with spiky, gangster-style hair and small eyes with a strange glint in them. His upper body was typically hairless, but it was puffy with flab, atypical for any Japanese man, especially one in his twenties. And, unbelievably, he kept his hands under my back.

  “Need help float?” he said in a heavy accent—not pidgin, but Japanese.

  “Get away!” I twisted away, sputtering, because I’d swallowed a bit of water at the shock of the touch.

  “Wakarimasen,” he said, and lounged on a blue Styrofoam noodle, the kind of water toy children were more likely to play with.

  So he definitely was Japanese, and he was pleading that he didn’t understand English. I didn’t bother continuing the conversation in either language, but splashed back to my father, who was lounging against the pool wall, reading.

  “Did you see the Japanese guy with the noodle? He just touched me!”

  “Oh really? That’s Jiro Kikuchi,” said Uncle Hiroshi, who had been lounging in a chair wearing a sun-shielding visor that covered almost his whole face. “If he likes you, maybe that’s a good thing!”

  “What?” I was incensed.

  “He’s the developer’s son, Rei,” my father said. “We met earlier when you went into the restroom. I was just talking with him in Japanese, and then for a few minutes with his roommate.”

  Now I remembered what Kainoa had said about the younger Kikuchi and his caregiver. I followed my uncle’s gaze to a short, bronzed man in his thirties with thick black razor-cut hair wearing a Speedo suit and reading The Annals of Psychiatry behind a pair of dark sunglasses.

  “Did the roommate mention that he’s a psychiatrist?” I asked, recalling Kainoa’s information.

  “Yes, how did you guess?” my father answered. “His name is Calvin Morita, and he’s just like you, Rei, partly Japanese and partly American. He went to Yale for his undergraduate and medical degrees. Since you didn’t care for Kikuchi-san, shall we introduce you to Dr. Morita?”

  “No!” I got out of the pool and found a chair far away from the matchmaking brothers, where I buried myself in The Waikiki Widow, the Juanita Sheridan novel that was next in the series I’d started on the plane. I hadn’t finished two pages before Calvin Morita strolled over.

  “Are you Doctor Shimura’s daughter?” he asked with the long vowel sounds of the Midwest. I nodded warily.

  He crouched down close to me. “I’m Calvin Morita, and I live in the house over there.” He waved his arm in the direction of the end of the cul-de-sac, where the Kikuchi mansion lay. “I was wondering if something happened in the pool.”

  “Yes. Jiro Kikuchi just came up and grabbed me when I was swimming.”

  “I’m so sorry. He’s got some psychological issues.”

  “Perhaps he does, but he still should be kept from touching women like that.”

  “It’s called schizoaffective disorder.” Calvin gave me a penetrating look. “He’s fine most of the time, but sometimes he expresses himself in a way that we would consider…boisterous. I know it’s hard for a layperson to understand. I take care of him, so please accept my apology for not doing a very good job.”

  I examined Calvin, who was neither good- nor bad-looking, just completely average, except for his physique. Such blown-up muscles on a man who was barely five foot six inches tall was ridiculous. And what kind of a doctor had so much time in his day that he could pump iron?

  “You might want to stay very close to him, or avoid public swimming areas.” I glanced over at Kikuchi, who seemed to be focused on rubbing himself against a noodle.

  “Oh, he’s fine, just a bit frustrated at times. And regarding supervision, it doesn’t work well when I’m in the water with him. He feels as if he’s being babied.”

  “Well, you’re doing splendidly at not hurting his feelings then.” I stood up, because I noticed that Jiro was getting out of the water. It was time for me to jump back in. I waved at Calvin and without another word dove smoothly under the surface. This time, when I came up, my father was beside me.

  “Are you feeling better now?” he asked.

  “Not really.” I was treading water, and my father joined me.

  “Well, let’s take your mind off the present and talk about the situation with Edwin,” my father said. “I want to explain why Hiroshi and I are so concerned about it.”

  “Hey, I’m concerned too, but that doesn’t mean I want you to throw
a lot of money into paying a lawyer to chase a dubious proposition.”

  “I’m not happy to become involved in Edwin’s personal life either, but Hiroshi and I must do something to amend for what our great-grandparents did to Harue Shimura by sending her to become a laborer in Hawaii.”

  “But you can’t apologize to her. She’s dead.” As we talked, I kept my eye on Jiro Kikuchi, who was watching us, but seemed content to be poolside, for the moment, with Calvin.

  “I received a telephone call from Edwin this morning, while you were running,” my father continued. “He pressed me for an answer, and I have delayed until dinner tomorrow evening.”

  “Where? At their place again?”

  “No, ours. I would have asked you first, but you were gone. We can all cook together…”

  The last time my father cooked, he’d started a fire. Hastily, I said, “I’ll cook the meal like I’m doing all the others. The only catch is I don’t have a really good cookbook with me—I’ll have to think up some impromptu things, I suppose”

  “There will be nine of us, since Hiroshi invited Calvin Morita. I hope that isn’t a bad surprise?” he added, when he saw my face.

  “How could you? What’s he going to do, bring along Jiro?”

  “No, no, Calvin explained that he expects Jiro’s father to be in town, which means he can come alone.”

  “Just my luck,” I said grimly.

  “Thank you for understanding, Rei. Also, I wanted to ask if you had time to drive me to my first appointment at the Queen’s Medical Center today?”

  “Yes, of course. What time?” I was in the mood to get away from Kainani.

  “It’s at two, but I thought we could go in earlier, and I’d take you to lunch at Chinatown first. Then, during my appointment, you could start researching legal documents that pertain to the cottage situation.”

  “But we already know there was no real estate transaction. If there was a deed giving the Shimuras claim to the land, Edwin would have been able to use it for his earlier lawsuit.”