by Bodie Thoene
Was she dreaming?
Kaiulani spoke without moving her lips. “Aloha, old one. Why do you weep?”
“Ua paopao mai no lakou. They crush your people. I kou poo kanaka. They afflict your heritage.”
Kaiulani sat up. The air was suffused with the scent of tuberose blossoms. The woman’s face became clear before her. “Grandmother? Am I dreaming?”
Kaiulani heard the old woman’s words as a psalm of mourning: “Though you sleep, my dear, your soul is awake. Listen to the cries of your people! Pane mai no lakou me ka olelo iho i na mea howa. They pour out their arrogant words! Kaiulani, even the ground of Hawaii Nei groans for the betrayal. The sons of the righteous have turned against the Lord!”
Again the earth rumbled and shook beneath Kaiulani. She stood on the warm shore of her home and saw the waters roiling. “Who? Who has done this to my people?”
“Kaena wale ka poe hana hewa a pau. All the evildoers boast!”
Kaiulani saw Lorrin Thurston looming beneath her banyan tree with an ax. Clive Davies stood beside him. Andrew, Bible open in his hand, stood between the tree and the upraised ax.
Andrew shouted, “He who planted the ear, does he not hear?”
Thurston laughed and replied, “I am not my father’s father.”
The old woman standing in the water cried, “They have taken our land. We have no place left to stand, O Lord. Alu mai la lakou i ka uhane o ka poe pono. They band together against the life of the Righteous. A hoohewa lakou i ke koko hala ole. They condemn the innocent to death!”
Kaiulani shouted, the sound of her own voice calling her to awaken. “Is Queen Liliuokalani alive?”
“The queen lives now as a captive. Olelo no hoi lakou, Aole e ike mai o Iehova. They say the Lord does not see what they do. Kaiulani, you must speak for your people. For those who have no voice!”
The bed shook violently. “Kaiulani! Kaiulani!” Hannah’s worried voice pierced the fog of her dream. “Wake up, please! You’re having a nightmare. Please!”
Slowly Kaiulani’s vision began to fade. “What? Where am I?” Her eyes focused on the beautiful portrait of her Soul’s Awakening.
“Sundown.” Hannah held her tightly. “Oh, Kaiulani, are you all right? Please! Talk to me.”
Kaiulani’s heart was beating rapidly. “Hannah, something terrible has happened!”
“No. Just a dream. A nightmare.”
Kaiulani resisted Hannah’s logic. There was something about the old woman’s warning. The words she had used to speak were familiar. “Hannah, the Bible—fetch my Bible.”
“What is it?” Hannah gave her the worn, well-thumbed Bible from the night table.
“The dream. I saw Andrew and Clive and Thurston beneath my banyan tree. And in the water—no ground left to stand on—an old woman. She was our people. She spoke to me in Hawaiian. Her words were…” Kaiulani flipped the pages of her Bible open to Psalms. Kaiulani gasped as she read the words of Psalm 94. “Look, Hannah. Look. This is everything she told me. Here!” Kaiulani passed the book to Hannah, who read slowly.
“They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. Yet they say, the Lord shall not see.” 22
Hannah’s face clouded with concern. “It was probably…only a dream, Kaiulani. Please don’t worry. Try to sleep.”
Kaiulani held onto Hannah tighter. “I am afraid of what I don’t know and what I can’t see, Hannah. I am so very far away from home.”
“Then we will stay awake all night and pray, you and I. We will stay awake and pray.”
* * * *
Republic of Hawaii
Andrew spent the rest of the night dragging wounded sailors out of burning buildings. The U.S. marines, already on hand to police the streets, took up new duties as rescuers and firefighters.
Political turmoil was momentarily forgotten in the aftermath of the natural disaster. No one was checking papers for fugitives as Andrew slipped aboard the inter-island steamer for his return to Maui.
As Andrew’s ship churned out of harbor, he had a panoramic view of the destruction. Native construction, mostly of timber, had swayed and pitched but remained standing. It was the more elaborate constructions of brick and masonry, like the government administration building, that cracked and shifted off their foundations. Rubble formed of decorative cornices lay in the streets. Crumbled stone facades littered the steps of grand, pretentious structures.
Atop the government house, the flagpole bearing the American flag was bent at an awkward, embarrassing angle. The drooping banner was the last thing Andrew’s eye followed as the steamer slipped out into the channel and away.
Chapter Eighteen
Hannah sat at the bedroom’s writing table. A textbook, a grammar, a dictionary, and a copybook were all open in front of her. “I dislike German,” she said, flipping pages and comparing instructions. “I despise it. I hate it. Ich hasse es sehr viel.”
“But you’re so much better at it than me,” Kaiulani observed. The princess was propped up against the headboard of the bed. “Too bad you can’t study it for both of us. If you did, then I would volunteer to do both assignments in English literature.”
Hannah made a sour face. “No, thank you. That’s no bargain.”
Though it was only midafternoon, the winter day was so dreary all the gas lamps were turned up full. An entire bucketful of coal blazed on the hearth, yet the room was still drafty and gloomy.
The clouds that had rolled in the day before had promised snow but delivered freezing rain instead. The smoke from the thousands of Liverpool chimneys seemed to have all collected on Sundown’s roof. The icicles hanging from the eaves were the color of charcoal. They portrayed glistening black fangs, as if Kaiulani had been swallowed by a beast and was even now in its maw.
Kaiulani was grateful the post had brought something to counteract the grim day. Open on her lap was the fall edition of the Hawaiian magazine Paradise of the Pacific. It had taken three months to reach Southport. Perhaps it had come around the Horn and all the way to England by sea instead of crossing the American continent by train.
But it was here now and Kaiulani reveled in the images of home. Besides woodcuts of Diamond Head and the ships moored before Lahaina and the lava pool at Hale Mau-mau, there were delicate drawings of orchids and curved beaked birds called honeycreepers. There were articles on the expansion of the pineapple plantations and newly planted macadamia nut groves.
When she flipped to the very center of the periodical, Kaiulani’s gaze fell on something that made her gasp: there was also a section dedicated to Kaiulani herself.
“Did you see this?” Kaiulani asked, waving a page folded back to an engraved likeness of Kaiulani beneath the title Hawaii’s Hope, and the byline: By Andrew Adams.
Hannah grinned broadly. “I’ve been waiting for you to discover it. It’s all nonsense: says you have a sweet disposition and lovable manners. Must be about some other princess.”
Kaiulani chucked a shoe at her friend, then her eyes lit up with hope. “The queen must have given her permission for this article to appear. Do you think…could it mean?”
“That we get to go home soon?” Hannah ventured. She stared pointedly at the panes of glass darkened by layers of frozen soot. “How soon is soon?”
There was a diffident knock at the door. At Hannah’s call Theo Davies entered.
“Papa Theo,” Kaiulani gushed, brandishing the magazine. “Did you know about this? Were you keeping it as a surprise?”
When Theo did not reply, both young women looked up with alarm. Her guardian’s features were pinched, as if he had an unrelenting headache, Kaiulani thought.
“What has happened?” she asked, rising to her feet.
Theo extended three telegrams clutched in one hand.
This was no joyous celebration about being summoned back to Hawaii. The last time Theo brought news that affected him so badly it had been the death of the king.
Not the queen! Surely Liliuokani could
not have died?
Or worse! Not Papa!
Hannah moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her friend.
Kaiulani extended her hand in a silent request for the messages.
The first flimsy sheet of paper read simply: Queen deposed.
The second added only: Monarchy abrogated.
The third gave the instructions: Break news to princess.
Kaiulani swayed slightly and Hannah steadied her. The princess bit her lower lip as she struggled to make sense of the news.
“Do you need to sit down?” Theo Davies asked. “Perhaps a glass of sherry, or a compress for your eyes?”
“No, thank you,” Kaiulani replied. “I need to think about what is to be done, and I need information. Please, Mister Davies, about this news. I need details: how this happened and when; where the queen is and if she is safe; if America is involved or not. Please find out all you can.”
Papa Theo looked surprised at the degree of control Kaiulani exercised over her emotions. Perhaps he had expected a schoolgirl’s emotional outburst.
What revealed itself instead was the dignified resolve of a royal princess.
“I’ll see to it at once,” he said.
* * * *
1973
Sandi’s cup of coffee and half-eaten scrambled eggs grew cold. She broke off a handful of breadcrumbs and tossed them onto the lanai, where two impatient blackbirds scolded her.
“I’ve spoiled you,” she addressed the brazen creatures. They blinked at her with golden eyes. “Go back to Auntie Hannah. She’ll feed you. Let me work.”
Sandi turned off the overhead fan, which threatened a stack of loose papers. She chronologically shuffled a sheaf of personal letters written to Kaiulani from Andrew and from Annie. Layered together, the correspondence gave two different perspectives of the same events.
Andrew’s report of the arrest of Queen Liliuokalani and the takeover of Honolulu by American soldiers was written from a newsman’s perspective. Hard lead facts: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. The news was interwoven with his sorrow at the betrayal of the monarchy and his genuine concern for the physical safety of Kaiulani.
His masculine hand etched fearful thoughts to her.
Even though you are far from home, you must take care. The men who have forced Liliuokalani to step aside will stop at nothing to prevent you from taking your rightful place as Princess Royal.
Sandi wondered if the princess might have survived to live a long and happy life if she had not returned to Hawaii.
As for Annie, the same events unfolded far away from her day-to-day existence on the north shore of Maui. Political intrigue in Honolulu was to her only a sad irritation. Tyrannical soldiers in Honolulu came second to the news about Annie’s husband and her baby. So much had happened in the two years since she had returned to the Islands, including a whirlwind courtship with a long-time admirer and a wedding under the big banyan tree. Not long after, she had felt precious life growing within. Then her son was born, and her life had wrapped around his life. Colic from teething. First step. First word. Annie’s ordinary life continued, even while the soul of Hawaii was being raped by greedy men.
Sandi read each letter as though it was newly written and the information fresh.
There were nights when she awakened from a sound sleep and for a moment could not remember what century she was living in. This morning the scratchy music from Auntie Hannah’s Victrola set the stage. Sandi expected to scan the busy harbor and see Andrew Adams perched on the seawall as he wrote his weekly missive to his beloved Kaiulani.
Sandi felt a vague irritation at the stiff formality of Andrew’s letters. Why didn’t he tell her how much he loved her? “You wasted so much time, Andrew,” Sandi scolded. She folded Andrew’s letter and replaced it in the stack. “What were you afraid of?”
Sandi stepped onto the lanai to watch as the Royal Flush returned from the morning whale watch. Archie maneuvered the boat through the narrow channel and into the slip as if he were parallel-parking a VW Bug along a curb. He glanced up, spotting her. The hook touched his brow in a sort of pirate salute.
She heard herself say, “What are you waiting for? What are you afraid of?”
She blinked with surprise into the opalescent blue of the sea. Was she talking to Andrew Adams—or to Archie? Or were her words meant for her own heart?
Shaking her head, Sandi turned away. “What century am I living in?”
* * * *
Victorian England
The expression on Theo’s ruddy face was as patronizing as his tone to Kaiulani. “Your cousin Koa has been sent to Washington as an emissary for the queen.”
Kaiulani arched an eyebrow in surprise. “Koa? But I am next in line to the throne.”
“Of course you must release a public statement. Don’t worry your little head about it, my dear. I’ll compose it, and you may sign it.”
Kaiulani lifted her chin defiantly. “We are speaking of my queen. My people. My throne. My nation. If I can’t speak myself for these things, then how can I defend what is mine? How can I justify my right to the throne?”
Theo’s thin mouth curved slightly. He bowed his head in acknow-ledgment. “No disrespect, Your Royal Highness.”
“Thank you. I’ll go to work now. If you would be so kind as to read and offer your opinion when I’ve finished my draft…”
She prayed as she left Theo’s presence, “Wisdom. Only wisdom, Lord.”
Kaiulani labored for hours, crafting her statement into final form.
Sent to The Times, the communique was nevertheless intended for American consumption:
For all these years I have waited patiently and striven to fit myself for my return to my native country. I am now told that Mr. Thurston is in Washington, seeking to take away my flag and my throne. I am going to Washington to plead for my throne, my nation, and my flag. Will not the great American people hear me?
After supper, Theo scanned the powerful, emotionally charged message, then gazed at her over his reading glasses. “You…you are going to Washington?”
“Should I allow Koa to speak for me? No one can speak to the president in my place.”
“Kaiulani, you are just a girl,” Theo argued. “Who will listen?”
“Perhaps someday the Hawaiians will say that Kaiulani could have saved us, but she didn’t even try. I will go.”
“Is there no reasoning with you about this?”
“I’m of age. It seems my nation and my throne will be stolen from me by America if I stay here and do nothing. Tell me what I have to lose?”
It was as if her guardian saw the woman she had become for the first time. “I suppose I believed you would forever be a child. Now I see. You are determined.”
She did not back down. “With or without your help.”
“It seems I am the one who has no choice.” He wrote instructions on monogrammed stationery and called for his secretary. “Taylor!”
Obsequious and overly deferential, the tall, cadaverous man entered the room at his master’s call. A stack of correspondence was in his hand. “Mr. Davies?”
“I need you to arrange immediate passage to the States for myself and for Mrs. Davies. For Princess Kaiulani and her companion, Hannah.”
“Immediate, sir?”
Kaiulani’s fierce countenance bored into the red-rimmed eyes of Davies’ servant. “I have written out our travel needs and schedule. As you can see, Hannah and I also require passage booked by rail to San Francisco and then a ship all the way to Honolulu.”
“Sir?” the astonished Taylor asked.
Theo replied, “Her Royal Highness is of age. I can neither keep her from leaving England, nor dictate where she travels.”
Kaiulani gave a sharp downward thrust of her chin. “And this is my statement about the political events taking place in my kingdom. Please see to it that copies are released to the press both in England and cabled to the United States.”
Kaiulani’s passionate ap
peal would cross the Atlantic ahead of her. It would speak for Kaiulani until she arrived in New York, while providing no opportunity for newsmen to interview her and twist her responses.
After all, the only journalist she completely trusted was now a missionary in Hawaii.
Kaiulani missed his counsel and wondered what Andrew thought about the changes to Hawaii Nei.
Chapter Nineteen
Four days after receiving the grim news from home, Kaiulani and her small entourage stepped aboard the White Star ship in Liverpool. The resounding boom of the ship’s horn was like a war cry, stirring her heart.
