Oriwia stood, her tea still untouched.

‘Now the telegram. Come with me,’ she said.

I pressed the ‘stop’ button and followed her into the bedroom, where she pointed to a cardboard box on top of her wardrobe and asked me to get it down for her.

We spent the rest of the morning going through the contents – photographs, letters, invitations and so on – but of most interest to this part of the story were the telegram and letter sent to her by Aki.

The telegram read: CHAPPY TOKYO LETTER COMING AKI

The first thing Oriwia did when she received the message was to hurry along to Dulcie’s, where she flattened the telegram on the bench and asked her friend what it meant.

‘It means what it says,’ Dulcie replied.

‘I’m going to Tokyo,’ Oriwia said.

It was Dulcie who persuaded her to wait for Aki’s letter.

I typed up a copy of the letter. There is a style and a cursive script that Aki and my grandmother, and others schooled in those times, seem to take much pride in and which I could only admire. I wish that I could’ve reproduced that elegance as well.

Dear Oriwia Star,

I hope this find you and your daughters well. You have received the tele gram by now. Chappy send his deepest love to you Daphne and Binnie. Send his love to all the family. Working in Tokyo at a place making electrics. The brother in law of Ela will try and bring Chappy to Hawaii. May be he can do it. You wait there. My wife’s brother in law Japanese. You can write a letter for Chappy. Ishy will translate and send to your husband.

Yours sincerely,

Tiakiwhenua Morehu (Aki)

Back in the kitchen, I put pies in the oven to heat, and water on the stove to make fresh tea. I was not sure whether I should expect any more of my grandmother after a morning of reminiscing, but she began speaking without any prompting from me.

‘I didn’t just sit round on my backside waiting for him,’ she said.

I reached over her shoulder, pressed the button and went back to my tea making.