Daniel watched her go and pushed Mama along the rutted dirt road, avoiding the rocks and potholes. He didn’t stop until they reached the shade of the monkey pod tree in front of the Natua house. When he looked down, Mama was awake and looking up at him.

“Did you have a nice visit with the neighbors?” Daniel asked.

Mama looked at him as if he were a stranger at first before something clicked and she found recognition. “Mariko’s boy,” she said.

Daniel stepped to the front of the chair and crouched before her. “That’s right, I’m Mariko’s boy,” he said, surprised. “You remembered—” he began when he heard a truck driving up the road and stood to see who it was. He looked down when Mama’s hand reached for his wrist, gripping it with surprising strength.

“Good, you back home, yeah,” she said.

Daniel smiled. “I’m happy to be home,” he said.

Mama let go of his wrist.

As the truck grew closer and slowed to a stop, Daniel saw Uncle Samuel driving. Uncle Koji sat next to him in the passenger seat.

“Everything all right?” Daniel asked. He stepped closer to Uncle Koji’s open window.

“Drove by the house to see you,” Uncle Samuel said. “Found him instead. After you left the market, news came from the volcano center.”

Uncle Koji leaned out the window, touching the bandage across his forehead. “They’ve asked the US Army on O‵ahu for help to stop the lava flow, yeah, hoping to at least divert it from reaching the watershed and Hilo.”

“How are they planning to do that?” Daniel asked.

Uncle Samuel pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. “They want to bring in the army flyboys, drop bombs to control the flow. Says here a Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton is the one in charge, yeah.”

“Think it’ll work?”

“At least it’s something,” Uncle Koji said. “Folks getting anxious waiting around. Everyone’s ready to leave at a moment’s notice.”

Before Uncle Samuel could say anything more, the screen door whined open and Auntie Leia called out to them. “Come in, yeah, before you all wilt out there.”

39. Safe Places

39

Safe Places

Two days had passed since they received word of the bombing and then nothing. There was a strange hush in the air, a quiet restlessness that made Nori nervous. Talking to Daniel had brought Mariko and Razor back to the forefront of her thoughts. She missed them, and felt foolish wishing they were still with her to help cut through the dread of waiting. The uncertainty was taking its toll, making everyone anxious. Nori felt something shift within the community as their thin edge of hope turned into anxiety. Many of the older locals kept up with their daily routines, stopping in to listen to radio broadcasts, or checking the bulletin board for any news, everyone looking for ways to manage.