Just before he turned down the paved street that led back to the bungalow, Daniel remembered his father’s hunting knife. His mother had kept it in the drawer of her bedside table. She once told him his father had killed a wild turkey in the upcountry with the knife when he was a teenager.

“It’s to keep us safe when Daddy’s away, yeah,” his mother had said. She let him hold it. “Careful, now,” she added. It was heavy and sharp and cool in his hand.

His father had left the knife with them for their protection.

Daniel remembered sneaking into her room a few times to play with it, pretending he was the one chasing down a wild turkey in the upcountry. After cutting his finger, he stopped. Over the years, he’d forgotten all about it.

As soon as Daniel arrived home, hot and anxious, he went directly to his mother’s bedroom and pulled open the drawer of her bedside table, only to find it empty. Clouds had captured the sun, and a gray light suddenly washed over the room like sadness. Had he dreamed it all? Daniel sat down on his mother’s bed, looked around her spare room, and wondered what other secrets she had kept from him.

14. The House on the Hill

14

The House on the Hill

It was late afternoon by the time Koji walked up the dirt road to his cottage from the train barn. At the top of the hill, he paused to wipe the sweat from his neck with a bandana and looked up at the darkening sky, looming gray and heavy. He turned when he heard footsteps to see Razor walking up the hill toward him.

Koji smiled to see his old friend, the slight limp he inherited after breaking his leg as a boy more pronounced. Never fused back together right, Razor explained, though it had never slowed him down and was usually noticeable only when he was tired.

“I was hoping to see you,” Koji said.

“Here I am, yeah.” Razor stopped and looked toward Koji’s house. “Remember when we were teenagers cutting cane,” he said, “just dreaming, yeah, to be living in this house on the top of the hill?”

Koji smiled. “Who would have thought, eh?”

“You deserve it,” Razor added. “No one could cut cane like you.”

“All I did was swing a knife.”

Razor shook his head. “Took skill, skill I never had, eh.” He paused for a moment before adding, “Another harvest almost over.”

Koji smiled. “Not a minute too soon, yeah.”

“Still got Pele to deal with, eh.”

They both looked toward the mountain. Mauna Loa was still erupting, with no signs of stopping. Puli Plantation was on the southern side of the volcano, too far away from the eruption to feel any real effects, though Koji detected hints of sulfur in the air.

“Not the first time Pele showed her might,” Koji said.