Kahana-The Untold Stories

by Ann Kennedy

  Kim and Sandy fly back in January and have a layover in Las Vegas. They decide to look around Vegas for a while.

  When they’re in a casino, they take an elevator down to the first floor. There is a young man in the elevator with them. Kim doesn’t care who is listening to what he is about to ask Sandy. “What do you think about getting married?” he asks.

  Kim tells her that he already received permission from her mother, and Sandy says yes. The young man in the elevator says, “Congratulations.”

  Then Kim and Sandy go outside and hail a cab to go to City Hall to get their marriage license. They have the license, but don’t get married yet. The date is January 19th, and they both want to wait until January 20th. They want to get married on the same day that they met on the set of Passenger 57.

  It is finally midnight, January 20th, 2005 and they hail a cab to take them to the Little White Chapel. During their cab ride to the chapel, they formed a friendship with their cab driver. They bonded with him so much that he became their witness at their wedding.

  Chapter 25

  Times Are Changing

  One afternoon, in 2017, Kim and Sandy are eating lunch at a popular Orlando restaurant. They stop eating when they over hear an emotionally charged conversation between a middle-aged brother and his sister who are sitting at a booth behind them.

  A man named David says to his sister, “Linda, there is no excuse for what mom did to us. It was unforgivable!” Linda answers him. “I feel the same way as you do. I think, it is terrible that we had to find out about our mom’s little secret, three years after she died. She should have told us about it when she was alive. Instead, we had to find out from our Aunt Karen last month.”

  David in a demanding tone asks, “Why didn’t mom tell us? She should have told us that when she was sixteen, she had a baby boy with her seventeen-year-old boyfriend.”

  Linda replies, “Mom’s actions toward us were downright mean. She should have told us that we had a brother. I will never forgive her.”

  Linda is deep in thought, as she stares at David, and then she whispers, “David, maybe when dad was alive, he didn’t know either.” David is stunned by his sister’s comment. He quickly grabs the check off the table and tells her that it’s time to leave.

  On their way out, they walk past Kim and Sandy. Kim looks at David and loudly says, “People should let the dead rest in peace.”

  David turns around when he hears Kim’s remark. His eyes meet Kim’s eyes, and then he keeps on walking.

  Within minutes, Kim and Sandy overhear another conversation between a grandmother and her grand-daughter, who are sitting at a table across from them. The grandmother asks Mindy, her grand-daughter, to show her how to do something on her smart phone.

  She waits patiently for Mindy to answer her, but she does not. Instead, her grand-daughter ignores her because she is too busy with her smartphone. The grandmother asks Mindy to put down her phone for a minute. Again, Mindy does not acknowledge her.

  The grandmother’s voice gets louder, as she asks Mindy to help her. Mindy, finally responds, “Sorry, grandma, I don’t have the time to teach you. All you have to do is go on line and google your question.” Then there is silence at their table.

  Kim and Sandy then over hear another conversation that is between two men, in their thirties, who are sitting at a booth near them. Their names are Daniel and Ryan. They both work for the city’s recreation department as recreation leaders. Their conversation thus far has been about the new kid’s programs that they will be implemented this year.

  Then their conversation abruptly changes when Daniel asks Ryan, “When did you start working in recreation? Was it something you always wanted to do?”

  Ryan tells him, “I started working for them a few months after high-school. At the time, it was not the path that I wanted in life, but I had no other options.”

  Daniel asks, “What do you mean that you had no other options? There’s always other options.”

  Ryan answers, “Not for me there wasn’t. I wanted to be a professional basketball player. On one of my games in my senior year in high-school, there were scouts there from three colleges. My coach told me that they were there to watch me play.”

  “The game was a disaster. I suffered a severe injury from a player on the other team in the first quarter of the game. I was out the rest of the season. All my hopes and dreams vanished in one minute. I’ll always be reminded of that day because the injury left me with a permanent limp.”

  “I was angry after I graduated high-school. I did not know what to do with myself. I slipped into a deep depression. I did not leave my bedroom for about six weeks. I was a mess.”

  “I was going stir-crazy, and I had to get out of the house. I got dressed and went out the front door and took a walk. My leg was beginning to hurt, and I had to stop and rest. I stopped at a baseball field that the Little League uses to practice and play their games. I sat down on the bleachers and began watching a small group of kids practicing.”

  “A little kid walked up to me and asked me to hold his baseball while he tied his shoes. I took his baseball and started tossing it up in the air and catching it. That was the moment that I knew that I had to be around any sport no matter what role I played. And, here I am twelve years later working as a recreation leader.”

  Kim suddenly gets up and Sandy follows him to Daniel and Ryan’s table. Kim introduces himself. However, Daniel and Ryan already know who he is, and they tell Kim that they are honored to meet him. Kim tells Ryan that he had overheard what he said and that he made a good choice.

  With lots of sincerity and excitement, Ryan responds to Kim. “Your compliment means a great deal to me because everyone knows that you are a true sensei.”

  Then Ryan asks Kim if his group of gymnastic students can visit his school. Kim says yes and gives him his card and tells him to call Sandy and work out the date and time with her.

  Kim and Sandy leave the restaurant and are driving home. They begin to talk about the conversation they overheard between the middle-aged brother and sister, which triggers Kim’s anger. He’s outraged, as he says, “They had no right to judge what their mother did when she was sixteen years old. She was a young girl when she gave her baby up for adoption.”

  Sandy responds to him. “They had no understanding about how different the times were when their mother was a young girl. During their mother’s time, most people’s attitudes towards a pregnant, unmarried, teenage girl was judged very harshly. The girl was no longer considered a nice girl. The girl was usually sent away by her parents to stay with relatives or to a nunnery to have her baby. Their mother must have suffered a lot of loneliness and shame.”

  Kim agrees with her and then comments about another conversation that they overheard. He says, “I felt bad for the grandmother when her granddaughter kept ignoring her. She had no respect for her grandmother.”

  Sandy replies, “I think, the response from the grand-daughter seemed harsh, but I do not think she meant her remarks that way. Today, if, you ask for help, most kids and adults will tell you to google it or watch a you tube video for the information.”

  Kim nods his head in agreement. Then he says, “At least the day ended on a high note because of Ryan. When Ryan said he could never play basketball again, I thought, here we go again, the guy is going to whine or get angry about his life.”

  Sandy agrees and says, “He took the high road because a little child approached him. As soon as Ryan threw the ball, he began to focus only on tossing the ball and catching it. It was the first time in a long time that he was not thinking about his injury.”

  Kim declares, “In that one moment, Ryan broke the chains that held him captive.”

  Sandy says, “He was lucky that the little boy approached him.”

  Kim does not answer because he’s thinking about the role that Jenny and the katas had in healing him.

  Then a few minutes later, he says, “Maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe that child w
as supposed to be there.”

  Sandy is quiet as she thinks about what Kim has just said.

  Kim and Sandy end their conversation by agreeing that their experience in the restaurant was bizarre. Little do they know, that their experience is an omen for what is about to happen next.

  Chapter 26

  The Prophecy

  Later that evening, Sandy has been looking for a manila folder for about an hour. Her frustration is escalating as she frantically searches for it. She stops for a minute and tells Kim, “We must find the folder. It has the title to our car in it. The buyer, Roy Cromwell, will be coming here Monday morning to pay us, and we need to give him the title.”

  Kim is annoyed. “What do you want me to do about it?”

  “I need you to help me find it!” she says.

  “Go look in the bedroom closet on the top shelf for two file boxes. It might be there.”

  She tells him that she is going downstairs to look for it. Kim walks into the bedroom to look in the closet. He sees the two file boxes and takes them off the shelf. The two file boxes are on top of a wooden board, and underneath the board are two old, raggedy bags. He is curious about what’s in the bags and takes them off the shelf.

  He then places everything on his bed. He picks up one of the bags and turns it upside down. Papers and old photos drop to the floor.

  Kim looks down on the floor and sees an old photograph. He recognizes the photo. The last time he saw it was when he lived in Hawaii as a young teenager. He glares at the picture and slowly sits down on the floor. Then he picks it up and holds it tightly as he stares at it.

  While Sandy is downstairs, she remembers that the folder is in one of her old wooden cabinets. She finds the folder and rushes upstairs to tell Kim the good news. When she walks into their bedroom, she begins to shiver. She tells Kim, “I got chills the minute I walked in here. Why is it so cold?”

  When Kim doesn’t acknowledge her presence, she takes a few steps towards him and sees that he is staring at a picture.

  She wants to see what picture could hold such a mesmerizing power over him. Leaning over his shoulder, she says, “Kim I never saw that picture of you as a little boy before.”

  He responds, “That’s because I never knew I had it. The only thing I can figure out is that years ago, my father must have given the photo to Joan or one of my children when he visited us in California.”

  She comments that the picture of him smiling while he is saluting like a soldier is priceless. Then she raves about how cute he looks in his soldier uniform. Kim ignores her. He is entrenched in the thoughts and memories that the picture is stirring up in him.

  He vividly remembers that the picture was always on his father’s nightstand. Every time his father looked at it, he smiled with a sense of pride. His father’s eyes always brightened when he viewed the picture of his young son in a military uniform, saluting like a little soldier.

  As Sandy gazes at the picture, she becomes more and more excited. “I don’t believe it!” she says. “That picture was taken when you were a happy little five or six-year-old boy. Who would think that, within a few years, you would grow up during World War II and its aftermath? Then you became a Korean War hero, a fire sword dancer, and a stuntman. Kim, I believe that picture was a sign of your destiny. You were destined to live the life of a great warrior.”

  Kim rubs away a teardrop running down his cheek. Then he says, “When I was a child, I first learned about the signs of prophesies to one’s destiny from my teachers. They taught their lessons in ritual areas about the Hawaiian martial arts along with the history and legends of the Hawaiian people. One of their lessons was the story about the prophecy of Hawaii’s greatest king.”

  “My father taught the lesson. He said that he would tell all of us the story of the Kahunas’ prophecy. The Kahunas were wise and spiritual. They were the first high priests of the island. Their prophecy detailed the signs of who would be destined to become Hawaii’s greatest king. There was only one man named Kamehameha who met all of the signs of the Kahunas’ prophecy. He was Hawaii’s greatest king and united all of the Hawaiian Islands.”

  Then Kim starts to lightly tap the picture with his finger, whispering, “The gladiator.” He looks at Sandy and says, “You know, you might be right. This picture might have been one of the signs of my destiny. Over the years, I had a lot of interviews with the press. I always told them that stuntmen were the gladiators of our century.”

  Sandy smiles and agrees.

  Kim goes on to say that Thalia would also be convinced that the picture of him was a sign of his destiny. He tells Sandy, “I met Thalia after I jumped overboard from a cruise ship and swam to shore. Thalia was on the beach with her little brothers and sisters. At the time, I believed that I swam to Hawaii. She told me that I was actually in American Samoa.”

  “I was fuming with anger because I ended up in the wrong place. Thalia told me that I did not end up in American Samoa by accident, that it would turn out to be the right place—I just didn’t know it yet. She said that I was meant to be there, and she was meant to be on the beach to find me.”

  “Thalia and I became good friends. She loved to talk about destiny and faith. One day, we were sitting on the beach, and she asked me to tell her about the times that destiny played in my life.”

  “I remember my conversation with her like it was yesterday. I told her that my destiny was to be an elementary school dropout because of the times of war I lived in. It sure wasn’t a good sign for the rest of my life. Then I laughed. Thalia did not laugh; instead, she told me that I was not alone. All of the children living in Hawaii and the South Pacific Islands during the war lived a life of fear and hardship.”

  “I told her that, when I was a child, I visited the soldiers on the docks and listened to their exciting stories about the mainland. I believed all their stories were true. They made me want to go to the mainland to find gold in California, be a cowboy in Texas, and go to New York to see my uncle. I planned to get to the mainland by stowing away on a ship, but I got caught.”

  “Within two days, everyone in my village found out that I got caught trying to stow away to the mainland. All the kids made fun of me. I was the laughingstock of the village. I was also shunned because my actions did not show respect for my father. I felt a lot of shame. I never meant to dishonor or disrespect him. Then I became determined to get strong by practicing and learning more about the martial arts. I set out on a quest to prove myself.”

  “Thalia then asked me if I would have practiced as much as I did if I had not been a failure as a stowaway. I thought long and hard about what she asked me. I finally answered her and said that I honestly didn’t know”

  “Then I told her that I stowed away a second time when the war was over. I believed I was prepared and ready to go to the mainland. But after I arrived in San Francisco, my journey to get to New York was tougher than I ever thought it would be. There were times when I wanted to give up, but that was not an option for me. I was determined that I would not go back to Hawaii as a failure again. I also didn’t want to disappoint my father for a second time.”

  “I forced myself not to think about all the terrible stuff that was going on around me. Instead, I kept moving forward and stayed focused on getting to the finish line. I told myself that I would be okay if I kept moving forward and headed to the light at the end of the tunnel.”

  “I was happy when I made it to my uncle’s apartment in New York. He was in Xavier Cugat’s band. I began practicing and performed a couple of times with them. They were booked for a European tour, and I was asked to go with them. I planned on writing a postcard to my father when I got to Europe. I knew he would be proud of me, and that would have meant everything to me—but I never got the chance.”

  “Everything changed the night before I was going to leave on the European tour. I was walking through an alley, and a group of teenagers picked a fight with me. If I wanted to fight them, I could have with my eyes shut and
my feet in quicksand. But they wouldn’t give up, and everything got ugly when a kid named Luke took out a switchblade.”

  “The cops showed up, and I was falsely accused of stabbing a boy named Jerry. I was convicted and sentenced to an awful juvenile prison that was controlled by sadistic guards. My friend Lenny and I managed to escape, but the guards caught Lenny by a lake. I was hiding a distance away in a tree, and I saw the guards savagely murder my friend.”

  Sandy sees that Kim is choked up by what he just revealed. She says, “Kim, I believe that you were one of the catalysts for change in the juvenile justice system because you spoke out. Your deeds helped make things better for many kids in the system at the time. That could be the reason, the higher purpose, that you were destined to be in that juvenile prison and up that tree ”

  Kim responds, “I hope it did help. I hope Lenny’s death did cause some good changes for other kids who were locked up.”

  Then he says, “Thalia asked me if I believed that life’s journey is like going through a tunnel, and I told her that I did. Then she drew a tunnel in the sand. She told me that thinking of my journey through life as moving forward through a tunnel wouldn’t prepare me for the unexpected changes in life that will always happen.”

  Kim continues, “I then watched Thalia make a tunnel in the sand and move a shell through it. She told me that the shell had nowhere to go but forward or backward. She said that she believed that a tunnel approach to life was good for reaching one goal at a time. I told her that it’s like when race horses wear blinders in a race. The horses have tunnel vision so that they can focus on getting to the finish line.”