In the Shadow of the Pali by Lisa Cindrich

Author:Lisa Cindrich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

LILIHA HOPED TO SLEEP SOUNDLY THAT NIGHT, ESPECIALLY after eating Pauahi’s dried beef. For once, a meal almost filled her belly.

She curled up on the cleared patch of dirt, her sack clutched against her chest. The ground was cool, the wind strong. Liliha rolled from side to side. She couldn’t stop thinking about Pauahi’s slashed cheeks and Manukekua’s hands, or imagining Kalani creeping through the brush at the foot of the pali, a club brandished in one hand, ready to smash Liliha’s skull to pieces.

Her right foot bothered her as well, the sole prickling strangely and the bones aching. She didn’t sleep until dawn. When she woke, her muscles were stiff and her head heavy. She pulled a small chunk of salted salmon from her sack, ate it, then set to work making a frame for the house.

She worked alone for the next three days, stopping occasionally to eat from her small store of rations and fish. Twice she walked to Wai‘ale’ia, drank deeply from the stream, filled two cups she’d already carved from driftwood, and carried them back with her.

She hacked long, supple branches from a young koa tree. Then she sank down and worked the tip of the knife into the earth, widening the hole and deepening it several inches until the thick end of one koa branch just fit inside it. She packed soil hard around the branch so that it stood firm and upright. She repeated this until she’d made a circle of branches springing from similar holes. The circle was about ten feet in diameter.

On the fourth day, she cut down k growing near the pali’s base, braided cords from the stems and leaves, and tied the cords around the circle of poles. She’d finished the frame of the hut.

Manukekua didn’t appear again until the following afternoon. Liliha sat within the framework, pulling long stems of pili grass from the mound beside her and bundling them into the thick rectangles that would hang from the horizontal lashings and so shingle the hut.

Manukekua dropped down next to her. “Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t get here before. The Captain ...” He tilted his head back. “You did all this already? It looks good.” He poked a finger at one of the koa branches. “Strong.”

Liliha nodded. She was proud of the work she’d done so far. The framework was trim and sturdy.

Manukekua grabbed a handful of loose grass and tried to knot the ends together.

“Like this.” Liliha raised her hands in front of him and slowed her fingers.

Manukekua glanced at her. “We didn’t build houses this way in Honolulu.” He smiled. “Not that I ever built any kind of house.” He glanced again at the small stack of finished shingles and then at the frame. “It’s going to take a while to finish, isn’t it?”

“I want to make sure these are thick enough to keep the wind and rain out.”

He nodded. “That’s a good idea.” He tried to copy the movements Liliha’s fingers made. He worked slowly, his head bent low over his hands, his mouth tight with concentration.

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