Boi No Good by Chris McKinney

Author:Chris McKinney [McKinney, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Literary, Coming of Age, Family Life, Asian American
ISBN: 9781566479806
Google: 5hWqMQEACAAJ
Publisher: Mutual Publishing LLC
Published: 2012-10-14T11:00:00+00:00

2.

Charles Knotting settled on Ala Moana Boulevard, even though he hated Ala Moana Beach because the water there always made him itchy. Although the procession would have to pass car dealerships, cut through Waikiki, and cross over the stagnant brown stench of the Ala Wai Canal, at least they would be near the ocean. The cops just had to make sure to sweep Ala Moana Beach Park beforehand and boot the homeless sleeping on picnic benches. The last thing Charles wanted was to provide fodder for the liberals who saw leadership as a big room full of magic, fast-cash, money-dispensing buttons. To eliminate poverty, press here. To fix the economy, press here.

Two weeks after Helen’s death, Charles had unveiled all of this to Shane as they talked over dinner. He wanted his son to say a few words at the church. Shane kept refusing until Charles pulled out a list of last wishes that Helen had written. The one-hundred-and-thirty page document was written by a woman who had thought about nothing but death for her last year of life. And there it was under the Shane section of the list, number fifty-six: I want my son to say a few words at my funeral. At least his section appeared first, before the Boi section, and even before the Charles section. He was grateful for that and agreed to speak, even though all he wanted to do was hide out at Glory’s in Waimanalo and act like Helen had never died.

It’s now four days later as Shane steps up to the podium, eyes the giant white walls, adjusts his belt, and resists the urge to un-tuck his shirt. It’s an old church, one of the oldest in Hawaii, its congregation once made up of nineteenth century whalers and sugar barons. As he looks out at the filled pews, Shane spots The Descendants in the front row, those he’s called aunty for most of his life, the granddaughters of great men with streets and buildings named after them, old white-haired women in muumuu’s holding canes or seated in front of their walkers, wearing haku leis and thick-lens glasses. Shane has a hard time imagining that these liver-spotted women had once spent their time sitting on their fathers’ laps in drawing rooms and playing Handel, riding horses, full gallop, on the Big Island, and losing their virginity to Ivy league leatherheads or slick men named Angelo while on Roman holiday. A few of them might have even been cum dumpsters back in the 1940s or whenever they grew up. They keep each other company now, splitting their time between mahjong to fight off Alzheimer’s, lunch dates to fight off afternoon boredom, and volunteering for various preservation societies, keeping busy to fight off death itself. Their husbands are long gone. Second wives or death took them.

Shane, trying hard to not to look at the cameras or the open koa casket in front of him, looks behind the old women and eyes rows and rows of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.