Ova Da Rainbow: HAWAII'S STORY (3)

Hawaii '78

Sikaiana looked at her mother, then her uncle, then narrowed her eyes at Niʻihau. "So, Uncle. How do you feel about petty crime?"

Niʻihau blinked slowly, retracting the hand he had extended to shake with his niece. "Pardon me?"

"Petty Crime. P-t-e-t-y Crime."

"You spelt 'petty' wrong again." Guam said, not even looking up from the card game that she was playing with American Samoa and Solomon.

"Not my fault I have dyslexia." Sikaiana said, sighing. "Hey, Uncle, Mom doesn't remember if anyone in our family had dyslexia on her side. Do you know?"

"Well... I mean, none of us really read back then, so... we don't really know?" Niʻihau said. "And I don't have it."

"Alright. Back to the question. Petty crime."

"You probably shouldn't do it?" Niʻihau said, and Hawaiʻi shook her head and laughed. "Oh, right, these are your kids. Of course that's the wrong answer."

Guam looked up from where she sat cross legged on the ground, before tilting her head. "You sure this is your brother?"

Hawaiʻi folded her arms. "Yes, I'm sure. Can't you see the family resemblance?"

"Sure." American Samoa chimed in. "It's just... I suppose we expected him to be less..."

Hawaiʻi laughed. "Well, this is the Niʻihau you all begged to let you meet. And in Siki's case, threatened to commit trespassing and disturbance of the peace."

Niʻihau sat down, looking extremely tense from this meeting suddenly. "Well... at least you all aren't pigs. One of our brothers had fifteen pigs that he made me name. All different flowers."

"Well, at least you're better at naming than Mom's other brother." Guam said, passive aggressively. "Meanwhile poor Sammy was 'The U.S. Naval Station Tutuila' for years."

"Tama is pretty okay at naming! You know he wasn't in charge of that." American Samoa said with a huff.

"Oh, dear brother, you know your name now is only a minor upgrade." Sikaiana said, to which Solomon and Guam laughed, much to the irritation of poor American Samoa.

"You called him your brother?" Niʻihau said, looking almost offended at that. "I mean, I heard the rumours, but... actually?"

"America's not... Jesus Christ, he's not my brother anymore!" Hawaiʻi said, shrugging. "Amelika's my friend, I guess, now. It's a complicated relationship."

"Just from my unbiased, outside perspective, you and America's relationship is close to," Here Solomon made a rough approximation of America's voice. "'Oh my god, what the heck am I going to do with the tiny fireball of rage? Jesus Christ, she stole my kids again.' Sound about right?"

Hawaiʻi laughed at that. "You got it."

"How many kids did you 'steal'?" Niʻihau said, sounding almost alarmed.

"So Guam and Sammy are from America, Siki's my own, and Soly I stole from Britain." Hawaiʻi said, before laughing. "Though, saying I stole them is like saying you chose me as a friend. It kinda was the other way around. Even Siki came to my doorstep and pretty much adopted me."

Niʻihau laughed a little at that,

Sikaiana rolled her eyes and leaned over to her mother, whispering loudly. "Jeez, mom, this is your actual brother? No wonder you adopted Lika so quickly, seems like such a bore."

"I am not boring! I am very interesting!" Niʻihau said.

"You kinda seem like you are." Guam said. "No offense."