Hawaii Style Doomsday

“There have been three worlds, the before-fore, the fall-out, and now the world we live in, the age of The Criptors,” Uncle Kahanamoku said in a low deep voice, Day-Day remembered the way the fire, dug into the sand below, lit up Uncle’s face, giving it an orange glow.

“When I was your age,” Uncle spoke to his then, ten-year-old nephew, “We was back to them ancient ways for years. We thought that’s how life would always be post-apocalypse. To be honest, not everyone hated it. The oldest kapuna would reminisce about tings like iced coffee and movies, but we was happy for the most part. Then one day, I was a little older than you, the aliens came, they called themselves the Criptors. They had been watching Earth for thousands of years, and they claimed they want to help us, ‘get back on track.’”

“What did they mean Uncle?” Day-Day remembered leaning forward far enough to catch flying embers in his hair. Uncle Kahanamoku reached out and smothered the glowing sparks.

“They put everything back how it was but better. They recreated Honolulu to be just like it was before the disease, before the war, the way it was in 2020, that’s the way they made it again, with the iced coffees, the movies, they even gave us better technology and everything.”

“Did the Criptors really make it better?” The air smelled of fire wood and Day-Day’s burnt hair. The sound of waves crashed consistently, calmly along the shore. The moon shown bright over the palm trees and low roofs.

Kahanamoku shrugged, “They did what they thought was better. They took away all the suffering, all the sickness, they took away competition and inequality, they let everyone follow their passions and even provided them the tools to do it. Nobody ever had to worry about money, or food, or any basic necessities, it was all provided.”

“How did they do that?” Day-Day had asked.

He tried his hardest to conjure up the memory of Uncle Kahanamoku’s face when he asked that. Sitting on that volcanic rock wall that ran along Waikiki beach under a blazing sun, and he focused his energy on capturing that moonlit image of Uncle in his mind. He hadn’t responded to Day-Day’s question directly - how did they take away suffering? Unc just shook his head sadly, and said, “One day you will know how. Bumbai you gonna learn.”

“So… What kine tattoo you gonna get for your birthday? Big kāne now, fourteen years old!” Leilani spoke without looking at her best friend, bringing him back to the present moment, away from his memories of The Missing. They didn’t say they were dead, unless they found out what happened to them, otherwise, they just became The Missing.

He looked at her. Day-Day thought she seemed different since she got back from North Shore camping with her moms and pops. Her mouth was as sloppy as ever, something he had always teased her about. She slurped up the dripping banana syrup from her shave ice, sometimes biting it with her big white teeth, unknowingly giving herself her a thin, wet line just around the outside of her lips.

Was she more grown, or was he the changing one? Just looking at her now on the lava rock wall next to him, all leggy and puppyish, he felt his skin tingling not only from the power of the sun, but also from the way she smelled like orchids, dark, rich, sweet, and secret.

What the heck is wrong with me? Get it together brah! She asked you a question, you stupid fakkah. “I don’t know till I get there, yeah? My faddah, he said I don’t choose. They design the tattoo for me.”

He tipped the rest of his lychee shave ice down his throat and crumpled the little paper cone it came in, tossing it in the trash, over his head.

Remembering his Uncle again, he suddenly looked across the white sparkling sand on the beach, at the crowds of alien tourists with their thick purple skin, like seal skin, laying on blankets, taking pictures at the waterline. He looked out further over the clear turquoise waves curling over in perfect sets.

Leilani followed his line of sight, and made a comment about the summer swell coming in. At this, Day-Day looked at her, and hummed, and looked up farther to study the alien ship hanging motionless between the clouds. It floated there as long as Day-Day could remember. It was triangular and looked similar to an Imperial Star Destroyer, only it wasn’t light gray and clunky, it was iridescent, and sleek, pulsating with color, seeming to have a life of its own.

“What time your faddah expecting you?” Leilani asked wiping her perfect fingers, with their perfectly painted nails, on her Levis jean shorts, leaving tiny traces of sugar behind.

“Round two o’clock he say. Why? What time it is now?”

“Wheeewww you bettah hurry your okole up D, damn near two now.” She whipped her extra long, dark brown hair over her shoulder and tapped the face of her pink surfer’s watch.

“For real cuz?!”

“For real.”

“Fuck. Shoots, shoots, shoots,” He hopped off the wall, and in a panic started grabbing up his things, “Shoots, I’m out.” They slapped hands and bumped fists.

He took a few quick steps, then hesitated and turned back, “What are you doing tonight? You should come by shop. Might need one pep talk before tattoo’s over. Might take a while.”

“Sure, text me.”

“If you’re lucky!” He grinned all young wolfish, and hopped on his hover board.

“Yo! You are 20 minutes late fakkah! I told you to be here at 2 o’clock Junior Boy!” Big Kawika clapped his son on the back. He had a way of speaking that grabbed your attention, like a deep bark that could be intimidating, or he could be so jolly you might mistake him for a hapa Santa Clause, with broad face, and a round belly, that shook when he laugh, like a bowl full of poi.

“I’m not late dad! I stay on island time.” Day-Day said, blinking from walking in.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You nervous for your first tattoo Junior?”

“Small kine.”

“Ahhh! You’ll be fine Junior Boy. Here, we’ll walk you through it.” Big Kawika wasn’t exactly an ironic name, because he was one hammer in his spirit, he was strong, and nobody’d want to fight him, but Big Kawika wasn’t a tall man. Now as he put his arm around his son’s shoulders, he realized he had to tip back to achieve it. It was awkward to walk that way, but Kawika happily insisted on parading his boy into the back room like this, past the buzzing electrical machines held by the tattooers in his shop, the bastard great-great-great-grandchildren of Sailor Jerry, mostly tattooing aliens. The room was full of the giggling, shouting sounds and painful squeals of those purple, seal skinned extraterrestrials getting inked. The artists (all humans) couldn’t understand why aliens couldn’t tough it out like they could, how were these spacemen so advanced a race and yet so fragile? Hopefully they didn’t pass out on you, because a small electromagnetic pulse would emit from their purple bodies and everyone’s machines would go off all at once, really inconvenient.

“…the sound of the hahau, hitting the mōlī, is a drumbeat,” Kawika was saying, preparing Day-Day for his first tattoo, a Traditional Polynesian Tatau, “it’s a song, Day-Day and it is the song of our ancestors. Thousands of years ago, voyagers from Fiji came and brought these tools to the Sulu’ape family. It was a popular tradition for a long time, then during Colonialism the art was nearly lost. But as long as there is a thread, there is a hope. We brought it back. Where there is a thread there is hope. There is a lesson in that.

To get a real ancient Hawaiian tattoo, kākauanaka uhí, you have to really want to know who you are. Do you want to know who you are, Kawika Junior?”

“Yes?” Day-Day childishly flirted with the question.

Kawika frowned, “Well you better be sure, because it is not easy to sit through the feeling, the only way you can is with the help of your ancestors. Don’t worry, if you decide to do it, as soon as you lay down, they will be here with you on the mat, and they will be happy for you. You know why? It’s because then, you will know what is real. When you get up, you will know what they knew, you will hear what they heard, you will feel what they felt, thousands of years ago. Are you sure you want to find out? Not everyone does.”

Day-Day saw Uncle Kahanamoku’s face in his minds eye, and said with sudden decisiveness, “Yes. I’m ready.”

A few hours in Day-Day heard, “Hey, big kāne! You still goin? He ain’t faint yet?” Leilani tipped her head in the door sideways, dark brown hair hanging in heartbreaking waves.

“Hey! You made it! We almost done.”

“Hi Leilani.” Kawika said in a knowing sing-song voice.

“Hi Big Kawika. Howzit?”

“He only cried a little.”

“Nah-ah! I didn’t cry at all!”

“Does it hurt?”

“Wanted to run off as soon as we started, but we close to the end now.” He winced and smiled at her.

She smiled back, but there was a sadness behind her smile.

“What’s wrong?” Day-Day asked

She froze, then shrugged, “Cannot find my mom.” The whole room went dead quiet. They knew her family. Leilani’s mom had been struggling with depression for several months now. That was one of the reasons they’d gone on that camping trip, to get her spirits up. Must not’ve worked. If that type of thing goes on too long, they become The Missing. The silence in the room rang with concern. No one said anything, but slowly went back to their work.

After the tattoo, Leilani and Day-Day were hover boarding around Kakaakao. They found a floating scaffold by some half finished street art, where they sat and took in the view of Honolulu all lit up at night. Leilani was real quiet, smiling sadly. Day-Day looked at her, and couldn’t help but furrow his brow, he almost wanted to cry for her.

“Hey,” he said, “I know it’s my birthday, but I - well I got you something.”

“You did?” She perked up.

“Yeah,” He sniffed and pulled out a gold, heart shaped locket on a delicate chain.

“Oh wow! I love it D, thank you so much.” Now, she started to cry.

“Are you ok? I’m sorry!”

“No I love it. Thank you.”

Out of nowhere, he found her lips on his, wet with tears. Eyes closed, he reached up and placed his hand across her neck and collar bone.

She pulled away, leaving him wanting more. His first kiss!

“It looks really good on you.”

She smiled, and was silent for a moment, fingering the locket, looking at it.

“Does this mean that you’re my man Day-Day?”

A lighting bolt hit his heart. He scooted closer to her.

“I’m whatever you need, Leilani. I - I - ” He wanted to say ‘I love you,’ but the words didn’t come out, he’d never said that to someone who wasn’t a family member before, so he just repeated himself, “I’m whatever you need.”

“I - I need someone to help me find my mom.”

Day-Day’s blood went completely still. The meaning of her words soaked in. He made a split-second decision, no matter what kind of evils that might befall him for her sake, he would brave them, he would overcome every obstacle to see her smile shine again.

“How we gonna do that?”

“We gotta follow the Criptors. We gotta see where they bring The Missing.”