Illumine Her (5 page)

Alana gasped in surprise. “What? No, this is too much, Lola.”

She heard chuckles on the other end. “Of course not, sweetheart. You deserve this because you earned it. We have been saving up for this since you started university so everything is covered.”

Alana was speechless. “Really? Are you sure? I never imagined this. Is this for real?” She could hardly believe what she was hearing. One of her dream destinations! What an incredible gift.

“The big question is where do you want to go?” Papa asked.

“I don’t…I don’t know,” she stammered. “I don’t even know what to say. This is the best surprise ever. Thank you both so much.” Incredibly touched by their thoughtfulness, she was moved to tears by their kindness.

“Well think about it and let us know,” her grandmother responded.

“Thank you, Papa. Thank you, Lola. This means so much to me. I love you both so much.” Alana allowed a tear to spill over.

“Goodbye, darling girl. We love you. Stay in touch.”

“I love you, too.” She sniffed and hung up.

Chapter 3

“W
ear this flower in your ear.”

Alana frowned. “Sala, I’m not going to a
siva
. I’m going to work.”

They were sitting around the small round table in the kitchen, one of Alana’s favorite rooms in the house. It was designed in a way that from whichever angle you stood, one always had a clear view of the gardens outside. Large windows surrounded them and kitchen cupboards in a mix of blue and green dominated the bottom half. Bowls of ripe papaya and guava from the garden and vegetables from the local market, spices for curries and stews, a box of cereal, and a tin of powdered milk were placed on the countertop.

“Nonsense! Doesn’t matter if you are not going dancing. The
sei
is the perfect complement to a woman’s attire.” Sala huffed and continued. “It enhances her natural beauty. You wear this and it will bring joy to your patients. Plus, it won’t hurt to catch the eye of some doctor either, especially one of those foreign students,
ua e iloa
?” She strategically placed the pink flower on Alana’s right ear demonstrating the age-old Polynesian adage. “Now, this will inform everyone that you are single so there will be no confusion. Eat your breakfast.” She bristled past and started boiling water for lemongrass tea. Alana sighed and took a bite out of her toast with avocado spread.

“How’s work going so far?” her mother asked, clipping the ends off flowers she was preparing to sell to the florists in town. A retired florist herself, she now devoted her time to growing every tropical flower under the sun before distributing them in bulk to hotels and shops.

Alana thought about work. It had been three weeks since she started her job at the National Hospital. The hours so far had been decent, but she knew that would change soon. As exhausting as it was being on her feet all day long, she was beginning to form attachments to some patients, most recently an older gentleman who reminded her of her father and a teenage girl who, despite her initial biting personality, was beginning to open up and warm to her.

“Well, I haven’t overdosed anyone, so I guess it’s going okay” she replied flatly. “We’re having a special department meeting this morning. Some philanthropist is flying in and visiting the hospital today, and we all have to be on our best behavior and uniform to impress him.” She yawned then bit into a piece of toast. “The head RN is going nuts over the state of the office. All that paperwork needs to be moved onto the computers for records sake, and I feel sorry for the poor intern who has to do it all. I don’t even know why. It’s not like the donor is going to look through them.”

For months the hospital was tirelessly preparing to receive this special guest. Money, whether it came in the form of aid or not, was always welcomed with arms wide open, and the hospital desperately needed it. While Alana was expecting the limited supply of basic medical resources, she was still taken aback on her first day. As resourceful as her people could be in any given situation, they were not about to pass up on seven million US dollars.

Alana finished her breakfast and stopped and checked her appearance in the hallway mirror. Out of both her siblings, she resembled her mother’s face the most: heart shaped with eyes that had a slight almond shape to them and long lashes that fanned the tops and bottom, her eyebrows were dark and dipped low to the edges of her eyes. She had thick, wavy hair the color of cocoa extending past her shoulders and stopping at her hips. It was wiry enough that when she tugged on a strand and pulled it out, she could use it as dental floss, the effect causing many raised eyebrows back in her dorm days. A birth mark the size of a grain of sand lay distinctly beside her right eye, and a round scar from contracting the chicken pox marred the side of her chin. The rest of her body took after her father’s sisters: brown skin, curvy figure, and a height that was not too tall and not too short. While she looked like the average Polynesian woman, she had one striking feature that was a result of her Occident heritage. Alana had hazel eyes with flecks of brown and olive-green that illuminated brightly when she wore anything resembling the color of moss. Her grandmother said that they reminded her of the colors that blended together to create a rainforest. But these same eyes also caused many children to taunt her in school and resulted in endless tears.
Mata pusi! Cat’s eyes!
They would tease the one feature that was vastly different from theirs. Alana fingered the delicate shell around her neck and heard the distinct beeping of a car horn outside sending the dogs into disarray.

“Alana, Lisi is here!” Sala yelled over the noise.

“Can someone please shut those dogs up?” She smoothed down the front of her white nurse’s uniform and picked up her bag.

“Eh, stop complaining,” Sala admonished. “They are here to protect you and this house. Without them you will come home one day and find that all your precious books and that beloved iPod of yours gone.”

Alana snorted. “Protect me, my bum. More like attack it,” she quietly mumbled out the door. She wanted to correct her—it was highly unlikely that her books would be target. Besides, all a burglar had to do was give the mutts a piece of bread and they would gladly roll over and let them pass.

“
Ea lau kala
? What did you say?” Sala shook her head and tossed pieces of bread out as Alana bolted to the awaiting vehicle.

“Bye, Sala! Thanks for breakfast.” She moved hurriedly and hopped into the pick-up truck, slamming the door firmly.

“Good morning!” Lisi smiled brightly, handing her a cup of coffee from their favorite local café.

“You are my savior,” Alana said, taking the beverage and sipping the warm latte.

Lisi, a fellow nurse at the hospital, instantly befriended Alana during her first week at work. Mid-thirties, married to a sailor, and well-rounded from giving birth to four children, Alana appreciated getting rides with her every morning since David always left early and took the only family car to work.

“Ready for the big meet?” Lisi asked when they were on the main road.

“We should be! I swear it’s like everyone’s been sitting on pins and needles. It’s time to deflate the stress balloon,” Alana responded by snapping her fingers.

“I heard the donor flew in on his private jet last night. Isn’t that crazy? I’ve never met anyone who owns his own private jet before,” Lisi said.

“
Lifestyles of the rich and the famous
,” Alana sang. “He must be some really old bag who’s on his deathbed and wants one last hurrah before he goes out.”

“Alana!” Lisi admonished, swatting her across the arm.

“Watch the coffee! But seriously, how much money can someone have that he'd be willing to donate a substantial amount to a small island in the Pacific? This old man is loaded!”

“And we are very grateful for it.”

Alana smiled. “Yes. Of course. I’m just curious what his story is. What’s making him travel all the way over here?”

“He’s an incredibly generous person, that’s what.”

Lisi parked the truck in the hospital parking lot, and they made their way to the nurses’ station. The head RN, Donna, was already barking out orders to the intern by the time they entered the office.

“And I don’t want to see any of those boxes laying on the floor. Get rid of them. These curtains need to be washed and louvers wiped down.
Oka
, why are these things always left to the last minute? We don’t have much time so be quick about it.” She glanced up and spotted Alana and Lisi. “Oh good, you’re here. Meeting starts in five. See you in the staffroom.”

The meeting room was buzzing with doctors and nurses alike dressed in their finest scrubs and Crocs. Manu approached Alana and tapped her playfully under the chin. “Hey Lana. Quite the fiasco, isn’t it?” She snorted and nodded her assent.

“Alright, people, let’s settle down,” one of the head doctors spoke, and the room quieted immediately. “As you are aware, we will be hosting a very special guest this afternoon that is flying in from America. He will be arriving at one, and the
‘ava
ceremony will take place shortly after in the main
fale
. For those who are not on rotation, please be prompt.…”

“Hey,” Manu whispered beside her. “Do you have that time off?”

“I’m off for a few. I want to see what this guy is all about, maybe get to shake his billionaire hand,” Alana whispered back.

“…and the caterers will be serving lunch afterward. Let me remind you that while it is a buffet, save some for the others who will be on rotation. Okay, let’s get back to work, people. We have patients waiting.”

Alana checked the board for notices before making her rounds. She visited the older gentleman first.

“Alana, aren’t you a sight for these old man eyes,” he croaked as she checked his vitals and changed the IV bag. “That flower in your ear is very pretty, as are you.”

Alana smiled warmly down at him. He had the same kind eyes her father had. “Now there, Mr. Filipo, if my Sala could hear what you just said she would be piling them all over my head.”

She checked on her teenage patient next. Tiana was propped up on pillows, her broken leg suspended in midair.

“Alana! Did you catch the netball game last night? We beat Fiji! The girls did so well.” Tiana, who was supposed to be traveling with the Samoan national team to the Pacific netball tournament, fell during a training exercise and promptly broke her leg. Bitter about her fate, Alana arranged for one of the few television sets in the hospital—a 1980s model—to be delivered to her room so she could watch her team’s games.

“They did extremely well, Tiana,” Alana said smiling. “I’m telling you, it’s all those good luck vibes you’re sending their way.”

With five minutes to spare, she and Lisi made their way to the main
fale
to eagerly await their highly anticipated guest. The
fale
was a colossal structure of workmanship with heavy wooden posts and
afa
weaving articulate patterns that crawled up to the ceiling. Braided coconut fronds wrapped around the posts and red
teuila
flowers dangled from them limply. Large fans hung low and whipped around wildly, doing little to ease the stifling heat that rose steadily outside compared to the cool air-conditioning in some of the main office buildings. The girls spotted Manu when he waved to them to join him on the floor. Together they sat on woven mats in their appropriate places near the back.

Like clockwork, a dark SUV pulled into the car park and paused. Quietness abruptly descended in the
fale
as all attention shifted to the vehicle. The back seat door opened, and Alana’s eyes widened as she watched a tall man emerge and walk towards the line of doctors waiting to greet him. His button down shirt stretched over a broad set of shoulders when he bent his head low for an
ula
of
moso’oi
to be placed around his neck. His large hand firmly shook the doctor’s before proceeding along the welcoming line. His gaze was composed: dark brows furrowed and squinted in the sunlight, brown hair blowing in the wind. Alana guessed he was a few years older than she was.