The Islands (35 page)

Catherine talked at length about the women, how unorthodox she found them, yet how free and uncomplicated their lives seemed. She talked about going to the goddess pool and confessed she'd had her first joint.

‘You're joking!' laughed Kiann'e. ‘What would Bradley think?'

‘He's never going to know. And it's never going to happen again,' she said firmly.

‘Ooh, did you have a wild trip? See shooting stars, go a bit mad?' teased Kiann'e. ‘One joint isn't going to hurt you anyway.'

‘I remember most of it. Kind of an out-of-body experience. It was . . . different. But I don't want to do it again. And that's not going to happen anyway.'

‘Bradley doesn't seem the type to smoke grass, that's for sure. I bet he never made love to you in the back seat of a car either,' giggled Kiann'e.

‘No. He didn't. He didn't have a car until we got here. We courted in taxis. Not that we ever did anything in the back of taxi,' Catherine hastily added.

‘So are you going to tell me?'

‘Tell you what?' asked Catherine.

‘There's something you're not telling me,' said Kiann'e. ‘That's okay if you don't want to.'

‘I've told you I smoked a joint and passed out in a hammock at some virtual strangers' house. That's a secret Bradley will never hear.' She jumped to her feet. ‘Coffee?'

Catherine realised she had quite a big job on her hands writing even a small article to go with her Kauai pictures. She needed a lot more information. Research. She was learning. While in the library at the
Advertiser
she asked the helpful librarian about famous dessert dishes of Hawaii.

‘I don't mean traditional luau things. A hapa-haole creation,' said Catherine. ‘I have to take something to a morning tea where a bunch of women all try to outdo each other. Me buying Mrs Hing's malasadas every month is going a bit stale.'

The librarian laughed. ‘Let's go through old copies of
Honolulu Magazine
. Or better yet, I'll ask my mother-in-law. She's a fantastic cook. Her haupia cake is fab.'

Catherine sat quietly at the morning tea as most members of the Wives' Club crammed into the small sitting room and terrace of Melanie Lindsay's ground-floor apartment on the base. It looked like every other unit in the complex, thought Catherine. It would be easy to come home in the dark and walk into the wrong apartment without realising it.

Melanie and Julia were acting as co-hostesses, while Mrs Goodwin sat demurely in the centre of the room in the most comfortable chair. Not a hair was ever out of place, not even if a gale had been blowing, thought Catherine. Mrs Goodwin's hands with their neatly clipped pale pink nails were folded in her lap, her ankles were crossed and she smiled serenely like a school principal watching her graduating class of young ladies perform as expected.

Catherine's fresh pink guava chiffon cake topped with lillkoi frosting – which Catherine considered Hawaiian passionfruit – had been baked by the librarian's mother-in-law. It was a big hit.

‘You're very quiet, Catherine,' commented one of the women. ‘You've been such a leader lately. We missed you at the last get together.'

‘Yes, Catherine. Are you well? You look a little tired. Perhaps you're doing too much,' said Mrs Goodwin.

‘Maybe I'm too relaxed. I've just had a week's holiday in Kauai,' shot back Catherine with a smile.

‘What a shame you couldn't share it with Bradley. Now, shall we discuss July Fourth? Melanie, please start.' Mrs Goodwin turned her attention to their hostess who put down a plate of brownies and hurriedly reached for a sheet of paper to read out the points she'd made.

Catherine tuned out as the women ran through the minutiae of food and volunteers and ribbons and prizes and banners and music. She wondered what Beatrice thought of the irony of a day when the US celebrated its independence when Beatrice, and others, wanted Hawaii to be independent from America.

As if reading her mind, or because she had heard about Catherine's appearance at the rally, or possibly because of her friendship with Kiann'e, Mrs Goodwin looked at Catherine as she said firmly, ‘We are here to maintain good relations and friendship between the mainland states and Hawaii. We all have a role to play. We know that, unfortunately, there are elements who do not appreciate the protection and advantages of having our defence presence here. And there are local people who don't want to be part of our wonderful American way of life. But they are only a minority. So it is up to us to wave the flag and share and show what it means to be American and how proud we are to be part of the greatest country on earth.'

This speech brought a round of applause, which Catherine joined with a polite clap.

‘After the morning service and breakfast there will be a barbecue and softball games for the enlisted men and children. The Marine Corps Naval Air Station men at Kaneohe will set up the evening fireworks, which can be viewed from several places.'

‘Where do they set off the fireworks?' asked Julia.

‘I believe from a small island – Rabbit Island – offshore,' said Mrs Goodwin. ‘The local people come to the beach to see them as well of course.'

‘Sounds fun,' said Catherine, wondering if Mrs Goodwin went to see the fireworks with the local people. Somehow she doubted it.

Mrs Goodwin rose. ‘I'll leave the nuts and bolts to you girls to work on. We have invited several local schools to participate in the formal part of the proceedings and I'm sure it's going to be a wonderful day.'

There followed a flurry of discussion, lists passed around, jobs assigned.

Catherine went back to the apartment on her own. She felt such an outsider. Her enthusiasm to get the Wives' Club more involved in local issues had diminished. They were in a world of their own, an island within an island and a temporary one at that. Would she ever fit in? Did she want to?

Would all the places that Bradley would be assigned to, be like this? She remembered now his quiet remarks to her about being able to make a life and home wherever they might be would only be possible with the support of the ‘navy family'. God, how claustrophobic it felt to her.

Nor could she imagine settling into any other place in the same way as she had here in the Hawaiian Islands. Maybe it would have been better if she'd been sent as a new wife to an ugly hardship post where she'd have been grateful for the support of the other wives.

She tried to be honest with herself. She thought that she would still like to explore, participate and engage with any local community even if she had difficulties like language. It just wasn't in her nature to retreat within the safety of her husband's world. Even though she'd come from quite a cloistered society – a small, far-flung rural township – her curiosity about people and their world, a certain fearlessness, an Aussie egalitarianism, a desire to take big bites of her new life and new surroundings, had led her to dive into life in Hawaii.

But a remark by one of the wives about Catherine taking a job in Hawaii had unnerved her. ‘Well, enjoy it because you can't do that everywhere, especially outside America.'

She'd have to sit down and talk seriously to Bradley about these issues when he came home, though quite what they could change about their circumstances defeated her for the moment. In the meantime, she was going to enjoy every second of her time in Hawaii – her job, her friends and her lifestyle.

She wrote Bradley a newsy letter about her trip to Kauai, her new photo-essay assignment and a lot of detail of her involvement with the Wives' Club and the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations.

A couple of days later there was another letter from Bradley. It was brief, stark in its news, ending:

Nothing much else to report from shipside. But the news seems to be that we can expect to be away longer than anticipated. I'm afraid, Catherine, dear, I'll be gone several more weeks at least. I do hope you are managing okay – it sounds like you're certainly keeping busy! Keep in close touch with Mrs Goodwin and if you need anything she's the one to see. I love and miss you. Bradley.

Oh. She sighed and refolded the letter. Thank heavens she had a project to keep her busy. She had managed to spread the assignment out over several days to fill in her time so she didn't feel she had nothing to do.

She rang Kiann'e and told her Bradley might be away much longer.

‘Don't be lonely, Catherine. Come and have dinner tonight at Aunty Lani's. And I'll see you in the morning for a swim.'

‘I don't feel lonely. I feel so lucky to know you all,' Catherine said.

After weeks of endless conversations and meetings to finalise the July Fourth celebrations, the big day arrived and Catherine did her duty by handing out flags, tying red, white and blue balloons to the food stands and then setting up her photographic stand. It proved to be a great success and she worked for hours taking photos of military and naval families to send back home. Heavens, she thought, it is going to take me ages next week to develop them all and send them to the right people.

‘We'll save you a spot with us to watch the game,' Julia called out later that afternoon. Catherine thanked her but she couldn't raise much enthusiasm for the softball games. She felt that she had made more than enough contribution to the success of the day and she hoped she could sneak away. She apologised for not being able to make the Goodwins' celebratory cocktail party telling Mrs Goodwin that she would have to start developing the photos right away to get them all done. Mrs Goodwin seemed impressed by her dedication to her task.

Pleased with her escape, she went to Kailua Beach Park, where she joined Kiann'e, Aunty Lani and her family and friends to have a picnic and watch the fireworks.

It was a gorgeous evening and families were scattered in groups along the park, at the water's edge and on the beach. The smoke from portable hibachis drifted into the twilight as food was chargrilled and young children chased each other in excitement before being called to sit down and eat. Some people had their ukuleles out and had started singing. There was a lovely sense of community and Catherine and Albert, in charge of turning the satay sticks over the coals on the hibachi, chatted and laughed as he recounted an adventure he had had chasing a runaway pig back at home.

‘This reminds me of barbecues at
Heatherbrae
,' said Catherine.

When the fireworks started, sent across the water by the marines on the small dot of an island just off the coast, there were cries of delight from the crowd. Catherine sat beside Kiann'e holding a glass of wine in a plastic cup, watching the pink and green and silver rockets burst into showering stars. The sand between her toes, the smell of the ocean, the softness of the breeze suddenly brought back memories of being with PJ. And, gazing at the soaring fireworks lighting up the night, she remembered exactly how he'd made her body feel and she trembled.

‘Are you cold?' asked Kiann'e.

‘No. Maybe I'll go for a walk.' Catherine felt overwhelmed and had to get away from Kiann'e's concern. She was shocked at how, many weeks later and out of nowhere, the ‘PJ effect', had struck her.

The fireworks had finished and while some families were packing up with their young children, other groups were settling in for a bit of a party. Catherine drew a deep breath and headed back to help Aunty Lani and the gang pack up. She was glad she'd driven herself and as soon as she could, she hugged everyone goodbye and headed for her car.

‘Catherine! Howdy. Happy July Fourth.'

Catherine was putting her picnic basket in the back seat and she spun around in surprise. Walking towards her was Sadie, looking as Catherine remembered her, rather like a gypsy.

‘You just arriving?' Sadie asked. ‘You've missed the fireworks.'

‘No, been here for hours. Just leaving actually. What're you doing here?' Catherine glanced around, catching her breath, half expecting to see PJ, as Sadie gave her a hug.

‘Oh, I've come over to Oahu for a bit. Might stay, might move on. Just hanging with some friends out on the North Shore. They brought their kids in for the fireworks. You on your own?'

‘No. Our group is packing up. What about you? Is Summer here? And how's Ginger?'

‘They're groovy. Still on Kauai. Ginger's nesting. She had a little girl. She and Doobie called her Angel. As for me, I got wanderlust again. As you do.' She grinned. ‘Want to catch up?'

‘Yes, of course. Here, I'll give you my number.' Catherine was rattled. Sadie belonged to an episode in her life she thought she'd put behind her. But tonight had shown her how close to the surface her feelings about PJ remained.

‘Great. I'll call you when I'm coming into town. Or why don't you come over to Sunset Beach? I'm in someone's house while they're away. Well, a room of it. Great location near the beach.'

‘No, no, thanks. Could we meet in Waikiki?'

Sadie wrinkled her nose. ‘I avoid the tourist traps. Let's decide later. I'll call you.'

Catherine couldn't sleep, memories and images of her time at
Nirvana
, mostly her time with PJ, kept flashing into her mind. Bradley had been amused at what a sound and solid sleeper she was – head on the pillow and out cold for seven hours – but now she felt the safe and secure world around her was being shaken and rattled and it seemed as though sleep would never come.

Sadie and Catherine arranged to meet at a coffee house at Kahala Mall, which seemed to Catherine the last place Sadie would frequent. Catherine wandered through the quiet mall with its soft lighting, piped music and carpet underfoot. She found a bookshop and then saw the coffee house and spotted Sadie wearing a long skirt, her curls tied up in a colourful bandana.

‘Hi, Sadie. Have I kept you waiting?'

‘No, no. I had to collect some books and get some food. Tea? Coffee?'