Cliff slowly turned to her. “You feel it too, huh?”
His words threw her, but she knew exactly what he meant. “I do.”
“The bond passed on to me from my grandfather. Woody and our pops didn’t get it, even though they are caretakers. You got it, too, somehow.”
Being here on this rock with someone who understood her was comforting, hard as it was. Silver-blue water lapped around them. “It’s both a burden and a blessing, I think. It tears at my heart but also makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world,” she said.
“My mother always said those who swam in the abyss were the only ones who could also soar with‘io, the hawk,” he said.
“I love your way of thinking.”
He shrugged. “Old wisdom.”
They sat shoulder to shoulder, looking out at a wall of rain on the horizon edging closer, and after a while she told him about the leg.
“I already knew he was bit. Woody told me about the fin you found and I could justfeelit. The shark that’s out there has been here before. I seen her six years back or so and a couple years before that. She usually minds her own business.”
“Maybe it’s a different one?” Minnow suggested.
“Not this big. I only saw her at a distance both times. A long shadow on the periphery, checking me out, cruising like one nuclear submarine. Brah, my heart was going off the Richter. You see something like that, younevahforget it.”
Something about the cadence of his words, and his pidgin, gave everything he said an exclamation point after it.
“Oh, I know.”
“So what we goin’ do about it? That is the question.”
“Tomorrow I’m going up to the hospital to support Angela as she makes a statement,” Minnow said.
“That’s her deal. But you and me and Woody, we gotta make a stand,” he said, unfolding his legs and standing. He held a hand and pulled her up. “We’llhuitonight at the Kiawe. Make a plan, roll some heads.”
Whatever that meant, she was in.
Journal Entry
From the journal of Minnow Gray
September 29, 1992
Things found in a shark’s stomach: a whole reindeer, an unopened bottle of wine, a human arm covered in tattoos, license plates, car tires, porcupine spines, a dog with a collar still on, a drum, a camera, a boat propeller. This is obviously just the tip of the iceberg, but it goes to show you that sharks use their mouths to sample and explore things. We might do the same if we had no hands.
Chapter 27
The Meeting
Ua: rain, to rain; rainy
They piled into Woody’s truck before sunset, even though there was no sign of the sun, and drove to the Kiawe. Nalu had shown up an hour earlier, thinking he would be taking her to the airport, so he joined them. On the way, Minnow learned that the Kaupiko family had once owned the land where the resort sat, so Woody and Cliff could eat for free there until the day they died. A deal brokered by their father and one they took full advantage of whenever they were at the house. Things now made more sense.
She had tried to talk them out of going, blaming the approaching squall, but Cliff had his mind set on curry and coconut cake. Of course it was Luke she didn’t want to run into, but she wasn’t about to tell them that. Thoughts of last night kept dropping into her mind. It scared her how strongly she had reacted to him.
When the four of them rolled into the Saltwater Bar, every head in the room swung in their direction, as though a band of outlaws had just ridden into town. Minnow wasn’t sure why at first, but it dawned on her that her three companions gave off a kind of subtle energy,powerful as the sun. Especially Cliff with his shock of unruly silver-streaked hair and fire in his eyes. One look his way and you could tell he was not someone to be messed with.
They grabbed a table closest to the ocean and Minnow sat facing out, noticing Luke’s boat was not there. Dixie was working and zeroed in on them right away. When she pulled up, Nalu stood and kissed her in front of everyone. It was sweet to see him so tender with her and not worried about what anyone thought.
After handing out menus, Dixie lowered her voice. “Y’all might want to know that Josh Brown is all giddy because he got to interview the Search & Rescue guys about a leg that was found. Did you hear about that?” she asked, scrunching up her face.
“We did,” Minnow said.
