Wen I wuz growing up in Paauilo, I used to work weekends fo da Paauilo Shugah Mill. Dose days, if you fahdah or mahdah worked fo da mill, da kids could get weekend jobs in da fields. One yeeah, I wuz assigned to work da "Pick up Stone" crew. My job wuz to walk da freshly plowed canefield an pick up da big stones so da planta machine no broke from da stones. While I wuz walking, had one old Filipino man following me with a bucket tracta. Sheesh, hea I gotta walk an pick up da stones an da bugga wuz riding da tracta. Had bug me li*bit but me young boy, gotta show I can handle. Anyway, me an dis Filipino man had work for a couple weekends togedda an had become friends, plus he know my fahdah well. I started to call him "Tata". Az I stay picking up da stones, every once in a while, get big kine centapee come outsai from unda da stone.

One day, had plenty centapees unda dis big stone. Tata had come down from his comfortable chaaya an went tell me about da centapees. He said dat if you stick one stick in da ground an put da centapee on da stick, dat da bugga going die on da stick. He said dat centapees can go up da stick but no can come down. I told him, "Eh, how u going grab da centapee wit out da bugga bitting u?" He den grabbed one da biggah ones (about 8 inches) behind da head, an had pull off da fangs. He said, "now da buggah no can bite". So I had try pulling da fangs off a smaller one(about 4 inches) and had work, da buggah no can bite. So all day I stay playing wit da centapees. I no scayd now. At da end of da day, I had 4 big buggahs, wit out fangs of course, on my arms. Da buggahs wuz just crawling all up and down my arms. I took da buggahs home wit me.

Wen I had reach home, I wuz calling fo my mahdah to come ousai. Wen she had come ousai, I wuz standing deah wit da centapees crawling all ova my arms. My mahdah had grab da broom an starded to hit da centapees. She went bananas, I wuz yelling "Ma, stop, ow,ow". By da time she had stop, da centapees wuz all dead an my arms wuz soaah. Afta I had tell her about da buggahs no can bite because no mo fangs, I had get mo lickings from her.

Dat wuz da first and last time I bring em home. I still played wit dem at work, but I leave dem in da fields befo I go home. Dis is a true story, go try, pull da fangs out and let dem crawl on your arms. HAVE FUN, BUT NO SHOW YOAH MAHDAH!

Ralph Villafuerte is originally from Paauilo on the Big Island. (Honoka'a High School '76). He is a confessed "Baseball fanatic".

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