I was 16 and she was 22. I was brown and she was haole. I was a high school drop out, she was married then divorced. I was in love. Maybe it was the twilight reflecting her red hair that triggered the chemistry between us. She was everything to me. I dumped a Waipahu chick for this redheaded goddess.
Her name was Brandy Sue Jackson. A military brat but my woman no less. And I, Liko Kilani homegrown Kunia boy was head over heals for this haole chick.
When you're sixteen, independent, and in love you don't listen to any negative stuff. Sure you hear it. A sixteen year old in love has blinders and earplugs on when it comes to criticism of his true love relationship. I wanted her and she wanted me. Eventually we got each other.
Kunia gossip travels faster then the speed of light, which means the whole community, more or less; knows or thinks they know what is going on in other households.
Nothing much goes on in Kunia. Which is why gossiping disguised as talking story is the most common past time, second only to going to Wahiawa.
It was the summer of '69 and the Kilani household was on the top of the gossip list. What with twelve kids in the family and one more on the way. The Kilani family had many in the ranks of the Del Monte Corporation labor force. With nine brother and two sisters, you can imagine the humbug. But did I care about gossip? Hell no, I never have. People can be real mean and ugly when they're talking behind your back. It always amazes me how nice people can be to your face. Imagine, what would you think and say if you knew a 16 year old local kid and his 22 year old haole girlfriend? How about if the guy was 22 and the girl 16? Does double standards apply or what. If it was my sixteen year old sister (who is also my twin), I would try to talk her out of it and beat up the haole guy too. Which reminds me, my twin sis Lina tried to discourage me and almost beat up Brandy but didn't.
You would be surprised at the amount of love and lust that is first started in Kunia. Most people see the place as a sleepy community. But a lot of other people know of the Kunia that triggers romance. There's no way to describe that. Its one of those things you have to experience. While people talked about my love life, I was busy working in the pineapple fields. I worked with a gang full of fifteen and sixteen year olds. I was a loner, I got to go chop down trees while the others went hoe hana. Included in this gang was the Waipahu chick I had dumped for Brandy. We didn't talk to each other anymore. Everyday we would try to kill each other with piercing stare (stink eye)!.
I saved all my money that summer. I had enough for me and Brandy to move to the mainland; away from all the negative vibes of Kunia. We were happy and in love. I was 16 going on 21 and she was 22 going on 30. I grew closer and closer to Brandy as she mentally moved farther away. In this growing stage I became a father, then I became a man. Together we became parents. Together we endured the hardships of making a relationship work. Eventually our differences won out. The guy I thought was my best buddy became her best friend instead. I ended up going home to Kunia with a nasty black eye and bruised for life.
Its been thirty years since that summer that I fell madly in love. Looking back now I can't hardly say it was love. But my twin sis Lina reminds me indeed I was in love. And she knows me better then my mom or anyone else. Sometimes when I'm visiting Kunia, I go up into the hills. At a place called Three Rocks I think about yesterday, today and tomorrow. My initials carved into stone with you-know-whose initials reminds me of that summer way back when. One of these days soon, I want to tell my son about being sixteen and in love. I keep searching for the courage and the words in the right sequence.
Every now and then I wonder about that Waipahu chick I dumped. If and when we see each other again, will we try to kill each other with stink eye! I have no expectations.
The love and lust triggered in Kunia is available only by experience. The quiet community remains incognito and sometimes so does love.
About Author
Linda "Lika" Relacion Oosahwe was born at Queens Hospital raised in Fernandez Village/Ewa and Waipahu. She currently lives in Gardnerville, NV. She has three children; Quannee Mokihana, Star Leinaala, and Keokuk Hokule'a a.k.a Quan, STA & BoBOY! A palm reader once told her she would have three husbands. She's way behind, she still working on her first one and it's been 26 years!! When she grows up she wants to be "financially independent" currently she is "financially embarrassed!" "Kunia Lust" is the story of her twin brother Liko.
