I guess I was around 3 or 4 years because I was not in school. You know, stay home, play outside while Mom did the laundry outside in the back in the sink. Boy, she had it rough. We neva had one wash machine, so she was doing the laundry with one of them washboards. Her hands were always almost eaten raw on the knuckles from scrubbin' the clothes. Then she had to rinse em' and then ring em' out by hand before she could hang em' up on the line. Later on in the years she got one of those that washed and had da kine ringa' built on the side. You know the kind that you have to put through the two rollers and had one handle on da side that you had to turn and get the clothes through. Mom was not a tall one like the rest of the family. Most of us reached up to and past 6 feet. We got that from Dad's side of the family. So most times she used a chair because the wash line was too high, for her at least. I was small too so I couldn't help either. Those were the days that she had no time to go to the beach with me but I still kept busy.
It was always an adventure in the backyard for one small keed back then. I was playing cowboy or army (the story of my life eh). Or go climb da mango tree and act like you in one bomber plane when the wind blowin' till Mom catch you an tell you fo' get down. Or they tell you "No cry wen you fall down cause den I goin' give you somethin fo' cry fo'". Wow, could neva figure dat one out. We use to have couple turkey's in the back yard in the coop and once in awhile da bugga's would get out somehow. Whoaa brah time fo' hide. Dem turkeys could put up one good fight. Time fo' me to run in the house then. As kids we use to catch the cardinal birds with one cardboard box. We used a long string hooked up to one stick that held up the box with some bread in em. Eh, we neva know you not suppose to catch em. But most times we let em go later.
Anyway the only other kids around that I could play with were some Japanese kids up the road from us in the next lane. They had one great house built right on Farrington Hwy. It was one two-story house with one big yard in the front and back. Had one sprinkler system installed fo' wata da yard (back then dat cost plenty money). Had all kin fruit trees like mango, lemon, grapefruit and one lychee tree too. They had da kine Japanese grass in da back that use to poke in your pants wen you sit down. Had to watch out fo' da kine bumbucha centipedes in da grass too. But the best was da kids had all the latest toys. They use to have all the latest stuff like da plastic wata mat that we use to hook up the hose and slide on in the 2-car carport they had built with red cement on the bottom. It was also the first time I was introduced to clay. The closest we had to that was the mud out in our back yard. They had plastic cowboys with the wagons and the horses.
I guess they were very well off cause they use to go vacation every year to places like the Mainland or Mexico and even Spain I think. They use to bring back a lot of the souvenirs from those places and I was awed by it all as a kid. They use to go to places like Disneyland in California. You know that back then we kids were lucky to see it on TV if we had one. Anyway the family was real nice. My youngest sista use to baby-sit the kids wen da parents went out. They had 4 boys in the family. It was David, John, Cy and Mark. Cy was my best friend and we were the same age too. And Mark, he was the younger one but we all played together. John would play with us once in awhile and David, well he was much older than we were so he never really played with us. Like I said they had all the latest toys that I could play with and I got to watch da cartoons on their TV (we never had one till much later). The best was wen they would pull out all the uka billion coloring books and color crayons, we jus had fun fo long time at the dinner table downstairs.
Cy's Mom could cook too. You know the Japanese kine stuff. Once in awhile I got to stay and eat and man dat bugga was ono eatin'. Wasn't too often that happened but when it did boy, was I in heaven! As kids we didn't usually get lunch back then with money being tight. I never really missed it either. You know, neva had em' so neva miss em'. Then there was those Friday nights when my sister babysat for them. It was a treat for me too. I usually got to stay over too till the parents got back home. Before the parents left we always saw them off in the patio while we were in our pajamas. That was one of the great deals with that, we all had to au au before. So here we are, one local keed and 3 Japanese kids, us all in pajamas outside with no shoes in da carport, as they were about to leave. I guess that would look funny now. The pajama was always da kine that look like baseball uniforms only wit shorts. Just before taking off the parents would then give each of us kids (me included) anywhere from 10 cents to a quarter. After they left we would go down the store (B & K) to treat ourselves to wat eva we decided. Most times for me it was the c moi or one small bag Fritos or one Hershey candy bar. Of course back then stuff was bigger then today's. Those were great times. As they say, you can never go back. But I still have my memories to relive. Anybody want to be my co-pilot in the mango tree?
About Author
George K. Cabral was born in Wahiawa and raised in Nanakuli, Oahu. He graduated from Nanakuli High in 1973. He joined the Army thereafter and shipped over to Germany where he spent almost 22 years of service. He retired in 1996 and is now working in Operations as a Government employee for the Army in Bamberg, Germany. He and his wife have two girls, have settled down and made a home there. They try to get back to Hawaii every three years or so to visit the Ohana there and get that Aloha spirit.
