Remembah da neighbahood u wen live in? We all had wun special kine place we wuz brought up in Hawaii. Mine wuz no different den any of u out deah I guess.
Well befoa I wuz in school, we lived off Farrington Highway and I faintly remembah my parents having a small kine farm up da end of da road. I still remembah da couple cows we had in stalls and I believe we had a horse too. Of course we had chickens an da deadly turkeys dat use to scah me. Lattah da ohana decided not to raise dem anymoah so den dat wuz pau.
But da only ting had back den fo' da nieghbahood wuz owah street an had plenty kiawe trees across both side of da lane an across da main (Farrington Hwy.) street to da beach. Had da really beeg wun's. Well wuz beeg lookin' fo' me as wun small keed ah. In da lane neva have many keeds at da time so das wen I had fo' use da imagination to keep busy.
As wun small keed i use to like go explore whea da kiawe trees stay but neva have slippahs thick enuff fo step insai wit all da kine torns on da ground dat wen fall from da tree. Dem buggahs wuld git about foah inches long, sometimes even moah.
So I wen learn from my braddah fo' make da kine shoes from da soda cans. U no, u smash da buggah wit yowah feet den go find da sticky stuff from da uddah tree so yowah feet git stuck to em' den can walk on da ground whea da torns stay. Dis wuz wen had slippahs too but dem torn's wuz so long deh go right thru da slippahs. Neva really find dat much in deah an could oni go so fah as da quarry wuz pretty closeby. Besides I wuz not allowed fo' go dat fah as wun small keed. Always have to be in sight of my Maddah.
Use to be oni owah road deah an den da Shimammoto's wen build dis beeg 2 story kine house wit wun beeg yahd in da front an da back. Had all kine fruit trees. Lime, Mango an my favorite wuz da lychee wun. Buggah wuz ono wen came in season. Deh had wun carport dat wuz beeg enuff fo' 2 cahs an wot I still remembah is dat da concrete wuz red an smooth. We use to put da wattah hose on em an use em' like wun slide by runin' an drop down on yowah okole. Even had wun sprinklah system in da yahd. Dat wuz da onli house next dowah fo' long time.
Da boys had all da cool toys too plus all kine coloring books and all da color crayons. Wuz tree boys in da ohana. Das whea my sistah use to baby-sit an I got fo' go stay ovah till da parents got back.
Lattah, wen I wuz oldah da feed stoah wuz put up across from deah house whea Mistah Silva wen work. He wuz wun cool guy. Had gray hayah, tall an would let us fool around in da feed stoa. I thought da place smell good wit all dat feed in da beeg 50 pound bags. He wuz wun tall haole lookin' guy but I tink he wuz portagee.
Lattah deh wen go bulldoza da trees down behind da Shimamoto's an da feed stoah an wen put up plenti Quonset huts up on each side of da new road deh wen build. An da road wuz made out of da white coral dirt. Dis wuz whea we use to play baseball an football an git owah knees all skinned up den had kakio's fo couple weeks. But das ok cause da salt wattah took cayah of dem. Dis wuz way past da time wen da Shimamoto's had da 2 story house ova deah. Had plenti keeds in dat lane. Had da Lovell's wit Harry an his 2 sistahs an wun small braddah. Had da Apena's an deh had like 3 keeds. Da Perkins wen move in an deh had 4 boys an 2 girls. Had plenty moah like wun filopino family wit 4 girls an 3 boys. Poratgee's, Hawaiian's, Haole's, Filipino's, Japanese, Chinese owah woteva's. Neva make difference wot u wuz. We wen all play togeddah. Even wen go jump rope wit da girls. The Philippine ohana had the boy's dat wen raise pigeon's. Wuz Fred and hees braddah but I no remembah hees name. Das wuz da firs time I wuz introduced to da Buddisim religion. Deh use to show me how fo' train da pigeons fo' be intaceptahs an bring back moah pidgeons back to hees pigeon coop. Of course we neva intacept too many. He wen lose moah I tink. Use to help heem clean out da kukai in da coop. Buggah had wun beeg coop too. U could walk in da buggah witout bendin' ovah.
The Perkins use to work da drive-in in Waipahu an us keeds use to go wit dem clean da place up whea da cahs pahk. Sometimes we would scoah an find 20-30 dollahs on da ground. We did dis on da weekend. Wuz hahd work but we had good fun. Wun time John wen find wun condom an he wen tell hees young bradda (Tracy) dat das wuz wun balloon an fo' blow em' up an he did. Ho, we wen buss out laughin'. Of course Tracy wuzn't happy bout dat ah.
Wit all us keeds deah we always found somethin' fo' do. Could be baseball (local style wit tennis ball cause eef da ball hit da cah owah house, no broke anyting), football (wit owah coral street rules), jump rope wit da girls owah even play jacks owah hop-scotch wit dem an of course da army games in da quarry. Eh, even da girls play army wit us. All in all we had wun good neighbahood. We all look aftah each uddah no mattah whea we stay owah wot we do. Even da parents use to watch out fo' da uddah keeds dat no belong to dem. Now wen eva I stay home I pass by da ole place an dream how wuz. Da keeds still da same down at Uleawa wit deah boogie boards now. No moah paifo boards but das ok. Somehow it neva wen change.
About Author
George K. Cabral was born in Wahiawa and raised in Nanakuli, Oahu, two blocks from B & K store. 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 as a Government employee for the Army in Grafenwoehr, Germany with the 7th Army Training Command. He and his wife, Jutta have two daughters and one grandson, have settled down and made a home in Bamberg, Germany. They get back to Hawaii every three years or so to visit Ohana and maybe git togeddah wit da ole neighbahood.
