by
AS
“Steve –“
McGarrett turned
towards the familiar voice that called his name.
“The plane is
boarding.”
Nodding, he walked over
to where his second in command stood, his mind still preoccupied with the
memory of the woman they had put on a plane the day before. He’d been intrigued by Dolores since their
first meeting and now wondered if it would be worth looking her up upon their
return to Hawaii. He decided it was a
thought he could ponder on their long flight home. As he came up next to his friend, McGarrett
glanced over at Williams and was disheartened to see him avoid eye
contact. Dan had been distant if not
bored throughout the trip. An eerie
feeling filled McGarrett and he knew that while he might enjoy spending his
time thinking of the GI ‘widow’ in reality he’d really spend a good part of the
flight home contemplating the reasons behind his friend’s increasingly odd
behavior.
Life at Five-O had
finally begun to wind down to a more normal sense of chaos. Steve sincerely hoped that, with the end of
this particular case, a quieter, less extreme run of cases would find their way
to his team. As they settled into their
seats on the plane, he found himself unable to stop glancing at Williams. Abruptly he realized that Dan looked every
bit of his slightly over forty years, maybe with a few extra added on. The gray/white patches in the curly hair were
more evident than they had ever been.
But then since the previous fall it had almost seemed as if Williams had
been the focal point of every case that had landed in Five-O’s offices. As the cases had come fast and furious of
late there had been little opportunity for down time or sometimes even for the
chance to talk the way they had done in the past. Silently Steve vowed to make the time once
the paperwork was finished on this particular investigation. As with the case, his gut now told him that
there were more storms brewing on the horizon.
He again glanced over at his second in command but Williams’ face was
turned away from the boss. Silently
sighing, McGarrett could only hope for a quiet ride home and a few uneventful
days/weeks to come.
*****
A week after their
return from Singapore brought relative calm to the Five-O offices at Iolani Palace. While
there were on going cases that the team was investigating, none had the urgency
of their recent past. McGarrett sat at
his desk finishing up some paperwork.
The staff had all departed long ago including Duke Lukela and,
surprisingly, Dan Williams. He paused in
his writing to ponder on that thought.
There was still something bugging his second in command yet Danno didn’t
seem interested in telling him - unusual.
But then Steve had not pressed him for an explanation the way he
normally did. Odd behavior from the both
of them and Steve could not figure out why.
The outer door of the
office opened and shut rather noisily.
Automatically reaching for his weapon, McGarrett glanced up at his
office door, relaxing when he recognized his friend in the doorway. Dressed in casual clothes, Danny Williams
paused before entering the office.
“How did I know you
would still be here?” He scoffed and
then entered the Five-O boss’ private domain.
“Perhaps you just
know me too well.” The sarcastic gruffness of McGarrett’s retort hid his
fondness for the man who was now approaching him.
“Yeah…well…maybe,”
Dan paused as he came to a stop in front of the desk. “Look, Steve, can we talk?”
As if sensing a
definite shift in the mood, McGarrett put his pen down and looked up. Without tangibly identifying how he knew, he
was aware that something had changed in the time that Williams had been gone
from the office. The unsettledness he
had sensed in his friend the last several weeks was gone replaced by a purpose,
a resolve. He gestured towards the
lanai. “Let’s go out there.”
Dan shook his head,
unable to meet his friend’s stare. “I
don’t think –” He allowed the sentence to fall off without completion. This was even harder than he had imagined it
would be.
McGarrett’s eyes
narrowed as he focused in on Williams, trying to determine where this
conversation was headed. He hated
surprises, despised not knowing what was going on with his friends and was very
uncomfortable in situations where he was not in control. “Something wrong,
Danno?”
Given the opening,
Danny knew he had no choice but to plunge ahead. It did not matter how much he tried to ease
into the subject or sugarcoat what he was about to say. This was going to hurt McGarrett enormously.
“Yes and no. I’m leaving Five-O, Steve.” Dan winced.
The words had come out flat and cold, not the way he had intended.
Steve froze. There was no other way to describe his
reaction. It was as if all of his bodily
functions stopped at Dan’s words. His
skin chilled and goose bumps jumped up on his arms. It felt as if the weight of the world now
suddenly rested squarely on his shoulders.
He wet his lips, not sure what to say or how he felt. He was shocked and stunned. Never had he expected this!
“Leaving?” he
croaked. His voice sounded foreign in
his own ears. His response inane; it was
all he could think of, assuming of course that he was still able to think.
Danny remained
silent. Knowing his boss as well as he
did he knew there was more coming before he’d need to speak again. He just needed to give Steve time to fully
process what he had said to him. Briefly
he wondered how badly Steve’s Irish temper was going spill out.
“What do you mean –
you’re leaving Five-O?”
McGarrett rose but
made no effort to come around from behind his desk. Quickly the stunned shock he had first felt
was being replaced by intense anger. As
far as he knew nothing had occurred of late that would provoke a resignation by
his second in command. His mind raced as
he searched for a recent event that was more important than he might have
thought.
“Steve, I’ve had
it. I can’t do this anymore. I’ve got nothing left.”
“So you are just
going to walk away? No, run away?”
“There’s no other way
to do it.”
“There’s always
another way, Danno! If you want to find one that is.”
“What does that…?”
Dan stopped
abruptly. Steve was angry. He had known that he would be and had promised
himself on the drive back to the palace that he would not reciprocate that
anger. Dan felt that if he also became
angry that there would be no way for the two of them to ever continue speaking
to each other after the hurt from his decision faded. That was something he did not want to
happen.
“Where are you
going? Back to HPD?” Aghast at the thought, McGarrett could not
imagine Dan returning to the regular police force without someone having tipped
him off before now.
“No, I’m leaving
Hawaii.”
“Leaving the
islands?” This news rocked Steve
again. Not only was his friend leaving
the team, he wasn’t even going to be anywhere close by. “When?” he whispered.
“Day after tomorrow.”
Saturday. Steve tried to swallow the lump that had
appeared in his throat. He shook his
head a little, barely comprehending what was going on around him. Opening his mouth to speak, he realized he
had no clue what to say. His mouth shut
again. He struggled to think but his
mind was blank. He stared down at the
top of his desk, emotions coursing through him.
He couldn’t look at Danny.
Williams waited for
several minutes. The next move belonged
to McGarrett but he appeared to be unwilling or unable to make one. Unsure of what he should do or say, Dan
sighed and shook his head. This was not
how he wanted their conversation to go.
“I’ll see you in the
morning, Steve.”
Danny lingered a few
more minutes in front of the large desk.
Uncertain as to exactly what he was hoping for, he only knew that he
wished that he could see something in Steve – other than the anger. At last he turned and slowly walked out of
the office, closing the door behind him.
Steve waited until he
heard the second door click shut. Then
without warning his fist slammed down onto the desktop several times. How dare he!!
Did he really believe that
McGarrett was simply going to take his resignation without question? And then to simply announce that he was
leaving the Islands! That was definitely
a bit extreme in Steve’s mind. As abruptly
as it had surfaced his sudden flare of temper vanished, only to be replaced by
a crushing sense of loneliness. His
second in command, his closest friend, had just resigned with the intent of
leaving both Five-O and Hawaii in approximately forty-eight hours.
*****
Jogging along the
beach early the next morning Steve made a conscious decision to not take the
route by Dan’s apartment. Fairly certain
that he wouldn’t want to jog that morning, McGarrett also wasn’t certain that he
was ready to face his friend yet. He
found what he thought and felt impossible to put into words. He hadn’t been able to think through anything
the previous night. Yet his brief
discussion with Dan was all that was on his mind. Barring the idea that this was all a dream or
that Dan had changed his mind, this was the last day Williams would be in the
Palace as a part of Five-O, as his second in command. Steve didn’t know how he was going to react;
how he was going to even get through the day.
Danny Williams had
gotten to the office extra early. He had
a lot of clean up work to do and wanted to get some of it done before the
regular staff arrived. He wasn’t sure
how Steve was going to treat this. That
had been one of the things he’d wanted to talk about the previous evening
however their flaring tempers had made that impossible.
Picking up the box he
had brought in with him, he worked at packing up the personal objects that
dotted his office space. His thoughts centered
mostly on the memories that each object invoked, he moved fairly quickly. His motivations were two-fold. First off, he was trying stave off the
questions that would be volleyed in his direction if he attempted to carry out
the task with most of the staff present.
Second he knew deep down inside that ultimately he was still operating
in his ‘protect McGarrett’ mode. He had
performed the task for so long that he knew it was now probably just an
extension of his personality. Most times
he never realized or made a conscious decision to enter into the mode. It just happened automatically. No matter what had been said between them the
previous night Danny knew that his resignation had deeply hurt Steve. He also knew that he only needed to speak the
words and all would be forgiven and forgotten and life at Five-O would continue
as if the previous evening had never happened.
However it was something that Williams was not prepared to do. Too much had happened over the last
year. Who was he kidding? Too much had happened since Chin Ho’s murder but that had been the beginning. The dumping of the detective’s body in front
of the palace had deeply affected Honolulu law enforcement as a whole. For the state police unit, the loss had been
mind boggling. Dan had thought he had
come to understand how he felt about the event but knew now that understanding
and acceptance were two vastly different things. Briefly he wondered if Steve had ever reached
either plane – he doubted it.
Entering Five-O’s
outer offices, McGarrett tried not to glance in the direction of Williams’
office. He thought for a few seconds
that perhaps he could quietly move to his own office without so much as an
acknowledgment to his second in command.
Yet he found himself drawn to the doorway much in the same way a magnet
was drawn to another. Leaning against
the frame, he mutely watched his friend as he went through desk drawers,
removing items and either tossing them in the trash or placing them in the
nearby box. As if pulled by an
inexplicable force, Williams turned around and spied his boss.
“Hi Steve…”
McGarrett raised his
hand a little as if to gesture at something but then his hand fell limply to
his side. He opened his mouth to reply
but no words would come. He felt a jumble
of emotions surge in his chest threatening to block off his throat. With great effort he pushed them down, buried
them beneath a mountain of anger. A
brief flicker of emotion must have crossed his face. Or maybe Dan just knew him too well because
McGarrett noticed something in the younger man’s gaze. Setting his face in the coldest, hardest look
he could muster, he silently turned away from the doorway and entered his own
office.
Dan remained
motionless in his seat, staring at where McGarrett had been standing. The paperweight slowly turned over in his
hands. A movement he was not even
cognizant of doing. Obviously life
wasn’t any more settled this morning than it had been the previous
evening. He had wished…well maybe some
things would not be resolved after all.
Once inside his
private sanctuary, McGarrett leaned against the now closed door. It had taken all of his willpower to not
react to what he saw and then the concern that had crossed Danno’s face. He buried the hurt and all of the other
emotions under the anger. If Williams
cared, then he wouldn’t be leaving. It
was as simple as that.
Pushing himself away
from the door, he stalked over to his desk and flopped into the chair. Yet concentration did not come easily. But then again neither did acceptance of
change. Thinking back, he knew that the
unwillingness to accept change was deeply ingrained. If it weren’t, then he would already have a
new detective in place of Chin Ho.
Almost two years had passed since the Oriental detective had been
murdered. Steve still missed the wise
counsel that occasionally spilled from his mouth. McGarrett should have replaced him over a
year ago. Danno had been after….well
that wasn’t important any more. He
promised himself that he’d work on new team members over the next few weeks
with the idea of having a full staff no later than September.
Feeling a little more
settled now that he had a plan of action for the unit and hearing some
additional activity in the outer offices, he buzzed Lani
and requested that she send Duke Lukela into his office upon arrival. Moments later the door opened and the
Hawaiian detective entered. Steve urged
him to take seat, saying that he had several things to discuss with him. Nearly to the front of the desk, Duke
immediately volunteered to get Danny.
“No need.”
“What?”
“Danno won’t be
joining us this morning, Duke.”
Lukela was
perplexed. The confusion on his face
told McGarrett that Williams had not yet informed the staff of his imminent
departure. ‘I wonder why he’s waiting,’ McGarrett thought as he gestured Duke
into a chair. McGarrett cleared his
throat.
“Danno resigned
Duke.”
Shock showed plainly
on the detective’s face. “What? When?”
“He came back to the
Palace last night and told me.” McGarrett’s
throat tightened at the mere mention of the previous evening. Duke appeared to start to say something but
Steve cut him off. He needed to pass the
news along as clinically as if he was simply updating his detective on a new
case. “He’s decided to go to the
mainland so he’s leaving Hawaii tomorrow.”
Duke started and
opened his mouth but nothing came out of it.
Shocked beyond a response, he was certain that he had heard McGarrett
wrong. Stunned that Danny would quit
Five-O he found it inconceivable to imagine Williams leaving the Islands that
had always been his home. He stared at
McGarrett wondering if this wasn’t some elaborate ruse that the two had plotted
since life at Five-O, while busy, had been fairly mundane of late. Yet barely visible beneath the calm
professional exterior was a certain shakiness that told Lukela this was
definitely not fantasy but reality.
“Steve –“
McGarrett cut him
off, knowing he could not accept the sympathy and concern that he could read on
the Hawaiian’s expression. He had to
retreat behind the walls that had served him so well for years. It was the only way he could survive the day
without breaking down – something that he did not want to do in front of either
his staff or his friend.
“We’ve got work to
do, Duke. Let’s see if we can’t somehow
make a dent in what we’ve got open.”
Before Duke could
respond the door opened and Danny entered the office with a few file folders in
his hand. Glancing at the two men, he
wondered what he had interrupted. Judging from the stormy expression on Duke’s
face and the carefully correct mask on Steve’s, Danny knew that the boss had
just told the other detective about his resignation. He had to admit that he wasn’t too sure how
he felt about that. Realistically he
understood that the staff would have to be told so that they would know how to
handle details that he normally handled after today. However he hadn’t expected it to actually
happen the first thing in the morning.
He wasn’t sure he knew what he had expected. He only knew that the whole situation felt
almost surreal to him – like he was living it more as an observer than a
participant.
McGarrett eyed his
second in command as he walked into the office, struggling to maintain the
professional expression on his face. It
took nearly all of his self-control to not react to what he knew he was seeing
for one of the ‘last times’. Wondering
how many more of these he would face, his voice was unavoidably gruff as he
questioned what Dan carried.
“The fraud and
extortion cases – we’re close on both of those right now, Steve. Could maybe crack them both today.”
McGarrett sighed,
knowing he had to somehow keep his mind on the business of the day. Understanding that he would find it even more
difficult as the day drew to an end, he found himself filled with a sense of
loss that he could barely describe. The
emotion caused him to snap at the man standing in front of him. Regretting the words and tone as soon as they
left his mouth, he watched as Dan took a small step back away from him. Unable to take the words back or say anything
to soothe the increasing tension in his office, he remained near his desk
silent. Finally Dan inclined his head a
bit and then said he’d work on seeing how close he could come to breaking open
the fraud case. Before McGarrett could
reply he turned and fled the room, closing the door behind him as he did
so.
Duke eyed his boss,
knowing that he needed to say something to jolt the man from the path he now
seemed determined to travel. The only
thing he could come up with was the inane question of whether Steve had tried
to talk Danny out of leaving. McGarrett
had no answer. How did he admit to being
so completely shocked that he’d been unable to do anything but react in anger
to the announcement? How could he
explain that he could not see a way to give in to the pain he felt at the
upcoming departure? How to confess that
he did not see day to day operations at Five-0 continuing after tomorrow?
Steve didn’t look at
Duke – he couldn’t. But –
“Don’t you have work
to do?”
Surprised by the
question, Lukela stared for a few more seconds then left the office.
The rest of the day
passed far too quickly for McGarrett.
Not even consciously admitting it to himself, he understood that all he
really wanted was for time to stop so that he did not have to face a moment he
had dreaded for years. True to his
earlier remark, Dan did indeed find a major breakthrough in the fraud
investigation and late in the afternoon he stuck his head in Steve’s office to
announce that he had just obtained a search warrant and was leaving to
hopefully make an arrest in the case.
Jumping from the chair, McGarrett hurriedly grabbed his holster and
jacket and ran to accompany him.
Hurrying down the stairs of the Palace, Steve fished a set of keys out
of his pocket and tossed them to the man who was barely a half step behind him.
“Here, Danno, we’ll
take my car but you drive.”
“Sure, Steve.”
Emotional upheavals,
tensions and upcoming events were pushed aside as the two men jumped in the
Mercury and screeched away, their business as usual personas firmly in
place. They had worked together too long
to not easily fall back on thought patterns and behaviors that were familiar to
them both. Neither talked much on the
quick drive to the address but there was no need. Each knew what the other was thinking and
what would happen once they reached the building. Each was aware of what the other would do and
what he would be expected to handle and how they would react.
Braking swiftly but
not as roughly as when McGarrett usually drove the Mercury, they jumped from
the vehicle and ran to where several uniformed HPD officers were waiting for
them. Dividing up manpower, McGarrett
and Williams started to head off in different directions when suddenly Steve
stopped and reached out, briefly grasping on to Dan’s arm with his hand. Glancing down for a second, Dan looked up and
into his boss’ expression. A stranger or
another officer would only have seen McGarrett’s professional, command
expression. But Williams was neither and
he was easily able to look beyond the norm, seeing the concern hidden there and
reading the subliminal message. He locked
gazes with McGarrett for the briefest moments and nodded his head before turning
and hurrying off.
Except for more of a
struggle than had been anticipated and the presence of a surprise accomplice,
the arrest went off ordinarily for the most part. Turning his prisoner over to a uniformed
officer that he did not know, McGarrett immediately looked around for his
second in command.
“Danno!”
“Right here, Steve.”
Handing the other
handcuffed man over to HPD, Williams moved quickly across the room. Observing that nothing appeared to be wrong,
he still asked if McGarrett was all right.
Getting the affirmative response and a quick but thorough look over from
the boss, Dan turned to leave the building.
Out in the late afternoon sun, several uniformed men still on the scene
took a minute to tell Dan good-bye. Not
wanting to intrude, McGarrett continued walking, coming to a stop near the
Mercury’s hood where he was soon joined by Dan.
McGarrett didn’t speak but held out his hand and Williams quickly
dropped the keys in it.
****
By the time they
returned to the Palace, most of the regular staff was already gone for the day
and a note on McGarrett’s desk stated that Duke was tracking down a lead on one
of their newer cases and would return by dinner. Dan turned, checking to see if he wanted to
order their normal evening meal. Little
was said between the two upon its arrival.
Towards the end of the meal Dan tossed a packaged fortune cookie to
McGarrett. He opened the cookie and
removed the slip of paper. Glancing at it, Steve immediately shoved it in his
pocket without bothering to read it aloud.
Dan teased him a bit about it, reminding McGarrett that his fortune
would not come true if he didn’t but all Steve could do was shake his head in
refusal. He watched as Dan opened his
own cookie and appeared to carefully study the slip of paper before fisting it
into a small ball & dropping it in his pocket.
“Silly, stupid things
– not sure why we even believe in them,” he muttered. He glanced up to find McGarrett staring at
him and raised a questioning eyebrow rather than verbally asking what was
wrong.
When no reply came
Steve rose and moved out to the lanai fully knowing that Dan would follow
him. He leaned against the white rail
and then turned his head a little to speak to the person behind him.
“Still leaving
tomorrow?”
Dan winced, not
wanting to answer but knowing he had no other choice. “Yeah, Steve.”
McGarrett nodded his
head not trusting his voice for several seconds.
“Danno…”
Williams heard the tension
in the voice and quickly searched for some way to stop this conversation from
ending the way the other one did.
Walking up next to his friend, he said the only thing that came to his
mind.
“You know it almost
feels like you’ve called me that my whole life.”
The statement
temporarily diffused McGarrett’s ire and he turned to look at Dan, nodding his
head in acknowledgment. Dan looked away
from Steve’s gaze and, in a low voice, said that he really needed to leave.
‘No! Find some excuse
to keep him here, to make him stay!’
The thought flashed in McGarrett’s brain.
As he turned to face his friend, he noticed an object in Dan’s
hand. The logical thought processes of
his brain clamped down on the emotions screaming in his chest. He stared at Dan’s outstretched hand.
“I guess you’ll be
wanting this, Steve.”
Trying and failing to
not react, McGarrett’s body trembled a little as he eyed the black leather ID
case. Accepting it, holding it in his
hand would make this seem too real, too permanent. He started to shake his head.
“You can’t leave.”
Not positive he had
spoken the words out loud, he knew that he had once he glanced at Dan’s
face.
“I have to.”
“Why, Danno?” The question almost flung from him, Steve
knew it sounded angrier than he had meant it to. He heard Dan sigh.
“I have to,
Steve. Can’t you just accept that? Without being mad?”
Taking a half step
towards him, Dan reached out and took Steve’s arm for a second before he placed
the ID case in his hand. Not knowing
what else to say, he turned back towards the office.
“Do you need a ride
tomorrow? To the airport.”
Williams stopped but
did not turn to face McGarrett. Then he
shook his head ‘no’. He had already
arranged a way to get to the airport. McGarrett
didn’t speak again not even when Dan paused just inside the office near his
desk. Danny laid his keys and gun on the
desktop and turned, unsure if he should say anything else. His low voice a near whisper, he was not
positive that McGarrett, who had remained out on the lanai seemingly with his
back towards the office, even heard him.
“Bye, Steve.”
Then Dan turned and
walked out the door.
EPILOGUE:
McGarrett looked up
from his painting only briefly, allowing the warmth of his island paradise to
soak into his skin. Since retiring as
the head of Five-0 at the start of summer, he had permanently relocated to his
beach house on Kaui and become a virtual
recluse. At least as far as the Hawaiian
social circles considered it. Yet doing
so had been the only way to obtain the privacy he craved. He had to admit it had been a success for few
dared to wander down the path to his door.
Turning his attention
back to the colorful canvas, he almost missed the sound of footsteps on
concrete. He looked up warily – part
curious as to whom had ventured out to him and part leery as he thought of
whether it would be a friend or a foe. A
shadow fell across the area and then he heard the voice.
“You didn’t show up
last night. Why, Steve?”
“I had a prior
commitment.”
“Is that what you
told him? Or did you not even bother to
respond to his invitation?”
“Duke…”
“Ben and Kono were
there with their families. So was
Jenny.”
The Hawaiian paused
as if expecting a comment. When none
came, he used what he felt was either his ace or an unfair weapon.
“He kept looking
around the room, like he was watching for someone. Like he was hoping to see you, Steve.”
“Sounds to me like
there were plenty of people there to occupy Danno’s attention. I doubt that he had the time to look for me.”
“Come off it,
Steve! We both know Danny better than
that. I thought you said the two of you
settled things before you left Five-O.”
McGarrett didn’t
answer and averted his gaze from his former detective.
“He’s still on the
islands, Steve.”
“I know, Duke. I’ve
got his schedule.”
To the former
detective that simple sentence was solid proof of what needed to happen. He wondered if the boss (for some reason he
would always think of McGarrett as the boss) saw it in the same way. He walked up next to Steve.
“Call him,
Steve. You both need this opportunity.”
“Yeah, I will,
Duke. I will.”
The two men stood
silently for several minutes before Duke turned and walked back towards the
front of the house. Steve stared
unseeingly at the water front view for several more minutes before turning and
walking into the house himself. Pausing
near the breakfast counter, he picked up an envelope that had laid there since
it’s arrival several weeks ago. He slid
the fancy parchment out of the envelope and stared at the decorative script
inviting him to his former second in command’s wedding, remembering his initial
trepidation when it had first arrived in the mail. Within minutes, he had known that there was
no way he could attend the ceremony.
He’d been about to resolutely dispose of the mail when he had realized
that there was a separate folded piece of paper with the standard
invitation. Opening it, he had stared at
the familiar, bold handwriting. The note
from Dan had been read so often that Steve knew he had its contents memorized
however he could not resist reading it again.
It had acknowledged the possibility that McGarrett would not want to
make such a public appearance like attending Dan’s wedding.
‘Steve, I’ve always understood how critically important your privacy is
to you. I know that you will most likely
not feel comfortable attending the wedding.’
Amazed at how well
his friend still knew his idiosyncrasies, McGarrett still blanched as he read
the words. The note went on to outline
tentative plans while on the Islands as well as listing the departure
information. Dan had included a couple
of phone numbers where Steve could reach him.
Although he hadn’t specifically asked McGarrett to call him, there were
enough other remarks there that Steve understood Dan was hoping he would and
that they could find some time to meet.
Slowly sliding the invitation and note back into the envelope, Steve
knew he would not phone Dan. While no
longer upset over his initial leaving, McGarrett believed that they had probably
grown too far apart in their different lives for a meeting to be anything but
awkward between them. That was not how
he wanted to remember them. Feeling
foolish, he moved into the kitchen and rummaged in his ‘junk’ drawer – the only
space in his house that wasn’t meticulously organized, it never held enough
stuff to qualify as a true junk area. It
didn’t take long to find the small paper he’d kept for so long – the fortune
from a cookie. He unfolded it and stared
at the small print. The words made
little sense to him at the time and he still wasn’t sure that he understood
their significance. Couldn’t even
pinpoint or rather admit to why he had saved them for so long. He read them again and thought that maybe he
might finally understand the message from so long ago. ‘You can go now. Goodbye, my friend.’
Dropping the paper
back into his drawer, he returned to the sun-drenched afternoon. As he picked up his paintbrush to resume what
now filled most of his days, he paused and looked around. “Aloha, aikane,” he whispered.
Pau ??
(maybe…& maybe
not)