151 lines
9.1 KiB
Plaintext
151 lines
9.1 KiB
Plaintext
{\rtf1\ansi\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil Helvetica;}}
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\f0\fs24 The kitchen smelled of coffee and the sweetness of cut pineapple, and morning light came through the sliding glass door in long warm rectangles across the linoleum. Elikapeka stood at the counter with her mug, watching the yard. The plumeria she'd planted along the back fence had finally taken hold after three years of coaxing, and this morning its pale blossoms caught the early sun like something she might have seen back home, back on Oahu before she'd followed Andy to the mainland and learned to love seasons she still didn't entirely trust.\par
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\par
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Behind her she heard the scrape of chairs and the particular percussion of her daughters arriving at the breakfast table\u8212?Emma first, heavy-footed and purposeful, then Lizzie, quieter, already carrying a paperback.\par
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\par
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"You're reading at the table again," Emma announced, as though this were a moral failing.\par
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\par
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"You're breathing at the table again," Lizzie said, without looking up.\par
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\par
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Elikapeka turned from the window and set her mug on the counter. "Good morning to both of you." She moved to the refrigerator and began pulling out the orange juice. "Lizzie, put the book down while you eat. Emma, pour your sister some juice."\par
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\par
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Emma made a production of reaching across the table, nearly knocking the book from Lizzie's hands in the process. Lizzie finally closed it, one finger tucked inside to hold her place, and looked at her sister with the practiced expression of someone accustomed to being annoyed.\par
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\par
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They settled into breakfast\u8212?the cereal boxes, the spoons, the ordinary clatter of a weekday morning. Then Emma put both elbows on the table and leaned forward slightly, which Elikapeka recognized as her daughter's posture for wanting something.\par
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\par
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"Mom. We need to talk about my party."\par
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\par
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"We do," Elikapeka agreed, sitting down across from her with her coffee. "What's on your mind?"\par
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\par
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"Okay so." Emma pulled a folded piece of notebook paper from the pocket of her robe. Elikapeka raised her eyebrows. The girl had come to the breakfast table prepared. "I've been working on the guest list and it's kind of a problem because I have a lot of people I want to invite and the pool isn't that big."\par
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\par
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"The pool is a perfectly good size."\par
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\par
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"For a family, yeah. For a party it's like, medium. So I need to cut it down." She unfolded the paper and smoothed it flat against the table. Elikapeka could see two columns of names, some with checkmarks, some with question marks. "I'm thinking thirty people max. Maybe thirty-five."\par
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\par
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"That's still a lot of food."\par
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\par
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"I'll help with the food," Emma said quickly, which told Elikapeka she had no intention of helping with the food.\par
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Lizzie was spooning cereal with the air of someone watching a nature documentary. She didn't look particularly invested, but Elikapeka knew better.\par
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"And the other thing," Emma said, glancing up from her list with a slightly different quality of attention in her eyes, "is that I want to invite boys."\par
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\par
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Elikapeka wrapped both hands around her mug. "Boys."\par
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\par
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"I'm turning sixteen, Mom. It's a pool party. In the evening. Of course there will be boys."\par
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\par
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"Stinky boys," Lizzie said pleasantly, turning a page of her closed book as though the remark had emerged entirely on its own.\par
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\par
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Emma turned and gave her sister a long look of such withering contempt that Lizzie appeared to shrink approximately one inch.\par
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"Lizzie," Elikapeka said mildly.\par
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"I'm just saying."\par
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"You can be just saying somewhere else if you can't be kind."\par
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Lizzie subsided, though the faint trace of a smile remained.\par
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Elikapeka looked back at Emma. "Boys," she said again, without inflection, considering the word the way she might consider a produce item she hadn't decided on yet.\par
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"Boys," Emma confirmed. "Specifically, a few boys from school that I like. That we like. My friends and I. Nobody weird."\par
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\par
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"I'll need a list."\par
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\par
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"I figured." Emma tapped the paper. "I was going to add them to this."\par
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\par
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"A separate list," Elikapeka said. "Their full names. And if you know which school they go to, which grade."\par
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Emma's expression suggested this was a significant imposition. "Mom, they're just guys. They're not like, applying for something."\par
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\par
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"Humor me."\par
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"Fine." Emma picked up her spoon and pointed it loosely at her mother in a gesture that wasn't quite accusatory. "But I need you to promise me something."\par
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\par
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Elikapeka looked at her.\par
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"I need you to promise that you're not going to be racist about it."\par
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\par
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The kitchen was quiet for a moment. Outside, a bird moved through the plumeria.\par
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\par
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Elikapeka set down her mug with a small, careful click. "That's a serious word."\par
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"I know what it means."\par
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"I know you do. I taught you what it means." She kept her voice even. "What exactly are you asking me?"\par
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Emma met her mother's gaze and didn't flinch, which Elikapeka noted with a complicated kind of pride even as she felt the edges of her patience beginning to firm up. "I'm saying that when I give you the list of boys, I don't want you to say no to someone just because of\u8212?" she paused, choosing her words with a precision that suggested she'd practiced this\u8212? "just because of who their family is."\par
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"Their family," Elikapeka repeated.\par
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"Their background." Emma put her spoon down. "Mom, I've heard you. My whole life I've heard you. And I just want you to promise that you'll be fair."\par
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\par
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Elikapeka was aware of Lizzie sitting very still now, watching the middle distance in the way she did when she was paying extremely close attention to something while pretending not to. The book lay forgotten beside her bowl.\par
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\par
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"I will look at the list," Elikapeka said. "And I will make decisions that I believe are right for this family and right for this house. That is the only promise I am able to give you."\par
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\par
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"That's not\u8212?" Emma stopped. She pressed her lips together. "That's not a promise, that's just saying you'll do whatever you want anyway."\par
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\par
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"I am your mother."\par
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"I know that."\par
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"This is my house."\par
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\par
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"I know that too."\par
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"Then you understand," Elikapeka said quietly, "that understanding something and liking it are two different things. You don't have to like it. But you do have to respect it."\par
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Emma stared at her for a moment that stretched slightly too long, and then looked down at her list. The paper made a small sound as she folded it back along its crease.\par
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"Fine," she said. "I'll give you names."\par
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"Thank you."\par
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\par
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A beat passed. Emma picked up her spoon again and then put it back down. "Can we talk about cousins?"\par
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"We can."\par
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"Because some of them are just\u8212?" she searched for the word\u8212? "they're not fun, Mom. Specifically the Hayes side. They're going to stand around and be weird and eat all the food and not talk to anybody and it's my birthday and I just\u8212?"\par
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\par
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"Emma."\par
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"\u8212?want it to be a good party and I feel like\u8212?"\par
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"Emma." Elikapeka's voice dropped half a register, not louder but denser, which both her daughters had learned years ago was the relevant signal. "All of your cousins will be invited."\par
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\par
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"All of them?"\par
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"Every single one."\par
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Emma closed her eyes briefly. "Mom."\par
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"The Hayes side included."\par
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"They don't even like parties."\par
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"They love parties. They just express it differently than you do." Elikapeka lifted her mug. "And before you say anything else on this subject, I want you to think carefully, because we are getting close to the point in this conversation where there isn't a party at all."\par
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Emma went very still.\par
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Lizzie appeared to find something interesting to look at on the wall to her left.\par
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"I'm serious," Elikapeka said, not unkindly. "Your cousins are your family. Your birthday is a family event. You can have your friends there\u8212?thirty, thirty-five, we'll figure out the number\u8212?and the boys you want to invite, you'll give me the list and I'll think about it. But your cousins will be invited and they will be welcomed in this house the same way every guest is welcomed in this house. That is not negotiable."\par
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\par
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The morning light had shifted slightly, spreading further across the floor. From somewhere outside came the sound of a car starting on the street.\par
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Emma picked up her orange juice and drank. She set the glass down and looked at her list, which sat folded beside her bowl. After a moment she unfolded it and picked up the pen she'd also, apparently, brought to breakfast.\par
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"Fine," she said again, though this time the word was smaller and had less architecture to it.\par
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"Good." Elikapeka rose to refill her coffee. "And Emma?"\par
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"What."\par
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"It will be a good party." She paused by her daughter's chair and put one hand briefly on her shoulder. "I'll make sure of it."\par
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Emma didn't say anything, but she didn't shrug the hand away either.\par
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Lizzie, very quietly, reopened her book.
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