One Last Swimmer

David whispered, “Lanning, go back down the driveway.” “What is it?” “Just go, get to a safe distance.  Rodney, you cover … More

Paying Up (500 words)

We stepped into a living room decorated in rattan and lots of flower prints.  There was another tall, fit Haole sitting … More

Black Brown Yellow

A striving yellow slugleaves its fading iridescent trailcaught smack in the midday sunon a blazing concrete sidewalktrying its hardest and … More

Queen of the Supermarket

I saw you just now at Safewayan angel working the register on Christmas day. Every time, like Laurence SterneI admire … More

High School Buddy (100 words)

Eugene Kanai, my old high-school classmate, had wanted to stop by the office to talk.  It’d been twenty-five years since we’d … More

Miss Bianca

“Let’s go to Auntie Ruthie’s house.” “By bus?” “No, let’s walk.” “Walk!  But it’s so far.” “No it’s not far.” “Yes … More

Never Ever Let You Go

The choice, a desperate grasp of great consequence,a hand, cramped with fisted frustration, fingers straining,reaching harder than hard burned bricks … More

NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 24, All’s Well That Ends

1977.  It’s mostly a blur.  Sometimes when I try to recall the events of that year, it seems as if it were … More

NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 17, The Man from Maui

Ho!  I bet you thought when I said I’d write about that other important 11th-Grade teacher later, you were wondering how … More

November Song

I look back on them all long and longfor what I might have had in my mind’s eyesee red skirts … More

NaNoWriMo: More About That Later, Chapter 5, I Wish I Could Quit

You know how Mark Twain says that quitting smoking is the easiest thing in the world, how he’s done it … More

A Memory of Dying

I can see us holding those little white pleated paper cups,smell the yellow pineapple cubes, icy cold, the perfect mid-morning … More

The Gardener

I’m watching through the running glass window, an old one from 1926.I see my father, his figure slightly distorted in … More

Footsteps (A Lieutenant David Chan Mystery, Chapter 11)

Father and son sat on the lānai of their Punchbowl home.  The sunset was one of those spectacular Hawaiian ones so … More

Time: Lesson #5 (September Song)

RememberSummerCountryRockDiscoPop78Era / AndRecordsCassettesCDsMP3sWaiterPlease * * * * * Aloha #WriterFriday. Today’s #WritingPrompt is music Use it to inspire a piece … More

One Son Lost (A Lieutenant David Chan Mystery, Chapter 4)

“How is he?” Chan asked Dr. Oh. “He’s stable. In and out of consciousness. He should be fine, though the … More

Affair on Eighth Avenue

I sing a fall chill wind exploring the corners here, on the downside of town,the sun unable to peer into … More

Another End Tied Up (A Lieutenant David Chan Mystery, Part 34)

The first vessel, the Doo Sei Nam, was enormous, a good 250 feet.  It looked more suited for the Korean Navy … More

The Walk of Life

Passing, I looked inside, saw that family, remembered,their stony group staring at those white china plates,no one speaking a word, … More

Island Heritage Insurance (A Lieutenant David Chan Mystery, Part Twenty-Seven)

Island Heritage Insurance was not a huge company.  There were seven agents housed in a two-story building on Fort Street. After … More