Page 47 of Pallas & Kawehi

Kawehi set the plate down in front of Paul. “It’s not bottle teriyaki sauce,” she smiled, “it’s a recipe my grandfather learned from his friend’s grandmother. She was a picture bride from Japan.”

He picked up the burger and took a bite, chewing quickly. Then he slowed down, his eyes closing.

Kawehi turned around and gave her uncle a thumbs up.

He ducked back into the kitchen with a big grin.

Paul put the burger down and reached for his napkin. He had a little sauce on his face that he quickly wiped up. “I thought teriyaki sauce was okay here but that brought me back to what I tasted in Japan. “

He looked around at the rest of the bowling alley, including the empty tables on the hard flooring area between the counter and the bowling lanes.

When he turned back to her, he looked genuinely confused. “Why aren’t you packed to the rafters in here?”

She shrugged. “After the pandemic, the crowds never really came back. We’ve tried to do ads but that just cost a lot of money. I think people don’t want to bowl as much as they used to and if they don’t come into play, they don’t come in to eat. Right now we have our usuals and a few leagues and that keeps our lights on, but it’s getting to the point where we might have to make some hard decisions soon.”

She let out a long, painful breath.

“I feel like we need to turn around something to get our good luck flowing back.” She shrugged. “Does that sound silly?”

He shook his head. “Hardly. A lot of people in the military believe in good luck charms. Rituals.” He gestured at the maneki neko cat statues behind her on the shelf. “I see those in a lot of stores, even if they don’t have connections to Asian culture.”

“True,” she smiled at him. “I guess everyone wants good luck.”

“Well, I didn’t find this out by luck, just a few calls to the right people, but I think I found your husband.”

Paul reached under the counter and pulled out a leather portfolio. The paper at the top of the stack he revealed inside was an Identification image and an address.

“Thanks to the marriage certificate you submitted, along with your other documents, I was able to get permission to give you his current address.”

Kawehi looked at the paper before she met his gaze again.

“Is that an address on base in Jacksonville?”

Paul smiled and shook his head. “No. He has an apartment off base.”

Kawehi took a step or two back to lean against the counter. “So I can finally have him served.”

“Do you have a service that has connections there?”

She smiled at him. “All fifty states and territories. As long as he’s not deployed, I’m good.” She wiped at her eyes, but this time they were happy tears. “Thanks.”

She saw one of the high school students trying to get her attention. “I need to help with something on the bowling side. Are you okay?”

He smiled and gestured at the burger. “I’m great!”

Stepping around the counter, she heard him call out to her.

“Are these fresh cut fries?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m going to have to come back.”

Kawehi found that she was smiling ear-to-ear even though the credit card machine was eating the roll of paper.

She could handle crumpled paper. She was finally getting a chance to move on with her life.

Thanks to Dom.

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