Page 32 of Big Island Weddings
“What is?”
“Opihi!”
“Opihi,” he scoffed. “Look at me. How many you think I’d need to fill me up?”
But even as he teased, his eyes sparkled at the memory of collecting the Hawaiian limpets with his kids. They used to go to the beach at low tide to pop them off of the rocks with paint scrapers and slurp them right out of their shells. On special occasions, they grilled them. They’d made an appearance at each of the girls’ first birthday parties.
Mahina called the girls ‘little opihi’ when they were being clingy. But Mano used to call ‘Olena that when she was being stubborn.
Harvesting opihi was tricky. You got one chance, and that was it. If you didn’t pop the limpet off of the rock with your first attempt, it would clamp down so tight that not even crashing waves could get them loose.
“We should take the girls,” ‘Olena said.
“Yeah!” Kiki shouted. Then she tilted her head to one side. “Take us where?”
Mano looked at ‘Olena with one eyebrow raised. “That’s a dangerous thing for do, you know.”
“He ia make ka opihi,” Mahina added.
“What’s that mean?” Luana asked.
“Opihi is the fish of death.” Mano’s voice lilted dramatically.
Luana’s nose crinkled. “But they’re not dangerous. They’re just stuck to the rocks.”
“It’s not the opihi that are dangerous. It’s the waves.”
“We can go at low tide,” ‘Olena said. “You took us a thousand times when we were kids.”
“Where we going?” Nate came through the door with two plates of food for the girls.
“Grandpa’s taking us to catch opihi!” Kiki announced.
“You don’t catch opihi!” Luana told her. “You just pick them up!”
“You gotta pry them off the rocks,” Mano said. “I’ll show you.”
Something inside of ‘Olena’s chest relaxed, and the last of the tension drained from her shoulders.
Her dad was going to be okay.
She blinked back tears and shoveled lau lau into her mouth without really tasting it. Nate sat down next to her, his own plate piled high, and put an arm around her shoulders.
“You promise?” Kiki demanded.
Mano smiled at her, and his eyes softened when he looked over at ‘Olena.
“I promise.”
12
Emma
Emma fought to keep her voice soft and level. “If you just subtract the ones from the ones column and the tens from the tens column–”
“Stop trying to force me to do it your way!” Kai shouted.
“I’m not trying to force you to do anything. I’m just trying to show you an easier way.”
