<span style="font-weight: bold"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Oahu Hawaii</span><br/>In Hawaiian tradition, there is a great respect for elders (kupuna) which surpassed any feelings of individuality. In old Hawai'i, kupuna were respected as keepers of Hawai'i's wisdom and knowledge. Still today, younger Hawaiians are told: Nana i ke kumu, “look to the source.”<br/> 	Just five hours away by plane from California most visitors describe the state to be an escape from the rawness and engrossed work place that demands sacrifice and time. In Hawaii the culture that described by natives is the “heartbeat”. Specifically, the islands of Oahu is a community among the rest of Hawaii that is define by generations worth of traditions and can be finically fouled by tourism of flip flops and bikinis. Besides the locals connect by the language, attire, rituals, and norms of behavior. Although it may seem preachy through these standards, the environment is welcoming and some of the neighborhoods want to provide a safe place or pu‘uhonua for example.</div></span><br/><br/>For now the sky is glow of color as the sun slowly descended to the horizon from afar. Pleasing to the eye; which the sky has begun to cool with the indigo shades of the night. As the night rolls by and stars begin to awaken, on land, all was calm and exciting. The palm tree leaves softly sway, back and forth, to the breeze from above, dancing to its own beat. Along with the bright pinkish-red flowers embellishing each branch within the layouts of the surrounding area. Other trees display mangos, papayas, and star fruit. The island not only rich within its people, but also bearing fruit.<br/><br/>Across the street were a few houses that were fortunate enough to be a walk away from the beach. Some of the houses were still in the dark while a few of the houses were lite up. One house in particular was showed its most brilliant light by electrical lamps, a backyard bonfire, and hanged Christmas lights set for an occasion. The crowd there were close friends and family of the Itō family. It was filled with robust drumming music, singing, chatter, and laughter. A birthday celebration to the eldest son of the family name Wil. The cake has been served leaving Wil and his younger sister Lilo to hang out at the front of the porch, away from the crowd, and both of them gazing at the stars. Eating their cake in peace until Lilo turned her head towards her brother to ask. “Wil?”<br/><br/>“Hmm?” Wil, wearing a tight small birthday hat on top of his head, and chewing on his cake; albeit he still looked at her.<br/><br/>“Do you know anything about stars?” Her brown eyes staring at him with curiosity.<br/><br/>Wil took his time swallowing down his food; which from the corner of his eye he could tell Lilo wasn’t as patient. Though their mother explained to her many times that was something she needed to practice on. He licked his lips to taste the mixture of frosting and some sand. “Like astronomy?”<br/><br/>“Huh?” Lilo tilted head to one side with one brow raised.<br/><br/>One glance of her questionable stare was enough to alert him. Give or take she was good with verbally expressing herself. “Astronomy is the study of space.” He paused for a second to point towards the darken sky. “Where the stars are.”<br/><br/>“Oh.” The small girl sounded, yet her curiosity wasn’t tamed. “Do stars have stories behind them?”<br/><br/>“Not that I know of.” Wil shrugged his shoulders and finished up his last part of the cake.<br/><br/>She shook her head. “It’s like when you can make a wish on a shooting star. Does that have a story behind it?”<br/><br/>Again Wil shook his head giving Lilo the same reply while placing his paper plate on his leg. Before Lilo excitedly shook his shoulder. “Wil! Wil! It’s a shooting star!”<br/><br/>Wil’s head snapped towards the direction she was pointing at and chuckled. “Quickly, make a wish!” He told her as he glanced over at the young girl again.<br/><br/>“But it’s your birthday.” Lilo whimpered playfully as she hugged Wil by his shoulders. Her arms being too short to embrace his entire body.<br/><br/>“Nah.” He waved a dismissive hand gesture towards her before picking her up, with his arms, and giving her a bear hug. “I’ll get the next one.”<br/><br/>Both of their eyes stared up into the now brightly star navy blue sky. Wil held his younger sister in his lap and his arms quietly listening to Lilo’s wish. Of course, it was something simple, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to spoil the moment for her.<br/><br/>After a few minutes passed, Wil gotten up, with Lilo in his arms, then carefully placed her down. Letting her feet plant the ground below her. “Alright I’m going to take my plate in I’ll be back.” Wil said as he bend down to pick up his paper plate and plastic fork off the porch. “Do you want me to take yours?” He offered eyeing the left over piece of cake still on the plate since he knew Lilo wasn’t one for a big appetite. A lot of the times, during meals, it was hard to convince her to eat. She would rather go outside and play.<br/><br/>“Please?” Lilo presented her plate to him with her feet already jumpy.<br/><br/>“What do you say after that?” He said taking the plate while keeping an eye on her.<br/><br/>“Thank you Wil.” The small girl replied with sincerity sounding in her tone. “Can we go to the beach?”<br/><br/>“Yes, but please wait for me okay?” Wil says. He never refused to go where the waves are and rarely denied Lilo request to go. He didn’t wait for a response from the small girl’s response and eagerly wanted to make the trip back to the nearest trash in the house then return. His brows raised in surprise and he quickly took a glance around the area. “Lilo?” Wil called out before he took off in a panic. Lilo was gone.<br/><br/>The color on his cheeks faded as he quickly scanned over his surroundings and didn’t see her. He took off in a sprint. Advancing towards the beach since he grossly assumed she would be there all by herself and called out to her.<br/><br/>It didn’t take him long to arrive at the beach and found Lilo near the shore, playing in the sand, with an elderly woman. “Lilo!”<br/><br/>The small girl turned her head towards the direction Wil called her from while he was running to her. Oddly, enough he could see a smile on her face. This confused him, but he was still extremely concern for his sister’s well-being. Wil made his way towards the group and came to a halt. Wil was about to scold the girl about leaving until the elderly woman glanced up at him and he quickly realized that it was someone related to her. “Mama Kai?” He uttered with his eyes widen. “I haven’t seen you in ages…”<br/><br/>The elderly women chuckled and went in to hug Wil, but he stepped back. Making certain he stepped in front of Lilo to protect her. “What?” The elderly woman eyed Wil with a playful grin. “You don’t want to give grandma a hug?”<br/><br/>Wil licked his lips, taking his time to answer the question, as in to repeat what his mother said about her. “…My mom.” His brows furrowed as he looked at her and stood his ground. Admittedly, he wasn’t comfortable with confrontations and felt as if his next statement was being rude to her. “…Didn’t she tell you that you couldn’t come to the house?”<br/><br/>“Oh, yes. I remember that ban.” Mama Kai gave off a cheerful vibe as she spoke. As if the years of threats from Wil’s mother was nothing, but an invitation to come back. “But we’re not at the house are we?”<br/><br/>Stunned Wil kept quiet. Instead of continuing the conversation with a woman that brought nothing, but emotional chaos upon his family. He turned around to grab Lilo and told her. “We are leaving.”<br/><br/>The harshness of his tone told the small girl otherwise. This wasn’t the time to be asking questions. Lilo could already sense something wasn’t adding up and took Wil’s hand into hers. The two were about to leave until Mama Kai spoke up. “Well that’s rude! I came all this way to see my two grandkids and I can’t even get a welcome.” She nearly shouted with a loss of that bubbly vibe found from her last statement. “I figured you would, at least, want a birthday present.”<br/><br/>Something inside him made Wil stop in his tracks and stare back at her. “What do you want?”<br/><br/>His grandmother’s lips spread into a wide grin. “Like I said. Your birthday present or at least what you always wanted to know.”<br/><br/>Again, he was speechless as he heard this. “No…” Wil thought to himself trying to input logic within his position. “..I don’t know what you are talking about..”<br/><br/>‘Lilo wasn’t the only one who made a wish tonight!” Mama Kai didn’t come closer, so she could be better heard. Instead she stayed in her place, the roaring waters nearby, and the moonlight shinning extra bright that particular time.<br/><br/>Wil shook his head. “You’re not making any sense Mama Kai.” He told her with some shakiness coming from his tone, but attempted to hide it. He started walking again with Lilo and paced slightly faster this time.<br/><br/>“Don’t tell me you’re acting like a coward Wile Itō!” Mama Kai called him by his full name. She was yelling at this point. “I told your father the truth that your mother refused to tell him and I came here to tell you that truth!”<br/><br/>“Wil what is she talking about?” Lilo asked while Wil slowed down. They were close to their house at this point, but with Wil causing the haut it made the small girl curious about the situation.<br/><br/>Wil kept at his head down and away from Lilo. There was a decision he was coming to a conclusion of when he wasn’t entirely happy about it. Wil lowered himself to eye Lilo at her height and gently let go of her hand. “Remember the stories we told you about dad?” He spoke in a whisper, even when it was just two of them and their grandma wasn’t near them at the moment.<br/><br/>“Yea. What about it?”<br/><br/>Wil can sense the snappy remark Lilo just gave him and a near to a complete loss of patience from her side. Which was understandable. Though the most he could ask from her is just that. “There’s some missing pieces of dad’s life when he was still alive and I want to know of them. The only thing is I need you to do more a huge favor.”<br/><br/>Lilo blinked at him. Her attention now redeemed, but not fully invested yet. “What do you want?”<br/><br/>“Go home.”<br/><br/>Lilo eyed him with one of her brows posed in a upward position and crossing her small arms. Wil continued to explain. “You can cross the street from here and I’ll watch you until you get inside the house, but right now I need you to go home so I can talk to our grandma.”<br/><br/>The small girl’s bottom lip curled. “What do I get in return?”<br/><br/>Wil sighed through his nose and rolled his eyes since he was slightly frustrated at the moment. “I can tell you a story about dad if you want.”<br/><br/>“The one grandma going to tell you now?”<br/><br/>“Maybe.”<br/><br/>“I’m not moving from here until -”<br/><br/>“You want to know what happens here tonight?” Wil quickly interrupts her. “You need to go before I lose this opportunity because when I do it’s never coming back again.”<br/><br/>Lilo’s eyes widen, though this time around she didn’t speak up. From there Wil rise on his feet as he watched Lilo cross the street and walked straight to the door. He watched as she placed her hand on the doorknob and look back at him. She waved to and he returned the gesture. “I’ll be back!” He yelled out to her as she entered in the house and closed the door behind her.