Big Island Neighbors by Shayla Cherry

Author:Shayla Cherry [Cherry, Shayla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2024-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

15

Emma

Water shushed and splashed as she drove through inundated stretches of road.

It had rained all night, and puddles shone all over the parking lot and the park itself, but the clouds were giving way to blue sky.

As Emma pulled into a parking spot, a brilliant rainbow appeared in the distance. They were so common in Hawai’i that they featured on the license plates, but she never tired of seeing them.

“Can I go play?” Kai pressed his nose to the window, looking at the other kids.

“Would you help me carry our food over first?”

“Okay.”

They got out of the car and went to the trunk, with Emma carefully avoiding the puddles and Kai stomping right through them. She gave him the big, lightweight cardboard box and then hefted two heavy bags that held containers of cooked food.

The lawn squished and squelched beneath their feet as they walked across to the open-air kitchen, but golden light broke through the clouds and made the whole park sparkle. Kai hurried ahead, dropped his box on a bench, and sprinted to the playground.

Emma set her bags on the edge of things, still shy of the ladies whose names she didn’t know. Her neighbor had thrown her right into the thick of things without introductions. She recognized everyone’s faces from last week, though, and they smiled at her in greeting.

As usual, Mrs. Rasmussen was leading the charge.

“Did you bring the mac salad?” she asked.

“I did. And some other treats as well.”

“Like what?” Without waiting for a reply, she started unpacking the bags.

“Kai wanted to bring a treat for the kids, so we made some cookies. And we–”

“What’s all this?” Mrs. Rasmussen asked, eying the big cardboard box.

“I made some things for people to take home, too.” Emma opened it up and showed her what was inside. “There are chips I made with kale and collard greens, and this is beef jerky that Tara made. She gave me some dried mango too.”

“Nice idea, giving them food to take home.”

“I just hate the idea of them only getting one good meal each week.”

“Better than none,” Mrs. Rasmussen rebutted.

“True.”

“Mrs. Wong loved your to-go soup idea from last week. She brought pumpkin soup to send them home with today.”

“That’s great!”

“Hey mom!” Kai ran up and squeaked to a stop in his wet shoes. “Can we hand out the cookies now?”

“Let’s wait on the cookies, kiddo.”

“Why?”

“I’m guessing most of these mamas want their kids to get some nourishing food in their bellies before they fill up on cookies.”

“But Prince doesn’t like soup.”

“Maybe he’ll like those chicken tenders we made.”

He brightened. “Oh yeah!”

She helped with setup while Kai ran back to the playground. He came back a minute later to ask, “Is there ketchup?”

“What?”

“For the chicken tenders. Prince wants to know if there’s ketchup.”

“Yes, there’s ketchup.”

“Great!” He ran off, then doubled back. “Can Prince come to our house?”

“Sure. Not right this minute, but some other day. I just need to talk to his mom.”

“He doesn’t have a mom.”

“Oh.” Emma looked across the lawn at the lanky boy who won all the races.

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