Hawaii - James Michener [156]
"Will Jesus save me?" Malama asked hopefully. "He will!" Abner cried joyously, clasping her huge hands in his, "Malama, Jesus Christ will enter this room and save you." "What must I do to be saved?"
"There are two things required, Malama. The first is easy. The second is difficult."
"What is the easy one?"
"You must go down on your knees before the Lord and acknowledge that you are totally corrupt, that you live in sin, and that there is no hope for you."
"I must confess those things?"
"Unless you do, you can never be saved." Now the little missionary became once more the stern teacher, for he withdrew his hands, moved away from the prone chieftain and pointed at her: "And you must not only say the words. You must believe them. You ate corrupt, Malama. Evil, evil, evil."
"And what is the second task?"
"You must work to attain a state of grace."
"I don't know what grace is, Makua Hale."
"When you have honestly confessed your corruption, and when you plead for God's light, some day it will come to you."
"How will I recognize it?"
"You will know."
"And when I have found this . . . What is the word, Keoki?"
Her son explained again and she asked him, "Did you find grace?"
"Yes, Mother."
"Where?"
"On the stone pavement in front of Yale College."
"And was it a light, as Makua Hale says."
"It was like the heavens opening up," Keoki assured her.
"Will I find grace?"
"No one can say for sure, Mother, but I think you will, for you are a good woman."
Malama pondered this for some time, and then asked Abner, "What things have I been doing that are sinful?"
For a moment Abner was tempted to believe that this was the instant when he must excoriate the evil ways of the Alii Nui, but a more sober judgment prevailed and he restrained himself, saying, "Malama, you learned how to write in only thirty days. It was a miracle. Therefore I think you can perform the greater miracle that awaits.
Malama, loving praise and steeped in it since her first days as the Alii Nui, firmed her jaw and asked, "What is required?"
"Will you take a walk with me?"
"Where?"
"Through your land . . . through the land you rule."
Malama, exhilarated by her success in learning, agreed, and summoned her land canoe; but with all the able men in the mountains seeking sandalwood, there were none to man the carrying poles, and Abner raised his first disturbing question: "Why do you allow your workingmen to toil like slaves in the hills?"
"They're after sandalwood," Malama explained.
"For what?"
"For Kelolo's ship."
"Is the ruin of a beautiful island worth a ship?" Abner asked.
"What do you mean, Makua Hale?"
"I want you to walk with me, Malama, and see the fearful price Lahaina is paying for the sandalwood that Kelolo is seeking in the mountains." So Malama summoned her maids-in-waiting, and a procession was formed that would, in time, modify the history of Hawaii. The little missionary limped in front, accompanied by towering Keoki. Behind them marched gigantic Malama in a blue and red dress. On her right walked the handmaiden Kalani-kapuai-kala-ninui, five feet tall and two hundred and fifteen pounds, while on the left puffed Manono-kaua-kapu-kulani, five feet six inches and two hundred and eighty pounds. Side by side, the three alii women filled the road as Abner began his perambulatory sermon.
"A ship at this time, Malama, is merely a vanity. Look at the walls of the fish pond. Crumbling."
"What does it matter?" Malama asked.
"If the fish escape, the people will starve," Abner said.
"When the men come back . . . from the sandalwood . . ."
"The fish will be gone," Abner reported dolefully. "Malama, you and I will rebuild the fish pond." And he stepped into the mud, calling her after him. Quickly, she perceived what he was teaching and ordered her handmaidens to help, and the three huge women plunged into the fish pond, pulling the back hems of their new dresses forward and up between their legs