Hawaii - James Michener [158]
"Malama!" Abner thundered. "Being married to your brother is not kapu! It's not some idle superstition. It's a law of God."
"I know. I know. Not a little kapu like certain fish, but big kapu, like not entering a temple if you are unclean. All gods have big and little kapus. So Kelolo is a big kapu and he must go. I understand."
"You don't understand," Abner began, but Malama was so pleased with her comprehension of this aspect, at least, of the new god, that she was spurred to action, and she summoned her servants in a loud voice.
"Kelolo will not live in this house any more! He will live in that house!” And she indicated one of the compound quarters about twenty feet removed from his previous residence. The law promulgated, she beamed at Abner.
"That is not enough, Malama. He must move out of the compound altogether."
At this, Malama said something to Keoki which the young man was too embarrassed to translate, but Abner insisted, and Keoki, blushing, explained, "My mother says that she stopped sleeping with her four other husbands years ago and you need have no fear that she will misbehave . . ." Keoki stopped, for he did not have the words. "Anyway, she says that Kelolo is a kind man and she hopes he can stay within the compound."
Angrily, Abner stamped his foot and shouted, "No! This is an evil thing. Tell her it is the biggest kapu of all ... Wait, don't use that word! Tell her merely that the Lord says specifically that Kelolo must move outside the compound."
Malama began to cry and said that Kelolo was more to her than either a husband or a brother and that . . . Abner interrupted and said simply, "Unless he moves, Malama, you will never be able to join the church."
She did not understand this and asked, "I will not be allowed inside the big new church Kelolo is going to build?"
"You may come inside," Abner said gently. "Even the worst sinner may come and listen. And you may sing, too. But you may never join the church . . . the way Keoki has joined."
Malama considered this for a long time, concluding brightly, "Very well. I'll sing and keep Kelolo."
"And when you die," Abner said, "you will burn in hell forever and ever."
Malama knew she was being maneuvered into a corner, so with tears in her big deep eyes she said to Keoki, using sly words that Abner would not be able to detect, "I do not want to burn in hell, so you must build Kelolo a small house outside the compound, but brush the path well so there are no leaves, and at night he can tiptoe back to my room and God will not hear him." Then, in a loud voice she announced: "Makua Hale, I am going to write a new letter."
When she was sprawled once more on the floor of her palace, she tore up the earlier message, bit her pen and wrote:
"Liholiho King. I have told Kelolo he must now sleep outside. He is buying a ship. I think it is a foolish thing to do. Your aunt, Malama."
She handed Abner the letter, and when he had read it she said, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and the day after that I want you to come here to talk with me about the duty of an alii nui. After one moon I shall find a state of grace."
"It cannot be done in that way, Malama."
"When can I find it?"
"Perhaps never."
"I will find it!" the great woman roared. "You will come here tomorrow and teach me how to find it."
"I cannot do that, Malama," Abner said resolutely.
"You . . . will ... do ... it!" she threatened.
"No man can find grace for another," Abner stubbornly insisted,
Malama leaped to her feet with strange agility and grabbed her little -mentor by the shoulders. "How shall I find grace?" she demanded.
"Do you really want to know, Malama?"
"Yes," she replied, shaking him as if he were a child. "Tell me!"
"Kneel down," he commanded, and he did so himself, showing her how to pray.
"What do I do now?" she whispered, turning her big eyes at him.
"Close your eyes. Make a temple of your hands and say, 'Jesus Christ, my master, teach me to be humble and to love Thee.'”
"What is humble?" Malama asked, her voice lower.
"Humble means that even the greatest