Hawaii - James Michener [432]
Therefore, it was she who now called the great hui into formal meeting, for two matters of prime importance, and far beyond the capacity of lawyer Africa to solve, had been brought to her attention; and while her great-grandchildren played in the dusty yard she talked to the thirty-odd elders who met with her.
The children of Africa Kee needed guidance, and Nyuk Tsin said, "Africa's oldest daughter, Sheong Mun, whom you prefer to call Ellen, is in deep perplexity, and I am not wise enough to counsel her."
"What has she done?" Asia's wife asked.
"She has fallen in love with a haole," Nyuk Tsin replied. A hush fell over the assembly, for although the Kees, under Nyuk Tsin's approval if not her outright urgings, had always felt free to marry Hawaiians, none had yet made any signs of wanting to marry white Americans, and Ellen's bold proposal represented a jolt in family procedures. The clan turned to look at Africa's daughter, a bright-eyed, quick, handsome girl of twenty, and she looked back.
"Who is the white man?" Asia asked, exercising his prerogative as oldest son.
"Tell him, Sheong Mun," the old woman said.
In a soft voice taught her by the women teachers at the Episcopalian school, Ellen said, "He is a junior officer on one of the navy ships at Pearl Harbor."
A chorus of gasps came from the hui. A white man and a military man, too! This was indeed, as Wu Chow's Auntie had warned, a major problem, and Europe, who had married a Hawaiian girl, said, "It's bad enough to want to marry a white man, because they don't make good husbands and they take money out of the family. But to marry a military man is really indecent. No self-respecting girl . . ."
Australia interrupted: "We're not in China. I know some fine navy men."
Europe replied stiffly: "I don't."
Asia observed: "I had hoped never to see one of my family want to many a soldier."
Australia snapped: "He's a sailor, and there's a big difference."
Europe said: "Military men are military men, and they make miserable husbands."
Australia cried: "Why don't you take those ideas back to China? That's where they came from."
At this, Nyuk Tsin intervened and said in her low, imperative voice, "It would be much better if Sheong Mun had fallen in love with a Chinese boy, or if she had come to me as a dutiful girl and said, 'Wu Chow's Auntie, find me a husband.' But she has done neither of these things."
"The worse for her," Asia said sadly. "In my restaurant I see many girls who stray from the old patterns, and they all suffer for it."
"Ridiculous!" Australia's wife snapped. "Asia! You know very well that when I was a girl I used to hide in your restaurant and kiss Australia behind the dried ducks. And nothing bad came of it except that I married your lazy brother."
"That was the beginning of what I'm talking about," Asia warned.
"Ridiculous!" Australia's wife, a high-spirited Ching beauty, laughed. "Because do you know who used to whistle at me to let me know your brother was waiting?" The Kees looked at the bright-eyed young wife, and with a dramatic gesture she pointed directly at Nyuk Tsin, sitting gray-haired and solemn at the head of the family. "That one did it! She's worse than any of us!”
The family roared at the old woman's embarrassment, and finally Nyuk Tsin wiped her blushing face and said softly, "I must admit I arranged it. But remember that Ching Siu Han was a Chinese girl. And a Hakka. And could be trusted. Today we are talking about something much different. A white man. And a soldier."
"Wu Chow's Auntie!" Ellen interrupted. "He's not a soldier. You must forget your old prejudices."
Asia asked, "Will he bring any land into our hui? Any money?"
"No," Ellen said resolutely. "In fact, he'll take money out. Because