Haole Wood Read Online Free Page B

going to believe this.” I explained how I got her out of jail and was surprised they weren’t really surprised.
    “Let me get this straight, Dad. Your seventy-something-year-old mom was busted with weed and you don’t bat an eye?”
    “Oh, Jaswinder,” my dad said. “It’s hard to explain. Your grandmother has always been a little different. She kind of fancies herself a healer and after my dad died she needed money. I always knew she grew marijuana on Molokai, but after the incident ten years ago, I thought she learned her lesson.”
    “What incident?”
    “Don’t ask,” my mother interrupted. “She was never charged. Besides, your grandmother is known on the island for all these crazy herbal remedies for everything from sinus problems to cramps. She really sees nothing wrong with marijuana. In fact, half the island doesn’t either.”
    “Great. Granny’s a dealer.”
    “She’s not a dealer, Jaswinder,” my dad said. “She’s a healer.”
    “Potato, Po-tah-to,” I said. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She’s fine. She showed me her bank statements last night. She still gets grandpa’s social security, she has a nice chunk in the bank, and get this, she has a stock portfolio that looks like it’s doing pretty well.” To say nothing of the wad of cash I found stuffed under the sink.
    “Jaswinder,” my dad continued. Uh oh. I knew that voice. Whatever followed I would not like. “Koreans and Hawaiians take care of their own. As foreign as she is to you, she is still ohana , our family. And it’s our kuleana to make sure she is taken care of.” My dad spoke a little Korean and Hawaiian, at least enough to understand his own mother, and pulled it out once in a blue moon to show off, or lend gravitas to the bull crap he spouted.
    “Real nice, dad. I don’t see you out here. I just got fired from my job because of this mess.” I started to cry again and sobbed out the details. “Just because I owe you money and always feel like such a screw up, I felt guilty like I had to come over here and save the day. Look what happened. I’m out of a job and in trouble.”
    “Oh, honey,” my mom said. “We’re sorry this happened. But you really shouldn’t have lied to your boss. Honesty is always the best policy.”
    “Really, mom? Thanks. I appreciate your understanding. I try to do something nice for this family, and it backfires on me?”
    “Jaswinder,” she said. “We do understand and we are grateful you are there taking care of Halmoni. Maybe this is a good thing after all.”
    If she says “look on the bright side” I will scream.
    “Look on the bright side—”
    I yelled into the phone.
    “Stop it.” My mother continued. “You never did seem to be very happy with your job. You always sounded so stressed. You’ll find something else, something you’ll like better and be really good at.”
    “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “Nothing. We just want you to be happy. Do you have any ideas what you’d like to do?”
    “I have no idea. This all just happened. TV jobs don’t come along everyday, especially not when you eff-ed up like I did.”
    “Language,” my dad tsk-tsked.
    Before I knew it, my mom, Cliché-opatra jumped back in and offered up the ol’, “This may be a blessing in disguise.”
    “Grrr . . .” I growled at them into my cell phone.
    “Why don’t you stay with Halmoni for a while until you figure things out? You can tell her you don’t need to get back right away while you keep an eye on her,” my dad said.
    “I don’t need to get back. Didn’t you hear me? I got fired because of all this!” Sometimes my dad was as foreign as my grandmother. I knew he meant well and tried to be a good father, but I always thought it was something he read in a book somewhere. He used to pack our school lunches when we were little. My friends always said that was so sweet, but he packed them all, for the entire week, on Sundays. By the time Thursday and Friday rolled