Looking for Lilith

 

"Yeah, Raschelle and Aldon (of the Waikane Store) asked if you were here," said S., as we left the cemetery. "Actually, they didn't; they asked after Lilith." They'd found us at the top, just before you get to another patch of new stumps, where Lilith had presented herself to Ola and Hoku for attention. Raschelle started taking photos of Lilith, as Aldon asked Ola his name. "Oh, Kamakana! I used to take his bus--that was your grandfather? The nicest guy, though you know those guys can turn, too." Ola said he missed that man. 

 

Somewhere between Raschelle's telling me what they're going to do in Vegas next week (Seinfeld and high tea!) and the discovery of Ola's grandpa, Aldon started telling tales of the Hawaiian mafia. "Oh, mafia on the mainland sent guys here; they got sent back in pieces, with a note to send more. That was before Osama bin Laden." "Before who?" I wanted to know. "You know, before the mail got searched." He asked me to say shalom to my husband. What? "He's Jewish, isn't he?"  I said no, he is not. Told him about a friend of mine who spoke Hebrew and got a cap in New Orleans from some Lebanese guys that read "Shalom, Y'all." Raschelle said, "Shaloha!"

 

Back at the front gate, S. was ruminating on management styles. He'd asked the old boss how he dealt with all the babysitting; he had so much of it to do with the young guys in the guard shack. The old boss said it was easy; he managed seven people and they managed everyone else. Now this boss is different. He thinks all 200 employees are his to order around. The maintenance manager will assign tasks and, when he goes to check on his guys, they're not there. What happened? Well, the new boss told them to do something else. He drives around the cemetery all the time in his white SUV telling people what to do. 

 

"They go through these guys a lot," said S. "This one'll probably be here until I retire, though."