Page 2 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - March 22, 2023

2 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK MARCH 22, 2023
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CHASING THE
LIGHT
with Michael Little
Two men on a porch, old friends 50 years and more, in a town left far behind, taking it slow and easy, making it last.
“Good melon,” Al says. “The best,” Charley replies. And then they sit back, the
“What’s your hurry?” one of them asks as I walk by, my usual pace, on my way to someplace else.
“Cut the man some melon, that’s what.”
Michael Little’s publica- tions include “Queen of the Rodeo,” “Kissing Frogs and Other Quirky Fairy Tales,” and others. For information about Hawai‘i Fiction Writers workshops, visit hawaiific- tionwriters.blogspot.com.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Robin Stephens Rohr and Lynne Johnson.
“Come on up,” he says with a wave, his hand flow- ing smooth through the sum- mer air, drawing me in, right up the walk. “You’re one of those burnin’ daylight men, aren’t you?”
“The best,” Charley replies.
And I laugh.
“You never had melon like that before,” Al says, and he licks his lips, and Charley cuts me another slice and one for Al and one for himself.
A Honeydew Lesson
“Slow down, you move too fast, you got to make the morning last.”
— Paul Simon
The author learned to enjoy the simple pleasures, like a sweet melon on a hot day.
“OK, Al,” Charley says, and he takes the knife, small and beat up but sharp, the world’s best surgeon at work, the hon- eydew his patient, its life in his skilled, weathered hands.
I cannot speak, only hum, the melon possessing me, the chair my home, the porch my world.
and tells me all his surgeon tricks.
melon endless like this day, and close their eyes and listen to me hum some more.
“Not much daylight left,” he says. “Not much to burn, I reckon.”
He cuts a generous slice, holds it before me like the ma- gi’s gift, for me, a stranger on their ancient porch, and waits for me to taste.
And so it goes, as the day- light fades, and there we are between day and night. And because I was asked to take a moment to pause, I traded one journey for another.
“I guess not,” I say.
learn how
you can become a
homeowner
this year!
“Come have some melon then, here’s a chair, cool your jets, as my grandkids say.”
There are no plates, no forks, no napkins, nothing but the melon and the three of us. They watch me bring it to my mouth, the light green sweetness on my tongue, and me humming as they smile.
I smile and nod, my jets cooling down.
By the time the fireflies light the yard another mel- on has appeared, larger and sweeter than the first, and Charley hands me the knife
“Charley,” he says, and his friend looks up, melon juice on his lips.
“What?” Charley says.
“Good melon,” Al says.
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: GOLD
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