We had lived in Indonesia for over three years by that time, the result of my mother's marriage to an Indonesian
named Lolo, another student she had met at the University of Hawaii. His name meant "crazy" in Hawaiian, which
tickled Gramps to no end, but the meaning didn't suit the man, for Lolo possessed the good manners and easy grace of
his people. He was short and brown, handsome, with thick black hair and features that could have as easily been
Mexican or Samoan as Indonesian; his tennis game was good, his smile uncommonly even, and his temperament
imperturbable. For two years, from the time I was four until I was six, he endured endless hours of chess with Gramps
and long wrestling sessions with me. When my mother sat me down one day to tell me that Lolo had proposed and
wanted us to move with him to a faraway place, I wasn't surprised and expressed no objections. I did ask her if she
loved him-I had been around long enough to know such things were important. My mother's chin trembled, as it still
does when she's fighting back tears, and she pulled me into a long hug that made me feel very brave, although I wasn't
sure why.
named Lolo, another student she had met at the University of Hawaii. His name meant "crazy" in Hawaiian, which
tickled Gramps to no end, but the meaning didn't suit the man, for Lolo possessed the good manners and easy grace of
his people. He was short and brown, handsome, with thick black hair and features that could have as easily been
Mexican or Samoan as Indonesian; his tennis game was good, his smile uncommonly even, and his temperament
imperturbable. For two years, from the time I was four until I was six, he endured endless hours of chess with Gramps
and long wrestling sessions with me. When my mother sat me down one day to tell me that Lolo had proposed and
wanted us to move with him to a faraway place, I wasn't surprised and expressed no objections. I did ask her if she
loved him-I had been around long enough to know such things were important. My mother's chin trembled, as it still
does when she's fighting back tears, and she pulled me into a long hug that made me feel very brave, although I wasn't
sure why.