28
The Theft
Cockaroach
To steal; to swipe; to take without permission.
The night before the hula halau’s Christmas performance in Waikiki, Jay’s surfboard was stolen. It’d been propped up on our front lanai gathering dust for weeks now. Christmas was only days away. Jay took the news with a shrug. Shark Week reruns had lost their appeal, and he’d moved onto flag football, spending his time after school running around with tube socks dangling over the waistband of his pants, waiting for a pass and tackle.
Standing in our driveway and wearing too much makeup, Char Siu was ticked.
“Jay, it’s your board! Somebody cockaroached your board right off the lanai. Don’t you wanna do something about it?”
“Charlene, you know Halloween’s over, right?” Jay taunted.
“Shut up! It’s called stage ma
