Picture Bride

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Part VIII – Suspicion Chapter 133 Honolulu, December 1, 1937 The thunder of artillery punctuated the static-crackled voice coming from the Motorola. “This is Lowell Thomas . . . reporting from Nanking, the capital of the Republic of China. Japanese troops are advancing south toward this city, drenched in....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 132 As his mother napped, Taka’s nervous knees climbed the stairs of the University of Hawai‘i’s main administration building. In his sweaty hands he held a letter, more an invitation, or a summons. Charles Hemenway, the president of the university’s board of regents, had sent Taka a letter....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 130 A full moon was rising into the embers of the sunset when Taka returned to the Hochi. He walked to his desk, rolled a sheet of paper into the typewriter and began striking the keys. The Governor Had No Choice By Takeshi Takayama Four murderers walked free....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 127 Taka and Pafko witnessed the same trial, but their columns would have had you believe otherwise. Prosecution Proves its Case By Takeshi Takayama Despite the brilliantly clever defense by the renowned Clarence Darrow and tear-filled testimony by alleged assault victim Thalia Massie, the defense failed to make....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 126 April 7, 1932, the first day of the murder trial, dawned with soft breezes pushing puffs of cotton clouds over Honolulu Harbor’s silky blue waters. Four blocks inland, Taka signed in at the courtroom he had gotten to know so well from last year’s rape trial. He....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 125 On the morning of March 24, Taka was eating a late breakfast at a brown, wooden table in the student cafeteria after having attended his 7:30 a.m. Asian history class. He shook his head like an older brother catching his much younger brother with his hand in....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 124 Sunday brunch at the Takayama home that February was a dismal affair, with no one more disappointed than Haru. She believed in the promise of America, and now this. “What did I tell you about the whites?” said Hiromi. “The killing of a nonwhite by four whites....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 123 HONOR SLAYING By Andy Pafko Joe Kahahawai, one of the notorious assailants of a Navy wife, was shot dead this morning after confessing that he and his savage gang raped Thalia Massie. The distressed husband and two Navy friends, using a forged document requiring Kahahawai to be....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 121 Mosquito Flats. Taka stood next to its edge, looking at the piles of trash piled high against the unpainted back concrete wall of the Nippon Theater at the corner of ‘A‘ala and Beretania Streets. So different from the movie theater’s regal front entrance. A rat too big....

HISTORICAL FICTION By Michael G. Malaghan Chapter 120 “Lies! Lies! Lies!” Grace Fortescue screamed, slamming the Hawaii Hochi down on the sofa. “Mama, what is it?” Thalia cried, running into the living room from the kitchen. Her mother was visiting that afternoon. Neither woman could stand the other, which was why Grace had rented her....