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| Camp 56 or 57, someplace between Waipahu and Kunia |
Then we moved to what was called Camp 56 (I think) or maybe 57. It was along one side of a big road. The other side was all cane fields. We moved there so I could catch a bus to go to a school about five miles away.
I don't remember much. I have such a poor memory. I think I lived there from the time I was about 5 to perhaps 7 or 8.
I remember a stray black cat with mangled ears. The kitchen in back was a separate structure away from the bedroom and living room connected by a small walkway.
There was a terrible accident one night. A motorcyclist collided with a car. The woman in the car saw it about to happen and dropped her baby out of the car window thinking she was saving it. The baby died. Until the police and ambulance came, the injured were helped into our houses.
Another time, I was chasing my younger brother, Dennis with a wooden stick pretending it was a sword. I managed to fall and poke my side with the stick. That was a long trip to the emergency room. I still have the scar.
I remember playing with my mother's sewing machine. Dennis must have been about 3 or 4 years old and came over to see what I was doing. He stuck his finger under the needle and got punctured before I could stop the wheel.
Actually... being the big sister, I did try to take care of him as best as I could but in these early days, I guess I was still coming up short.
Dennis was my best friend, my best companion and best playmate. We could talk long into the night and we knew everything about each other. His memories of those early days are sharper than mine.
Camp 56 is gone. The previous home in Kunia is also gone. In fact all the houses we grew up in are completely gone. The places have been bulldozed, leveled and become shopping areas or housing tracks. I have only a few pictures to prove it ever existed. I guess someday we'll be gone and pictures will be all that will be left of us.
Perhaps that's why I'm so busy scanning photos right now. I want to remember.
POSTSCRIPT: My brother, Dennis just came up with a google map photo of the area where Camp 56 or 57 once stood.
