“NICO! I’M GLAD you came by. I was going to bring this by the hospital. I made your favorite, alåguan.”
Nico sighed. He was in need of some comfort food, and the warm, soupy dish of rice and coconut milk would hit the spot. He sat at his mother’s kitchen table, a small Formica contraption that fit only two chairs. They had never needed anything bigger; it had been just the two of them for the longest time. He knew how Anna viewed this house. It was dated, full of things that belonged in the seventies.
It wasn’t that Guam didn’t have modern comforts. The influx of tourists brought money to the island; there were five-star resorts, fancy malls selling the finest goods, and anything someone needed could be flown or shipped in. Yet most of the indigenous people lived like his mother: in small houses with crumbling roofs and walls. The per capita income was half that of the general United States.
Guam was a strategic outpost for the United States, a “gateway to Asia.” Beyond the military base, there would be no investment in Guam by the federal government. The people needed to improve their own lives. I made a promise to the community that I would be here, be the man my father never was.
“Look who’s here.”
Nico turned to see Tito on crutches. “Finally washed up, huh?” Nico teased.
“Yeah, you were gonna leave me for dead in that field hospital. Lucky for you, I charmed one of the cute nurses and she took good care of me.” He winked at Nico and Nana slapped him on the arm.
“You sit too. I’ll give you a bowl.”
Tito grinned and sat in the chair Nana had vacated. “Yeah, my house is, like, gone. The roof is in the neighbors’ yard, my bed is on the road. Dude, my ATV disappeared. I’m okay with the house, but my ATV, that’s rough, man. What’s a tsunami gonna do with an ATV? It ain’t even a water vehicle.”
Nico grinned. Tito’s silliness was just what he needed right now. Tito slurped some food into his mouth. “Nana…” He kissed his fingers. She smiled and patted him on the head.
Tito regaled them with stories of the “other” field hospital where he had been transferred when the hurricane came. He had apparently hit on every single available nurse and a few patients, one of whom had turned out to be eighty years old, which Tito didn’t know because he was heavily medicated at the time.
“I told Tito he could stay in your room until his house is repaired.”
“It’ll be just like when we were kids.” Tito grinned. When they were younger, Tito’s parents had gone through some hard times and had to go live in a shelter. Tito had come to stay with them and he and Nico had slept in Nico’s double bed together for more than a year while his family got back on their feet. At the time, Nana would not hear of Tito going into foster care or staying at a shelter. They’d been like brothers ever since.
“Nana, he’s going to break my bed.” Tito was an easy three hundred pounds.
“Hey, don’t be jealous just ’cause you can’t have this body. I work hard to keep it in this shape.”
“I haven’t seen you here in a week,” Nana said to Nico, ignoring the men’s friendly bickering. “I figure you’ll be back in your house in Tumon now that you and Anna are together.”
She certainly hadn’t bothered easing into the conversation. But it was long overdue. Nobody could keep a secret on Guam, and his reconciliation with Anna was already the talk of half the hospital. Except he wasn’t sure they were truly back together.
“It’s complicated, Nana.”
“It always was between you two.”
“Listen, man, if I were you, I’d hightail it to California. I hear they got houses with swimming pools and hot tubs, just like a resort but in your house. And yo, the hot tubs are, like, my size.”
He wouldn’t tell Tito that that was exactly what Anna’s house was like. She described her mother as well-to-do, having improved her financial status with each divorce. When he’d gone to find Anna there, he’d had to triple-check the address to make sure he hadn’t pulled up to a hotel. His entire neighborhood was the size of that one house. It had a swimming pool, hot tub and tennis courts. It was any wonder Anna hadn’t fainted and demanded an immediate divorce when she saw the house in Tumon. He’d never known houses like her mother’s. When she showed him into their house, he’d nearly left, figuring Anna was better off without him. Nico would never be able to give her such a luxurious lifestyle.
“Nico, have you considered your decision? I know you love her, and it’s hard not to get caught up in the emotions of seeing her again.”
“Nana, I’m not going to be happy without her.”
“And you’re not going to be happy with her. She doesn’t want what you want from life. You must decide what you’re willing to give up for her. Your home? Me?”
He sighed wearily. “I’m not going to abandon you, Nana, you know that. But you could be a little less stubborn. What’s wrong with going to the mainland for treatment? Trying to fight this thing rather than admit defeat?”
“Nico, how many times must we have this conversation? I don’t want to die alone in a strange place. I was born here and I will die here. This is my community, my family. Look at Anna—has she had any peace being by herself all these years? If she’d stayed, you two would have a house full of children by now.”
He couldn’t disagree with his mother. Just like he couldn’t undo the past. Nana took Nico’s hand in hers. “If you want to go to California with her, I will give you my blessing. I want you to be happy, my child.”
He buried his face in her hand. “Nana, what am I going to do without you?”
Tito wrapped his arms around Nico and Nana. “You don’t worry, coz—I’m gonna be here for you and Nana. I’ll take care of her when you’re gone, Nico. Something happens to you, Nana, you’re never gonna be alone.”
They stayed in the group hug a few moments longer, just like old times. He knew Nana truly meant what she said just as surely as he knew that the island was his soul.
His life was here.