A.N. – Hawaii Five-O belongs to CBS. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thanks to "Tanith2011" for beta reading this. Thanks to "Book 'em Again" for the name of Chin's wife.
"Funny, You Don't Look Irish"
Miss Onakea looked over her classroom of first grade students. The faces she saw reflected the racial variety of her island home: native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, a few haoles and certainly children of mixed ancestry as well. Her gaze lingered for a moment on Johnny O'Brien with his freckled nose, bright blue eyes and curly flaming red hair.
"Does anyone know what the word 'heritage' means?" the young teacher asked. A few hands shot up into the air. "Susan?"
"It means where your family comes from…like your parents and grandparents," Susan explained. The round faced, dark haired girl was fiercely proud of her Hawaiian ancestry, which stretched back to King Kamehameha.
"Very good, Susan," Miss Onakea replied in a cheerful voice. "Next week is St. Patrick's Day and it's a day we celebrate Irish heritage. There's going to be a parade downtown and our school is going to have a float." The class grew quiet and she knew she had their undivided attention at the word 'parade'. To the children that sounded like fun!
"Any children of Irish heritage will be invited to ride on the float," Miss Onakea continued. "Now, if your family has any Irish roots, please raise your hand."
She glanced over again at Johnny, who excitedly launched his hand into the air, just as the teacher had expected. Then she scanned the rest of the class and saw another hand in the air: Tilda Kelly. A couple of boys snickered. Tilda certainly didn't look Irish. Her straight silky black hair, dark brown eyes and olive skin spoke of her Chinese heritage. Miss Onakea silenced the boys quickly with one stern look.
"Tonight for homework, I want all of you to talk to your parents about your heritage. That way, you'll know for certain. The rest of the week for show and tell, you can share what you have learned."
o-o-o
"Daddy, are we Irish?"
Chin Ho had tucked his youngest child into her bed for the night and was ready to select a book for her bedtime story. At Tilda's question, he left the collection of story books and seated himself on the edge of the little girl's bed. "We do have some Irish ancestors, sweetheart," he answered. "Remember the story I told you about your great grandfather?"
"Tell me again, Daddy, please?" Tilda asked, her large eyes looking up at her father hopefully.
"Why do you want to hear about that?" Chin replied, amused by the conversation he was having with his child.
"It's for school. Miss Onakea asked which children were Irish. I raised my hand, but I don't think some of the boys believed me."
Chin chuckled as he affectionately jiggled Tilda's foot through the blanket. He'd had the same experience his whole life. "I'll have to admit that we don't look very Irish, but we are." Chin's gaze never left Tilda's as she settled back into her pillow.
"A long time ago, your great grandfather, Michael Kelly, left Ireland for England to find work to support himself. He was a young man and as much as he needed a job, he also longed for adventure. He found both as a sailor on board a British ship bound for the South Pacific. It was a long, long journey, but the ship finally landed right here in Hawaii," Chin began the story.
"And he came to live in our house?" Tilda asked in awe.
"No, sweetheart, our house wasn't even built back then. Hawaii was very different: no roads, no buildings, no stores, no cars…" Trying to imagine Honolulu before modern civilization was difficult, even for Chin. "Your great grandpa Kelly thought this was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. It made him sad when he had to return to the ship and sail for China. But it's a good thing he got on that ship, because it was in China where he met and fell in love with your great grandmother."
Tilda giggled and then yawned. Chin thought it best to condense the story a bit and get to the end. "Your great grandpa and grandma Kelly sailed back to Hawaii to live and raise a family. So, Tilda, we do have a little bit of Irish in us. Do you think you can remember that story to tell your class?"
Tilda nodded. "That's my girl," Chin responded with a big smile. He gave his little daughter a quick kiss on the cheek then made sure she was securely tucked in. "G'night, Daddy," she cooed before she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
o-o-o
The next day in school, Tilda retold the story about great grandpa and grandma Kelly and how they came to live in Hawaii. The class listened politely, except for the same few boys who didn't seem to believe her. After Tilda took her seat, she looked at the holiday decorations that Miss Onakea had put up around the classroom. Everything was green: green shamrocks, green letters, green hats, green pipes, even the cardboard children smiling at her from the walls were dressed in green clothing. And they all had red hair, just like Johnny O'Brien! According to Johnny's show and tell story, he had lots of Irish relatives and some were still living in Ireland! Tilda still wasn't feeling very Irish. But she was looking forward to riding on a parade float.
o-o-o
Lin Kelly picked up Tilda after school and drove her to their favorite children's consignment shop.
"What are we doing here, Mommy?" Tilda asked, surprised that they had not gone straight home.
"If you're riding in the St. Patrick's Day parade, you'll need a green dress. Most of your dresses are pink," Lin explained to her little girl. It was true; pink was Tilda's favorite color. Lin helped Tilda out of the car and they walked into the little shop which was all decked out in green for the coming holiday. Tilda instinctively headed for the rack of dresses in her size while Lin spoke with the pretty saleslady. Like the rest of the store, the dresses on the rack were all different shades of green. Tilda's chubby hands carefully leafed through the neatly hung creations, taking in the style and color of each. She paused on one dress that, for her, stood out from the others and a smile lit up her face. When she glanced at the tag on the dress, she couldn't believe her eyes!
"Mommy, look!" Tilda squealed with delight. "This dress is mine – it has my name on it!"
Lin lifted the hanger from the rack and examined the tag which read: Girls size 6, Color: Kelly Green
"So it does," Lin replied, smiling at her daughter's excitement. When Tilda tried on the dress, it fit perfectly. Lin took the dress to the counter to pay for it while Tilda happily danced around the store.
Riding home in the back seat of the car, Tilda eased her beautiful new dress out of the shopping bag and carefully touched the fabric. She was going to feel like an Irish princess when she wore this dress. She read the tag over and over again. Kelly green! Kelly! She thought about great grandpa Michael Kelly and what he would think of her wearing her pretty green dress. She now knew that she belonged on that parade float and she would hold her head high with pride in her Irish heritage.
o-o-o
St. Patrick's Day finally arrived and the Kelly family was out early to get Tilda to her school's float in the line-up. Even Chin had a rare day off from his duties at Five-O. Steve, Danny and Kono would be in charge of security for the parade, especially since Governor Jameson was the parade marshal.
"What a pretty dress, Tilda!" Miss Onakea exclaimed, placing a white plumeria lei around her student's shoulders. "Are you all ready?"
"Yes, ma'am," Tilda answered shyly with an ear-to-ear smile. Chin picked up his child and lifted her onto the float which was adorned with ti leaves and carnations dyed green for the day.
"Tilda, over here!" Johnny O'Brien called out, waving her over to the small chairs in the center of the float. The youngest Kelly took a seat next to Johnny, who was dressed in a lime green aloha shirt. His bright red curls sparkled in the morning sunlight. The two Irish first graders sat side by side. Halfway through the parade, Johnny mustered up his courage, reached over and held Tilda's hand.
o-o-o
The parade was a big success with marching bands, horses, floats, pipe and drum corps, all celebrating the Irish day in Hawaiian style. At the end of the route, Steve McGarrett helped Governor Jameson out of the shiny green Mustang convertible that had led the parade and saw to it that the important man was safely seated in the state limousine. When the lead detective turned around after closing the door to the limo, he spotted the elementary school float out of the corner of his eye. A rare smile lit the cop's face when he saw Tilda Kelly. He walked over to the float, lifted her into his arms and kissed her cheek just as Chin Ho arrived at the float.
"You're the prettiest little Irish lass in the parade, sweetheart," Steve whispered as he handed Tilda off to her father. Tilda buried her face in her father's shoulder out of embarrassment, but she was so proud and she knew that great grandpa Kelly would be proud of her, too.
Pau