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Mike Gordon©1996 (From “Chicken Soup for the Soul of Hawaii”) This here’s a tale about Tommy and Hoku and an act of aloha that should be a song — one of those mournful country ballads about a truck-driving blacksmith who lost his horse in a divorce. Tommy Ligsay and his ropin’ pal, Hoku, reunited last Saturday at a horse auction. An old man on crutches, trying to buy back an old black gelding who could barely stand. And a bidding war Tommy couldn’t win. Didn’t win. In the awkward moment that followed the cry “Sold,” a man walked into the ring and told the crowd about Tommy and Hoku, about their life on the Wai’anae Coast. Tommy raised the horse from when it was a colt, the man said, bought it sight unseen 31 years ago. This horse was family. Four years ago, Tommy lost Hoku in a divorce. Then Hoku was sold — and sold again. Disappear-ed, it seemed. Then last year, someone told Tommy that his horse was owned by the Hoku Ranch in Wahiawa — the same ranch forced to auction everything because it had lost its lease. When they walked Hoku in — every other horse had been ridden in — he tried to sit down. Tommy brought $300 to the auction. The bidding stopped at $500. Well, there was no convincing the fellow who’d won Hoku. He wanted a string of horses. Old as he was, Hoku would do just fine. Tommy, he’s 62. He’s got a touch of arthritis, and he doesn’t move so well anymore. He’d come to the auction because family members begged him to at least try. In his pocket, he carried a photograph, folded twice: Tommy and Hoku. Now, he stared at Hoku and said goodbye. But Susan Tita — she doesn’t know Tommy from Adam — she jumped out of the bleachers where she’d been watching all this, reached into her bag and pulled out her grocery money. “I will give $50,” she told the crowd, real loud. “Who will help me get this man’s horse back? Some-body, come on.” These days, the word “aloha” gets a lot of lip service, a lot of free time riding bumpers and bandwagons. But people dug into the pockets of their conscience and pulled out money for Tommy. He needed $250 to make up the difference, plus auction fees. In minutes, Hoku was his again. It was a moment of aloha, a gesture as sincere as the love between a man and a horse. It oughta be a song.
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