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Loren Lapow's Autobiography
I am writing this to let everyone know things as I have been shown them. Yesterday in the Iao Valley, deep beyond the reaches of the tourist cars I encountered a special place. A sacred place that the ancient Hawaiians journeyed to from all over Polynesia. There I heard a voice speak to me as if he was there beside me. It was Frank Zaletel. He told me some of why things are, in life, in our family and here on Maui.
When I was a small boy I had a hero. His name was Uncle Frank. He was never really around, but he was always close to my heart. He inspired my sense of adventure with his postcards and currency that the sent from strange and exotic places. He sent me an outrigger canoe model from Samoa, a wooden trolley car from San Francisco and trinkets from Thailand. Frank never sent me plastic toys or silly games. From time to time he would show up and play rough with me, like the son he never had. He would run me around on his back or wrestle me in the yard. He always left as quickly as he came.
As I grew older he would come for me, just as he said he would.... Download complete story. PDF (73 K) >>>