Picture Bride

Riyo:
Did you tell the matchmaker about my parents?

Aunt Sode:
You mean, how they died? Of course not. [hands Riyo a picture] Matsuji is such a handsome man. He doesn't look like a sugar cane farmer!

Riyo:
[stares at the picture, then grabs the letter next to it and reads] When the mist covers the mountains, I'm reminded of the homeland. Yet, in this South Seas paradise, money is earned with ease, and the eternal fragrance of flowers is but another tropical blessing. In anticipation of your arrival, I'm inspired to write this haiku poem: "Lady Butterfly perfumes her wings by floating over this orchid."

Aunt Sode:
I'm worried about you working in the fields, but at least in Hawaii no one will no anything about yur past. That's why it's perfect. Far away, you can leave your past behind and start all over again. Riyo, maybe your luck is changing.

Matsuji:
I shouldn't have sent that old photo of myself.

Kanzaki:
Hey, you took a gamble. Besides, if you hadn't sent it, you might still be alone, eh?

Riyo:
When we arrived in Honolulu, someone said that there were real diamonds on Diamond Head volcano, and that we would all get rich.

Kana:
You believe?

Riyo:
No.

Riyo:
What was that sound just now. I've heard it before.

Kana:
People say Tanafochi, the Wind God, her voice sounds like the wind.

Matsuji:
[after Riyo cooks the same food several days in a row] Croquettes, again? City food! Why didn't you just marry a city boy?

Matsuji:
You're so lucky you got a nice country wife.

Kanzaki:
[drunkenly] Kana too good for me. Every time she looks at me with those tired eyes, she makes me so mad. I feel like a failure.

Matsuji:
I don't deserve Riyo, either. If we had stayed in Japan, we would still be miserable millet and barley farmers.

Kanzaki:
[hitting Matsuji playfully] What kind of Japanese are you, to say that?

Matsuji:
[laughing] I AM Japanese!

Miss Pieper:
[suspecting that something is wrong with Kana] Kana, how is everything with your husband?

Kana:
[quietly] Good day, Miss Pieper.

Kana:
The first time I get off the boat, I see Kanzaki. I think, "Ooh! He's so handsome. How I get this kind handsome man? More better than picture!" All the other brides look at us, tell me "Lucky!" He act so nice, so kind. I think I'm in paradise.

Riyo:
Why Kanzak-san change?

Kana:
[tearfully] I don't know. But my, he get mean.

Miguel:
[referring to Matsuji] Do I have to be HIS age before I can afford a bride like her?

Riyo:
[after receiving her work payment] This can't be right! There should be more. I worked so hard...

Matsuji:
Let's see. [shuffles through Riyo's money] No, it's all there. 65 cents a day minus things you buy at the plantation store. That comes to eleven dollars for the month. See, going back to Japan isn't as easy as you thought.

[last lines]

Riyo:
Sometimes, even now, when the winds are blowing real hard I think can hear Kana singing. But the singing is not Kana. It's the voice of my daughter singing her daughter to sleep. But when I close my eyes, I can still see the moon lighting up the cane fields, like the ocean that carried me home... to Hawaii.