ABSTRACT
We lingered under the coconut palms at Leor to say our good-byes and shake everyone’s hand before we left to return to Seattle. Quicker than we expected or wanted, it was time to leave Namoluk Atoll where Leslie and I had lived for the past two years. As we waded through the warm, crystal-clear water and clambered into the motorboat that would wend through the narrow reef channel to the open sea where the government ship waited, a few women began to keen as if we were dead. Others took up the cry, and as our boat moved away from shore, we were soon overcome by the emotion of a Pacific island parting. Sobbing along
with us was our fourteen-year-old “daughter” Maiyumi, who was feeling the sweet sadness of departure from her home island for the very first time.
