Ocurre que el sueño se interrumpe por diferentes razones. Algunas provienen del pensamiento, otras de los ruidos que traspasan nuestros párpados. Ambas son inciertas y difusas. Lola se despertó porque creyó advertir un ruido inesperado. Se sentó en la cama y se quedó muda, como si el sonido de sus propios movimientos fuese a opacar aquella señal que la sobresaltó. Permaneció con la mirada atenta en la oscuridad de la habitación, pero el ruido no se repitió. Miró a su marido sobre la almohada, le envidió la respiración dulce del sueño profundo. No quiso compartirle esa extrañeza.

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As it happens, sleep is interrupted in various ways. Sometimes by dreams, sometimes by noises that penetrate consciousness enough to open our eyelids. Lola woke because she thought she heard something unusual. Finding herself sitting up in bed, she stayed still, as if the rustle of her own movements would overshadow the sound that had startled her awake. She stared attentively into the darkness of the room, but the noise didn’t repeat. She lookedLooking at her husband’s head on the pillow, she envied his soft, deep-sleep breathing. Lola did not want to share this oddity with him.

Excerpt | 

The night was still in Waiʻanae moku. All was silent in the valley of Lualualei. No tree stirred, and the water along the valley’s shoreline lapped softly against the sand and sizzled lightly on its way back into the ocean. Ulehawa Stream was smooth and flat, and the moon could see her reflection on its surface. With a mahina poepoe, the kinolau of Māui was defined along the ridgeline of Palikea and Puʻu Heleakalā. The stars were clear and many. The night sky was fully awake. Its stillness was ever-present and deeply-felt. And then a cry ripped through the air.

It came from the first hale along Ulehawa Stream, just across from the shore. The natural world seemed to shift and respond with the cry. The waves clapped gently louder, and the moon and stars radiated faintly brighter. The cry had been so sudden, it was incomprehensible with the sound of the water receding from the shore. But then the environment returned to its natural state, the atmosphere became calm again, and the cry was distinct. It was the cry of a newborn child.