White shoes.

His name was Tamarii Pierre but everyone in the Pitt Media Group called him T2.

I never really knew him that well. He worked with Alex, another young Cook Islander, to film the TV news. I referred to them as “The Dudes.” He probably thought of me as “the old white guy who writes for the newspaper.”

Our paths intersected occasionally. Sometimes, when the air in the office grew hot and sticky, I’d duck into the TV control room, where, due to the costly equipment stored there, the AC unit is cranked so high you can hang meat. At other times, we exchanged a word or two while passing off the keys to the company’s lone van.

I did notice that T2 and Alex were always dressed as if they’d just come from church: long-sleeve shirts, trousers. I’m guessing the idea was to look professional while on assignment. But as I sweated in my island shirt and hiking shorts, I couldn’t help wondering how they could stand wearing long pants.

I also noticed T2’s shoes. They were white and pointy. I thought that style went out with Elvis and sideburns and ducktails. I guess I was wrong.

I worked late Friday, with my computer plugged into an outlet near the front door.

I saw T2 dart out for a cigarette. He was back inside in less than a minute.

“That was a fast smoke,” I said as he hurried past the desk.

He just smiled and kept going. Seconds later, a station wagon pulled up in front of the building, an older man behind the wheel. My first thought was, dad doesn’t know son smokes, and son would prefer to keep it that way.

The front door was locked for the day but I let T2’s father in and he wandered down the hallway to the TV control room to fetch his boy. When I let them out five minutes later, locking the door behind them, I was the last person to see T2 leave the building.

Later that night, there was an accident. They say excess speed was involved. They say alcohol was involved. One whisper had the driver falling asleep at the wheel.

A vehicle lost control in the community of Nikau and slammed into a power pole.

T2 died at the scene.

He was 19.