A Fish Out of Water: Chapter 2

 Chapter 2: A Grandmother's Fish Tale

It was another sunny Sulani summer morning. Keoni had just woken up, and Malie picked him up and carried him out to his high chair, where a bowl of cereal was waiting for him. She set him down in the high chair, and he picked up a soggy fistful of cereal and stuffed his face with it.

When Keoni had finished his breakfast, Leimomi came to clean up the empty bowl, and Kapena picked Keoni up and carefully set him down with his little feet on the floor. Then Malie came out of the bathroom and spoke to Kapena. "Honey, the faucet on the sink is broken. Could you fix it please?"

"Sure thing," Kapena replied. Then he went into the bathroom, and Leimomi followed after him. Keoni could hear the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, and the sloshing of a wet mop as his grandmother tried to clean up puddles.

Hokulani, who had been out in the living room area reading a book, set her book down on the coffee table next to a row of other books. "Bye, sis!" she called out to Malie as she walked towards the door. "Time for me to head to work."

"Okay, have a good one!" Malie called back as Hokulani left the house.

Meanwhile, Keoni smelled something fishy. He sniffed a bit, trying to figure out where the smell was coming from, before he realized that he himself was the source of the stink. But his dad and his grandmother were still in the bathroom fixing the sink and cleaning up the mess that the broken sink made, so it looked like nobody would be able to get in there for a bath anytime soon. Keoni tried to wait as patiently as a toddler could until Kapena finished fixing the sink, but at least following Malie around constantly in the hope that she or someone else would give him a bath soon got him enough walking practice that he figured out how to be a little bit more steady on his feet. When the sink was all better, Malie took her turn in the bathroom for a shower. While she was doing that, Kapena went outside for a little while, then came back inside and went into the bedroom for a nap, and Leimomi sat down at the dining room table and started reading a book. Finally, when Malie finished her shower, she came to fetch Keoni for his bath!

Even after Keoni was all clean and his mother took him out of the bathtub and got him dressed, he felt like he still hadn't had enough of splashing around in the water. But where else might there be a tub full of water to splash in...? Keoni remembered seeing a tub of water outside that his mother and grandmother splashed their hands in sometimes -- it was smaller than the bathtub, but if it was splashy, it would do. So he toddled out of the bathroom and, while Malie picked up Hokulani's book from the coffee table and put it with the other books, he headed for the front door as quickly as his occasionally-faltering steps could take him.

Keoni went out to the front porch, climbed down the front steps, and went around to the side of the house. Sure enough, there was that tub, filled almost to the brim with water. Keoni stood on his tiptoes, leaned over the edge of the tub, and started splashing the water with his hands!

He was so focused on the water, he couldn't pay any attention to the sound of his grandmother's phone ringing, or to her telling whoever had called her "Of course our family will help you." More importantly, Keoni wasn't paying attention to the sound of his mother's footsteps as she walked towards the front door to come outside and check on him.

However, he sure had to pay attention when she finally found him. "Keoni, would you please not splash in the laundry washtub?"

Even though Keoni wasn't allowed to splash in the washtub apparently, his home still came with a lot of fun stuff to do -- like playing in the sand! He got a bucket and pail and started to dig around in the sand near the washtub, letting his imagination run wild!

As he was doing that, Hokulani arrived back home. She went inside, then Kapena came outside to keep an eye on Keoni, but Keoni decided he was going to go back inside to say hello to his aunt and ask her about this place called "work" she had gone to.

When Keoni got back inside and reached his aunt, he babbled something that he thought might be a question about work. But all Hokulani replied was "Really, kiddo? No way," as if she was shocked by a juicy rumor he'd told her. So, obviously, he had to work a little bit more on making himself understood by grown-ups.

Then Leimomi entered the conversation. "Keoni, how about a story?"

Keoni burbled happily as if to say he'd love to hear a story. His grandmother told the best stories too, all about the history and legends of Sulani. She told tales of bold voyagers facing the dangers of the sea, brave warriors defending their people, ruthless pirates out to plunder the islands' treasures, and spirits and elementals who usually acted as helpful allies or authorities handing out judgment, but could also sometimes be mischievous tricksters.

"Long ago," Leimomi launched into her story, "the waters around these islands were inhabited by merfolk -- people who lived in the ocean and had tails like fish instead of legs."

"Being half-fish, the merfolk had an even closer connection to the ocean than our people, and the ocean blessed them with the magical power of song. The beauty of their songs enchanted anyone who heard them, but unfortunately, when our fishermen went out to sea to catch fish and feed our people, the merfolk used their powers against them. When our fishermen heard the beautiful songs of the merfolk, they couldn't help but dive out of their boats to drown in the sea. So, in order for us to be able to continue fishing to feed ourselves, our warriors went out to sea with cloth bound over their ears so they couldn't hear the merfolk's songs. There was a great battle between our warriors and the warriors of the merfolk, but in the end, our warriors drove the merfolk away from the shores of Sulani and our people were able to fish in peace once more."

"Cute story, Mrs. Ka'aukai," Hokulani commented after Leimomi had finished. "I bet Keoni loved it. Little kids are into made-up fairy tales, right?"

"This isn't just a fairy tale, Hokulani," Leimomi countered, sounding mildly annoyed. "These are the legends of Sulani and the lifeblood of our culture. It is only right that Keoni should learn them, not just for entertainment, but to take them to heart. They are just as much part of him as they are part of each and every one of our people, including you."

Keoni had loved the story, but now that it looked like his aunt and grandmother were getting into a slightly heated discussion sprinkled with big words he couldn't understand, he decided to go off to the bedroom to build a tower with blocks.

After a while, Malie came into the bedroom to keep an eye on Keoni, and then after another while she left the room again. Keoni could hear the faint clattering of silverware as his mother set the table for dinner. Then he heard some off-key attempts at vocal warm-ups and singing scales that sounded kind of like Hokulani; she certainly didn't have the beautiful singing voice of the merfolk in Leimomi's stories, but maybe she could become a better singer someday, with a lot of practice.

Leimomi entered the bedroom, sat down on Keoni's little bed, and interrupted his tower-building. "Time for potty training, little minnow!" She picked him up, took him into the bathroom and sat him down on the potty chair.

After Keoni had finished doing his business, with his grandmother's guidance, he decided to try dancing a little bit, even though no one was playing any music and Hokulani's attempts at warbling didn't really count as music. Leimomi left the bathroom, and Malie came in. "It's time for dinner, Keoni." Malie picked up her son, carried him out to the dining table and set him in his high chair, where a bowl of peas was waiting for him. In the meantime, Leimomi and Hokulani were getting bowls of leftover fruit salad from the fridge for themselves. While Malie went to go get herself some leftovers, Keoni grabbed a fistful of peas and shoved them into his mouth. He and Hokulani finished their dinners first, while Leimomi kept herself busy chatting with everyone else at the table.

Keoni decided to be chatty too, babbling to nobody in particular as Hokulani got up to wash her empty bowl in the kitchen sink. Then Leimomi took her and Malie's bowls to wash in the bathroom sink, and Malie let Keoni out of the high chair and cleaned up his bowl. Then, as Kapena entered the house and went straight into the bathroom, and as Hokulani sat back down and started to chat with Malie, Leimomi scooped Keoni up and playfully but carefully tossed him into the air!

A few minutes later, Keoni heard water running in the bathroom as if something had broken again, but he was too busy roughhousing with his grandmother to really care. Ever since Keoni could remember, Leimomi had cared for him, told him wonderful stories, and treated him like he was special -- not in a spoiling-the-grandchild way, but in an affirming way.

However, soon Leimomi had to put Keoni back down on the ground. "All right, little minnow, that's enough for now. You've tired this old lady out!" She knelt down, and she and Keoni gave each other a big hug.

As Kapena emerged from the bathroom and went to get himself a bowl of leftover fruit salad from the fridge, Malie picked Keoni up, brought him into his bedroom, and changed his clothes, helping him put on his pajamas. Then he climbed into bed, and Malie sat on the edge of his bed and took out a toddler storybook. "When we left off last night, the poor duckling was paddling and paddling his little webbed feet to try and keep the pond water from freezing around him..."

Keoni drifted off to sleep as Malie finished the story. He dreamed of a beautiful lagoon like the one just outside his family's house, with graceful swans gliding across the surface of the water, and magical people with fish tails swimming underneath.