A Fish Out of Water: Chapter 4

 Chapter 4: Breakthroughs and Brouhahas

Keoni was having his usual breakfast one morning, when he decided that it would be more fun to yeet his cereal than to eat it. Thus, his cereal ended up all over the high chair and on the floor.

Leimomi sat down at the table across from her grandson. "Now, now, Keoni. What a waste of perfectly good food. There are children in families that aren't as fortunate as ours who would love to have a full breakfast every day."

Hokulani placed her own bowl of cereal on the table and sat down. "Yeah, and even though we're not rich, we still have some nice things, so don't ruin them by making a mess, kid."

Leimomi tried to lighten the mood by telling a silly story about the first time she tried to ride an aqua-zip and struggled to figure out how to make the contraption work, and then when she finally did get the thing moving, all she could do was zoom around randomly while she struggled to figure out how to make the thing stop!

After Leimomi finished her story, Hokulani got up, washed her empty bowl in the kitchen sink, and then went into the bathroom. Leimomi also stood up and cleaned the sloppy splotches of milk and cereal off the floor. Malie came along to let Keoni out of the high chair, and she also changed the toddler out of his pajamas and into his usual everyday wardrobe. Then, while Malie set to work cleaning the high chair, Keoni noticed the garbage bin in the corner. As a toddler, his natural curiosity told him to rummage through it, and the jovial, mischievous mood he was in from yeeting his breakfast earlier told him that playing with whatever he could find in there would be so much fun!

Unfortunately for Keoni, his father arrived back home just then, saw what was going on from down the hall, and strode into the dining room to stand beside his son, looking down at the toddler. "Keoni, trash is yucky. Don't play with it."

After Malie was done cleaning, she turned around to chat with her husband. "How was work today, dear?"

"Well, the fish weren't biting quite as much as usual today," Kapena admitted, "but no fish in the sea can outwit a true fisherman! From now on, I'm sure I'll bring home lots more fish."

"V... v... viss!" Keoni exclaimed.

Kapena looked down at his son again. "What was that?"

"Viss!"

"Keoni," Malie asked, "did you just say 'fish?' Like the fishies in the sea?"

"Vissee!" Keoni exclaimed again, overjoyed that he had finally figured out how to make the grown-ups understand what he was trying to say.

Malie looked shocked. "I can't believe it! Keoni just said his first word!"

"And his first word was 'fish!'" Kapena added, beaming with pride. "That's a sure sign that he's going to grow up to be a great fisherman someday, just like all my forefathers. Mark my words, the family business will be in good hands when my little boy grows up!"

Keoni didn't quite know what his father was going on about, but for now he focused on trying to communicate with his parents about things like toys, trucks and superheroes.

Kapena picked Keoni up. "That's my boy. Now, time for potty training."

After Keoni had finished sitting on the smaller plastic variation of the porcelain throne, his father left the house, and his mother came into the bathroom, picked him up, carried him out to the dining room, placed him in the high chair, and put a PB&J sandwich, cut in half diagonally, on the tray in front of him. Keoni picked up a sandwich half and took a big bite out of it.

When Keoni had finished his sandwich, Malie let him out of the high chair. Then she took Keoni into the bedroom, sat him down next to his set of building blocks, and started using the blocks to try to teach him how to identify shapes.

After a while, Keoni felt like he was beginning to get the hang of this whole shapes thing, but the lesson didn't end there, and eventually Keoni felt so tired of looking at blocks he could cry. And, after he left the bedroom, he did stop in his tracks and cry.

"Aw, Keoni, it's okay," Malie tried to comfort him. "C'mere, give Mommy a big hug. That'll make it all better." Malie attempted to reach down and wrap her son in her arms, but once again, something just felt 'off' to Keoni, and he tried to push her away.

"Oh..." Malie looked disappointed after Keoni recoiled from her, but she managed to regain her composure quickly. "Well, maybe some beach time will make you feel better. Come on, Keoni, let's make a sand sculpture!"

Keoni followed Malie outside and helped her make a big pile of sand and start forming it into shape.

They finished their sand sculpture, but as Keoni went inside to give Beach Bear a big hug, he noticed that a group of strangers was gathering on the front porch of his home! One of them was holding a big plate of something that smelled really good, but you never could tell with strangers whether they were actually being nice or not...

Oh well, strangers or no strangers, Keoni still had a very important hug to give to his favorite teddy bear. He went into his room and hugged Beach Bear with all his might, and then he went back out to the porch and observed the strangers cautiously, investigating them to try and find out what they were up to...

Much to Keoni's surprise and consternation, Leimomi invited the gathering of strangers into the family's home! "Aloha, friends and neighbors," she greeted them warmly, "please, come in!"

Keoni tried to follow his grandmother's lead and be hospitable. "Um... awoha?"

"Aloha, little guy," one of the strangers replied. His hair looked weird to Keoni, short on the sides and sticking up on top. "You must be Keoni. I'm Makoa Kealoha, your neighbor from down the street. My little girl Nani is about the same age as you."

Makoa seemed friendly enough, but having all these strangers around was just too much for Keoni. He dashed into his room, past where the strangers and his family were all sharing the food that the strangers had brought, and gave Beach Bear another big hug for comfort. After that, he didn't want to leave the bedroom and have to face the strangers again, so he went over to his building blocks to study shapes some more. While he was doing that, Leimomi stopped by the bedroom for a few minutes to check on him, but when she saw that he seemed to be doing well, she went back out to the gathering. Not long afterwards, Hokulani stopped by to check on Keoni as well, and then she also went back out to the gathering after she'd made sure her little nephew was doing okay.

Just when Keoni thought he'd managed to escape the strangers, Makoa stormed angrily into the bedroom, muttering "Why am I so mad all of a sudden? Gotta take this out on something..." He stomped over to Beach Bear and started to berate the stuffed animal. "You think you're such a big, tough bear, huh? You're nothing but an overstuffed ball of fluff, you worthless bundle of rags!"

Keoni put his blocks down. Beach Bear was just a poor innocent teddy, and if this stranger thought he could pick on Keoni's friend and get away with it, he had another think coming. Keoni took a deep breath and then yelled at Makoa at the top of his tiny lungs, "WEAVE BEACH BEAW AWONE, YOU BIG MEANIE!"

Keoni's parents heard the commotion and came into the bedroom. "Keoni," Malie said to her son, "would you please not yell? Especially at one of our neighbors."

"But he stawted it..." Keoni protested.

"That's no excuse," Malie went on. "Responding to meanness by being mean yourself only makes it worse. We should be kind to everyone, starting with our community."

"When I heard your folks had a kid, I was kinda worried they were gonna spoil you rotten, but it looks like that's not happening," Makoa commented to Keoni. "You should be grateful to them for that."

Kapena left the room, and another of the strangers came in and started chatting with Malie. However, the strangers left not long after, and Malie went out to the dining room. When she came back, she picked Keoni up and brought him out to a bowl of peas that was waiting for him on the tray of his high chair. After Keoni had finished eating his dinner, his mother made sure he got in one more round of potty training before bedtime. The extra help paid off, and Keoni finally managed to master the potty. Once that was done, Malie helped him change into his pajamas, and then she read him a bedtime story until he drifted off to sleep.