A Fish Out of Water: Chapter 13

 Chapter 13

 Journey to Wisdom

Keoni woke up to the sound of rain pounding on the corrugated metal roof. He really needed to use the potty, so he crawled out of bed and toddled across the hallway to the bathroom. Then, while he was sitting on the potty chair, he was startled by a bright light flashing outside the bathroom window! The flash was soon followed followed by an ominous rumbling noise. Whatever was going on out there, it sure seemed like bad news to the toddler.

Keoni could hear his mother's and grandmother's slightly muffled voices from just outside the bathroom door -- they were just having a chat, but Malie's tone was full of anxiety. "I just can't help but worry when Kapena goes to work during monsoon season."

"I know, dear," Leimomi tried to comfort her daughter-in-law. "I went through exactly the same thing when I was your age, married to a fisherman and raising a little boy. But you have to be strong for Keoni. If he sees you fretting about Kapena, it's only going to make him afraid that his father might not come home."

Keoni finished doing what he was doing, and he toddled out of the bathroom to find out more about what his mother and grandmother were talking about. But the moment he showed up, they stopped their conversation and forced smiles onto their faces. "Good morning, my little minnow," Leimomi greeted her grandson cheerfully.

"You must be hungry, Keoni," Malie commented. "How about breakfast?" Malie went over to Keoni's high chair and prepared a bowl of cereal for him, and then she went over to the toddler, picked him up, carried him to the high chair and set him down in the seat.

Keoni started to eat his cereal, while Leimomi and Malie sat down at the dining table and continued to chat. "Did you hear they're running the lottery today?" Leimomi commented. "Perhaps we should try our luck when Kapena gets back from work."

"We don't have a computer to order a lottery ticket on," Malie pointed out.

"There's always the Naauao Library across the street," Leimomi replied. "And the weather's not good for Keoni to be able to play outside, so I'm sure a trip to the library would be interesting for him."

Keoni finished eating his cereal, and Malie got up from her chair, released her son from the confines of the high chair, and took his empty bowl to the kitchen sink to wash it. The sound of the rain on the roof lessened to a light patter. At the other end of the hallway, the front door opened and Kapena strolled inside looking very pleased with himself. "Guess what?" he announced to everyone as he walked towards the kitchen, "I earned a raise for all my hard work!"

Malie finished cleaning the bowl and turned around to give her husband a big smile. "Congratulations, and I'm so glad you're home safe!"

"Oh, come on, stop worrying about nothing," Kapena scoffed. "A little monsoon wouldn't be enough to sink my boat."

Keoni thought he heard Leimomi mumble something under her breath -- it sounded like she'd said "Just like his father," but Keoni wasn't sure he'd heard right.

Then Leimomi got up, picked Keoni up, carried him into his room and helped him change out of his pajamas into everyday clothes. By the time they went back out into the hallway, Kapena had changed into his swimwear and was on his way out the back door. Leimomi sat Keoni down and started to give him another lesson on the importance of good manners. However, Keoni just wasn't feeling it -- what was so great about all this 'please' and 'thank you' stuff anyway? It felt like the grown-ups were trying to get him to jump through unnecessary hoops just to get what he wanted. However, Keoni's grumpy attitude about learning manners didn't save him from the life lessons yet, since as soon as it became apparent that Leimomi wasn't going to get anywhere on the manners front today, Malie sat Keoni down and began to give him another lesson on the importance of a sincere apology.

Hokulani paused to watch Keoni for a moment, then she turned towards Leimomi. "I'm heading out," she said to her sister's mother-in-law, but she knew that Malie and Keoni were close enough to hear her as well. "The weather's gotten decent enough that they'll be able to have that sandcastle competition at Sand Simoleon Beach, and I'm gonna be one of the judges!"

"Good luck, Hokulani," Leimomi replied. "We'll see you when we get back, and then maybe we'll all go to the library together afterwards."

"The library? What for?"

"The lottery is today, and we were thinking about using the computers there to try our luck."

"Ooh, a win would be just what I need to get back on my feet," Hokulani said eagerly. "Okay, if you guys are going to the library after I get back from this job, then count me in."

Malie finished her teaching-life-lessons-to-the-toddler session, leaving Keoni feeling pretty pleased with himself and his ability to handle any future conflicts that might come his way. But lessons weren't over yet. Kapena came back into the house through the back door, and then he sat Keoni down on the floor of the hallway and started going through numbers flash cards with the tot.

There was a knock at the front door, and Leimomi went to answer it. Once again, the person who'd come to visit was someone who Keoni didn't know, but at least the toddler's outgoing grandmother seemed to be getting along with the newcomer.

 

Keoni was getting tired of studying, and he didn't want to be around a stranger, so he retreated into the bedroom to give Beach Bear a big comforting hug. The toddler felt a little bit better after wrapping his arms around his ginormous teddy bear, so he went back out into the hallway, toddled over to his toy chest, picked up a toy from the toy chest and started playing with it.

There was another knock at the door, and this time, Malie went to answer it. "Oh, hello again, Mr. Koa," she greeted the family's latest visitor. "Thank you for going out of your way to visit us again. I'm afraid we started off on the wrong foot last time."

"Don't mention it," Ikaika Koa replied as he strolled into the house.

 

Keoni plunked his toy back into the toybox and just stood there staring at Mr. Koa for a few minutes. He was always dressed differently from anyone else Keoni knew, like a warrior from Sulani's past -- so cool!

Unfortunately, while Keoni was watching Mr. Koa talk to Leimomi and Malie, the other stranger walked up to the tot and tried to strike up a conversation. "Sul sul, little guy. You must be Leimomi's grandson. My name's Fetu Iousa. What's yours?"

"I'm Keoni..." the toddler responded nervously.

"Keoni, huh? Well, it's nice to meetcha!"

"Um... bye..." With that, Keoni retreated to the safety of the bedroom and studied the shapes on the sides of his blocks. After a while, Malie and Leimomi entered the bedroom and watched Keoni play. A minute or two later, Keoni thought he overheard the sound of someone sobbing uncontrollably coming from the dining room, but that didn't make any sense to him -- why would anybody be crying so hard in the dining room?

 

Before Keoni could get up to go see what was going on, Hokulani strutted into the room. "Hey guys. I'm back. Not to brag or anything, but they said I was the best judge the sandcastle competition had ever seen. Some folks were saying I was born for the role, but let's be real here, I was born for a lot bigger and better roles than judging sandcastles at some little local shindig. On the bright side, I even caught three cheaters -- and the Beach Administration paid me a bonus for the honor of having a legend such as myself grace their event!"

"How do you cheat at a sandcastle competition?" Malie asked.

"Oh, they have ways," Hokulani replied cryptically.

Leimomi looked at Malie and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, now that everyone's done with work for the day, I'll let Kapena know we're ready to go to the library."

Kapena returned to the house and picked up Keoni in his arms, and the family and their houseguests went up the beach and crossed the street, arriving at a small hut near the town plaza. "This is the Naauao Library," Kapena explained to his son as he carried the toddler up the steps that led to the hut's front doors. "'Naauao' means 'wisdom.' This is where we keep the records of our ancestors' history."

"They have a children's book section, too," Malie added as she followed behind her husband. "I think you're going to like this place, Keoni."

Kapena took Keoni to the children's book section, and then he went over to the children's bookshelf and started browsing. "'Squares and you,'" he read one of the book's titles out loud. "The reviews say this book offers excellent educational value for toddlers. Perfect!" He sat down in a comfy chair, Keoni sat on the floor in front of him, and Kapena began to read out loud.

Keoni pulled some leftover mua kalua pork out of his pockets that he'd been saving for a snack -- then realized that his would-be snack actually smelled really yucky by now. Maybe eating it wouldn't be the best idea.

While Keoni was listening to Kapena read out loud and rethinking his snack idea, someone who was a kind of person Keoni had never seen before walked into the library. Whoever this guy was, he was bigger than a toddler, but not as big as a grown-up. Also, he seemed really angry about something; he immediately stormed over to the stuffed triceratops next to the children's bookshelf and punched it!

Kapena finished reading the book, stood up and walked towards the other side of the library. Keoni went over to a nearby seat and pulled himself up onto it in order to get a timid closer look at this new kind of stranger.

"Soo soo," Keoni introduced himself, still afraid of this angry stranger but trying his best to be friendly. "I'm Keoni."

 

"My name's Tane Ngata," the stranger replied, still sounding grouchy.

Keoni decided to try to lighten the mood with humor. "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" Tane grumbled, sitting down next to Keoni as he reluctantly played along.

"Banana."

"Banana who?"

"Banana banana banana!"

Tane was not amused. "You call that a joke? Oh well, I guess you can't expect a baby to understand anything."

"I'm not a baby," Keoni tried to explain. "I'm a big boy."

"Well, I'm a much bigger and older kid than you," Tane countered, "which means you're still a baby compared to me."

Before Keoni could come up with a response, Kapena returned, picked up the toddler, and carried him out of the library and back across the street to their home.