A Fish Out of Water: Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Darkness Descends

The day started out normally for Keoni -- he woke up, toddled across the hallway and into the bathroom, and took care of potty business, then Grandma Leimomi poured a bowl of cereal for him and set it down on the tray of his high chair, picked him up, carried him to the high chair and set him down in the seat so that he could enjoy his breakfast.

However, after Keoni had finished his breakfast, he was waiting for his turn to take a bath when, all of a sudden, the lights went out! There was still sunlight coming in from outside through the windows, of course, but the weather outside was overcast, which left the inside of the house pretty dark.

However, the lights being out didn't seem to stop the grown-ups from continuing their daily routine. Malie stepped out of the bathroom after finishing her shower, and Leimomi picked Keoni up again. "Phew! Someone needs a bath." With that, Leimomi carried Keoni to the bathtub. Even without the lights on, at least the water was still running, which meant Keoni could enjoy a splashing good time in the tub!

When bath time was, sadly, over, Keoni toddled back into his room to give Beach Bear a hug. He figured his giant teddy friend might be scared of the dark and, if so, he would need some comfort. After taking care of Beach Bear, Keoni went to his toybox so that The Purple Protector could save the world from eternal darkness. However, after a little while, Malie walked in through the front door and interrupted the tale of daring-do. "What are you playing, Keoni?"

"Supahewo!" Keoni exclaimed.

"Well, you know, even superheroes mess things up from time to time," Malie started in on a lecture, "and when they do, one of the bravest things they can do is to say they're sorry..."

By the time Malie finished her talk, Keoni was feeling quite heroic about his ability to apologize when he needed to. But the life lessons weren't over just yet, as Leimomi walked through the front door just as Malie was wrapping up. "Oh, is it teaching time?"

Malie nodded her head. "I was just telling Keoni about how important it is for him to say he's sorry for his mistakes."

"Very good," Leimomi said with a gentle smile of approval, "but 'sorry' isn't the only word that's important for you to learn to say. Good manners are very important for building friendships, and that all starts with 'please' and 'thank you.'"

While Leimomi gave Keoni another talk on manners, Keoni began to hear a faint drizzle of raindrops hitting the roof. Shortly afterwards, Hokulani strolled inside through the front door, all smiles and giggles.

"Hello, Hokulani!" Leimomi paused her lecture to greet her daughter-in-law's sister enthusiastically. "I think Keoni's finally starting to understand the importance of using good manners!"

"That's -- heeheehee -- nice," Hokulani replied, seemingly unimpressed in spite of her otherwise jovial attitude.

"Wasso funny, Auntie?" Keoni asked.

"I don't -- heehee -- know. Sure, it was a -- hoohooha -- good day at -- hee -- work, but nothing particularly -- haha -- funny happened."

Leimomi looked at Hokulani carefully for a moment. "It appears that you've come down with a bad case of the giggles. Get some rest."

"I think I'll haha-have a glass of -- heeheehee -- orange juice first." With that, Hokulani headed off to the fridge, and Leimomi continued with her lesson.

As Hokulani opened up the fridge to grab herself some orange juice, and as Leimomi finished giving Keoni a talk on manners, Kapena walked through the front door and then stopped suddenly. "What's with the lights? Is the power out?"

"Don't you remember, dear?" Malie responded as she walked down the hallway from the kitchen. "Ohan'ali Town instated a weekly Power Conservation Day to save electricity. We voted on this recently. The Kealohas were big supporters of the initiative."

"Right, I remember," Kapena responded sourly, "and of course they were. It's just like them to inconvenience everyone else in the neighborhood over some so-called environmental crisis."

"Anyway," Malie changed the subject, "Keoni has been making good progress with his social development today. But all lessons and no play isn't good for a little boy either.... Gotcha!" With that, Malie scooped up a laughing and screeching Keoni, tossed him into the air and caught him! Then she spun him around and around, and then she plopped him onto her back. "Wait... where did Keoni go?" she asked, pretending not to know. Then she turned her head to the side and spotted him. "There he is!" With that, she picked him up and spun him around again.

When the roughhousing was over, Keoni was feeling all revved up, so as Hokulani went into her bedroom for a nap, the kid toddled over to some books sitting on the living room coffee table and started to rummage through them wildly, sending papers flying. Then he picked up a book and investigated the cover as closely as he could in the poor lighting.

However, with Leimomi right there, the tot couldn't keep up the shenanigans for long. "Keoni," his grandmother scolded him, "be gentle with the books. And, while it's good you're trying to practice your reading, you shouldn't read in dim light."

"Why not, Gwamma?" Keoni asked.

"Because reading in dim light will hurt your eyes," Leimomi replied.

"Well," Kapena interjected, "if we scoot a little closer to the window, at least there'll be enough light for flash cards. Come along, son, let's work on numbers."

"But Daddy," Keoni protested, "I'm hungwy!"

"Well then, let's get you an afternoon snack first," Kapena responded. He picked Keoni up, carried him to the dining room table, set him down in the high chair seat, and placed another bowl of cereal on the high chair tray alongside a small plastic spoon. Keoni picked up the spoon and used it to shovel cereal into his mouth. When he was done, Leimomi released him from the confines of the high chair, then she picked up his bowl and spoon from the tray and brought them to the kitchen sink.

While Leimomi took care of washing dishes, Keoni toddled off to the potty. When he was done with that, he went back to his bedroom to check on Beach Bear and comfort the teddy with another hug. Then Keoni returned his attention to the toybox and its contents as Hokulani strolled out of her bedroom after finishing her nap. The sound of rain on the roof grew stronger as Keoni played with his toys.

After a little while, Leimomi filled a sippy cup with milk and placed it on the tray of Keoni's high chair. Then she went to go get the tot. "Put your toys away, Keoni. It's dinnertime."

"But my tummy's full!"

"I know. You had a big afternoon snack. I got you some milk, to tide you over until morning."

Keoni reluctantly put the toy he was playing with back in the toybox. Leimomi tried to pick him up, but Keoni stopped her. "I can get it aww by mysef." With that, he toddled over to the high chair, reached up to grab the sippy cup from the tray, went into his bedroom, crawled onto his bed, sat down, and enjoyed his sippy cup of milk.

Kapena dropped by the bedroom, just to keep a watchful eye on Keoni for a bit. When Keoni finished his milk, he toddled out to the hallway and placed his empty sippy cup on the living room coffee table. Then Malie came and picked him up, carried him back into the bedroom, and helped him put his PJs on. Keoni crawled into his bed and pulled the covers up over himself, and Malie read him a bedtime story in the evening light that trickled through the bedroom window. Then Keoni drifted off to sleep as the light of the setting sun faded over Sulani.