A Fish Out of Water: Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A Neighborly Visit

One bright afternoon, Keoni and Kapena took a walk down the beach to the Kealoha house -- the families had arranged for another playdate between Keoni and Nani. The Ka'aukai twosome arrived at their neighbors' house and entered. Lilliana Kealoha welcomed them, and Kapena returned a cool but cordial thanks.

Keoni was too excited to worry about manners at the moment -- on the way inside, he noticed that since the last time he was here, the Kealohas had extended their side deck and added a huge playspace for toddlers! Makoa and Nani were already outside playing on the playspace and Keoni hurried to join them. While Makoa helped Nani ascend the stairs to the toddler slide, Keoni climbed into a tunnel, crawled up to the top of the playspace, looked out over the beach, and called "Hawwo!"

Keoni climbed back down through the tunnels and went over to Makoa. By the time he got there, Nani had reached the bottom of the slide, and now she was driving the playspace's pretend steering wheel. "Hey, little cousin," Makoa greeted Keoni. "Would you like to try the slide?"

"Yeah!"

Then let's go!" Makoa helped Keoni start crawling up the stairs, and then continued to encourage him on his way to the top. "You can do it, little guy!"

Nani seemed to have had enough of playing with the steering wheel. Meanwhile, Makoa went around to the front of the slide and faced towards Keoni, who was sitting on top of the slide. "Good job! Now just scoot yourself forward and slide down. Don't worry, I got you."

Keoni scooted forward just a little bit, and then gravity took over and sent him down the slide! He was nervous, but it was fun too, and Makoa was right there to catch Keoni at the bottom of the slide just like he said he would.

Meanwhile, Lilliana knelt down to comfort the crying Nani. "There there," she said as she gave her daughter a hug, "it's okay."

After the two of them finished their hug and Lilliana stood up again, she said to the rest of the group, "I think it's time for a change of pace. Who wants to turn this playdate into a dance party?"

"Meeeeee!" Nani exclaimed.

Keoni felt like he could've enjoyed the play structure for a little while longer, but a dance party sounded fun too. Lilliana and Nani went around to the back door, and Keoni followed them. Once they went inside, Lilliana used a remote control to turn on a music player that was sitting on an end table, and simple yet cheery kiddie tunes began to emanate from the speakers. As Keoni and Nani started bopping to the music, Kapena looked up from the bowl of fruit salad he'd helped himself to, a frown of aggravation on his face. "What is that mind-numbingly irritating noise?"

"It's a kids' music radio station," Lilliana explained.

"I see," Kapena replied, unimpressed. "Well, thank you for your hospitality, and for the fruit salad. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to... um... go do something else. I'll see you in a few minutes, Keoni. And don't let our neighbors' 'inspired' choice of music negatively impact the development of your intelligence."

"I know it's pretty basic," Lilliana said to Kapena's retreating back as he got up and left the room, "but you can't expect them to be able to understand Beethoven just yet. And they're having fun."

When Nani got tired of dancing, Lilliana picked her up, flipped her upside-down and pretended to toss her into the air! Keoni watched as Nani shrieked and giggled with joy.

While Nani and her mother played roughhouse, Kapena came back in. "Oh, the radio's still on the same station. Lovely. How are you doing, Keoni?"

"I'm kinda hungwy," Keoni replied.

Lilliana stopped roughhousing with Nani, carefully put her daughter down, and picked up the empty fruit salad bowl. "There are plenty of snacks to go around, so help yourselves. And feel free to use Nani's high chair if you need to."

"Thank you." With that, Kapena picked Keoni up and placed him in the high chair as Lilliana took the bowl away to wash it.

Behind him, Keoni could hear the sound of Kapena pouring something crispy into a bowl, underneath the louder sound of the music playing. A moment later, Kapena placed a bowl of potato chips on the high chair tray in front of Keoni. Keoni ate his chips while Kapena started dancing to the music, pretending to enjoy the simple kiddie tunes that were emanating from the speakers.

When Keoni finished his chips, Makoa arrived to set his toddler neighbor free from the high chair, while Lilliana removed the empty bowl from the tray and went to wash it. "There you go, little cousin," Makoa said as he gently placed Keoni standing up on the floor.

Kapena sat down in the living room, and Nani toddled over to Keoni. "Tanks for coming over!"

Keoni was at a loss for words until he heard Kapena whisper "Say 'you're welcome,' Keoni."

"Yo' wewwcome."

Then Nani toddled up to Keoni and gave him a big hug! Keoni was surprised, but the surprise wasn't entirely unpleasant. In spite of his shyness, Keoni thought it felt kind of nice having a friend his own age. He returned the hug.

"Keoni, it's time to go," Kapena said to his son. Then he turned back towards his hosts. "Thank you for having us over." Then he went to Keoni, took the toddler's hand, led him out the front door and helped him crawl down the stairs. "I know we have to be neighborly to the Kealohas," Kapena lectured Keoni as they walked down the beach back to their own house, "because community is our way of life. But don't get too buddy-buddy with them. Their family has very... different opinions than ours about what's best for this town. They're fools, but they're well-respected fools, so many of our other neighbors follow them. But they can't pull the wool over my eyes so easily. Don't let them make a fool out of you either."