“Kale!” the voice shouts. “Man, are youokay?”
A hand lands on my shoulder and I glanceback. It’s my cousin. Makana. The same one who looked away theother night and pretended not to know me. Now he’s inches away,staring back at me with the same dark eyes we inherited from ourfathers.
“I’m fine,” I say, looking toward thesand.
“Paddle in with me,” he says. “You probablyneed to go to the hospital too. Just to make sure you’re good. I’lldrive you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I tell him.“I’m okay. I just want to make sure the kid is. I mean, he’s theone we all ran into the water for anyway.”
Makana inhales. “Kale, I didn’t run in forthe kid. I ran in for you,” he says. “I thought you were on asuicide mission. You remember when we were kids and we used towatch Lilo and Stitch and boycott other Disney movies because thiswas the Hawaiian one and it was made for us? Ohana means family,dude.”
The sun streaks across the ocean, as ifsymbolically bringing me from the dark side back into thelight.
“And family means no one gets left behind,”I say. “You want to drive me to the hospital to check on Tao?”
Chapter Fourteen – Leilani
After an hour in the waiting room, Makanaand Kale both jump up at the sight of Tao. His hair is drenched,but the kid is smiling as if the Pacific Ocean didn’t just try torip his life away from him. He walks over to us with his parents,who apprehensively thank Kale and then Makana for helping outtoday. Tao asks if he can talk to Kale for a moment, so Makanaexcuses himself to talk to some of the other surfers and lifeguardswho are hanging around. I start to walk away with them, but Kalelatches onto my hand.
“How are you feeling?” he asks Tao.
The kid shrugs. “Like I just drank too muchwater,” he says. “But the doctor said I’d blow it all outeventually over the next few hours. Kind of gross, but I guess itmakes me a real surfer now, right?”
I laugh and nod my head. “The first time Iwiped out, I had no idea what to expect after my brother helped meback to shore,” I say. “You’re already a step ahead of where I was.You’re prepared for the grossness.”
“I lost my board,” Tao says, hanging hishead. “I really liked that board too.”
“You know what?” Kale says, pulling awayfrom me and kneeling down to look at Tao. “I have some old boardsthat are too short for me now, and they’re just sitting around atNanna’s house, so maybe, if you want, you could come by and getthem. You know, practice boards until you’re ready to buy anotherone.”
Tao looks up, his eyes as bright as ahibiscus flower. “Seriously? You’d do that?” he asks, his voicesoaked in excitement. “Dude, you’re the coolest person ever. I knewthe forums were wrong about you.”
“Whoa,” I say before I can even stop myself.“You knew who he was this whole time?”
Tao nods, like it’s absolutely no big dealthat Kale’s the most trashed surfer on the gossip sites and surfforums these days. “I mean, yeah, it’s Colby Taylor, you know? He’sactually my favorite surfer, but I said John John because I didn’twant to offend you or anything.”
Kale laughs. “None taken, kid. Colby’s oneof the best in the business.”
“I won’t lie. I was nervous when I met you,”Tao says. “But when you first came back, these guys were talkingabout you on the beach, and that guy over there, the one who wassitting with you, he was there. He’d been playing volleyball withthem.”
I glance back over at Makana. He’s alwaysbeen friends with Keiko, but I haven’t hung out with him much. Ialways knew he was Kale’s cousin, but he’s a little older than me,so we never ran in the same social circles.
“He’s pretty cool, though,” Tao says ofMakana. “I’ve seen him surf a lot. He lives down the street fromme. He told those guys that people screw up, and… how did he sayit… we aren’t our mistakes? I don’t know. It sounded like he knewwhat he was talking about, though, and I figured if he’s cool withyou, you couldn’t be all that bad. He was right.”
After Kale writes down his Nanna’s addressfor Tao, the kid disappears with his parents with the promise fromKale that he’ll share some surf sessions with him. I don’t know whowill benefit more from them, though.
Epilogue – Kale
The house is quiet when I wake up the nextmorning. I gather the quiver of old boards from the garage andclean them up before the sun ever rises. Keiko waves at me as hestrolls in from his morning surf, which is a first considering howmany times I’ve seen him around and he’s pretended I don’t exist.Maybe his sister has finally rubbed off on him.
I grab a bar of wax and take the boards intothe kitchen so I can wax them before Tao comes by to get them.Kapuna sits at the table with a bagel and cup of coffee. An extramug sits across from him.
“You’re up early,” he says to me. “Are thesethe boards you’re giving Tao?”
I nod and sit across from him but don’treach for the coffee. “Kapuna, I need to tell you something,” Isay, uneasy about hurting his feelings. “I hate coffee.”
But he laughs. “Took you long enough to sayit,” he says, shaking his head and smiling. “I knew you hated it,but I told your Nanna you’d drink it anyway because if Kapuna givesyou coffee, you drink coffee.”
His laughter still rattles me. I stare athim, as if he’s manic. “I was being polite,” I say. “You’re right.If Kapuna gives you coffee, you drink it. You’d done so much forme. Risked so much. It was the right thing to do.”
He studies me. “And now?” he asks. “Whatmade you decide that now was the time to tell me you don’t likecoffee?”
“Because…that’s not who I am?” I stammerover my words.
“Exactly,” he says. “You’re taking
