After checking out a few customers andrealizing this is incredibly similar to working at Drenaline Surf,I feel a lot better about my ability to work here. Now if I couldjust escape the whispers and stares, we’d be in business. I’m inthe process of scanning a pair of sunglasses when Tori walks backtoward the register.
“Hey, you surf, right?” she asks. “Because Idon’t. There’s a kid over there, probably about twelve-ish or so,and he’s looking for his first ‘real’ board. Think you could helphim out?”
She points to a boy with messy black hairlingering around the surfboards. He wears a Hurley T-shirt andboard shorts. I loosen my shoulders and walk over, hoping this kiddoesn’t watch the news with his parents.
“I heard you’re looking for your first realsurfboard,” I say, approaching him. “I’m Kale. What’s yourname?”
“Tao,” he says, eyeball deep and overwhelmedby the selection.
“Well, Tao, let’s talk surfing,” I say. “Areyou more into the whole power surfing aspect or the new game ofaerials and crazy maneuvers?”
He looks up at me. “All of it. John JohnFlorence is my favorite surfer, and he does it all, so I want to doit all,” he says.
Classic of a Hawaiian kid to be a JJF fan. Ican’t blame him, though. He’s one of my favorites too. The guy cansurf his brain out like no one else can.
“That explains the Hurley shirt,” I say,nodding at the logo on his chest. “You hoping to follow in hisfootsteps someday? Be a big star on the world tour?”
Tao quickly shakes his head, his messy hairflopping around. “That’s not for me,” he says. “I love surfing, andit’d be cool to work somewhere like here. You know, so I could bearound surf stuff, but I don’t want to do all that travelingbecause then I’d be on planes and I’d rather be on asurfboard.”
It drives through me like a board slicing awave. Miles used to say that big league surfing wasn’t for him, andI always thought he was crazy for it. Who wouldn’t want to travelthe world and surf the best swells and experience all the differentcultures and countries on Earth? That was my plan. I was going tobust my ass to be as good as Topher and make the world tour. I wasgoing to be that cool guy from Hawaii who was friends with everyoneand loved to surf and enjoyed life. I had a plan before I got mixedup with Colby’s parents.
But maybe this kid is on to something.Hawaii has some of the best waves on the planet. Surfers from allover the world come here for our swells. All I have to do is walkoutside and paddle out. Why spend time flying around the worldhoping your boards make it in one piece when you’re just a few feetaway from the best of the best?
“You know what? I think you’re right,” Itell Tao. “Surfing for fun, with your friends, is pretty much thebest it gets. Let’s get your measurements, and I’ll help you findthe perfect board.”
Chapter Twelve – Leilani
“You sure about this?” Kale asks, lookingout at the water like it’s foreign territory that will suck himinto outer space and never bring him back. “I don’t have a goodpast with night surfing.”
Water rushes over his feet next to me as Iwax my board in the glow of the full moon. I drag the bar back andforth over the surface, preparing for my first night surf in ages.It’s not the ideal time to surf because you can’t see a freakingthing, but the ocean is empty right now, and that’s what’simportant.
“Do you want to surf in the morning?” I ask.“Keiko is up before the sun. I’m usually up with the sunrise, butby then, everyone else is already in the water. If you want to facea crowded lineup, be my guest.”
I attach my leash, stand up, and positionmyself next to him. It’s now or never, and he knows it. The whitecaps of the waves glisten under the moon, rolling in like crumblingsnow on top of the ocean.
“Lead the way,” he says.
Water gushes around us as we lunge forwardinto the waves, paddling over the choppiness and out into the darkbeyond. It’s not a good night for surfing because the waves are assleepy as our town, but Kale needs to feel the salt water againsthis skin again. He needs to feel a board under his body. He needsto paddle against the waves, pushing through against all odds.Tonight isn’t about scoring a perfect swell. It’s aboutreintroducing him to the ocean.
“I’ve missed this!” he calls out. “I forgothow good it feels to have salt water in your eyes.”
I laugh. Only a true surfer loves somethingthat awful. I still have days where I hate it, but for the mostpart, I’ve adjusted. I only stop paddling when he does, and we sitadrift in the ocean, feeling little waves bump through underus.
“Thanks for talking to your brother,” Kalesays. “You didn’t have to cash in your favor for me, though. But Ido appreciate it, more than you know.”
I don’t tell Kale about the night that Keikocalled me needing me to pick him up from the side of the road. Heknew he was too drunk to drive, and luckily he had the sense topull over. I had my license, but I didn’t have a car yet, and hedidn’t want Mom or Dad to know. He didn’t even tell Kalani, andhe’s always been closer to her.
I snuck out my window and rode my old biketo where he was waiting, pulled off in a ditch hoping I’d get therebefore a police officer stopped to check on him. I loaded the bikeinto the trunk, drove him home, helped him get inside, and closedmy window. It was sort of miraculous that no one heard us sneakingin. He thanked me the next morning and asked for my secrecy inexchange for a favor, at any given time, for whatever I wanted orneeded.
I’ll keep my brother’s demon between us, butI knew he
