Lokelani: The Green Girl of Launiupoko Point

Of all the dangers in the forest, the most dangerous might be the green ladies. Whether they are feeding on a family, catching the unwary in the forest, or hunting a group of explorers, trying to make a better life for their people, there are lots of tales about them. One of my favorites is the story of the green girl Lokelani. Like all good stories it teaches you a lesson, that everyone gets to decide how they want to act when they grow up, even monsters.

The green girl didn’t know what she was, where she was, or that it was strange that she was born alone. She just knew that she was hungry, very hungry! She was the last of her garden-mates to leave her pod, a real late bloomer. Months before, her sisters left their birthing garden, and set out into the forest together to find food. Green ladies aren’t known to work in groups, but when they first blossom they usually travel together until they hunt down a good meal, and get a lay of the land. This little one was alone. Left to find food by herself.

Almost as soon as she heard the bird, she was mimicking its song. The first tasted good, but it was very small, and didn’t have much fluid inside. She drained over a dozen before her hunger began to subside. Over the next few months she studied the animals, copied their calls, learned how they acted, and where they ate and drink.

She soon learned that the birds along the beach were bigger and had more blood to drink, but were out in the open, a dangerous place for a little green girl to be. She watched how some of the other predators hunted, and she didn’t like what she saw. The wolves would chase terrified prey for hours sometimes, before dragging it down and ripping out the soft parts. The boars would bite the legs of deer and let the wounds fester before finishing off the sick animals days later. Her way was much better.

When she hunted something, it didn’t even know she was there before it was too late. She respected and honored everything she ate by draining it quickly, and making reassuring noises as she drank. She knew the sounds of every animal in forest or so she thought, until one day she spotted something she had never seen before, people.

At first she thought there were only two, one slightly smaller than she was, and a big one who was budding. It was only when the bud began to cry that she realized that the smallest was actually riding inside some sort of carrier. In some ways they looked like her. They had arms and legs, but they were a strange color and their head vines looked thin and weak. They were very careless to be out in the open, and making so much noise. She watched them pick up shells and shark teeth and put them in a bag. She wondered what they planned on doing with them. She knew from experience that you couldn’t eat them, even though they came from living things, they held no blood. She wondered what these strange animals where and what they tasted like, but she knew better than to leave the safety of the forest during the day. She would wait and watch.

After an hour or so the Kanaka girl walked towards the trees and the green girl’s vines shook in anticipation. Finally, she would get to see what these strange animals tasted like. She watched her weak legs, clumsily work their way through the sand. She couldn’t believe how loud and slow it was. Maybe something was wrong with it. Maybe it was sick. The green girl was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice that the Kanaka girl was looking right at her.

“I’m Ana,” it said. The green girl filled the air with a welcoming smell. “You smell like lokelani flowers. Is that your name?” asked the Kanka girl. Lokelani reached out and touched the girls arm. It was so soft that she knew she couldn’t drain this little thing, it just wouldn’t be right. There was much healthier game to be had. “I have to go but we’ll be back tomorrow if you want to play,” said the girl before she ran back towards her mother.

That night, as she gorged herself on a particularly large boar, Lokelani wondered why she hadn’t at least tasted the Kanaka girl. It would have been easy enough, but there was something about the way she had talked to her that she liked. None of the other animals had ever talked to her before. They just squealed, screamed, or chirped. She liked being talked to. She hoped she would see the strange little thing again.

That spring, the little girl and Lokelani became friends. The Kanaka girl would sneak to the forest many times a week while her mother collected things on the beach along Launiupoko Point. The girl told Lokelani about her people’s legends, stories of bravery, love, and sacrifice. They played hide and seek even though the Kanaka girl was terrible at it; she couldn’t even change the tint of her skin. Lokelani learned a lot about the little girl and her people, but wondered how they managed to survive.

One day, soon after the girl had left, Lokelani heard the mother scream, and she moved through trees to investigate. She saw that a bear was attacking the mother as her friend stood paralyzed with fear. Lokelani couldn’t believe how lucky she was! She’d heard countless stories about how tough the Kanaka were, and now she’d get to see it in person. However, things weren’t going well. Instead of cracking the bear’s skull with a newa club, or driving a spear into the beast’s chest, the mother was being mauled, and Lokelani knew her friend would be next.

Bears were big, and she normally wouldn’t have tried to take one on, but it was distracted, and there was something about the situation that made Lokelani feel strange. A burning sensation was building up inside her that she didn’t understand. She was mad, and she would make the bear pay for attacking such helpless creatures. Lokelani unleashed her fury on the bear before it knew what was happening. By the time it understood how much danger it was in, it was too late.

Lokelani had no idea she could be so full when it was over. She watched the wary mother make a splint for her injured leg, and mimicked her friends laughter in an attempt to reassure her, as she helped the mother to her feet. Despite her nature, the spirit of Aloha had taken over Lokelani’s cold green heart. She realized that the Kanaka’s power didn’t come from claws, teeth, great strength, or speed. Their power came from each other, and by helping them she had gained something that no Green Lady had ever had. She had friends, and that was a powerful thing indeed. In exchange for friendship, Lokelani would protect all the Kanaka around Launiupoko Point, and so it was until the little girl’s grandchildren grew into old women.

Akamai Mahelona
6th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

The Story of Bulai Joe: The Untrustworthy Trader

Before the fracture a person could get anything they wanted delivered to their home. My grandpa says they could even return it and get their money back if they didn’t like what they got. There were special stores that sold anything you could imagine, even things like candles and weird smelling oils. Things aren’t like that anymore. There are a few places you can go in Lahaina that have basic necessities, like clean water and clubs, but other things are hard to find. That’s why traders are so important. If you want to buy some medicine or ammunition, a trader is your best bet. Since so many count on them for important items, everyone loves honest traders and hates ones that lie. This is the story of Bulai Joe, the most untrustworthy trader who ever lived on the island.

Nobody knows what Bulai Joe did before the accident but one thing was for sure, he was a great liar. Joe could convince almost anyone of anything. Joe sold little things at first: water, canned food, colorful rocks and shells, and was very successful. People liked talking to Joe and many looked forward to a daily visit because he told such good stories. Joe’s name began to spread in the area and soon he was the busiest trader around. Even though he was popular and made a good living, Joe wasn’t happy. He didn’t like the people he sold things to, and the people in charge of his village. He wanted to make more money and he knew just how he’d do it.

He started lightening the loads of his bullets, so he could sell the extra powder. They’d still work on small game, and he figured anything larger would take care of his customers before they had a chance to complain. He’d sell used medkits as new. His scales were always a little off, and he’d steal something from a person’s house only to sell it to their neighbors later.

Joe lived his life lying and cheating people for years. It would usually take a few weeks before people could figure out what he was doing, and by that time he had moved on to a different part of the island. Joe would lay low for a while, and start the whole thing over again when he was running out of rai. Then one day he wandered into Lahaina and he couldn’t believe his eyes.

There were two big groups that hadn’t heard of him, and while the Kanaka had a lot of trade goods, it was the Thrivers that caught his eye. He couldn’t believe how much rai the Thrivers had, and how good their equipment was. He thought to himself, “They have so much that I could retire if I come up with a good plan.” Joe emptied all of his emergency caches and introduced himself to the people of Lahaina.

He sold worthless gadgets and water to the Kanaka, and gave the Thrivers a great deal on some boxes of his special ammunition, and a few crates of old guns. He told them that in addition to lots more weapons, he had two hospital size Reparre med units that he was willing to sell for the right price. The Thrivers couldn’t believe their luck. Back then, there were lots of sick people in Pu’u and two medical units that size could take care of everyone for years. The price was high, but not as costly as the people they might lose if they didn’t have the machines.

A few days later Joe made a deal with the Thrivers for the imaginary med units. The Thrivers gave him half the rai, and for security, he left behind all of his worthless goods and worries, or so he thought. News that someone was selling Reparre machines had spread beyond Lahaina. A group of bandits was watching Joe, and waiting for just the right time to grab him and the valuable machines. Joe wasn’t even out of town before the bandits grabbed him.

Joe woke up inside the bandits hideout. The leader told him how much they wanted the units and that they were willing to spare his life if he told them where he was keeping them. Joe didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have the machines, but was sure that the bandits wouldn’t believe him. He decided to draw a map to buy some time, but he knew it wouldn’t give him long. Some of the bandits took the map and left, while Joe counted how much time he had left.

A few days passed, and he knew that the bandits would be returning soon. His lies had finally caught up with him. Then he heard someone call his name. It was group of Thrivers come to rescue him. It had taken a while, but they had discovered where Joe had been taken. They told him to go to the back of his room as they put explosives on his door. Unfortunately, they brought the detonators they bought from Joe. The first one didn’t work, and neither did the second.

While the Thrivers were trying to figure out what was wrong, gunfire rang out. Most of the Thrivers were using equipment that they had bought from Joe. Their guns jammed or misfired, and the few bullets they managed to get off were unable to get through the bandit’s armor. Instead of freeing Joe, the Thrivers found themselves captives too.

It didn’t take too long before everyone figured out what had happened, especially after the bandits with Joe’s fake map came back. Joe pleaded with the bandit leader to set him free. He promised all of his inventory, and that he’d find the units he had promised the Thrivers in exchange for his freedom. But the bandits didn’t believe him. Instead of dealing with Joe themselves, they thought it was better for the people of Lahaina to pass judgement. They kept many for ransom but let a few Thrivers free to escort Joe back to town. After hearing the story, the Thrivers and Kanaka tied some of Joe’s heaviest equipment to him and threw him into the sea. The water washed Joe and his lies from Lahaina.

Telling the truth is important for everyone, but especially for traders. I don’t want to be a trader when I grow up because I think it would be boring trying to get people to buy things, but my lying cousin talks about it all the time. My grandpa says he’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t sell anything heavy.

Akamai Mahelona
5th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

The Night Ice Dancing Came To Lahaina

Snow may not be the first thing people think about when they think of the island, but the summit of Haleakalā does occasionally get snow, and it’s not unusual for the top of the volcano to be covered. Of course Lahaina is different. Before the fracture snow was only recorded a few times and it didn’t last long, but the accident changed a lot of things, including the weather. Some people might tell you that a little snow is nothing to worry about, but they are wrong. The people who lived through the big blizzard years ago like my grandpa know that the ice brings more dangers than just the cold. This is the story of the week long snow storm that hit the island, and the horrible night that ice dancing came to Lahaina.

There were only a handful who had actually seen snow before on the day the first few flakes fell on Front street. At first, most loved the unusual weather. Often violent and dangerous, the Veilstorms would usually send people scrambling for shelter. The snow was different. It was cold, but not deadly, at least not at first. Kids learned how to make snowballs, and for a couple days everyone had fun, but then people began to worry.

The plants started to die and lots of people didn’t have warm clothes. Many Kanaka got frostbite and the Thrivers wondered what would happen if things didn’t warm up again. Four days into the blizzard, streams began to freeze over and many began to panic. The Kanaka burned their boats and the Thrivers began crafting coats as fast as they could, and making plans on how to keep the pumps from freezing. Then the snowmen appeared and things got worse.

They were in pairs, dressed in sequined outfits, with odd looking shoes strung over their shoulders. They were in front of every compound in Lahaina that morning, and the people who discovered them didn’t know what to think. The shoes were really strange, and nobody could figure out what they were at first. Then the elders got a good look and knew immediately what they were. They were skates.

The storm was really bad that day and it was hard to see outside, but strange sounds could be heard all morning. Faint dance music was being broadcast from somewhere that mixed with the sound of the icy waves. Bells could be heard coming from the forest, and the sound of skates being sharpened carried on the wind. Terrified of what might come the Kanaka gathered in The Mission for protection, and the people of Pu’u assembled in the courthouse waiting to see what was next. The answer came later that night when many heard what they had been dreading, a rhythmic tapping on the walls of the buildings. Shots rang out and everyone was yelling and screaming, but the Thrivers and Kanaka were no match for the Tappers. They had challenged all of Lahaina to a ice-dance-off and they weren’t about to let anyone bow out.

Everyone knows that The Tappers really know how to capture and hold an audience so escape was impossible. The tinseled terrors had dammed a stream and constructed a makeshift rink. Pairs from each group were chosen to participate and showed the routine for the short dance portion of the competition. The remaining captives were bound and encouraged to watch and cheer at gunpoint.

It did not go well for the Thrivers who were quickly served and received savagely low scores by the scintillating judges. The Kanaka seemed to fair a bit better until their second couple made the fatal mistake of following the melody and phrasing instead of the beat. They were immediately disqualified and destroyed. The judges ruled that no replacement would be allowed, much to the relief of the Kanaka in the audience. The Tappers on the other hand nailed every lift, spin, and twizzle despite the soft ice and sense of dread in the air.

During the break for ice smoothing, the captives discussed their fate. It was over for them. Their best bet was the short dance. The free dance was up next and the scoring would weigh creativity most heavily. They didn’t have the costumes, choreography, cross roll, or choctaw skills to survive. Their chances of making it out of the competition alive were as thin as the edge of their skates.

However, just before the next round began the audience noticed something wonderful, a thin stream of water across the ice. It had stopped snowing hours ago and the weather was returning to normal. The Tappers were as furious as they were fabulous. The conditions were already poor, and continuing on even softer ice would interfere with the quality of their programs. There would be no more swing rolls, slide chasse’s, or icey murders for the day. Before departing, they promised to save the scores and resume the competition when the streams froze again.

Some people say that the Tapper ice dance never happened, and that it’s just a story they tell kids around the campfire, but my grandpa and his friends say it’s true, so I’m not sure. I’ve been practicing forward crossovers on the beach just in case.

Akamai Mahelona
5th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

Lono Hahai and the Lahaina Wolves

There are a bunch of animals on the island that aren’t native to the land. The first people brought some of them here on purpose like pigs, dogs, and chickens. Some like rats, were accidentally dropped off here by explorers. Still others like the mongoose, were brought in because people thought they could kill other animals that were eating too many crops, or destroying the forest. But the wolves fit into a special category of their own.

For many years, hunting the deer on the island was a popular pastime. Hunters from all over would come to the island to bring down a trophy buck. It wasn’t long before a number of hunting lodges and ranches sprang up. The biggest and best-known by far was the Hahai Ranch. If you wanted to hunt anything on Maui, your best bet was to hire a guide from Hahai.

There were a lot of good hunters and a few great ones at the ranch, but the best by far was the owner’s daughter Lono. Even though she was still a teenager, Lono seemed much older and was wise in the ways of the forest. She could track any animal and seemed to be able to tell what the boar or deer would do before they did. She soon became the most sought out hunting guide at the ranch, but Lono had very strict rules and ideas about how to hunt.

She never used guns when she went hunting and refused to guide anyone who did. After a while she even started to refuse bow hunts, insisting that using a spear was the best way to truly appreciate the primal nature of hunting. If it hadn’t been for a chance encounter with a wolf expert during a trip, Lono might only be remembered as a great guide.

The young woman became obsessed with how wolves took down their prey and the plight of pups orphaned by nuisance hunts. She turned part of the ranch into a wolf sanctuary, and 3 years after taking in her first pup, Lono began hunting with them. Soon she opened the hunts up to the public and the waiting list to go with one of the packs became huge. Hand-raised by the young woman and trained to hunt in combination with guests, the wolves made the ranch and Lono famous.

Armed only with a spear, knife, or club, hunters would join a pack, led by Lono, for up to 3 days. The wolves would track game, and run it until it was exhausted. When Lono was sure the target animal was tired and careless enough, she would have the pack steer the prey towards guests who lay in ambush.

Eventually, the hunts got more and more elaborate with technical upgrades. Each of the wolves were fitted with Ceremplants so hunters could see their quarry through the pack’s eyes, and Lono could better communicate with the wolves during the hunt. An entire pack was upgraded with bioluminescent fur for special night hunts. Nobody knows what Lono had planned next for her pack because the great accident happened.

One of the first places the people on the hill checked after the fracture was the ranch. They were hoping to find other survivors, food, or weapons but they didn’t find much. The entire ranch had been cleaned out by the time they arrived, and fresh graves had been dug in the back. Almost nothing remained but one half-starved wolf buried in the rubble. The beast snarled at first, but seemed to understand that the people meant no harm and let them help. Once free, the wolf let out a howl and ran into the forest. Almost a week later the survivors started to find deer left outside of the village.

Nobody saw who was leaving them, and at first, some people thought it was a trick. It wasn’t long until hunger beat out their caution, and they started eating the venison. For a little over a year, the people on the hill would find a deer left at the gate every week. They began to hear wolves howl during the night and while they were hunting, but nobody ever saw one. Everyone thought that the wolf they saved was just thanking them in the way he had been trained, then the mutants came, and they learned the truth.

One night scouts ran through the gates followed by a group of those monsters. Soon the village was surrounded. People fought as hard as they could, but back then the wall wasn’t very high so the mutants just climbed over it. All night long the people fought but it was no use, there were too many of them. Almost everyone was killed and the survivors barricaded themselves inside the school. They knew it was just a matter of time before the monsters found a way in. Everyone had lost hope, and they were sure they’d be eaten. Then, just as the sun was coming up one of the remaining guards looked out the window and saw a woman standing by the gate with a deer thrown over her shoulders. It was Lono!

She dropped the deer, threw her head back, and let out a howl. From every direction, wolves howled back. From inside the school the people watched as streaks of fur slammed into the mutants, knocking them to the ground and tearing them apart. A few of the monsters tried to run but they weren’t fast enough to escape the fury of Lono’s spear and her pack.

It was then that the people knew that it was Lono leaving the deer to thank them for saving one of her wolves. She must have thought they were even after that because the deer stopped being delivered. It’s been a long time since that day and there are a lot more wolves on the island now, but nobody ever saw Lono again. I like to think that she’s still running with her pack somewhere on the island protecting people from mutants, but who knows. The only thing that’s certain is that there’d be no wolves on the island if it wasn’t for my hero, Lono Hahai.

Akamai Mahelona
5th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

Pu’u: The Home of the Thrivers

When the veil fractured everything that people counted on to live their lives was gone. Many of the roads were damaged, there was no internet or electricity, phones wouldn’t work, and there wasn’t even clean water to drink. With: earthquakes, deadly diseases spreading across the island faster than they could be treated, and extreme weather stirring up volient storms, more destructive than anything seen before, many were lost in the first few days. Many more gave up, because they hadn’t worked hard enough before the accident, and didn’t have the drive to fight all the bad things stacking up against them. But not my grandfather Pa’ani, he and a handful of others knew how to work hard, and knew that they’d have to work even harder if they were going make new lives for themselves and their families. That’s what they did when they founded Pu’u. From that day on, they were known as the Thrivers, and they made the best home that they could for the people who deserved it.

People tried to make it through that terrible first month in lots of different ways. The Kanaka turned back to many of the old ways, by honoring the land and learning what new treasures it held. The people of Tanager Lane closed their gates and nobody was allowed to come or go. The Lucky Dodge Hotel stayed open for those who were secretive, or wicked enough to get a room. Many went off to create a new world and a new way of life; some believing in the power of dance and destruction, and others focused on the drinks of the past and living a reckless life. None, however, had the determination, drive, and resources that the Thrivers did.

As soon as he made sure my grandma and my dad were ok, Pa’ani knew who he had to find. As Vice Principal of Pu’u high, my grandfather knew that he’d need the talents of everyone in his PTA golfing team. If he was going to help his family make it through this catastrophe, living the life they had grown accustomed to, he’d need the help of “The Hole-In-Nones”.

Grace Luahi had connections at the SSHAM factory and owned a number of warehouses filled with useful items, food, and drink. Chris Treadwell helped run a turbine and geothermal energy company. He had maps of well sites and plenty of equipment. Trip Alunu owned the islands biggest HVAC company and had plenty of spare solar cells too. Lastly, my grandpa had keys to every building on campus, including the vocational buildings with medical supplies, and all the extra tools and equipment they would need.

The surviving members of the golf team pulled together and worked to lessen the great burdens of life after the fracture. They had power and water running again within a week. Soon, others found their way to the school, and asked for shelter, but it was always the same. These people didn’t work hard or prepare before the accident, and they didn’t after. They would steal, and not do their assigned tasks. Even though the team tried to give them a chance, they didn’t share the same values and had nothing to give or contribute. Worse still, they let a number of Kanaka in even though the ube fever was running rampant. They gave the Kanaka water without getting anything in return. The Thrivers knew that it was only a matter of time before these outsiders would ruin everything. They needed to find more people like them.

Then someone said they knew a retired officer from the yacht club, and suggested that they try to find him. It turned out to be a great idea. Colonel Kaua had set up his mobile bunker along the beach and had taken in many influential families, but they were under constant attack by desperate people, and the horrors of the forest. The team explained that the yacht club people would be much safer on top of the hill at Pu’u, and that the mobile bunker would be just the thing to deter people looking for handouts. The colonel agreed, and over the next few days, they moved the bunker to where it still sits today, with his son guarding Pu’u and teaching the ways of war.

Along with other families like: the Pahili’s, the Hoomana’s, and the Palakiko’s, The Hole-In-Nones created a paradise within paradise by sharing values, working hard, and being smart enough to have things before the accident. They didn’t just survive, they thrived. I’m proud of what my grandpa and his friends did, and I hope that nothing like the fracture ever happens again. If we have to count on the hard work of people like my brother, we won’t make it. He can’t even pick up his toys.

Akamai Mahelona
5th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

Celebrating Sign Day In Lahaina

Everyone has their favorite holiday. Some of my friends like Christmas because they get presents like candy or a new knife. Others like Thanksgiving because of all the different food, but my favorite holiday is Sign Day.

On the last Thursday of every July, groups from all over the island gather in Lahaina to eat poke, honor how much work it was to rebuild things, remember how much can get done when we work together, and celebrate the toughness of those who survived. Everyone likes celebrating Sign Day but many don’t know the history behind the celebration.

Nobody remembers when the Lahaina sign was made or who put it up, but whoever it was, they did a really good job. The Lahaina sign was made sometime before the big accident and is one of the few things to survive the fires, winds, and rains. The Kanaka say the sign is filled with their love of the island and is protected by the spirits of their ancestors who fought and died for Lahaina. They believe that as long as the sign survives, so will the Kanaka. My dad says that it was probably some kind of resin that protected the sign and not ghosts.

The time right after the fracture was hard for everyone. People were scared and my grandma says that people do bad things when they’re scared. The Kanaka and the people here in Pu’u didn’t trust each other for a long time. Sometimes they would run away when we’d send people down the hill to look for food and water and sometimes they would threaten or attack us. Nobody knew what to do, but then someone noticed how the groups always seemed to run into each other by the sign and they had an idea.

The people of Pu’u surrounded some canteens of clean water with hibiscus flowers so it would attract the Kanaka’s attention and left them by the sign. A few days later, the people noticed the canteens were gone and there was fish wrapped in banana leaves with a few pieces of polished coral. The Thrivers and the Kanaka exchanged gifts like that for a while. When my Grandpa’s friends got the wells to the West working again, they left a map for the Kanaka under the sign. The next day, they went back only to find a group of Kanaka warriors waiting for them.

At first they thought that the warriors were going to attack but they didn’t. Instead, the Kanaka thanked them and gave them some spears and drew a map to show where they could find the biggest black crabs. That was when everything started to change.

The people and the Kanaka started trading all kinds of things by the Lahaina sign. The people of Pu’u would leave caches of clean food and water there for Kanaka scouts who were on long hunts. The Kanaka would leave healing herbs and rolls of dyed cloth for us. Soon the groups were trading everything and buying things with rai by the sign. Before the Battle of Black Rock Beach, Chief Ikaika made an agreement with the people of Pu’u to help fight the monsters that the veil created. Almost all important agreements are still made there today.

People leave gifts and messages there all year but Sign Day is special. The day starts with everyone gathering around the sign. Appointed leaders from each group make a speech about what they’ve done, and what they hope to get done in the upcoming year. Each group leaves a gift in front of the sign, usually something like water, salted fish or bandages, and the leaders rub tree oil into the sign together. When their done, they shake hands and everyone can start having fun! I like seeing all the different people and eating the weird food on Sign Day.

If you ever need help with a job or advice you can leave a note by the sign and someone will answer. My dad says you should never trust an answer that someone left at the sign though, and that I should ask him first. It’s also a good place to find something eat or drink when you’re out exploring but you’re only supposed to take something if you really need it. Every Thriver in Pu’u is taught at a young age that if they are hurt or need help, they can wait by the sign and someone will come along soon.

I really like Sign Day and seeing what gifts everyone leaves. I hope one day I get picked to give a speech about what we’ve done and what we’re going to do in front of everybody. But I don’t want to get the tree oil all over my hands. I think we should just paint the sign instead.

The legend of the Eldridge

There are lots of legends about lost treasures, forgotten food stores, and hidden caches of weapons on the island. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve heard stories about The Lost Veilcorp Vault, Oeming’s Secret Lab, and Longboard Lei’s Armory. They are all fine, but my favorite story is about the USS Eldridge. Unlike those other stories, everyone knows where the Eldridge is, but nobody who has climbed up the mountain to explore it has come back ok.

A long time ago, before the big accident, lots of people used the veil to travel from place to place. They figured out that using the veil to move heavy things was a lot easier than anything else so that’s what they did. Soon almost everything that needed to be moved would be moved through the veil. They moved all sorts of stuff with the veil: food, machine parts, lumber, and even animals back and forth across the world.

Eventually, the people in charge of the old government decided that they could use the veil to help them when they were fighting. Their big boats could sail around a long time but they needed to come back to land to get more people, food, and bullets. The government people thought it would be better if they could just veil that stuff on the boat so it could just keep sailing forever. The problem was all the veils were too big for a boat.

They tried and tried for a long time and eventually with the help of some really smart people they made one small enough. They put it on a ship called the USS Eldridge. It worked good and the soldier people were happy that they could just keep sailing and looking for people to fight instead of going back to port. But not even the soldiers or the old government people could do anything when the fracture happened.

Something weird happened to the Eldridge and the people inside during the fracture. Some say that something bad happened with their little veil during the explosions, others say it happened during the big veil storm right after, but nobody knows for sure. Somehow the boat ended up out of the water and stuck into the side of a mountain.

Everyone has a different story about what happened next. Many of the traders say that a group of them climbed up the trail to see if there was any food or medicine inside that they could sell. After a long climb, a few of them went inside while the rest waited. The traders who were waiting heard screams and the sound of guns, then everything was quiet. Only one of the group came out but something had happened to her and she couldn’t talk anymore. She just shook and stared straight ahead. She never said another word for the rest of her life. They say that the ship is full of creatures and that it sometimes disappears during a veil storm, but I’ve always seen it stuck in the same place when I visit that part of the island.

The Kānaka sent at least two parties up the mountain and into the Eldridge over the years. None of them ever came back. Eventually, they were so worried that Chief Ikaika himself went up there with his elite band of Koa warriors. They say he touched a part of the bow where it is joined into the stone and announced that the ship was holding angry spirits. He said that the ghosts of the soldiers who once lived inside were protecting it and were doomed to carry out their previous duties until the island sank beneath the waves. He declared that going inside the ship was taboo and even climbing up the trail was forbidden.

Me and my Grandpa don’t believe that there are really ghosts in the Eldridge or that it disappears during big veil storms. He says that people make up stories when they’re really scared or don’t understand something. Grandpa says nobody from Pu’u has gone up there because “we have plenty to do here protecting the village and keeping the crops healthy without climbing a mountain on a wild goose chase.” He says that if there was anyone left alive after the ship went inside the mountain, they probably decided to make it their home just like we made Pu’u ours. He says that one day we’ll probably go up there but we have too much to do right now.

I hope that when I’m older I can be part of the group that gets to go up the mountain and explore the Eldridge. My mom would probably want me to grab as much medicine as I could carry, and my dad would probably ask me to keep an eye out for weapons. I know those things are important, but I’d look for cartoon books, Manimal, and extra batteries first.

Akamai Mahelona
5th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

How Coffee and Can Openers Helped Restart Thanksgiving

For a long time people celebrated Thanksgiving every year because they didn’t have to worry about having enough food. The first Thanksgiving happened a long, long time ago before people knew about vending machines or how to put food in cans. A group of people called the Pilgrims had a feast with people called the Indians in order to thank them for teaching them how to grow food. Over the years, other people heard about the Pilgrims, moved to where they lived and killed almost all the Indians. After that, Thanksgiving was mostly about eating with relatives and trying to be nice to them. Everyone’s family would travel from far and wide to eat together, catch up on each other’s lives, and talk about what things used to be better. The kids would sit at a different table than the adults so they could be loud and everyone ate a type of bird called a turkey. A turkey was like a giant chicken but it was almost always dry when you cooked it and nobody ate the eggs.

After things stopped working, people had to worry about getting enough food to eat everyday so they stopped having Thanksgiving. There weren’t any turkeys on the island anyway. Nobody seemed to care because they were busy trying to live. For lots of years people like my Grandpa Pa’ani worked hard up on the hill to make sure everyone there had enough to eat, and that the ugly people down below didn’t steal anything. Even though the people on the hill were smart and they worked hard some of their plants started to get sick. The macadamia trees stopped making nuts and the taro plants started turning brown and dying. Everyone was really scared because they didn’t know where they were going to get food.

They were so worried that a bunch of them went out the gate and down below to try and trade for some food. After looking around for awhile they found a hunting party. The ugly hunters saw that one of the traders was drinking coffee and asked if they could taste some. They hadn’t had good coffee in a really long time because their roasters were broken and they’re not very good at fixing things. They really liked the coffee so they invited them back to their village.The people on the hill noticed there was a lot of broken stuff in the village. Almost all of their machines didn’t work and their plates and glasses were chipped and dirty. Most of their stuff was rusty and all of them had to share a can opener. They noticed something else too, lots of healthy plants.

The people from the hill told them about how their plants were dying and the Kanaka knew what to do. They gave them a different kind of taro plant that was stronger than the old kind but tasted just the same. They showed the hill people how to bury the purple fish next to the macadamia trees so they would get better and make nuts again. The people on the hill were happy that they didn’t have to worry about starving anymore. They decided to have Thanksgiving again and invite the Kanaka.

Even though the people down below don’t smell very good and are messy when they eat, the hill people opened the gates to share a feast . They laid out blankets and brought out tables so that their houses wouldn’t get messy. The Kanaka brought lots of fish, meat, and vegetables. The hardworking people made lots of coffee and brought out clean plates and glasses for them to use. Everyone was really happy and best of all nobody tried to steal anything. To show their appreciation for the good manners and the healthy plants, the people on the hill gave them bags of roasted coffee, new glasses and plates, and some new can openers. The people down below loved the gifts, especially the can openers. After that the Kanaka and the people like my grandpa started trading things more often. They still do today.

The people up here had such a good time that they decided to start having Thanksgiving every year again. We don’t eat with the people down below anymore because we have enough food for our families now. Grandfathers can talk about how lazy everyone is compared to them, aunts can ask your older sister why they aren’t married, and your cousin can talk about how important Kanaka integration is to a vibrant culture again, all thanks to coffee and can openers. I’m glad that the Kanaka helped us but I’m more glad that I don’t have to eat with them. My weird cousin is bad enough!

Akamai Mahelona
4th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

The Story of Longboard Lei

The fracture made a lot of scary things you have to be worried about. Nobody wants to come across a green lady or a group of night marchers, but some of the biggest dangers in Lahaina don’t come from the monsters; they come from people themselves. Lots of survivors tried to make things better, like my grandpa, but lots decided to steal and take what they want also. One of the worst of those kind of people is Longboard Lei.

Nobody who lives on the water is safe from the pirate queen and her crew. They say that Lei took the weapons from all the old naval bases around the islands, and put them in a secret armory. They say that there are enough guns there to arm everyone on the island, but my dad says that it’s probably not true, and it’s just a story to make people even more scared of her.

What is true, is that Lei is a great surfer and ruthless. She hates cowardice more than anything else. In fact, if she attacks your village your best bet is to fight back. After an attack, Lei rounds up everyone who didn’t help protect their friends and they’re never see again, but she leaves the injured alone. There are lots of stories about how she got to be a good surfer and why she hates people who don’t fight back, but this is my favorite.

Lei was the daughter of a Kanaka fisherman. Along with her brothers and sisters, she would jump in her dad’s boat every morning and he whole family would go out far beyond the reefs to catch butterfish and mackerel. Her father would tell them all tales about the old world to keep them entertained. He’d talk of movies, traveling across the world in an instant, and how some people used do nothing but play games all day. Lei in particular loved hearing tales of the great old surfers, and would spend much of these fishing trips dreaming of a time when people could survive simply by being good at riding the waves.

Then Lei’s life changed forever. The fish had been harder and harder to find for months, and her dad decided to go out further than usual to look for them. They hadn’t traveled far from the usual fishing grounds when they were hit by a veilstorm. The sky changed color, the orange rain fell, and a massive surge built up beneath their tiny boat. A wave lifted them all high into the air, and the boat broke apart. It was the last Lei would ever see of her family.

The young girl awoke half drowned, clinging to a piece of wood, and floating in a cove. Something about being in the water terrified her, and she kicked as hard as she could to shore. She found herself on a rocky beach surrounded by cliffs. Lei sat for a while and considered her options. She decided to rest for a while and then swim around to see if she could find a better place to wait for help, but hours turned to days.

Every time she tried to go in the water, something inside her made her freeze. So she spent days catching slow crabs and prying snails off the rocks at low tide. She tried boiling sea water and catching the steam like her father taught her, but she wasn’t very good at it, and only collected enough water to make her even more thirsty. On the third day she began to see things and wondered how long it would be before she saw her family again. She watched the rope ladder fall down the cliff face and the old woman descend, but didn’t believe she was real until the coconut water touched her lips.

She was so thirsty that she spilled as mulch as she gulped. The woman said she had been watching Lei, and she was impressed. However, she wondered why whe never swam out of the cove to explore the island. Lei told the strange woman about her family, what had happened, and that she was scared. The woman hugged her close and said she understood because something similar had happened to her long ago.

She promised to help Lei and for the next few months the two were inseparable. While Lei talked about her friends and family freely, the old woman didn’t like to talk about her past. She told Lei that she used to be in movies and was a great surfer in her time. The girl assumed she was just trying to make her feel good until she arrived one day with a pair of crude surfboards. Seeing the skeptical look on Lei’s face the old woman said, “I was always better at riding them than building them,” and hobbled in the water. Lei was amazed! While she walked with a shuffle on land, the old woman deftly maneuvered her board in the water like she was part of the waves. It filled her with enough confidence that she ventured in the water too, and together they paddled out of the cove.

Lei saw that there were many tiny islands in the vicinity and the pair hugged when they reached the beach. For many years, the pair lived on the main beach and surfed every day. While she didn’t mind playing and swimming close to shore, she was still scared to venture out into the deep water. The old woman would take trips to one tiny island every week but refused to say why. She told Lei that if she was so curious, she could just swim out there herself and see. One night as the pair lay in their shelter the old woman hugged Lei close and told her that she was glad she had ended up on the island, and was happy that the end of her days would be spent with such a brave young woman.

The words burned deep inside Lei. As strange as it might sound, she always thought that she would be found. It never occurred to her that she might spend the rest of her life here. She decided that she needed to swim to the little island and see what the old woman was keeping there. It wasn’t a long swim, but Lei’s hands were tired from gripping her board so tight when she arrived. There was a tiny shack not far from the beach, and Lei was not prepared for what she found inside.

A beautiful but broken surfboard with a picture of a young woman who looked a lot like her old companion sat in the corner. There was a piece of driftwood adorned with shells and eight names carved into it with the words “Keep Kicking” underneath. On the wall hung a tattered wetsuit with the name, “Layla” written on the back. Lei was stunned. The old woman was the famous surfer Layal Kalani. Her father had told her stories of Layla. How brave she was, and how she was lost at sea and never found. As Lei thought about the stories, her family, and the old woman, her hands began to shake in anger.

The old woman had talked about not being afraid, but she had never tried to leave herself. She couldn’t believe that the stories her father told of the brave surfing legend who fought sharks, would just sit here and wait to die. She talked about courage but she had none inside her. Worse still, she wanted Lei to succumb to weakness and stay here herself. For the first time in her life she knew what was important. Her father was a good and hardworking man, but it didn’t matter. Her brothers and sisters were innocent and honorable but it didn’t matter. People talked of the bravery of Layla, the Queen of the Surf, but it was a lie. The only thing that mattered was not being a coward, and having the will to take and do what you wanted.

Lei put on the old wetsuit, kicked over the wooden memorial, and grabbed the largest piece of the broken board without a word to the old woman that had almost made her happy to stay on the island. They say her bitterness and anger only grew as she rode the currents. By the time she made land, the young daughter of a Kanaka fishermen was gone and Longboard Lei was all that remained. She would show everyone what someone could do when they didn’t give up and they were not afraid.

My mom doesn’t like when I tell this story to my brother because it scares him, and she says it has a terrible message. But I think it’s good because now he thinks if I get too mad at him for going through my things, I might turn into a pirate like Lei.

Akamai Mahelona
4th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

The Legend of Piper: The Worst Tapper

There is no doubt that Lahaina is a dangerous place to be if you are alone. If you are going to make it, your best chance is to belong to a group, and that includes family. Having a big family helps you survive, even if it means having to put up with brothers. But not all families are connected by blood, sometimes you just find that you fit in so well with a group that you become family. The story of Piper is a good example of how you can find a family even in the unlikeliest of places.

When Piper was born her parents could tell right away that something wasn’t right. Most Tapper babies are soothed by listening to the classics, but jazz standards didn’t settle her down. In fact, the 12th Street Rag just made her cry. Things only got worse as she got older. The first steps for many Tappers are something basic like: ball changes, heel turns, or a dos-y-dos, but much to her parent’s dismay, Piper walked before she danced.

At an age when most Tapper girls were picking out brightly colored tights, suspenders, tops, and leotards, Piper had a hard time choosing marvelous combinations. As fate would have it, she was color blind and didn’t like tight-fitting outfits. When she was old enough to begin her training, she had nothing but a closet full of 15 khaki skirts. Others in her group began to whisper about the odd little girl. She hated the way sequins felt on fabric, and glitter made her itch. She only liked comfortable shoes and refused to wear any kind of hair adornment.

Her differences became glaringly apparent when she went on her first raid. Piper didn’t think it was right to kidnap people and hold them for ransom. She thought everyone had the right to live on the island, not just the Tappers, and asked why they had to be so mean. Her worried parents tried to talk to her about it. They warned her that she better start learning her choreography and watch her keys and cues.

Piper tried and tried to be like the others, but as much as she tried, she just couldn’t understand why it was important to: turn on allies in the middle of a fight, wipe out outposts, or sew the seeds of terror across the island. She didn’t like hiding in the tunnels and navigating in the dark with her sonar unit. She liked the way the sun felt on her face and the way it danced on the waves.

One night, after stepping all over her partner’s feet while stealing medicine from a Thriver village, she returned home and heard her parents talking. Piper had officially been accused of the worse thing a Tapper could be accused of. The group said that she was insufficiently fabulous. Custom held that the Piper would have to perform for the whole group the following night to prove her worth and display her entertainment value. If the judges didn’t give her a high enough score, it would not end well.

Devastated, Piper ran through the tunnels, and out of the cave to her favorite spot on the beach. She wondered what she was going to do, and why the others couldn’t understand that sunlight on the water was just as beautiful as moonlight. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t hear the Kanaka hunters until it was too late.

Back then, bandits were always sneaking into Kanaka camps and robbing them. The hunters assumed that Piper was a bandit scout when they tackled her. You can imagine their surprise when they saw it was a Tapper, even if it was one dressed in muted colors. Many had never seen a Tapper in real life, and nobody had ever captured one alive before. After some nervous conversation, and some worried looking around, the hunters decided to bring Piper to a nearby village and let the elder there figure out what to do.

The Kanaka have many legends about the Tappers, and there was a lot of debate when they got to the village. Some suggested that they tie her to a post and let the sun turn her into wood. Another warned that Tappers got their power from the Earth so they needed to put her someplace up high or out in the water. One old man said that if left unwatched a Tapper could turn into sound, and she would surely bring back others. In the end, the elder decided to put Piper in one of their guard towers with two of their best hunters. If she had been turned to wood by the morning light their problems were solved, if not, he’d decide what to do after getting some sleep.

Piper tried to explain that she didn’t want to hurt them and that she wasn’t like other Tappers, but the hunters didn’t want to listen. She was pleading with them in the tower when something caught her eye. A line of bushes on the edge of the forest didn’t look right to her. While she was staring at it, and trying to figure out why they looked different, they began to move. It was a group of camouflaged bandits. While her Tapper family considered her colorblindness a weakness, it allowed her to easily spot different textures and distinguish patterns better than someone with normal vision. She pointed out the bandits three times before the hunters could see them too.

The village didn’t know what to think after Piper warned them about the impending danger. The fact that she didn’t turn into wood in the sunlight left many scratching their heads too. They kept Piper in the tower for many months and her ability to spot danger became famous. Soon she was allowed to leave the tower and accompany scouting parties. She could spot a crooked fern at 100 yards, and could even find a green lady hiding in the forest. Piper went on to work with some of the greatest Kanaka chiefs ever known. They renamed her Loa’a the Finder, and she still lives with them to this day. Piper learned that sometimes you are born into a family, and sometimes you just find one.

Akamai Mahelona
5th Grade
Pu’u School Lahiana