STORYLINE

Addressing Your Concerns About Pu`u’s Newest Student

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For as long as I’ve been responsible for teaching your children I’ve tried to prepare them for life on the island while teaching them the importance of knowing how we got here. Up until now that task has been a difficult one because of our tendency to remain locked down as a community. Children aren’t even allowed outside the walls with an adult without showing proficiency with a gun. While I can appreciate why these rules were put in place things are changing beyond the gate.

Every day more and more people are appearing on the island bringing with them new hopes and ideas. We have to be careful not to stagnate or become too comfortable with our ways up here on the hill. It is our job to prepare our children to successfully navigate this new world. To that end, the council has agreed with me that we accept a Kānaka boy as a new student.

This has led to some disappointing reactions. I’ve heard the well-reasoned concerns at the meetings and the reprehensible attacks behind my back. The truth of the matter is that this is an issue with the adults. I have spoken with the children at length about our incoming student and the response has been a positive one charged with wonder and curiosity. They understand that we are building a school for tomorrow and the old ways need to change.

To help the parents feel more comfortable and dismiss any rumors or misconceptions I agreed to field any questions you had about the new student and school policies. I was happily surprised by the number of questions and only disappointed in a few. Many seemed to touch on the same or similar concerns so I’ve grouped them together. I hope this will enlighten those who didn’t know much about the Kānaka people and ease any fears.

The world beyond our walls is dangerous so I don’t blame the little thing, but I’ve heard that they will sometimes turn to cannibalism. Is that true? What are a Kānaka’s dietary needs and will watching them eat upset my child?

The world beyond the walls is a dangerous one, but being stuck behind them is not without peril. This question is a perfect example of that. First, “the little thing” is a 10-year-old boy named Kava. His people are not cannibals. You’re thinking of Night Marchers, Menehune, Green Ladies and other aberrations. The Kānaka are expert hunters and fishermen. Chances are you have some Kānaka harvested meat in your house right now. We have traded with them almost since our settlement was founded. They even saved many from certain starvation by introducing the giant Taro and sharing their agricultural knowledge after the fracture. Kava eats the same things as your children, in the same manner as they do, because he is just like your children.

I understand that the Kānaka don’t understand time the same way we do. Will he be subject to the same tardiness policies as others?

You understand wrong. Kava knows how to tell time. He’s actually quite a brilliant young man with strong math skills. I assure you that he will be subject to all the same rules as your children and he will follow them.

Is it possible that my child can get sick from him? Has the council thought about the dangers of bringing a plague through the gates?

Kava is no more contagious than any other visitor, probably less so because he is from a nearby village that we have been trading with for years. Like you I have a child who attends our school. I would never do anything that I thought would endanger my daughter, or any or your children. You don’t need to worry about a new plague running through our community because we decided to teach literature to a young man whose home is at the bottom of the hill.

Is he amazingly strong or agile? Will he be allowed to join the lava sled or swim team? It would be great if we could bring home the Pohaku Cup this year!

While it’s true that the Kānaka tend to be physically impressive because of their lifestyle, Kava can’t lift boulders or leap over houses. He has all the physical abilities of an active 10-year-old. He will be allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities that any other student can. Having said that, if he shows an aptitude for either I will push him to join the team. Like you, I think the Cup has been absent from the Pu`u trophy case for way too long.

Will he show the proper respect for the school colors and does he understand the implications of the Alma Mater song?

I’m not sure *I* understand the implications of the Alma Mater song. Something tells me that you are taking the song a little too seriously. I’d say the same goes for the school colors. I take pride in our school just as you do. I think it is amazing what we’ve built here through hard work and determination. I think you diminish that accomplishment by trying to turn something as trite as colors and a shared song into a tool of division. My advice is to take a deep breath and understand the implications of your question.

Is this the beginning of an exchange program? My great-grandfather was an exchange student and told the most amazing stories about it. When can I sign my child up?

We don’t have any plans currently to start an exchange program, but I applaud your enthusiasm! This is the kind of attitude that will serve our children well. Learning to adapt to new situations, and examine old ways of doing things is the only way we secure a bright future for them. Kava isn’t coming here to hurt our students or take anything away from them. He’s coming here to learn from us and teach them firsthand about his people. I’m hopeful that those lessons will be good ones from both sides.

I hope that this has reassured some of you and answered some of your concerns. I understand that change can be difficult but it is needed if we are to grow. Let’s try and make Kava’s time with us an enjoyable and educational one. Who knows, he might just teach us something.

STORYLINE

The Story of Bulai Joe: The Untrustworthy Trader

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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

STORYLINE

The Night Ice Dancing Came To Lahaina

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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

STORYLINE

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.

STORYLINE

The legend of the Eldridge

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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

STORYLINE

How Coffee and Can Openers Helped Restart Thanksgiving

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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

STORYLINE

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

STORYLINE

The Legend of Piper: The Worst Tapper

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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

STORYLINE

The Story of Miki the Helpful Menehune

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The Kanaka don’t teach their kids in the same way we do here in Pu’u. They use stories. Since they didn’t plan as well as people like my grandpa and his friends, they didn’t have safe places to live, food, water, and printers to make things like the Thrivers do here. Instead, the Kanaka had to rely on each other and their families to survive the big accident. They know that they have to count on everyone in their village if they’re going to make it, even if someone doesn’t always do a good job every time. Miki the Helpful Menehune is a story about not giving up on someone even when they disappoint you.

Lohi’s grandfather was one of the elders in her tiny village. Having lost her parents to Night Marchers when she was only two, her grandfather raised her as his own daughter. He thought it was important for Lohi to go on walks with him so she could learn the ways of the forest and see its dangers firsthand. It was on one of these walks that the pair heard a horrible noise coming from the ruins of some old houses.

Carefully they approached to find the scene of a shrig attack on a menehune den. One of the scintillating shrigs lay dead, surrounded by the bodies of many menehune. It looked like the creatures had killed each other and there were no survivors. Just as they were walking away they heard a shrill cry from behind them, and saw a very young menehune standing there. Lohi’s grandfather said it was too young to survive without its parents and they should leave it there, and let the jungle judge its worth, but Lohi couldn’t help but feel bad for the tiny thing.

As they walked home, Lohi noticed the menehune following them as best as it could. Its little legs were barely able to keep up, and it struggled up ravines and over logs, but it never gave up. She asked her Grandfather if they could take it to the village and help it until it was big enough to fend for itself. One look in her eyes, and her tutu knew it was no use in arguing with the girl. “If we take this menehune to the village it won’t learn what it needs to survive, and you will have to take care of it for the rest of its life. It will become part of the family. Do you understand,” he asked? Lohi shook her head yes. She named it Miki, and hugged her grandfather saying she would look after and feed it every day.

Many were not happy when Lohi and her grandfather returned with Miki. He screamed nonstop the first few weeks until Lohi found that he’d stop for a while if he could hold a set of old tools. He only screamed half the day after that. Feeding him was hard too. His teeth hadn’t come in yet and she had to feed him poi, and boiled fish every few hours to keep his hunger screams at a bay. Still Lohi never gave up on Miki and the two grew very close. But menehune grow up faster than people, and it wasn’t long before Miki started causing trouble in the village.

The menehune was fascinated with anything mechanical, especially anything that ran on electricity. Overhearing one of the hunters talk about how the village guns were in desperate need of repair one day, Lohi got an idea. She’d sneak out after bed with Miki and they’d fix all the guns. The others would be so happy when they saw what she and Miki had done, they’d stop shooing him away from the houses, and saying bad things about him. She asked Miki if he could do it and his little body shook in excitement. He screamed with joy, but things didn’t go quite as planned.

Miki took everything apart at lightning speed, but he didn’t seem to know what to do next, and neither did Lohi. Her grandfather grounded both of them, and it took days to put the village armory back together again. But Lohi didn’t give up. When she let Miki try to upgrade the village’s solar panels a few weeks later, he covered them in paint and they both had to tend to the composting pile for a week for punishment. When Miki ruined half the village’s batteries while trying to charge them, and accidentally electrified the front door, Lohi’s grandfather had enough. He took away Miki’s tools and told Lohi that she would have to get rid of the menehune if he got into any more trouble.

Everyone in the village was already upset because of a long drought, and Miki’s “help” was not appreciated. Many, including Lohi’s grandfather, were worried because they didn’t have enough water to irrigate the crops, and it looked like a long hungry winter was on the way. When the village well dried up, panic struck the Kanaka. Getting through a season of poor crops was one thing, but they couldn’t survive without water. The people had to think about the possibility of braving the dangers of the forest in search of water and moving the entire village.

But Lohi had a plan. Even though her grandfather told her Miki wasn’t supposed to try and fix anything again, she knew that if they got the old desalinator working again they could stay where they were, and they might even save the taro. She got Miki’s tools from where her grandfather hid them and asked the menehune if he could fix the machine. Miki threw his screwdriver he was so excited and screamed with confidence.

The next morning while everyone was gathered to talk about what they were going to do, Lohi showed up with a glass of water, and Miki yelping in delight behind her. She said, “They may disappoint you, by not always doing the right thing, they may even make you angry sometimes, but a Kanaka should never give up on their family. Even though you all did, I never gave up on Miki and now he’s fixed the desalinator. We don’t have to go anywhere.” Everyone cheered, and from that day on he was known as Miki the Helpful Menehune, even though he probably went on to break a lot more stuff.

Akamai Mahelona
4th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina

STORYLINE

Lawai’a and the Whale

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Even though many of them are sick from the big accident, the Kānaka are really good hunters and fisherman. They are also great storytellers. They use their stories to help remember people who have died and to teach lessons. One of my favorites is the story of Lawai’a and the Whale. It is probably based on a real person but parts of it seem a little fishy to me.

The Kānaka have a long history of being excellent canoe builders but none of them were as good as Lawai’a. His long canoes were just as straight and strong as the short ones, and they could handle even the biggest waves. Nobody wants to go far out to sea, but if you had to, you wanted to be in a canoe that Lawai’a built.

Lawai’a took pride in his creations, but what he really wanted was to be a good fisherman. You see, while he was easily the best canoe builder on the whole island, maybe ever, he was a terrible fisherman. In fact, Lawai’a had never caught a fish or crab in his entire life. Even when he was asked to collect limpets from the rocks he came back with the smallest basket. All of the fishermen wanted one of his canoes, but none wanted to go fishing with him. As far as they were concerned he was cursed. He would spend every day the same way, building canoes in his shop by himself, and dreaming of becoming a fisherman.

The fracture didn’t just kill things on the land, it devastated the waters too. After the accident most of the big fish disappeared and the Kānaka had to live on crabs, small reef fish, and the occasional big prize that would swim too close to shore looking for food.

One spring the fishing was particularly bad, and the people worried that they might not get enough food to make it through the summer. What little hope they had disappeared when they saw the whale. Nobody had seen one since the day everything stopped working. The villagers knew that the whale would eat all the little fish they depended on. They were scared and didn’t know what to do. But Lawai’a said he had a plan.

He said he had an old harpoon that he found in the ruins of the whaler’s village to the North. He would take his biggest and strongest canoe out past the reef and kill the whale. The fishermen thought he was crazy but they didn’t have a better plan. The villagers wished him luck, and had a big party before sending him off. Nobody expected to see him again.

It didn’t take Lawai’a long to find the giant beast. He watched it herd the fish into tight balls before diving beneath and engulfing the whole school with its gigantic mouth. The closer he got the more he shook in fear, but he knew that everyone was counting on him so he tried to be brave. He finally got close enough and let the harpoon go. Lawai’a very first throw was true and it hit the whale mid-tail. The big animal sped off out to sea and the coiled rope hissed at it spun out. In less than a minute the rope went taught and the canoe lurched forward knocking Lawai’a down. He was speeding out to sea.
Lawai’a stayed attached to the whale for 3 days. They went around islands and over reefs. The whale tried diving deep and sinking the canoe but Lawai’a had brought enough rope for even the deepest spots. They swam through a storm but even crashing down the biggest waves wasn’t enough to loosen the harpoon. Finally the whale was getting tired and asked Lawai’a why he had stabbed him.

Lawai’a told the whale about how hungry the Kānaka were and about how bad the fishing had become. The whale listened to Lawai’a and offered him a deal. If he promised to remove the harpoon, the whale would promise to not come back to the Kānaka’s fishing grounds, and he would teach Lawai’a how to find and catch fish. Lawai’a thought about it, looked at how little water he had left to drink, and agreed.

The first day, the whale showed Lawai’a were the black crabs lived now and how to catch them. Lawai’a filled a third of his canoe full of them. He told the whale how he chose which trees would make the best canoes. He talked about which chisels he liked best and how to make lacquer while they looked for crabs.

On the second day, the whale explained how smart the octopus had become since the fracture. He taught Lawai’a how to disguise his traps with shells the same way the Kānaka still do today. By that evening another third of the canoe was filled with food. Lawai’a told the whale about his family and the first girl he loved. He talked about how his father taught him his craft and how he still dreamed of his mother’s cooking.

The third day, the whale explained that a deep canyon had formed after the accident and that the butterfish now swam there. He took Lawai’a to a good place to fish for them, and before long they had caught a dozen. Unfortunately, the canoe was becoming so full that there wasn’t much room for the Lawai’a. The whale saw this and offered to help again. He told Lawai’a that he could keep fishing until his canoe was completely full and he could sleep on the whale’s back that evening. Lawai’a agreed.

That night as the whale swam back to the village Lawai’a sat and looked at his full canoe in the moonlight. He wondered if it would be enough to get invited on fishing trips in the future. He told the whale how all the other fishermen thought he was cursed. The whale told him about his life and the secrets of the sea. All through the night the pair shared stories.

As the sun rose they saw people already casting nets in the surf. The whale told Lawai’a that its name was Hilina`i and that if he ever needed help again to paddle out to where they met and call his name. Lawai’a thanked him and plunged his harpoon into the whales blowhole.

The villagers could barely believe their eyes. Not only had Lawai’a killed the whale, but he had ridden him into shore with a canoe full of food behind him. Lawai’a told them what he had learned. The Kānaka divided the whale and all the rest he brought in the canoe. From that day on Lawai’a was known as the best fisherman on the island.

For the rest of his life Lawai’a would go out every week to the spot where he had met the whale and call the animal’s name. While he got his wish and was now also known as the greatest fisherman of all time, he still wasn’t invited to go on trips. The other fisherman were scared he would show them up or worse, they’d have a bad catch while fishing with the legend he had become. Lawai’a hoped that one day Hilina`i’s spirit would answer his call for help. He longed for those days they spent together fishing and talking. Lawai’a learned that what he had really wanted all those years wasn’t to be known as a good fisherman, it was to have someone he could call a friend.

Akamai Mahelona
4th Grade
Pu`u School Lahaina