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
