"Aloha," said Jack and Annie.
"Where did you come from?" a pretty womanasked.
"Frog--" Annie started.
But Jack broke in. "From over the mountains," hesaid quickly. He pointed at the mountains looming inthe distance.
"We are glad you have come to visit us," thewoman said.
Everyone smiled and nodded.
They're all amazingly nice, Jack thought.
The music started again. As people began to dance,Kama took Annie's hand.
"Sit and talk with us," she said.
She and Boka led Jack and Annie to the edge of theclearing. They sat cross-legged in the grass. Kamapicked up a wooden bowl. She held it out.
"Please eat," she said.
"What is it?" asked Annie.
"It is poi," said Kama. She scooped some poi out ofthe bowl and licked it off of her fingers.
"You eat it with your hands? Cool," said Annie. Shestuck her fingers in the bowl and licked off the poi.
"Mmm... good."Jack stuck his finger in the bowl, too. The gooeymixture felt like peanut butter. But when he licked itoff his finger, it had a weird taste--both bitter andsweet.
"Hmmm," he said, but he made a face. "He doesn'tlike it," Kama said to Boka.
"No, no," said Jack. "It's . . ." He tried to think ofsomething polite. . . . "It's very interesting.
Kama and Boka giggled. Then they stuck theirfingers in the bowl and ate some poi.
"Interesting!" they exclaimed. They cracked uplaughing. Jack and Annie laughed with them.
"Now tell us about your home over the mountains,"said Kama, "this place you call 'Frog."Kama's friendly smile made Jack want to tell herthe truth.
"It's actually called Frog Creek," he said. "It's veryfar away--much farther than just over the mountains.
We traveled here in a magic tree house."Kama's and Boka's eyes got huge. They smiled evenbigger smiles than before.
"That sounds fun!" said Kama. "You are so lucky!"said Boka. Jack and Annie laughed. "Yeah, we are,"said Jack. He felt greattelling their new friends about the tree house. Heand Annie had never talked about it with their friendsback home.
"Can you stay here tonight?" asked Kama. Jackshrugged. "Sure, we can stay at least one night," hesaid.
Kama hurried over to the pretty woman. Theyspoke together for a moment. Then Kama returned toJack and Annie.
"Our mother invites you to sleep at our house," shesaid.
"Great," said Annie. "Thanks."Jack and Annie stood up. In the gray twilight, theyfollowed Kama and Boka through the village. Theywove between small huts with steep roofs until Kamastopped in front of one.
"This is our house," she said.
The hut had no door--just a wide entrance thatopened into one large room.
Kama and Boka led Jack and Annie inside. In thedim light, Jack could barely see the dried-grass wallsand the woven-grass mats on the dirt floor.
"Where do we sleep?" he asked. "Here!" said Boka.
He and Kama lay down on the mats. Annie pulledoff her lei and shoes. Then she lay down, too.
"Oh," said Jack. "Okay."He took off his shoes and wreath of flowers. Heused his backpack as a pillow when he lay down. Thewarm wind rustled the palm leaves outside. Musicdrifted in from the party.
"The ocean is calling," said Kama.
Jack could barely hear the waves in the distance.
"Tomorrow we will take you wave riding," saidBoka.
"You mean surfing?" said Annie.
"Yes," said Kama.
"Cool," said Jack. But he wasn't sure he meant it.
Surfing actually seemed pretty scary.
Kama seemed to hear his thoughts. "Don't worry,"she said. "We'll have fun.""No kidding," said Annie.
Soon Jack heard steady breathing. The other kidshad fallen asleep.
Oh darn, we forgot to ask them about building aship, he thought. I guess we'll have to do thattomorrow....
Jack closed his eyes and yawned. Soon he, too, wasfast asleep. |