Hero of Hawaii (3 page)

Ledward clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Sure! But not this weekend, looks like. Anyways, I should take care of that tarp and go home, stay with my dogs. They get kind of antsy when the wind comes.”

Ledward lived up in the jungle. He had a small banana farm, a hairy black pig, and four spooky hunting dogs.

Stella looked disappointed as she gazed out the window. She’d spent a lot of time helping Darci with the invitations, and tomorrow morning she was going to make birthday
cupcakes. She had all the stuff ready in the kitchen.

Mom crouched and looked into Darci’s eyes. “It looks like we’re going to have to postpone your party until next weekend, Darci. I’ll call the parents. I’m sorry, sweetie.”

“I’ll still make the cupcakes,” Stella said. “We’ll do a practice batch and test them out. It’s fun to bake on a rainy day.”

Ledward nudged Darci. “Gotta go, but don’t worry, I’ll still cook for your party, whenever it is. What you like, cow brains or pig guts?”

Stella and Darci made faces at each other. “Eeew!”

Ledward winked. “I’ll make some burgers, too.”

Lucky for us Ledward was the best barbecue cooker in the world.

He and Mom headed out to stake down the ramp and bring in the tarps.

The slippery slide had been my idea, and
I couldn’t wait to try it out. My dad used to come up with ideas, too. Like our last name. He was a singer who gave himself a singer’s name: Little Johnny Coconut. He liked it so much he made it legal … for the whole family. Now we were
all
Coconuts. It was funny.

For a while.

But Dad lived in Las Vegas now, with a new wife, Marissa.

I pushed that thought away.

A gust of wind rattled the house as Mom and Ledward put the tarps in the garage.

Ledward drove off and Mom came back inside. “Boy, you can really feel the wind picking up!”

“That’s how it was back home in Texas,” Stella said. “You always knew when bad weather was coming.”

Stella’s mom was my mom’s best friend from high school. She’d married a marine and moved to the mainland, where Stella was
born. But now Stella and her mom couldn’t get along, so Stella had come to live with us for a while. She was a pain most of the time, but when her boyfriend, Clarence, came over, she almost turned into a nice person. She even pulled out this fake laugh, just for him. Ha-ha-ha, ho-ho-ho.

“Maybe you and Clarence should take the kids to the temple another day, Stella.”

“No!” Darci said. “You said we could go, Mom.”

“I know, Darci, but—”

Clarence’s car pulled up outside.

“He’s here!” I said. “Come on, Darce.”

Stella grabbed her hooded sweatshirt.

“Oh, all right,” Mom said, giving me some money. “Spend this wisely, and you come right home if the weather gets worse, you hear?”

“Don’t worry,” Stella said. “Who wants to be out in a storm?”

I do! I thought.

Mom looked at me. “You do whatever Stella says, understand?”

“Sure, Mom.”

Stella looked at me like, Are you being sarcastic?

“Yep,” I said. “I’ll do what Clarence says.”

C
larence played football and worked part-time at the Chevron station. He spoke Pidgin English, like most people in the islands. He had Polynesian tattoos, and drove a pink car with a sound system so loud it loosened your teeth. Two of the speakers were right behind my head in the backseat as we cruised over to Kaneohe.

“Stay out of trouble,” Stella said to me and Darci when we got to the Byodo-In Temple. Then she and Clarence went up to the meditation gazebo and pretty much forgot about us.

Which was fine with me.

Clarence had said about zero the whole way over. He was one of those big quiet Hawaiian guys who looked like they wanted to eat you for lunch but were really nice. He didn’t try to boss us around or anything.

I banged the big gong a couple of times. Then Darci grabbed my hand. “Come on, Calvin, I want to feed the birds!”

I gave the gong one more whack.

Bong!

Darci pulled me away.

On our way through the temple, we stopped to look up at the giant golden Buddha, big as a three-story house.

“Buddha,” I said, looking up at him. “Can you make storms go away so people can have parties?”

Darci grabbed my arm. “Shhh! You’re not supposed to talk to him.”

“Why not?”

“You’re supposed to be quiet.”

The Buddha studied me with his peaceful look. I’m happy to see you this morning, Calvin, he seemed to say.

That was what I liked about the big golden
Buddha. He always seemed okay with everything. Like, Don’t worry, be happy, life is good.

Darci yanked on my arm. “The birds, Calvin, the birds.”

We bought some feed pellets at the temple store and took them out onto a small bridge over the koi pond. It was still early. We had the place to ourselves.

Instantly, a swarm of birds fluttered in to steal the feed out of our hands. But some were shy and you had to toss pellets to them.

A gray-and-white bird with a red head stood on a rail nearby, too wary to jump onto our hands. “What’s that one called, Calvin?”

I shrugged. “Got me. All I know is mynah birds, doves, and those all-red ones.”

“Cardinals.”

“Yeah, those.”

I ran out of bird pellets and rubbed the dust off my hands. “Be right back. Need more bird feed.”

In the store the perfect present for Darci popped out at me. “Yes,” I whispered, grabbing it.

I paid for the feed and the birthday present, which I wrapped up in the bag and stuffed into my cargo shorts pocket.

“Here, birdy,” Darci said, tossing a few pellets over to the redheaded one. Then the first fat raindrop slapped down on my arm. Another. Another. A gust of wind whoomped across the koi pond, scattering the birds.

“Ho!” I shouted. “Here it comes!”

The gray sky darkened. Trees staggered and swayed in the wind. A sound roared through them, like a huge truck dumping gravel.

I pumped a fist in the air. “Yee-haw!”

Wild rain bounced off the bridge.

“We have to find Stella and Clarence!” Darci shouted over the roar of the wind and rain.

“Over by the gong!” I shouted back.

We tossed our pellets to the fish and raced
across the bridge into the temple and past the giant golden Buddha, who was still fine with everything. What’s your hurry, Calvin? It’s just a hurricane.

Stella and Clarence ran down from the gazebo.

“We go!” Clarence shouted.

In the parking lot, Clarence’s pink car sat alone. We’d have to run across a long bridge that spanned a jungled gully.

“We’ll get soaked!” Darci shouted.

“Ne’mind. Got a towel in the car.”

Clarence grabbed Stella’s hand, and Stella grabbed Darci’s.

A huge tree branch crashed down behind us as we took off across the bridge.

“H
oo!” Clarence yelped as we fell into the car and slammed the doors shut. “S’what I call rain!”

Stella’s wet hair stuck to her head. She grabbed the towel and tried to dry it, then rubbed Darci’s head. The rain thundered down on the roof of the car.

“I love it!” I shook the rain off my head, flinging drops around the car.