A Place to Call Home | 3

After seeing... whatever she saw in the water, it's impossible for Gaby to fall back asleep. She tosses and turns until daylight, her brain spinning with theories. Many odd things have happened since their arrival in Sulani, things that don't seem connected on the surface - somehow, though, she knows they must be. As soon as Alvin wakes up, the loose connections forming in her mind begin spilling breathlessly from her mouth. The possibility of mermaids is one his inner conspiracy theorist finds instantly appealing, but he draws the line when Gaby attempts to bring his sister into it.

"Don't you think there's something a little... off about Kaimana?" she asks carefully. "I mean, you have noticed that she's never once gone swimming with us, right? I can't be the only one who finds that weird. Plus, the way she chewed me out for going fishing, like it was some sort of personal insult to her... I get that she's passionate, but it was totally extreme."

Even though he's known Kaimana just two days, Alvin is quick to defend her. "What are you saying? You think my sister is a liar?"

"No! Not in a malicious sense, at least. But I do think there are things about the island she doesn't want us to know. What if she's-"

"Please don't say my sister is actually a mermaid," Alvin interrupts, "because that has to be the craziest thing I've ever heard. I may be into conspiracies, but I'm not delusional."

Gaby hadn't even been entertaining the idea that Kaimana herself was a mermaid, just that she knew more than she was letting on about whether or not they existed on the island. But as soon as the words leave Alvin's mouth, she has a hunch they're true. It would explain everything: her reluctance to enter the water in front of them, her intense personal connection to the sea and its creatures, her swift attempt to dismiss the mermaid sighting in Lani St. Taz. Could the mermaid Gaby's sure she saw in the water last night have been Kaimana? The one thing she knows for sure is that she'll only convince Alvin if she has incontrovertible proof.

For the time being, she puts aside her private theories and joins the siblings for a morning walk on the beach. As Kaimana shares memories of her childhood with Alvin, Gaby combs the sand for seashells.

"Oh, a conch shell!" she exclaims. "I've seen people do this in movies, but I've always wondered if it works in real life." She lifts the shell to her mouth and takes a massive breath before blowing as hard as she can. The resulting sound is deep and resonant, vibrating Gaby's entire body and even seeming to shift the sand beneath her feet. Once its final echoes dissipate, an eerie silence settles around them.

Suddenly, Kaimana yelps, a noise that sounds more dolphin than human, and her arms flail uncontrollably at her sides. Just as quickly, she claps her hands over her mouth to prevent any other bizarre sounds from escaping.

Alvin laughs. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, I just got a chill. You know, one of those full-body shivers? It must have been the conch shell. I wasn't expecting it!"

"Are you sure it was just a shiver?" Gaby asks with a smirk, raising her eyebrows expectantly. It sounded more like some sort of mermaid call to her - not that she's ever heard one, but if she did, she imagines that's exactly what it would sound like.

Kaimana only furrows her brow in confusion, but Alvin shoots Gaby a deadly gaze that tells her he knows what she's up to and she'd better cut it out right now. For his sake, she decides not to push it.

They end up at a local hangout known as the Sand Bar, where they bump into some of Kaimana's friends. Their names are Lilliana and Lia, and they're eager to know who the strangers she's got with her are, so she gives them a quick rundown of the unexpected turn her life has taken in the past couple days.

"Oh, honey!" Lilliana exclaims, pulling her in for a hug. "We were wondering what's been keeping you so busy lately. Who knew you were getting to know your long lost brother all this time! What a wonderful surprise!" She turns her head to surreptitiously examine Alvin before whispering in Kaimana's ear, "He looks so much like your father."

"What do you guys think of the place so far?" Lia asks Gaby, eyeing her drink. "Enjoying the local delicacies?"

"Oh, yes! I can't get enough of these delightful little coconut concoctions."

"Those things are for lightweights! You're not a real islander until you've experienced kava. You're telling me Kaimana hasn't offered you any yet?" When Gaby shakes her head, Lia shouts across the room, "Hey, Kai, what kind of a host forgets to serve her guests kava? I'm disappointed in you!"

Another local, who Gaby recognizes as one of the conservationists they met on Mua Pel'am and they soon learn is Lilliana's husband Makoa, overhears their conversation and tosses in his two cents. "I'm not sure if these two are capable of handling kava."

"What, you think we can't hold our liquor?" Gaby laughs.

"I'm sure you can, but kava is another beast entirely. Drink too much of that, and you're out of commission for days if you haven't built up a tolerance for it. The problem is it's so irresistible, you can't help but keep filling your cup even when you know you've had enough!"

"You should definitely have everyone over for a kava party," Lia suggests. "We haven't done that in ages!"

"That does sound fun," Kaimana replies. "I guess we'd better get home so I can start preparing."

Later that night, Kaimana teaches Alvin how to whip up the perfect batch of kava using a traditional bowl crafted by their ancestors. The recipe and the vessel have been passed down over generations. Concocting and indulging in one's first bowl of kava is considered a sort of rite of passage into adulthood. Alvin's a bit beyond that point, but better late than never, right? If his goal is to get in touch with his heritage, there's no better way to do it than this.

Soon, guests start arriving. Mele Kahananui and her husband Alika were great friends of Kaimana's grandparents before they passed. In their twenties, they left Sulani to attend college and make a fortune as lawyers in the city before returning to enjoy their retirement in a luxury beachhouse on Lani St. Taz. With their own grown children living elsewhere, they now view Kaimana as a sort of surrogate granddaughter, especially since she was left without an immediate family once she lost her grandparents. "Of course," Mele says knowingly, "it looks like that's changed now."

"The kava's on, folks!" Kaimana shouts, and her guests waste no time clamoring to get the first taste.

Gaby and Alvin are reluctant to try the drink after what they were told about it in the bar earlier that day. But Kaimana eggs them on good-naturedly. "Go on. I promise it's not that scary. As long as you're pacing yourselves, it should just make you nice and relaxed."

It doesn't take long for the looseness to settle in. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact moment everything shifts. It's just that all of a sudden Gaby and Alvin feel entirely at home with everyone in the room, like they've known them for years rather than an hour or two.

Gaby, her words ever so slightly slurred, raises a rapturous toast to Kaimana's warmth and hospitality, which Alvin is quick to second. They never thought they could feel so at home in the house of someone who was a complete stranger to them just days ago, but right now they can't imagine wanting to be anywhere else in the world.

Once a couple servings of kava have settled comfortably into everyone's bloodstreams, Kaimana fiddles with her transistor radio until she finds a staticky station broadcasting island music and she, Mele, and Lia attempt to show off their traditional Sulani dancing. However, they soon dissolve into laughter when Gaby obliviously steals the spotlight with her own drunken flailing.

It's important to balance kava's soporific effects with a rich and nutritious meal, so Kaimana prepares a feast of vegetables and lays them to roast slowly on a makeshift cooking pit dug into the sand outside her house.

Meanwhile, it seems Lia has taken a liking to Gaby's haphazard dance moves. But Gaby herself barely notices. Unable to wait for Kaimana to come back and make more kava, she tries to do the job herself with only her fuzzy recollection of how Kaimana prepared the drink earlier to guide her. "Now, be careful you don't make it too strong, sweetheart," Mele reminds her from her seat at the table.

"I think I did a pretty good job for my first try!" Gaby says, downing half her cup in one gulp. The scent radiating from the massive pile of leaves covering the vegetable feast is heavenly. "Babe, get inside and try my kava before everyone else snatches it up!"

"Brother!" Kaimana shrieks when Alvin steps back inside. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"I was just outside by the pit," he begins.

He trails off when she practically lunges at him and wraps him up in an ultra-tight embrace. "I love you so much," she says, her voice too loud for her to be anywhere near sober. "I love you almost as much as I love Gaby's kava! She's a natural! Who would have guessed?"

"I knew there was no such thing as too strong," Gaby mutters, refilling her cup.

A light, warm rain soon begins to fall, extinguishing the embers in the fire pit. Luckily, the food finishes cooking just in time.

"Come on, you guys! Let's eat inside where it's nice and dry."

"Here in Sulani, we're not afraid of a little rain, you know," Mele gently chides her.

"I don't know," Lilliana says, following Gaby up the stairs. "Maybe she has a point..."

Lia is on the opposite side of the deck, fully relinquishing herself to the downpour. "Ah, the rain is so refreshing!" she shouts. "This is a feeling I'll never get tired of. You're missing out if you stay cooped up inside."

Gaby decides to take her up on it and soon finds out that Lia is right. The rain falls gently, a comforting shower rather than a thunderous storm, and turns the air outside much cooler than the stale daytime air still circulating in the house. She tries to focus, pushing past the blurry effect of the kava on her brain so she can make note of everything about this moment, from the clean, ripe scent filling her nostrils to the smooth wood planks beneath her feet, and file it away to relive over and over again later. Ever since arriving in Sulani, she's had at least half a dozen of these perfect moments, and she hopes to experience even more.