A Place to Call Home | 18
It's Family Fun Day at the beach, and Noelani and Malia greet each other excitedly, hardly able to contain themselves at the thought of spending the whole day in the water together! Lately, homework has really cut into their swimming time, to their great disappointment.
They make a beeline for the swings before any of the adults can tell them otherwise. After all, they can't let anyone else steal them away.
While keeping an eye on the girls from afar, Gaby bumps into Lia, who she hasn't had a proper chat with since Noelani's birthday party. She can't believe it's been so long. It's strange how time seems to fly by faster and faster the older you get.
Soon, Nalani joins their small party. Among their friends in Sulani, she and Lia are some of the few who have yet to marry or have children. When Gaby subtly raises the subject, Nalani immediately begins to protest in vehement disgust. "Have you even seen me around kids?" she exclaims. "I'm terrible! There's a reason I've never volunteered to babysit."
Later, Gaby and Alvin join back up with Noelani, who's made a couple new friends. They all compete in a sandcastle-building contest as the sun slowly sets behind them. In the end, though, Gaby and Alvin realize they have an unfair advantage as the only adults in the group and end up disqualifying themselves to judge the kids' castles instead. Of course, after much feigned debate, they end up calling it a four-way tie. The last thing they want to deal with is a bunch of tired and sweaty children breaking down over losing.
In return for Gaby and Alvin looking after Malia at the beach, Mele and Alika offer to have Noelani stay at their place for a sleepover the next night. That means Alvin and Gaby can have a much needed night out with their friends.
Since their last conversation ended so tensely, Alvin is nervous to see his sister, but she seems to have made peace with the decision to hold off on introducing Noelani to her mermadic abilities. Nalani, on the other hand, is adamant there's no better time than the present when she overhears them. "Do you know how far behind she'll be? I was already an expert at summoning dolphins when I was her age!"
"Hey, hey, hey," Alvin counters defensively. "I was a late bloomer, and I think I'm doing pretty good for myself. She'll be fine!"
To take everyone's minds off the subject and avoid a potentially tense debate, Gaby suggests they all head to the dance floor. It's hard to hold a conversation about anything over the throbbing tropical beats.
Later, they take a breather around the campfire. It's still early in the night, but none of them are as young as they used to be. Once, they might have been able to stay out until three in the morning, drinking and dancing and performing karaoke without end. Now, they all agree they're exhausted and decide to pack it in and head home to their respective (very inviting) beds.
First, though, Gaby and Alvin manage to sneak a moment to themselves to remind each other why they fell in love in the first place. They haven't been able to have many of these moments lately, but now that Gaby's documentary has been finished and sent off for review to potential distributors, they can finally reconnect.
Soon enough, it's already time to plan another birthday party for Noelani. Unfortunately, they wake up on the scheduled day to find the sky dark and stormy. Noelani is so disappointed, she can hardly even eat her breakfast.
"Dad, can't you do something?" she asks desperately. "Use one of your special powers!"
"I don't know, "Alvin replies. "Maybe we should let nature run its course. Sometimes, it doesn't take too kindly to being tampered with."
"But it's my birthday!" she rationalizes, clutching her hands together pleadingly. "I can't think of a better reason! You can't let my party get ruined. I'll never forgive you!"
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it doesn't take much more begging on Noelani's part to get Alvin to agree. She follows him outside and watches in wonder as the rain clears and the clouds part before he even lowers his conch shell.
After they've finished setting up at Ohan'ali Beach for her party, Noelani recoils at her mother's attempts to shower her in celebratory hugs and kisses, a sure sign that she's about to enter her sulky, rebellious adolescent phase sooner rather than later.
Another sure sign: she's suddenly got a whole series of sassy practiced poses at the ready when her mother whips out the camera. Gaby imagines she must be learning them from Nani, who may only be a couple years older but is seemingly halfway to thinking she's a proper adult already.
Still, there's enough childlike joy left inside Noelani to make it impossible for her to resist a brief bubble-blowing interlude while Alvin fires up the grill and they wait for the guests to arrive.
Even Meli wants in on the bubble-blowing fun!
Finally, the food is ready and the candles are lit. It stings a little for Gaby to see Noelani hugging her dad without any resistance, but she eases her disappointment by giving Meli a good scratch instead.
After a few sips of kava, all her fears about Noelani growing up and never wanting a hug from her again dissipate, at least temporarily.
One by one, friends and neighbors arrive for the festivities, and Alvin's grilled kebabs prove to be a big hit.
Nani seems to have grown even taller since the last time Gaby saw her, and it's quite a shock how much she towers over the other kids now. In her bikini, she fits in more with the parents. It's difficult for her to accept that Noelani is about to start springing up in the same way. Sometimes, Gaby still sees herself as the young woman who left home for the unknown when she was barely an adult herself. It seems impossible that, soon enough, she'll have a daughter of her own around the same age. More than half of her life has passed since she was that girl.
Before the sun goes down and the birthday candles are blown out, everyone takes advantage of the unexpected turn in the weather to have some fun. Alvin adds some fuel to stoke the campfire before whipping up another batch of kava.
While the adults congregate around the flames, Noelani and her friends play in the water. They may not come from a mermadic bloodline like she does, but they're all obsessed with spending as much time in the ocean as possible nonetheless.
"Are you ready for our girl to be all grown up?" Alvin asks, cozying up to Gaby in front of the bonfire.
"Not at all," she answers without hesitation. "How about you?"
Alvin chuckles nervously. "Definitely not. But I guess we don't really get a say in the matter, do we?"
When night falls, Alvin decides to embrace what is sure to become his new role as the resident embarrassing dad by attempting to show off his fire-dancing skills to Noelani's friends.
"Oh my god, Dad, please stop," she says, covering her eyes in embarrassment. "You don't look nearly as cool as you think."
"Literally, you're so uncool, you're burning up," she quips when he inevitably loses control of the batons and a stray flame licks his forearm. All her friends laugh at her cleverness, and the remaining shreds of her innocence seem to disappear before his eyes.
Finally, she takes her place in front of the cake and blows forcefully on the candles, extinguishing all of them in a single breath. Her parents have no idea what she wishes for. As the future comes barreling full speed toward them, they just hope it isn't anything that'll cause them too much trouble.