Page 41 of Maliea's Hero
Nani tugged on Reid’s jeans. “Not up there,” she said through a big yawn. “Here.” She patted the bed beside her. “So I can see.”
Reid sat on the edge of the bed and held the book out to Nani. “Where did you and your mother stop?”
Nani turned the pages past the first story and stopped at the second. “Start there.”
Reid studied the handwritten words for a moment before reading aloud.
“Not long after, the messenger came to the king on Oahu to share the news about the ship with the big white masts visiting the Big Island, just such a ship appeared in the bay of the Gathering Place. The ship's captain had a red beard, just like the one the messenger had described. He came ashore to greet the king. The king had a huge luau prepared and invited the ship’s captain into the palace.” Reid glanced down at Nani, certain she would be asleep by now.
Her eyes were wide, staring up at him.
“Want me to keep reading?” he asked.
She nodded and slipped her hand into his free one.
Reid squeezed her fingers gently and continued to read, “The red-bearded captain and some of his men joined the king in the palace. He ate the food, watched the dancers and visited with the king. When the luau was over, and the captain and his men got up to leave, they turned on the king and took him, hostage. Then they stole all the king’s gold.”
Nani’s eyebrows formed a V over her pert little nose. “He was a bad man.”
Reid nodded. “Yes, he was.” He continued, a little worried the story would keep Nani awake rather than lull her into a deep sleep. “What the king didn’t know was that the captain was the famous pirate, Redbeard. While Redbeard was stealing the king’s gold from the palace, his other men took all the riches from the people who lived in the village. They even robbed the little girl’s father, stealing the gold and jewels he’d acquired from visitors who’d come to the island before.”
“Why didn’t they fight the bad men?” Nani asked.
With a shrug, Reid said, “They didn’t know they were bad men at first and probably didn’t have anything to defend themselves.”
Nani glanced up at Reid. “They needed you to help them.”
He smiled down at the child’s innocence. “Yes, they did. Only I couldn’t be there. I wasn’t even born yet.”
“I feel sorry for the little girl and the people of the Gathering Place,” Nani said.
“Me, too,” Reid agreed. He continued to read. “The man with the red beard and all his men took the gold and riches, carried them out to their ship and sailed away from the Gathering Place. The people of the island never saw them again.”
Nani lay back on the pillow and closed her eyes. “That’s sad. The king was nice to him.”
“Yes, he was.”
“That wasn’t nice of the captain to take his gold,” Nani whispered.
“No, it wasn’t,” Reid said softly. “But it’s just a story.” When she didn’t respond, he sat for a moment longer, staring down at Nani’s sweet face. Her dark lashes made little feathery crescents against her cheeks. The sheet rose and fell over her tiny chest as she breathed slowly and deeply.
Afraid to move and disturb the child in her sleep, he stayed where he was and continued to silently read the story, admiring the drawings Professor Hasegawa had painstakingly drawn for his granddaughter.
The story went on to tell of how the little girl was sad and vowed to search for the ship and the pirate who’d stolen her father’s treasures. She wanted to bring everything back to the Gathering Place and to the people they belonged to.
She ran to the water’s edge and spoke with the mermaids along the shore, who told her the ship had sailed with the winds, moving southwest toward Garden Island. Because they hadn’t followed the ship, the mermaids couldn’t be certain where the ship had gone next.
As Kanani stared out at the night sky, a storm blew in from the northeast with powerful gusts that pushed her into the water.
The mermaids helped her back to shore and told her to seek shelter until the storm passed or she would be swept out to sea.
Kanani returned to her home, hunkered down and waited until the winds died down. The next morning, the sun came up over the Gathering Place. Many homes had been flattened or swept away by the powerful winds. She helped families whose homes had been demolished and tended to children while the adults worked hard to rebuild what had been destroyed.
When she finally went back to the sea, it was calm, but the ship was nowhere to be seen.
Too young to sail on her own, Kanani couldn’t follow the ship’s path. She waited, pacing the shore, asking visitors from the west if they’d seen the ship with the huge masts that looked like clouds and a hawk’s head carved into the bow.
Each time she asked, she got the same answer. No one recalled such a ship.