High Tide in Hawaii (5 page)

Jack rolled off into the shallow water. He snatched up his board and ran onto the sand. Boka and Kama were waiting.

“Good riding, Jack!” said Boka.

“Where's Annie?” asked Jack.

Boka pointed. Annie was in the shallow water, pulling her board in. As they watched, something very weird began to happen to the ocean.

The water around Annie started to pull away.

“Run, Annie!” Jack screamed.

The water drew away from the beach, and a loud hissing sound came from the sea.

Suddenly fish flopped on the bare sand!

Annie threw down her board and ran. She grabbed Jack's hand as she ran by him. Jack grabbed Boka's hand, and Boka grabbed Kama's hand. They all ran together, pulling each other along as they raced to the cliff.

Boka and Kama ran up the cliff path. Jack and Annie grabbed their shoes and Jack's pack. Then they scrambled up the path, too.

At the top of the cliff, everyone looked back. Jack couldn't believe his eyes!

A wave was rising up like a dark mountain of water. It came surging toward the shore, growing even taller!

“Wow,”
whispered Annie.

“Get back!” shouted Boka.

The four of them bolted back from the edge of the rocky slope. The mountain of water crashed against the cliff. Water sprayed over the top of the rocks and rained down on them.

When the water rolled back over the cliff, they all hurried back to the edge to see what had happened.

The rocky cliff path was gone. The gigantic wave was moving back out to sea, taking rocks, sand, seaweed, seashells, and the surfboards with it.

“Scary,” breathed Annie.

“Yeah,” said Jack. “We just made it.”

“Boka! Kama!” voices yelled.

They turned around. Jack saw Boka and Kama's parents racing across the meadow toward them. Other villagers followed.

The two Hawaiian kids ran into their parents' arms. Soon Jack and Annie were surrounded by villagers. Everyone was laughing and crying and hugging each other.

Jack hugged Annie. He hugged Kama and Boka and their parents—and lots of other people he didn't even know.

Finally, the hugging and crying and laughing died down. The villagers started walking back to their huts.

Jack and Annie followed Boka, Kama, and their parents.

“We felt the ground shaking,” said Boka and Kama's father. “We knew a big wave might follow!”

“Jack saved us!” said Boka. “He read in a book and found out about the big waves.”

“What's a book?” asked his mother.

“Show them,” Annie said to Jack.

Jack reached into his pack and took out their research book.

“It tells about the big waves in here,” he said. “Books give lots of information.”

“Ah,” said Boka and Kama's mother. “A book is a good thing.”

“Books tell stories, too,” said Annie.

“That is impossible,” said Kama. “The book cannot move its feet or wave its hands. It cannot sing or chant.”

“That's true,” said Jack, smiling.

“Now we should do the hula,” Boka said to Annie, Kama, and Jack, “and tell our story.”

“I'll watch,” said Jack, stepping away.

Boka and Kama's father called for music.

The villagers gathered around. A man started to play a pipe. A teenage boy knocked two sticks together. Some women began shaking rattles.

Boka, Kama, and Annie waved their hands in time to the music. They stepped from side to side. They swayed their hips.

Kama chanted about going out into the water. She, Boka, and Annie waved their hands to show how they paddled out to sea.

Kama chanted about how Jack had warned them. She and the others waved their hands to show how they rode their surfboards to shore.

Then Jack surprised himself. He waved his hands to show how he rode his surfboard like a bird soaring through the air. The next thing he knew, he was stepping from side to side. He was swaying his hips. He was doing the hula!

Kama chanted about how the water had pulled away from the shore—and how they had climbed to safety—and how the giant wave had crashed against the cliff.

As Kama chanted the story, all the villagers joined in the dance. The tall grasses swayed. The palm trees swayed. And all the hula dancers swayed, too.

When the story ended, everyone clapped.

“Thanks for helping us,” Boka said to Jack and Annie.

“We're a good team,” said Annie.

“We are best friends,” said Kama.

“Yeah,” said Jack. “I'm sorry I said mean things.”

“We're sorry we laughed at you,” said Boka.

“I'm sorry I grabbed the book,” said Annie.

“Our mother says friendship is like riding the waves,” said Kama. “Sometimes you ride low, gentle waves. Sometimes you ride high, rough ones.”

Annie gasped. She looked at Jack. She repeated Morgan's rhyme:

To find a special magic,

build a special kind of ship

that rides the waves,

both high and low,

on every kind of trip.

“
Friend
ship! That's the ship!” said Jack.

“And we built it!” said Annie.

She and Jack burst out laughing.

Boka and Kama looked a little confused, but they laughed, too.

“We have to go back to our own home now,” Annie said to Boka and Kama.

“It's time to say good-bye,” said Jack.

“We never say good-bye,” said Kama. “We say aloha when we greet our friends. And we say aloha when we leave them.”

“Friends are always together,” said Boka, “even when they are far apart.”

“Have a good journey in your magic tree house,” said Kama.

“Thanks,” said Jack and Annie. They waved to all the villagers.
“Aloha!”

“Aloha!”
everyone called back.

Then Annie and Jack started through the meadow. Tiny yellow birds and orange-and-black butterflies flitted about them.

At the edge of the meadow, they came to the grove of palm trees. They climbed up the rope ladder into the tree house.

Out the window, Jack saw the tall mountains, the small village, the flowery meadow, and the ocean. The water was peaceful again.

“I still have my lei,” said Annie.

She took it off. Though the red flowers were wet, they were still a little fluffy.

“It's proof that we found the special magic,” said Jack. “The magic of friendship.”

Annie put the lei on the floor next to the play scrolls, the twig, and the corn seeds. Then she picked up the Pennsylvania book.

“Ready?” she asked.

Jack sighed. “I love Hawaii,” he said.

“
Finally,
you admit it,” said Annie. She pointed at a picture of the Frog Creek woods. “I wish we could go home now.”

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Jack opened his eyes.

The sun was setting beyond the woods. No time at all had passed in Frog Creek.

“Welcome back,” said a soft, lovely voice.

Morgan le Fay was in the magic tree house.

“Morgan!” cried Annie. She threw her arms around the enchantress.

Jack hugged Morgan, too.

“Look, Morgan,” said Annie. “We have proof we found four special kinds of magic!”

“Yes, I see,” said Morgan.

Morgan picked up the play scrolls that Shakespeare had given Jack and Annie in old England.

“You found the
magic of theater,
” she said.

Morgan picked up the twig from a mountain gorilla in the African cloud forest.

“And the
magic of animals,
” she said.

Morgan picked up the pouch of corn seeds from their trip to the first Thanksgiving.

“And the
magic of community,
” she said.

Finally, Morgan picked up the wreath of flowers from Kama and Boka.