Kiss of the Wind

By Rosa Lee Loyd

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Chapter 3

Synopsis: Luana Harrington, her husband Ben, and his mother Tutu, and the children Phihp, Pixie, Bo, and Benjy, who hve on a pineapple plantation on the island of Maui, go to Honolulu to meet the eldest daughter Emma Lu, who has graduated as a nurse, and is returning home, Emma Lu tells her mother that she has two surprises. Margaret, Luana’s sister-in-law, a childless woman who has achieved success as an artist, has arrived with Emma Lu for a visit at the pineapple plantation. The other surprise is that Emma Lu has become engaged to a Sherman Grant in San Francisco.

“This is Waikiki,” Ben explained to Margaret, as they all walked toward the dazzling white beach. They had rented a room at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel so they would have a place to change into their bathing suits.

Philip led the way, his eyes eager and excited.

“Look, Aunt Margaret,” he exclaimed, waving his arms. “This beach goes from the War Memorial in the lee of Diamond Head to the Yacht Club Harbor.”

“Such white sand!” Margaret answered. “Like glistening crystal.”

Pixie tucked her arm under Margaret’s, as they hurried along.

“We call it the mile of romance,” she added with her cute little smile. “Fun, laughter, and music. You can hear every kind of rhythm on Waikiki from old Hawaiian to shuffling hula. Just listen, Aunt Margaret.”

She rolled her eyes heavenward, lifting her arms, too.

“I love Waikiki,” she said. “The sun is brighter, the moon is bigger, the sky is bluer, the waves are higher than anywhere else in our islands!”

Tutu, who was holding Ben’s arm, clicked her tongue reprovingly.

“That is not quite fair, my Pixie,” she said, gently. “Each of our islands has its own magic. None of them can claim to have more beauty or allure than another. You have only to stop and listen on any island to hear music. Always music. Even from the land-shells on the trees in some places.”

“But, Tut, dear,” Philip said, his eyes twinkling, “you have to admit that Waikiki has a magic all its own. Daddy permits us to come here only once a year, but that’s something. We dream about it for the next twelve months. I’d like to live right here on Waikiki. One holiday here isn’t enough.”

Luana looked at Ben. His eyes grew serious.

“Once a year is quite enough,” he said. “You know, Margaret,” he added, “mot people on the Mainland think that life in Hawaii is all fun. All play and no work. Nothing could be further from the truth. The workaday world of a real Hawaiian family is just as demanding as anywhere else, and Latter-day Saint parents uphold a high standard for their children.”

“They certainly do!” Philip agreed. “And we try to live up to it.”

He flung an affectionate arm around Ben’s shoulder. “Look, Dad,” he coaxed. “Let’s have fun today. Tomorrow we can worry about the pines and the payroll and next year’s crop. Okay?”

“Okay, son,” Ben said, smiling again. “Where do you want to surf-ride? You choose the spot for yourselves, Pixie, and Emma Lu. I’ll take your mother, tutu, Margaret, and the boys with me. We’ll go canoe-surfing.”

“Let us ride with Phil!” Benjy wailed. I don’t want to ride this sissy old surf in front of this sissy old clubhouse!”

Neither do I!” Bo echoed. “We want to go up toward Diamond Head, Daddy. The waves are faster and trickier up there.”

Ben turned around, facing his family. “Now, listen,” he said. “Aunt Margaret is our guest. Surf-riding is new to her. We want her to enjoy it, but we must show her the easy way first. That means surf-canoeing. Even that is quite an experience for a newcomer.”

“Please let me watch,” Margaret protested. “Really, Ben, I’d rather …”

“Nonsense,” he laughed. “You’ll love the canoe. Tutu always goes.

“Tutu used to be an expert,” Benjy said. “One time she could even ride Thundering Castle, and that’s only for experts. But now she’s old she likes a canoe. That’s for old people and sissies.”

“Benjy!” Ben’s voice was reproving. “I like to canoe. I’m neither old nor a sissy.”

Everybody laughed. Emma Lu, standing beside her mother, reached for Ben’s hand.

“Listen, Daddy!” she coaxed. “Let Phil and me take charge of the boys. They love the higher waves. We’ll take care of them.”

Ben looked at the heavy, surging waves for a few minutes before he answered. Luana could see they were higher and faster than usual, and they would be even higher further up the beach. But Emma Lu and Philip were expert surf-riders, and Pixie could do very well by herself.

“We can ride behind Phil,” Benjy pleaded. “Please, Daddy.”

Ben shrugged his shoulders, as he turned to Luana.

“What do you say, Luana?” he questioned. “Think it’s all right?”

Luana nodded her dark head. “Yes, I do,” she said, “if they do what Phil tells them to do.”

Suddenly Philip, who had been watching the breakers as they rolled in, let out a loud yell.

“Hurray! There he is. Look, everybody!”

The Harrington family took a long, deep breath together. A stalwart surf-rider was coming in on a high wave. It was Larry Brown!

“He’s my surprise for you, Emma Lu!” Phil said, turning to his sister. “He asked me to bring you to this very spot.”

Larry Brown was a magnificent surf-rider. He rode the huge splashing waves like a master sportsman. Even Tutu’s eyes sparkled with admiration.

“He does cut a figure!” Emma Lu murmured. “As if riding a white stallion.”

Luana glanced quickly at Emma Lu. Pink roses were in her cheeks, and stars glistened in her eyes.

Oh, no, Luana thought, her heart sickening. Emma Lu has promised to marry another boy. It’s not right that she should still feel this way about Larry Brown. How could a daughter of hers be so disloyal? Luana bent her head and closed her eyes. She could not bear to watch them.

Benjy yelled, “Whoopee! It’s Larry Brown! Come on. Bo. Let’s run to him.”

Luana looked at Ben. He seemed quite pleased about everything, even that Emma Lu was so elated to see Larry again. But Ben did not know that his daughter was engaged to another boy, because no one had told him.

Ben welcomed Larry in his big, heartwarming way, then he introduced him to Margaret. Tutu’s voice was softly praising, as she told Larry that his surf-riding would have charmed old King Kamehameha himself!

“Hello, Mrs. Harrington,” Larry said when he stood before Luana. His voice had a fascinating quality as though he had a special hello for her. “It’s good to see you again. It’s like old times.”

“Hello, Larry,” she answered, forcing a smile. She couldn’t blame any woman for thinking Larry Brown was someone special. His eyes were as blue as Hawaiian skies.

The top of Emma Lu’s brown head came just to his shoulder, and she was a tall girl. She looks so plain beside him, Luana thought. Her mother-heart knew instinctively that if Emma Lu married Larry, she would live only in his shadow. He was the kind of man who took the spotlight wherever he went.

Emma Lu was a lovable, capable girl, but she was not beautiful. How could she compete with the girls she had seen Larry with in pictures in the newspapers, in swimming contests, skin-diving, and airplane stunts. Why did he pursue a girl like Emma Lu, she wondered, as she watched them talking together.

Then her heart answered. Maybe he loved her. Maybe they really loved each other. They had been schoolday sweethearts. In that case — Luana’s breath caught in her throat. What about Sherman Grant in San Francisco? What of his diamond ring Emma Lu was wearing around her neck?

Her only answer was Emma Lu’s gay laughter and the roar and swish of the waves as they broke on the white sand.

Ben called to them as they ran up the beach. “Now you folks get back here by dinnertime!”

“Okay!” Philip yelled, as they raced away, leaving Ben, Tutu, Margaret, and Luana looking after them longingly.

Only Benjy turned to wave and throw her a kiss.

“Goodbye, Mamma,” he called. “Here’s a kiss, everybody.”

It was always Benjy who never forgot to express his love.

“Come on, Dope!” she heard Bo yell to him.

“Well!” Ben said, squaring his big, easy shoulders. His grave, wise eyes were wistful. “Makes a man wish he were a boy again, when his children rush off to the big breakers.”

Then he turned to Margaret, smiling again.

“You’ll like canoe-surfing,” he said. “It’s a great sport.”

“I’ll love it!” Margaret laughed. “I know I will.”

Margaret’s enthusiasm was always a joy, Luana thought, gratefully.

Ben selected a glossy black canoe from the row of canoes lying on the beach. It was a long koa log hollowed out with a rail line of bright orange. It rented for two dollars for three rides.

“It has to have at least three persons in it,” the owner told them. He was a bright-faced Hawaiian boy.

“There are four of us,” Ben said. “I can guide it myself,” he added proudly.

“I’ll help you paddle out toward the big breakers,” the boy offered.

On the way out to meet the waves. Tutu explained canoe-surfing to Margaret.

“Canoes here in Hawaii,” she said, “are the offspring of the peleleu or war canoe. The Portuguese used to take a seventy-foot log, hollow it to a depth and beam of three feet. It could carry from sixty to eighty warriors.”

“How fast can a canoe go?” Margaret asked. “I always thought they were the slowest kind of travel.”

“You’ll see!” Ben laughed. “The speed of a surfboard or a canoe is the speed of the wave. I’ll wait for a little, easy wave for the first ride.”

Even though Ben waited until a shallow wave came along, it was a wonderfully exciting ride. The oncoming wave caught the canoe at exactly the right angle, and up it went, then down again in a rollicking, roller-coaster fashion. There was a glorious cloudburst of spray that showered them all over.

Tutu tossed her head back, laughing and clapping her hands as the foaming water roared around them.

“What fun!” she cried when they reached shore again. “You caught that one just right, Ben.”

“I sure did!” he agreed. “Hope I do as well next time.”

Margaret mopped her face with the towel the canoe attendant handed to her.

“I loved it,” she gasped. “I wouldn’t have missed that ride for anything.”

“Sometimes we tip over,” Luana said. “If the wave doesn’t catch us just exactly right — flop! We’re in a somersault. But it’s all fun. We took the children even when they were babies.”

“It’s part of our Hawaii,” Tutu murmured. Her voice was weak and trembled slightly.

“One ride is enough for you. Mother,” Ben said kindly.

“I’ve had enough, too,” Margaret said.

“All right,” Ben agreed. “You and Tutu can stroll over to the hotel and rest awhile. We’ll meet you there later.”

After they were gone, and Luana was alone with Ben, she wondered if she should tell him about Emma Lu’s engagement. But the roar and swish of the waves made serious talking almost impossible. She couldn’t shout a confidence like that. Anyway, Ben would be hurt and angry if Emma Lu did not tell him herself. And he would expect Sherman Grant to ask permission to marry his daughter, even though some couples in these modern days overlooked that important occasion.

Ben was having such a good time, she thought as they paddled the canoe out again. His head was tossed back in a boyish carefree way and his eyes and face were radiant in the bright sunshine. He had forgotten his cares and worry for this one short time. She could not bear to disturb him.

Later, when they were all in the dining-room, dressed in their best clothes and ready for dinner, she wished with all her heart that she had taken advantage of that opportunity, because Ben, unknowingly, had invited Larry to have dinner with them.

In spite of her worry about Emma Lu, Luana looked around at everyone at their table with a mother’s pride. Ben always insisted that they dine at the best places. Even their twin boys, hungry as little wolves after their strenuous day, were acting like little gentlemen. They were adorable in their new suits and white shirts that had been their presents when they became deacons. Pixie’s brown hair was still damp from sea water. But it was quite pretty tonight, Luana thought, noticing the little tendrils that curled around her chubby, sunburnt face. Philip, very correctly dressed in dark trousers and white coat, was seated between Ben and Tutu. He is such a gentleman, she thought. He would be a credit to his family and his Church anywhere in the world. Tutu, revived after her rest, was as gay as an armful of flowers.

Luana’s dark eyes shadowed, as she watched Emma Lu and Larry. He hummed along with the orchestra, tapping his knife against his water glass. He whispered to Emma Lu, and her cheeks pinked up. They radiated a sort of lilting joy — it was in their tinkling laughter. And they laughed at everything. Larry was now the twins’ hero. Pixie’s, too. They would all love to have Larry for their brother.

When the waiter, a courteous, slender-raced Oriental, served their stuffed fish, surrounded by braised vegetables of every variety, Luana felt suddenly sick. Quietly she excused herself and hurried to the ladies’ lounge. Tutu followed her.

“What is troubling you, my Luana?” she questioned. “My heart tells me there is something wrong.”

“There is, Tutu,” Luana answered. “Our Emma Lu told me she is engaged. To a man in San Francisco, Sherman Grant, an architect. She expects to be married in the Temple at Laie sometime this summer. Her father does not know about it.”

Tutu was very quiet. Luana saw her swallow and wet her lips, but her eyes did not flinch. At last she spoke in her tolerant way.

“I am willing to trust my Emma LU,” she said. “I will not doubt her judgment nor her discretion until I have ;more reason to do so. I have been young, Luana. I have heard music in a man’s voice that made my heart sing with joy. And yet — I waited for wisdom to tell me when I had met the right one. Emma Lu has had wonderful parents, a good home, religious training all of her life. You should trust her more, Luana.

Luana drew a long breath. “I will try, Tutu,” she said. “Thank you for reminding me. But Larry fascinates people. Even Pixie and the boys are carried away with him.”

“I know,” Tutu nodded, as she smiled wisely. “Even I am carried away, too, Luana. But my feet are still on the ground.”

When they returned to the dining room, Larry and Emma Lu were dancing together as though they had forgotten everyone else in the world. Ben, leaving his dinner untouched, was watching them with a resigned expression in his dark eyes. He held Luana’s chair for her.

“We must accept him, dear,” he said in a low voice. “If he is our daughter’s love, we must try to find the good that she sees in him.”

Luana could not answer him. She sipped her mint and pineapple punch. Her mother-heart was heavy with apprehension.

(To be continued)