Chapter 35

I was woken up to a lot of weight on my leg; it hurt like hell.

“Wake up Barnim.”

“My fucking leg! Get the fuck off of me!”

I heard feet hit the floor and someone run off amid a torrent of crying and sobbing. I rolled over and popped some aspirin from a bottle on the nightstand. Sitting up, Grandmother came stomping heavily into the room.

“What the hell did you do to that little girl?”

“She jumped on my leg and I responded appropriately by cussing a lot.”

“You go right in there and apologize to her. Get moving.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Walking over to the room they were staying in; Erin was on the bed crying. Sitting down I nudged her. She looked up at me, eyes red and tears everywhere. I wiped her tears away and looked her in the eye.

“If you keep crying, you won’t be able to learn how to surf. I’m sorry that I yelled at you. Landing on my leg hurt, even though I know it was an accident.”

She sat up to look at me and I stopped her before she could talk.

“So, get dressed to go and then we’ll have breakfast.”

I went and got dressed. Erin was waiting in the kitchen for me when I got there. While we had some juice and fresh fruit, Grandmother explained that Sammy had gotten one of his relatives to give her the lesson. We were to meet them at Sandy Beach towards the southeastern tip of the island.

Looking at the clock, it was just after 7 in the morning; we had to meet her at 9. I looked at the map book Grandfather had, studying it as I ate. It didn’t look like it was that far or that it would take too long to get there.

We left just before 8:30, the only thing we knew about who we were meeting was they were driving a bright green VW Bus.

The trip took us around Diamond Head. It was impressive to say the least. It was tall, but what impressed me the most was its sheer size overall. I slowed down to the minimum speed limit so we could get a great look at it.

By the clock in the car we were about 10 minutes early, and there was already a lime green VW Bus with surfboards on the roof rack waiting for us. It looked like a surfer cliché, though the woman standing next to it didn’t look like your typical surfer girl.

Jet black hair, about 5’7”, what looked to be about 113 very toned pounds with a barely visible six pack. Fuck, what was it with all the hot chicks I was running into on this trip? This was for Erin and I needed to behave.

I parked and looked at Erin. “Remember, when we get out of the car, no more Polish.”

“I know.”

We got out and moved over to where she was standing next to her car. She looked at Erin and then at me.

“I guess Sameulu was right, you are a big boy. So, are you going to learn as well?”

“No, doesn’t look to be my thing, plus my leg was injured the other day. I’m just here for moral support and chauffeur duties.”

“I heard what you did. Thank you for keeping Sameulu and Fiti safe.”

Erin introduced herself, and the girl told us her name was Keise. Erin asked her to pronounce her name again so we’d know how. I had her point out where they would be surfing and practicing so I could set up our stuff.

Keise pointed out a good spot and I got the stuff out of the car - beach chairs, towels, umbrella, small cooler and a brand-new tin of Sammy’s sunscreen concoction. The stuff seemed to work, with all the time I’d spent out in the sun, I had figured that I’d be sunburn by now without it. I made sure that Erin was covered.

I didn’t know how long we’d be here, so I’d brought along a book to read.

I watched for a bit as they went over the movements while the surf boards were laying on the sand. I laughed a couple of times when she tried to pop up on her feet and she fell over. They both glared at me.

I ducked my head back into the book I had brought along in case I got bored watching. The next time I looked up, they were walking back to the chairs. Keise took a seat in the chair next to me with Erin sitting between her legs. I guess there was a look on my face as she began putting Erin’s hair in a ponytail.

“It’s better this way as it will allow her to always see what’s going on, which is a safety thing.”

“Ah.”

They got some water and went back to it for about another half hour of working on the moves before taking to the water. They didn’t take the boards, as Keise wanted to see how good of a swimmer Erin was first. I decided a nice cooling swim was a good idea, so standing up, I took off my shirt to put on some of Sammy’s concoction.

Looking up from where they were walking, Keise looked back then stopped and turned around. I caught her watching as I finished rubbing the stuff in. Erin pulled her arm and Keise broke out of the daze she was in.

First Aline and now Keise. I didn’t know what it was as it’s not like I was all that good looking. I walked down to the water’s edge; the water was just cool enough.

Erin looked at me. “What are you doing Barnim? You can’t go swimming; you’ll get your bandages wet.”

Shit, she was right. This blew. I guess I was stuck wading by the shoreline. They took off swimming and all I could do was watch. Erin was good. We’d all had swimming lessons when we were younger, and almost all of us were on Park District swim clubs. Randall was the only one who didn’t join a club.

I remembered that Mom had given me her expensive camera to take pictures with. It was a Canon Eos 100QD; what all that meant I didn’t have a clue. There were 15 rolls of film that were sent with me, that was 540 pictures that I was expected to take. I really didn’t like the camera as it was heavy and you had to use a neck strap. It had to be taken care of like it was my child as Mom would kill me if anything happened to it even if it was 3 yrs old.

I went back and got the camera, putting the strap over my head. Last thing I needed was for the camera to end up in the ocean. I took a few photos while they were swimming. Stopping, I went back to grab out stuff and I moved all of it closer to the water so I wouldn’t have to zoom as much.

They came back in and Erin got the seal of approval to start actually trying to surf. They did a little bit more working on the moves in the sand before they took the boards out to the water.

I watched as they paddled out, taking photos at good moments and getting a few good ones as they were sitting on the boards riding the waves. I knew there were going to be some great photos in my own mind.

They finally got to actual surfing. The waves seemed to be good for Erin; they weren’t’ too big and looked to be breaking evenly. Keise caught a couple of waves, which I was guessing was to let Erin see how it was done.

I watched as Erin began paddling to catch a wave. She was doing good till she stood up, and as her feet hit the board she went over the side. Erin was pounding her fists on the board as soon as she got back on it. Erin fell off a bunch more times, which gave me a chance to get some great photos.

They came in for a break. While they were resting, I encouraged her to get back up and get it done. They rested for a bit more then headed back out. Erin finally got a full ride. It wasn’t pretty but she stayed up the whole time. I had gotten few photos but was up clapping as she rode into the beach.

I only felt a dull throb in my leg as I jumped up; a good sign that maybe I’d ditch the crutch tomorrow.

For the next hour, she and Keise took turns riding waves. They came in for another break, grabbing a soda before sitting down. Erin let out a big sigh.

“That’s a lot more work than I thought it would be.”

“Well half pint, you’ve been going at it for almost 4 ½ hrs. It’s after 2pm and we can only stay for about another hour.”

“But I just started to get better.”

Keise cut in. “We’ll do some more surfing, just you and me. Saturday at the luau we’ll make the plans.”

Erin started bouncing around in her chair. Jumping up, she was moving towards the surfboards.

“Better go, she’s like a dog with a bone. She’ll be in the water before you can blink.” Kiese took off after her.

They looked like they were having a blast and looked disappointed when I called to them that it was getting to be time to go. Packing up what needed to be, I left the towels out so they could dry off and lugged the rest of stuff while hobbling to the car.

After drying off, Erin helped Keise bring the surfboards to her van. We got everything packed and were ready to go. I was slightly shocked when Erin gave Keise a hug and thanked her. I got Erin in the car and went to the driver’s side but was cut off by Keise who gave me a hug.

“I just wanted to thank you for saving Sameulu and Fiti.” she said before grabbing my head, pulling it down and laying a scorcher of a kiss on me. I was caught completely off guard and barely caught her whispering in my ear.

“Don’t report me to the cops and you might get another.”

She turned around and took off laughing while I stood there shocked and confused as hell. I got in the car and was snapped out of it.

“I’m going to tell Ellie. You’re in so much trouble.”

“No, I’m not, cause I’ll tell her myself. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

We began the drive home. All the while Erin was being a pain until halfway to the house, she fell asleep.

Pulling into the driveway, I figured she’d wake up, but no such luck. Carrying her into the house, I laid her down into the bed. Going into the kitchen, my grandparents were sitting at the kitchen table.

There was a discussion of the day’s events. It seemed they had heard of Kiese. Seemed she was an up and comer on the local Hawaiian surf tournaments scene. I was given my marching orders; the station wagon was to be emptied and vacuumed before dinner. It didn’t take me long to get everything done and I was able to sit out under the big shade tree in the back.

I didn’t’ understand what caused two beautiful women to be attracted to me this week. Hell, one of them was related to me, although distantly related, I think. I wonder if it was something to do with the Agen. So far, this vacation hadn’t been anything what I expected, though hopefully things wouldn’t get any more exciting or stranger.

When Grandfather called me in for dinner, the sun had begun to make its descent. I was surprised; I’d been out there for about 2 hours contemplating all that had happened the last month or so. We had a simple dinner of fish. As I was going to take a shower, Mariana threw me for a loop.

“Seems there are more women that you’ve made an impression on during your visit.” With that she walked by me into the kitchen with a huge grin on her face.

I had no clue as to what the hell was going on. I wasn’t a supermodel by any stretch of the imagination. What the hell happened that it appeared two women, Aline and Keise who could be supermodels, had taken an interest in me. Unless I was mistaken and was reading things wrong, which was the more likely scenario. And it also seemed, at least to me, that Mariana was throwing her hat in the ring as well.