Boat

by Michael Baughman

  I sailed a mile north and then, after a long, slow turn, back to my starting point.

  The birds stayed with me.

  Halfway back something made me look down.

  I saw a large dark man standing alone in shallow water, looking up at me and waving. It had to be Boat. When I waved back, just before he passed from sight, he pointed out to sea.

  The iwas stayed close until I began my descent. Then they banked in flight and disappeared behind me.

  Back on the beach with my family, I talked about the frigate birds but not about Boat.

  Late that evening I took my diving mask from our room, bought an unopened bottle of Dos Equis beer at the hotel bar, and walked north along the beach to the place where I’d seen him. I walked into the water up to my chest, then pulled on my mask and swam another forty or fifty yards until I found the place.

  It was just before dark when I wedged the bottle between two dark rocks in the middle of a large, smooth patch of sand that I knew I could easily locate again in the morning.

  I returned alone just after first light and was startled by how much Zihuatanejo resembled Waikiki the first time I had seen it as a boy. The long, empty beach swept gracefully northward toward a dark mountain silhouetted against a clear sky. The waves broke and rolled with the rhythmic pulse of the planet.

  I waded halfway out through the warm water, pulled my mask into place, and swam the rest of the way. As I’d known it would be, the beer was gone.

  Hawaiian Words

  Ahi: yellowfin tuna

  Aloha: hello, good-bye, love, affection

  A’u: marlin

  Aweoweo: Hawaiian bigeye (fish)

  Haole: Caucasian

  Hapai: pregnant

  Hau: hibiscus tree

  Hila hila: trouble, problem

  Hinalea: small, brightly colored wrasse (fish)

  Hoao paa: marriage

  Honi: embrace, touch, kiss

  Humuhumunukunukuapuaa: trigger fish

  Iwa: frigate bird

  Kanakas: a native Hawaiian, or sometimes, in conversation, an oldtimer

  Kane: man, husband

  Kau kau: food, eat

  Kohi: vagina

  Kukai: shit

  Kumu: white-saddle goatfish

  Kuula: god of fishermen

  Lei: flower necklace

  Limu: seaweed

  Mahalo: thanks

  Mahimahi: dolphin fish

  Mana: spiritual or divine power

  Manini: striped tang (fish)

  Mano: shark

  Manu Kai: seabird

  Moana: side-spot goatfish

  Muumuu: loose-fitting, often colorful Hawaiian dress

  Ohana: family, extended family, clan

  Okole: rear end, buttocks

  Okolehau: Hawaiian bootleg liquor

  Ono: good, savory

  Opu: stomach, belly

  Palani: surgeonfish

  Papolo: black person

  Pau: finished, done

  Pele: goddess of fire, volcanoes

  Pilau: rotten, stinking

  Poi: pasty food made from taro

  Uhu: parrot fish

  Ule: penis

  Ulua: crevalle jack

  Wahine: woman, wife