Catastrophe at Castaway Cove (Kristi Cameron Book 8)

by Cynthia Griffith

  Dan and Pete quickly stepped between him and Skeeter. “None of you are any match for us!” He took another step closer and the boys realized with sinking hearts that they were going to have to fight these punks if they wanted to get away. Even worse, they knew with certainty that they were no match for them and they were probably going to get hurt. All three of them sent up quick prayers to heaven. Only the Lord could help them now.

  “Hey!” a yell came from the street. They all looked up. Someone stood in the entrance to the alley. “Get out of here!” he yelled at the gang. To the boys’s shock, the tough young punks did just that. As quickly as they had appeared, they melted away out of the alley.

  The other person came toward them—someone small and limping slightly. They stared in shock as suddenly they realized that their rescuer was none other than old Kimo—Mrs. Manoa’s handy man!

  “Wow! Thanks, Kimo! Skeeter said. “That was awesome! Those guys were actually scared of you!” Dan and Pete joined in with their own heartfelt thanks.

  The old man stared unsmiling at them without saying a word. Finally he hissed, “You don’t belong here! Get out! Leave Palekaiko! Leave Castaway Cove and don’t come back!” He turned on his heels then and stomped away.

  The boys looked at one another in shock. Finally Dan muttered, “Whoa! What was his problem? What was this whole thing about?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here before those guys come back,” Pete said.

  “Yeah, you’re right, but let’s make a promise not to say anything about this in front of Mom right now,” Dan said. “It will just freak her out. We’ll tell Dad when we get a chance, and then let him decide what to do about it.”

  “What about Mrs. Manoa? Do you think we should tell her what Kimo said?” Skeeter asked.

  “I don’t know. Let’s see what Dad says about it. Right now, let’s just get out of here. Come on!” They made a dash for the street.

  The parade was already in progress. A band had led the way, followed by several floats made entirely of flowers and lit with tiny twinkling lights. Groups of walkers were interspersed between the floats—groups of hula dancers, conch blowers, and ukelele players. Everyone and everything was covered in the tiny lights, giving the parade a magical quality in the gathering dusk.

  The boys worked their way through the back of the crowd until they finally saw Steve’s head above the rest. “There’s Dad!” Skeeter exclaimed. “Across the street!” He dashed out into the street—right in front of a group of pa’u riders on horseback. One of the horses reared up in fright at the sudden appearance of the redheaded boy just beneath its nose. The rider struggled to stay on the horse’s back.

  “Skeeter!” Rachel cried out in fright as she saw her youngest child nearly get run down in the middle of the street.

  “I told you he’d end up in the parade somehow!” Robyn exclaimed.

  “Sorry!” Skeeter called back to the rider as he ducked out from under the horse’s hoofs and ran over to his folks. Dan and Pete followed more slowly and cautiously and made it safely, as well.

  “Skeeter, one of these days…” his mother scolded.

  “Where have you been?” Kristi asked over the noise of the parade. “Did you have fun?

  “Oh, yeah! So far the festival’s been delicious!” Skeeter grinned.

  “What? All you did was eat?” his sister demanded.

  “Mostly, yeah. But we saw some other cool stuff, too.”

  “Oh, look!” Leilani said just then. “Here come the king and queen and their court! Those horses that nearly ran you down, Skeeter, are traditional pa’u riders, who represent a Hawaiian royal court on horseback. Now, see—here’s the float with all the ladies-in-waiting, a few warriors in traditional dress and spears, and the king and queen!” Kahili bearers walked alongside of the float with their feather standards, and more conch shell blowers heralded the royal court.

  “You got here just in time, King Kiwini,” Robyn said with a straight face as she nudged Skeeter with her elbow.

  “Huh? What are talking about, Robyn? King Kiwini? Who’s that?”

  “You! Your name in Hawaiian. Kiwini. Cool, huh?”

  “No way!” Skeeter protested.

  The other two boys cracked up laughing. “Kiwini!” they hooted. “What a wienie!”

  The younger boy turned to Mrs. Manoa, “Is she just making that up? He demanded of the older Hawaiian woman. “It’s not really Kiwini, is it?

  She smiled sympathetically. “Sorry, Skeeter. I’m afraid it is. But look—that’s the end of the parade! Now everyone follows it to the beach for the luau! Are you all hungry? Let’s go!”

  They joined the crowd which had fallen in line behind the royal float in the parade. Everyone was in a fine mood and pressed forward, eagerly anticipating the roast pig and other mouthwatering Hawaiian delicacies.

  There were no tables set up for the people on the beach. Mrs. Manoa had brought several blankets for them to spread out and sit on. They found a good spot where they could see the low platform that had been erected for the performers. The ocean, with its night sky and the reflection of the moon on the waves, made a perfect backdrop. Food tables laden with poi, fish, chicken teryaki, rice, salads and fruit awaited the highlight of the meal—the kalua pua'a, or roast pork, which had been cooking for hours, buried in the sand in a Hawaiian imu, or underground steam oven. A couple young men were digging it up now and about to bring it to the table.

  It took a while to go through the line and get their food, but eventually they were all back at their blankets and enjoying the meal to the sound of steel guitars, ukeleles, drums and the surf pounding the beach.

  “I see you didn’t take any poi this time, Skeeter,” his mother remarked.

  “No way! I remember it only too well from last year! It’s like eating paste!” Skeeter shuddered comically. “Hey, what’s that?” he asked pointing at something on his sister’s plate.

  She had a little of the roast kalua and rice, and some fruit salad, but the rest of the space was taken up by big pieces of coconut cake, chocolate cake and several cubes that looked like custard. “Dessert! You know the old saying—“Life is short; eat dessert first!” Just making sure I get my dessert in before I die!”

  “Kristi!” her mother exclaimed.

  “It’s yummy, too!” Kristi said, unfazed. “I don’t know what these little custardy things are, but they’re good!”

  “That is haupia—a sweet, rich custard made with coconut cream,” Mrs. Manoa said. “It is a traditional Hawaiian dessert. I’m glad you like it!”

  “I think I’d better go get my dessert, too, before it’s all gone!” Skeeter said. He got up and wandered over in the direction of the food tables once more.

  He had not returned by the time the show got under way. The Ambassador of Aloha was the master of ceremonies and opened the program by welcoming them all to the Palekaiko by Moonlight Ali’i Luau, or Royal Luau. He then introduced “The Queen’s Prayer,” a pule he said that had been written by Hawaii's last reigning monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani, herself.

  The name sounded familiar to Kristi. “Isn’t that the queen who was your great-great-great grandmother?” she whispered to Leilani. Her friend nodded, and Kristi listened as a woman in traditional Hawaiian dress sang it beautifully. Kristi couldn’t understand the words, but her eyes were filled with tears by the time the song was over. She noticed that Leilani and Mrs. Manoa had tears in their eyes, as well.

  The program continued with the hula kahiko. The Ambassador explained that this was the ancient form of the hula, danced to the accompaniment of chants, drums and other percussion instruments. It soon moved to the modern hula auana with which they were more accustomed, however, with the steel guitars and graceful Hawaiian music. They were sitting back, enjoying the show when suddenly a familiar redheaded figure appeared on stage with the dancers. It was Skeeter, in a grass skirt, crown and lei of leaves, and a red cape! He was watching the dancers as he tried to fo
llow their movements, but, of course, he was a beat or two behind them.

  The rest of the other Camerons and their friends stared, hardly believing their eyes! What was Skeeter doing up there on stage? The last they knew, he had gone off to get some dessert. They burst out laughing with the rest of the audience.

  “Uoki! Uoki!” the Ambassador shouted. “Stop! Stop!” The musicians and dancers came to a halt one by one until at last Skeeter was the only one left doing the hula to the sound of a lone ukulele. “Uoki! Stop!” the master of ceremonies cried louder.

  Skeeter stumbled to a halt, looking around as if he had just realized what was happening. The Ambassador stomped over to him and demanded, “’ O wai kou inoa? What’s your name?”

  “Kiwini!” Skeeter said loudly into the microphone, emphasizing the “wienie” part of the name. The crowd laughed. “But you can call me King Kiwini!” he said proudly, pulling the red cape more closely around his thin shoulders. The crowd roared!

  Kristi and the others thought they would die laughing! Leave it to Skeeter to pull a stunt like that! The Ambassador started laughing then, as well, and thanking Skeeter for participating in the gag, asked him for his real name. “Let’s give Skeeter Cameron a round of applause!” he said as he escorted the boy off the stage.

  They were still wiping tears from their eyes and gasping for breath when Skeeter rejoined them. The teenagers jumped up and then fell to their knees, bowing low before the “king.” Pete and Dan pounded him on the back and Robyn giggled as Skeeter said to her with a twinkle in his eye, “The joke is on you, Princess!”

  Their attention was drawn back to the stage when the ambassador said, “And now let me introduce the real king and queen, the ali'i nui and his ali'i wahine and the rest of the Royal Court!” He stepped back, waving his arm out toward the ocean behind the low platform.

  For the first time, they noticed a fleet of outrigger canoes coming in out of the darkness toward the shore. Tiki torches were suddenly lit on the canoes, and other torches floating in the water sprang to light at the same time. The first few canoes held young Polynesian women throwing flowers into the water. Alana and Halia, the sisters who had helped the girls make their leis, were among them.

  The sound of conch shells being blown split the air and signaled the arrival of the royal party. In the center of the fleet was a platform supported by two canoes. The queen sat on a throne on the platform with her warrior/king/husband standing behind her, wearing the royal cape, helmet and sash made of the red and gold plumage of hundreds of birds. Standard bearers, holding the feather kahilis, stood at each corner of the platform while the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, or kahu, knelt at her feet, their red dresses in contrast to her yellow pa’u.

  It was an awesome sight as the torchlit canoes moved slowly toward the shore. The flames of the torches were reflected in the water and gave an ethereal appearance to the scene, as if the canoes were moving out of the mists of time to bring to life the ancient history of the island. The beautiful tropical music continued to play, and at last as the canoes came to a halt just off shore, the Ambassador invited them all to stand and join in singing the old familiar strains of Aloha 'Oe. They swayed to the music, the teenagers breaking into a hula as they tried to follow the dancers who had once again appeared onstage.

  Just as they thought the show was over and it was time to head back home, fireworks started out over the water as a grand finale to the whole Palekaiko by Moonlight Festival. They stood entranced as the pyrotechnics filled the sky in a far greater and magnificent display than their small fireworks could ever have done out there on the beach of Castaway Cove. Deafening booms, sharp earsplitting bangs and staccato crackling filled the air as wheels of fire and kaleidoscopes of color blossomed in the sky. Trails of sparkling light cascaded and dripped down the black curtain of the night, while comets shot into the air and then descended like jewels shimmering and glittering on velvet. A rumble filled the air and they waited for the next amazing spectacle to fill the sky.

  It did not happen. The roar became louder but the last of the fireworks faded away into blackness as suddenly the earth moved under their feet and they plunged to the ground. Kristi reached for her brother’s arm trying to catch her balance as the scene around her, as well as her own mind, reeled in confusion.

  A moment later, as everything around her shook and trembled and she heard herself crying out in fear, she understood. Earthquake!

  __________

  CHAPTER NINE

  __________

  Catastrophe!

  Most of the people out there on the beach were merely thrown off their feet onto the soft sand, but that was not to say that they were out of danger. All around them people cried out in fear as palm trees began to come crashing down. Those closest to the line of trees scrambled to move out of the way, rising, and then falling again as they were thrown about like helpless rag dolls. Most of them managed to somehow escape, but a few were swallowed up in the large palm fronds of the trees as they hit the beach. One man screamed in pain as he was trapped beneath the heavy trunk of a palm.

  It seemed as if the shaking went on forever, but in reality it probably lasted less than a minute. At last the rumbling faded away and the ground beneath them stood still again. Kristi looked up cautiously from where she lay on the sand with her arms protectively covering her head. “Mom?” she called out. “Daddy?” It was dark, and without the light from the fireworks or the tiki torches, which had fallen over during the earthquake, she couldn’t see much.

  “Right here, honey!” she heard her mother’s voice saying.

  “Kids! Is everyone okay?” Steve called out. “Mrs. Manoa?” From all around them Kristi heard each of her brothers and friends respond that they were fine.

  She gathered her wits and jumped up. “We have to help people!” she cried. As her eyes began to adjust to the dim light, broken only by the full moon and stars, she could see people in trouble all around them.

  Skeeter was on his feet before the words were even out of her mouth and had dashed off to where the man was caught beneath the trunk of the palm tree. There were two or three others already there, trying to move the huge palm. Skeeter fell to his knees and began frantically digging at the sand beneath the man, hoping to clear enough space between him and the bole to be able to pull him out from under it. It worked. As the other men moved the palm inch by inch, and Skeeter cleared away the sand, others were finally able to drag the injured man out from under the fallen palm.

  Dan and Pete had gone from tree to fallen tree, in the meantime, looking through the palm fronds for people trapped but not visible. They had pulled several people out that way. Most of them were not seriously hurt, but all were scratched and cut, and worse yet, terribly shaken.

  Kristi was kneeling in the sand next to a little child who was in tears. She couldn’t find her mommy. “It’s okay, Sweetie,” Kristi comforted her. “We’ll find your mama, I promise! What’s her name?”

  “Mommy.”

  “Oh, Oh, yes, of course! Well, what’s your name?”

  “Emma.”

  “Okay, then. Let’s do this.” Kristi stood up and still holding little Emma’s hand she began shouting, “Emma’s mommy! Looking for Emma’s mommy!” A minute or two later a young woman came running up the beach yelling, “Emma! Emma!”

  Emma broke away from Kristi and ran to her mother crying, “Mommy!”

  “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” the mother said to Kristi. “She was off playing with some other kids during the fireworks so we were separated when the earthquake struck. I was terrified!”

  “Well, she seems to be alright. She was just scared when she couldn’t find you. Bye-bye, Emma! Don’t be scared anymore, okay? You’re going to be fine now that you’ve got your mommy again!”

  Kristi ran off, looking for her family and Robyn and Anna. They were all busy, helping others wherever and however they could. Finally, as order and peace on the beach was somewhat restored, Steve gathered his family
and their friends together. “We need to go back into town. We were fortunate there was nothing but the trees to fall down out here, but the earthquake must have done some damage to the buildings in town. There may be people who need help there, too. I want us all to stay together, though. There may be more aftershocks coming.”

  They hurried across the beach. They had nearly reached the edge of town when suddenly behind them they heard a shout. People were standing on the beach, pointing and talking excitedly. A few children ran out onto the wet sand, picking up shells and even fish. It was then they realized with a shock that the water had receded. What had been pounding surf a few minutes before was now nothing but wet sand and the debris left on the bottom of the ocean. It was eerie.

  Mrs. Manoa suddenly gasped. “Tsunami! It’s a tsunami! Run! We have to run to higher ground! Quickly! A tidal wave is coming!”

  Steve turned to the others. “Do as Mrs. Manoa says! I have to warn the others on the beach! Go on ahead and I’ll catch up with you! Rachel, take the kids—now!” he said urgently.

  Rachel opened her mouth to argue, but then shut it again and nodded. “Be careful, honey, and don’t stay more than a minute or so! Promise me!”

  “Dad, we’ll help you!” Dan said, grabbing his arm.

  “No! Do as I say, but as you go through town, sound the alarm. Anyone left there will have no idea what is about to happen. Mrs. Manoa, Leilani, lead them to higher ground! Go! Go! We may only have a minute or two!” Steve wasted no more time but began to run toward the people still on the beach. “Run! Run!” they could hear him yelling. “Tsunami! Tidal wave! Get to higher ground!”

  People all over the beach began to run. Parents snatched their children up, and some hurried to help those injured in the earthquake. The man who had been trapped beneath the palm tree could not move on his own. Two men grabbed him and carried him between them. Steve ran out onto the wet sand to a little one who seemed to have been forgotten and lifted him in his arms. He turned to run. Out on the horizon he could see the wave moving toward them. “Run!” he screamed. “It’s coming!”