Kia in Kauai

Kia loved climbing coconut trees. She would climb to the top and watch the waves of the ocean foam up on the sands below. She loved to spot the blue whales in the distance. She would often climb up before sunrise so that she could be the first person on the island of Kauai to watch the sun emerge from under the ocean to color the sky pink, orange and yellow. Kia was sixteen and had grown up watching the Pacific every day of her life. She couldn’t imagine a world without the sea. She loved catching lobsters but would then release them into the ocean. She observed small details of oceanic life: from the shells to the fish. She would observe the contrasting colors of shells, try to feel each shell’s texture and observe how some were more symmetric than others. She would go snorkeling in the waters, and try not to step on corals. Here, she could observe schools of clownfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, barracuda and others. How they swam in unison and how they would avoid her. How efficiently they could swim! She marveled at their speed and how easily they reversed direction in sync.

One sunny morning the waves were calm. So she decided to go snorkeling. She wore her black waterproof gear, finned boots, snorkeling goggles and a pipe that would let her breath through her mouth. She waded into the deep waters and stared at a small pink fish who was stationary in water. Suddenly, there was a loud commotion in water and scores of fish started to swim towards the shore. Kia didn’t know what was happening. She looked up to see a giant opening as big as a tunnel that was sucking everything inside…
Kia’s father, Jack, was getting worried. She had not returned from the beach and it was already getting dark. He went to the Waikiki beach to look for her but could not locate her. The beach was completely deserted and only sea gulls could be heard screeching. Jack was worried.
“Where did she go?” he muttered to himself.
He got out his steam boat and decided to search for her along the coastline. The tides were getting fuller by the minute and his steam boat was wobbling. He called out her name and shone his torch. Only constellations of sparkling stars above and schools of fish appeared to hear him. Jack started to panic. He looked up at the North star and prayed for a miracle. Had her daughter been taken in to the deep sea? Or could she be hiding somewhere? He searched for a few more hours but it was getting very late. At last, he decided to turn back towards Waikiki beach that was closest to their small home, and the beach that Kia frequented.
In one rocky corner of the beach, Jack felt something move. He got out of his steam boat and rushed towards that corner. He also smelt something offensive. Shining his torch on the black sticky liquid that was moving. From its sharp odour, Jack knew it was ambergris – whale vomit that is often used in perfumes, but why was it moving? He went closer and discovered huge lumps of ambergris sitting on the beach. And then he finally saw her: Kia was trying to wriggle herself out of whale vomit. He looked up and thanked the North star.