To Row to Hawaii

[Right: Proto-Wesley.]

The first visitor to the House in Shirley was an army officer who came to meet with my parents over drinks the day before my 4th birthday. The conversation started off on a subject I knew nothing about, mostly affairs at Fort Devens and goings on at ASA headquarters. But eventually they started talking about Hawaii. That got Alaka'i's attention, and he took over completely.

[Left: Vampire hunter Wesley.]

The talk meandered around about things to do with Hawaii that I didn't care about at the time, like fire dancers and hula girls. Then my Father mentioned that he picked up quite a lot of Hawaiian during his time there.

My Mother, who was getting mildly drunk by then, butted in and said, "He'll tell you what a great linguist he is, but the boy is the linguist. The boy is fluent."

My Father said, "Yeah, right. When I hear proof I'll believe it."

I kept quiet while they argued a while more like that. I'd learned there was no point in expressing my own opinion. But then my Father said, "I really wish I could learn more Hawaiian, it's a beautiful language. It's a shame there's no way I could continue studying it here." [Right: Ensign Wesley.]

As Alaka'i I said, "You can learn it here. Talk to me and I'll teach you. I'll teach you a lot better than you know now." I imagined that the practice would do me good, too.

[Left: General Wesley.]

That was not a diplomatic thing to say. My Father turned red, then he yelled at me and backhanded me across the face. Our guest protested that I had only been offering help, and my Father snapped at him, "You stay out of this! You don't know how much this kid hates me! He's deliberately insulting!"

That night Alaka'i made plans to return to Hawaii.

Now, that was unrealistic thinking. But I'm not sure it's fair to say my poor reality perception was evidence of psychosis. This is a 4 year-old we're talking about.

[Right: Her Wesley will save her.]

The idea was to follow the setting sun and walk due west until I arrived at the Pacific ocean, then look around and "borrow" a row boat or something and sail yet further west until I ran into Hawaii. I wasn't sure how I'd get the borrowed boat back to it's owner, but I thought maybe I could get Lani and Lono to help with that when I saw them again.

There was a misjudgment about how long the walk would take. I thought that by walking straight, instead of making a lot of detours the way we did when we drove east, I could do it in 3 weeks. I would live off berries along the way. I thought the rowing might take an hour or so.

Probably the biggest misjudgment concerned the fate of Kona if I carried out my plan. I thought Kona would be able to remain behind with my parents, so nobody would really miss Alaka'i. One Wesley is as good as any other to these cretins.

The biggest mistake Alaka'i made in planning this break was a mistake of a different kind, not to do with the practicality of the plan, but with the advisability of revealing it. I made the mistake of thinking that though my Father was a jerk, he was nevertheless entitled to know that Alaka'i was leaving and why.

I know better now. We learn by making mistakes.

[Above left: Maniacally-grinning Wesley.]