Page 81 of Big Island Neighbors
Emma rubbed his back in agreement. They stood watching for a long time before continuing up the path. When they found the freshwater spring, they stopped to refill their water bottles.
After that, they kept going to the waterfall. It wasn’t as spectacular as Hikuwai, but it was a pretty end to their hike. Emma set her pack down with relief, and they sat to finish their lunch.
“Hey kiddo,” she said as they ate, “there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”
“What’s that?”
“I found a permaculture course, and I’m going to start taking classes.”
“What kind of classes?”
“How to make plants grow.”
“Don’t we have enough plants already?” he groaned.
Emma laughed. “We do, and I’d like to learn how to take better care of them. This class could help me learn to grow more food with the space and time that I have.”
“We have enough food, too.”
“But not everyone does,” she reminded him gently. “And anyway, it makes me happy. I like learning new things, and I feel good when I’m working in the garden.”
He nodded thoughtfully and leaned into her.
“The class meets three times a week. So on those days, you’ll need to go to Auntie ‘Olena’s co-op with Rory.”
“And Kiki and Lulu?” he asked.
“Right.”
“And Derek and Kacie and Shoshona?”
“Yep.” She packed up the remains of their lunch and rinsed her hands in the stream.
“I guess I could do that.” He pushed himself to his feet and turned to look at her. “Can we go see the horses again?”
“Sure, kiddo. Let’s go.”
Hand in hand, they walked back through the valley.
25
Lani
Nearly two hours left to go, and Lani‘s nerves were so frayed that she didn’t know what to do with herself in the meantime.
She had the house to herself, so she turned her favorite music on full blast and did the dishes. They didn’t take long, and she ended up cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom.
The pounding lyrics and her busy hands helped so much that she was very nearly able to forget that today was the day a stranger in Alaska would decide her daughter’s fate.
A figure appeared suddenly in her peripheral vision, and she jumped.
‘Olena rolled her eyes and turned down the music.
“I pounded on the front door, but you didn’t hear me.”
“What are you doing here? Where are the girls?”
The corners of her mouth turned down. “Nate has the kids.”
