North Shore Boards

Kailani balanced on her Alaia wood surfboard as a Hawaiian goddess, her bronze skin flecked with the spray of salt water. A thick black braid flew behind her as she rode down the face of the wave, her fingers trailing in the crystal blue wall of water.

One more day. She recited her fortune, told by her Auntie that morning , the one year anniversary of her Father’s death. ‘Your new future will land soon’.

Kailani knew, deep in her heart, that tomorrow her whole life would change.

“Damn, look at her fly!” Another surfer shouted as she soared by, propelled by the powerful wave of fate.

Finally she will show the world that she, and North Shore Boards, were the real deal. Her Father’s business- no, her business, would finally turn the corner.   She felt her face crack into a smile for the first time in a year, tasting the salt spray, flavors of hope and joy.

Suddenly a shadow overhead, a blur of electric blue dropped in on her. She ducked low, just avoiding the rocketing surfboard but leaned too far, crashing into the roaring white water, spinning her over and over like wet laundry in a dryer. A sharp pain cracked in her ankle as her board clipped her, adding injury to insult.

“Damn haole!” She screamed into the crash of the waves. 

 Mainlanders had overrun Oahu for the ‘Big Wave Competition’, to battle against nature, and the greatest surfers in the world on gigantic, rolling ocean waves.  Kailani had trained and fought to get one of the coveted spots in the competition. Riding on her family's traditional hand carved wooden surfboards, she would prove its quality, and get it the recognition they deserved, and the sales she needed.

Over the white sand she limped toward a man and a woman both pointing at a long blue surfboard. Short, and dark she felt out of place on her own beach with so many tall and light skinned tourists littering the shore.  

“You almost killed me!” Kailani shouted toward the man, his arrogance, wet hair, and male-ness implicating him.

Kailani’s clenched fists curled on her hips, ready to knock some sense into this idiot.

“What?” He turned, a stupid grin on his red face. 

“You ran me over!” Kailani leaned in, her body trembled, a volcano ready to erupt.

“That was Jen-” His eyes raised at the wet, enraged demon in front of him.

 “What?” The woman turned. “Were you riding that woody? Sorry, this stupid board won’t turn.”

Kailani turned to a pale, white woman. Her eyes caught on Jen’s wide shoulders, then skimmed down her smooth skin, across her rippling tight stomach, to her board shorts, barely hanging on to her curving hips. Kailani’s hands released, rubbing down her own thighs.

 “I had the right of way!” Kailani accused, pointing.” Do that again and I’ll kick your-”  Her eye’s connected with Jen’s sparkling blue eyes.  Kailani saw the glitter in Jen’s eye, then her smirk as she glanced at the man. They were laughing at her!

“This isn’t a joke, this is my culture, my life!  Lolo, you’re crazy.” Kailani spun on her good foot, then limped away from the shame.

Amongst the tourists and buskers crowding the sidewalk, the spindly bamboo and wood cottage reached up through the retail stores selling floral shirts and flip flops, stretching toward the sun as if attempting to escape.

Kailani stood in the back room, pushing on the hand plane, feeling the surfboard more than seeing it, the wood shaving curled back, rolling in on itself, further, further until it peeled off entirely, crashing to the floor.

 This Alaia, the traditional surfboard of Hawaii, was almost ready, born from the heartwood of a Paulownia tree. Not that it mattered.  JP hadn’t called her back to pick up the order. But Kailani wanted to finish this board before the contest, before the calls flooded in, she hoped.

Through the open front door of North Shore Boards, the voices floated in, cold and salty as the sea air.

“That shop?” A man’s voice streamed in, thick with disgust. “The old man, Bo, native Hawaiian, he had the touch. He created art, knew the old techniques to make powerful boards. But his daughter runs it now, so-”

“Who would ride a piece of wood?” A woman responded. “Hello, 20th Century! I’d take an epoxy board any day.”

Sanding now, Kailani's hands moved faster, pushing the sanding block over the wood, the flying dust obscuring her vision, but not the words attacking her. She thought of her father, and his thick gnarled hands, able to pull magic from the wood. She wasn’t enough. She’d never be able to surf well enough to win, and never make a board good enough to sell. 

 Her heart squeezed in from his loss, and the mess he left her in. North Shore Boards had no customers but only debts, weighing heavy on her shoulders, alone.

 A voice called out interrupting her despair.

“Hello, I’m here about a big wave board?” A woman said from inside the shop.

Kailani looked up to see bright blue eyes staring back, below golden flax colored hair.

 “Oh it’s you, no wonder you ride a woody!” Jen said.

“Just get out!” Kailani pointed from behind the board. “I heard what you said.”

“What, I just got here, I didn’t say anything” Jen walked toward Kailani, her blue eyes as deep as the ocean. “That epoxy board, the one I almost hit you with? It can’t handle these strong waves. I need something bigger.”

Why is she here? Kailani thought, suddenly, achingly aware her hair had come loose, and she wore only a bikini top and tiny shorts, while sweat and sawdust covered her body.  Distracted, she shoved the sanding block in an awkward push, but then it caught.  Kailani's body kept moving though, off-balance, until her ankle failed, and she collapsed to the ground. Her sanding block, in a betrayal, clattered on the edge of the board, gouging the wide surfboard before landing at Jen's feet.

From the floor, Kailani looked up, her skin itched from the dust of the honey-gold wood, and this haole woman who caused only problems.

“Go!” Spittle shot from her mouth. Kailani pointed to the door, done with pretty white girls. “Get out!” Her eyes blazed black, while injustice and dust rained down on her.

Kailani pulled on a nearby counter to pull herself up, but her ankle throbbed, unable to hold her weight, crumpling underneath her. 

 Jen hadn’t left, and seemed to draw Kailani’s attention like a magnet, a pull she tried to ignore. 

“We don’t want you haoles here!” Kailani yelled again from the floor, blinking back tears.

 Jen picked up the sanding block, ignoring Kailani’s outburst. “This’s so cool.” Her eyes danced around the shop, the Hawaiian iconography, the finished and unfinished surfboards.  “How’d you learn?”

 “My dad.” Kailani closed her eyes. “This was his shop, but he passed, last year, and now I’m -”

 “Oh I’m sorry.” Jen said.

 “You screwed me! This contest was my best chance to show off North Shore Boards. The publicity would have brought attention, customers, but now…” Kailani slammed her fist into the ground.

 Jen bent down to look at Kailani’s foot.

“No don’t-”

 Jen touched the bruised ankle softly, rubbing the swollen bump, her hands soft and warm.

 “You should wrap this. It needs ice.” Her voice dropped. “You won't be able to bend it tomorrow, let alone surf-”

 “Damn it!” A wave of emotion crashed over Kailani, her bronze skin flecked with salty tears. “I need to surf tomorrow, I need to prove our boards can compete at the highest level.” Kailani, alone, wrapped her arms around herself.

 Jen moved close, her hands on Kailani’s crossed arms.

 “This was my chance to have a North Shore board in the competition,” Kailani sobbed. “But I can’t ride now and JP never called me back and- “

 “JP?” Jen asked.

 “A stupid mainland surfer, he called about a board but never showed-”

 “-She.” Jen touched loose hair out of Kailani’s eyes. “I’m JP, Jennifer Pans, the stupid mainland surfer. And you’re Kai? I thought you were a man-”

 “I didn’t think that JP, that you, would respond, if you thought I was a girl, you wouldn’t buy a board from a girl-”

 “I like girls-” Jen brushed the tears from Kailani’s cheek. “And I can ride for you, if you want?”

Kailani lifted her hands, asking. Jen pulled her up to standing. 

Kailani limped over to the surfboard on the work desk, then motioned to Jen to feel the board.  Kailani put her hands over Jen’s.

“This is no plastic crap. This is heartwood, grown here on Hawai’i, part of the island itself. This board has a soul, do you feel it?” Kailani looked deep into Jen’s eyes.  “Alaia surfboards ride different, you use the edge to carve,” Kailani moved Jen’s hands, “and heavier, will sit deep in the water. You’ll need to practice-“

Jen leaned over, interrupting Kailani with a kiss, her movements quick and hard. Kailani responded, and their bodies moved together, a smooth, forceful wave. 

“If you surf like you kiss we’re going to be OK.” Kailani smiled.

         The morning of the competition Kailani had the Alaia surfboard ready for Jen. The flow of surfers broke around her, some nodding in appreciation, but many more frowning in confusion at the brown wood surfboard, out of place amongst the white and pastel epoxy boards. 

Kailani’s grin faded as the competitors thinned, and still no sight of Jen. The familiar weight grew on her shoulders. She should never even have hoped. She would always be alone. 

She would have to enter herself. Barely able to walk, her ankle wrapped tight, Kailani bent down to see if she could use her ankle. Grimacing against the pain, her eyes pricked with tears as she realized she had no chance of competing. She had failed herself and her dad.

“Why the tears, Kai?”

Kailani looked up to sparkling blue eyes.  

“Where have you been?” Kailani screamed.” You missed the check-in!”

Jen smiled, her hand wiping away Kailani’s tears. “I’m sorry, I had to help some new friends get here.   She pointed to a large group in traditional Hawaiian clothes speaking on camera to the press.

 “I invited the Duke Kahanamoku club. They support native Hawaiian surfing culture. Once they heard about you’re dad passing, and you taking up the tradition, well, they’re going to make sure North Shore Boards, and you, get all the support and attention you deserve.” Jen grinned. “And I’m checked in, ready to go!”

Kailani’s heart flipped over inside her. No longer alone, she felt her lungs expand breathing in the fresh air of possibility. She couldn’t believe a pretty white haole girl did all this for her.   

Kailani wrapped her arms around Jen and gave her a long kiss. “Kick some ass!”   

         From the sand, almost too nervous to watch, Kailani peeked through her fingers, as Jen dropped into a wave riding the Alaia surfboard. 

Balanced, feeling the board more than seeing it, Jen rode down the face of the wave as it curled back, rolling in on itself further, further until she peeled off, finally crashing.

Jen soared out of the wave, toward the beach, looking up into the crowd before landing.

Kailani saw her future, colors of hope and joy, and then she raised her hands in triumph, too.