After an hour in the waiting room, Makana and Kale both jump up at the sight of Tao. His hair is drenched, but the kid is smiling as if the Pacific Ocean didn’t just try to rip his life away from him. He walks over to us with his parents, who apprehensively thank Kale and then Makana for helping out today. Tao asks if he can talk to Kale for a moment, so Makana excuses himself to talk to some of the other surfers and lifeguards who are hanging around. I start to walk away with them, but Kale latches onto my hand.
“How are you feeling?” he asks Tao.
The kid shrugs. “Like I just drank too much water,” he says. “But the doctor said I’d blow it all out eventually over the next few hours. Kind of gross, but I guess it makes me a real surfer now, right?”
I laugh and nod my head. “The first time I wiped out, I had no idea what to expect after my brother helped me back to shore,” I say. “You’re already a step ahead of where I was. You’re prepared for the grossness.”
“I lost my board,” Tao says, hanging his head. “I really liked that board too.”
“You know what?” Kale says, pulling away from me and kneeling down to look at Tao. “I have some old boards that are too short for me now, and they’re just sitting around at Nanna’s house, so maybe, if you want, you could come by and get them. You know, practice boards until you’re ready to buy another one.”
Tao looks up, his eyes as bright as a hibiscus flower. “Seriously? You’d do that?” he asks, his voice soaked in excitement. “Dude, you’re the coolest person ever. I knew the forums were wrong about you.”
“Whoa,” I say before I can even stop myself. “You knew who he was this whole time?”
Tao nods, like it’s absolutely no big deal that Kale’s the most trashed surfer on the gossip sites and surf forums these days. “I mean, yeah, it’s Colby Taylor, you know? He’s actually my favorite surfer, but I said John John because I didn’t want to offend you or anything.”
Kale laughs. “None taken, kid. Colby’s one of the best in the business.”
“I won’t lie. I was nervous when I met you,” Tao says. “But when you first came back, these guys were talking about you on the beach, and that guy over there, the one who was sitting with you, he was there. He’d been playing volleyball with them.”
I glance back over at Makana. He’s always been friends with Keiko, but I haven’t hung out with him much. I always knew he was Kale’s cousin, but he’s a little older than me, so we never ran in the same social circles.
“He’s pretty cool, though,” Tao says of Makana. “I’ve seen him surf a lot. He lives down the street from me. He told those guys that people screw up, and… how did he say it… we aren’t our mistakes? I don’t know. It sounded like he knew what he was talking about, though, and I figured if he’s cool with you, you couldn’t be all that bad. He was right.”
After Kale writes down his Nanna’s address for Tao, the kid disappears with his parents with the promise from Kale that he’ll share some surf sessions with him. I don’t know who will benefit more from them, though.