Iris and the Aloha Wedding Adventure Read online

  “HANA!” everyone suddenly shouted as she danced near a table set up for the wedding reception.

  But the warning came too late. Hana’s flip-flop caught hold of the tablecloth, and she pitched forward, taking the cloth and the vase of flowers with her.

  Hana’s mother ran over. The young girl was covered in soggy flowers and a wet pink tablecloth.

  “Are you okay?” Mrs. Lee asked while helping her stand.

  Hana nodded.

  Then her mother’s tone changed. “No more playing around! Do you want to get hurt before the wedding?”

  Iris realized it was the second time someone had asked Hana that question that day.

  Hana looked down. “I’m sorry.”

  “We don’t have time for games,” her mom scolded. “Go to your room so the rest of us can get our work done!”

  Chapter Six

  Iris finished another lei before going upstairs to Hana’s bedroom to check on her friend. She found Hana lying on her bed, her head hidden underneath a big, sparkly pillow. Iris immediately recognized the picture on the pillow. It was Gaby Snow, the world’s biggest pop star. Iris was a huge fan.

  She sat on the bed. “Hana, I have good news.”

  Hana didn’t stir.

  “Our moms said I could sleep over tonight.”

  “Really?” Hana popped her head out from the pillow.

  “On one condition…” Iris grabbed the pillow from Hana. “I get to sleep with the Gaby Snow pillow!”

  Laughing, the girls started a playful pillow fight. Iris was glad to see Hana smiling again. But as soon as their game wound down, Hana’s happiness faded.

  “I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” said Hana as she wiped away a tear.

  Iris nodded.

  “I want to help with the wedding, but when will we have time to play?”

  “After we finish all the work,” said Iris.

  “Wait a minute,” Hana said. She had a glint in her eye. “We need the Menehune to help us. Once everything is done, our parents will be happy and we can have fun!”

  “How are we going to do that? You said the Menehune only come out at night when no one is around.”

  “We’ll capture one!” exclaimed Hana.

  “Huh?” Iris was confused.

  “It’ll be easy!” claimed Hana. “We can set a trap this afternoon.”

  This plan was moving too quickly for Iris. “Why don’t we try working faster on our own?” she suggested. “I can help you make your leis.”

  “No, my idea will work. What can we use to lure the Menehune to our trap? I know – a cookie! Everyone loves cookies!”

  Iris couldn’t deny that last part.

  Hana exclaimed, “Let’s get started!”

  Iris didn’t know what to do. She liked making leis, but she didn’t want to disappoint her new friend.

  Iris took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do it.”

  Chapter Seven

  The girls crept into the kitchen. Tutu was too busy stuffing a chicken to notice them. Hana quietly opened the door to the large pantry, and they sneaked inside. It was dark and smelled like cereal, but Hana knew her way around. She easily found all the materials they needed to build their trap: string, a square cardboard box, and an open container of vanilla wafers.

  “Vanilla wafers are perfect!” Hana whispered. Iris nodded silently.

  To avoid Leilani on the back patio, the girls went outside through the front door and ran past their parents to the far end of the property. This area was full of lush trees and plants. Iris spotted a large tree with roots hanging down from its branches like long pieces of spaghetti.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “It’s a banyan tree,” Hana told her. “I bet a bunch of Menehune live in it!”

  The girls decided that the base of this tree would be the best place to set their trap.

  Iris found a sturdy stick. Hana tied string to one end of it and used the other end to prop up the cardboard box. Then they placed two vanilla wafers under the trap.

  “Now what do we do?” asked Iris.

  “We come back at midnight.”

  “What?!!” Iris’s stomach suddenly hurt.

  “We have to catch the Menehune tonight, so everything will be done tomorrow. It’s not dangerous,” she added. “Leilani and I camp out here all the time.”

  Iris arched her brow.

  “Don’t you want to be one of the first people in the world to see a Menehune?” asked Hana.

  Iris thought for a second. Catching a Menehune would surely make her famous. She’d probably be in the newspaper and on TV. And maybe she’d even get to meet the mayor of Maui!

  “But what if we get caught sneaking out?” Iris asked. The thought of an angry Tutu gave her the shivers.

  “We won’t! We’ll sneak out quietly and be back in a flash.”

  Iris bit her lip. “Alright,” she said slowly.

  Hana took a cookie out of the box and popped it in her mouth. “Want one?” she asked as she chewed.

  Iris shook her head. There wasn’t enough room in her belly with all the butterflies.

  Chapter Eight

  It was midnight. Hana and Iris popped their heads out of Hana’s bedroom door. All was silent…except for loud snoring coming from Tutu’s room.

  The girls tiptoed along the hall, down the back stairwell, and quietly opened the back patio door.

  The night was warm but windy. Air whistled through the palm trees as it blew leaves from side to side. Passing dark clouds dimmed the light of the thin crescent moon.

  Iris trembled. “Maybe we should go back inside,” she told Hana. “It’s spooky out here.”

  But Hana was already heading toward the banyan tree. “Don’t worry. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” She shined the flashlight and moved quickly ahead.

  Iris didn’t want to be left alone. “Wait for me!”

  By the time she caught up, Hana was by the trap. The look on her face told Iris that something was going on.

  “What’s wrong?” Iris asked. She was out of breath.

  “I think we caught one.” Hana shined the light directly on the trap.

  The box had fallen forward and it was moving slightly from side to side. The girls were inspecting it, when a sudden squeal came from inside. Both girls gasped.

  “Now what do we do?” asked Iris.

  “I don’t know!” Hana exclaimed. “I guess we should take a peek.”

  She slowly reached down to lift up the box and -

  Boom!

  At that very moment, there was a loud thunderclap and a flash of lightning. Both girls screamed, and Hana dropped the flashlight on top of the trap. The light went out, leaving the girls in total darkness.

  Boom! Crackle! Boom!

  Another burst of thunder and lightning tore through the sky. And that’s when heavy drops of rain began to fall.

  “Let’s get out of here!” cried Hana. She picked up the flashlight, but the light wouldn’t turn on.

  “What about the trap?” asked Iris.

  “We’ll come back tomorrow in the daylight,” replied Hana, who was already running toward the house. Iris did her best to keep up.

  The girls were drenched by the time they reached the kitchen. They used dish towels to dry themselves off.

  “That was scary!” Iris said.

  “Can you believe we caught a Menehune?” Hana asked.

  Iris shook her head. At that moment, all she cared about was being safe inside the house.

  “I’m so excited!” Hana declared. “Tomorrow, our Menehune will finish all the work, and we’ll get to have some fun!”

  Chapter Nine

  The girls woke to warm sunshine streaming through Hana’s bedroom window – and loud noises outside. From their beds they could hear people shouting and stomping heavily around the house.

  “What’s going on?” asked Iris.

  “Maybe it’s a Menehune!” said Hana. They leaped out of bed and ran to th
e window. Iris expected to catch a glimpse of the magical creature. Instead she saw something that shocked her even more.

  The backyard was a disaster. Everything that had been set up for the wedding had been destroyed in the storm. Fallen palm leaves covered the ground. The white folding chairs were caked with sandy mud. The beautiful wedding arch that the girls’ mothers had made was ripped apart.

  “Oh, no!” shouted Iris and Hana together.

  The girls ran downstairs to the kitchen. They found Tutu throwing containers of food into garbage cans.

  “Tutu!” Hana exclaimed. “What’s happening?”

  “Everything is ruined. We lost power in the middle of the night, and all the food spoiled. Your leis will have to be thrown out too.”

  She held up one of the leis. The beautiful pink and orange plumerias were now brown and wilting. Iris did her best to hold back tears.

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Tutu said, shaking her head. “The forecast predicted a beautiful night. But that storm was awful!”

  Hana and Iris exchanged glances.

  “Now what?” Hana asked nervously “The wedding is tomorrow.”

  “We have to start over,” answered Tutu.

  Hana and Iris’s mouths dropped open. They both knew what they had to do: get help from the Menehune!

  Arriving at the banyan tree, the girls hoped to find the Menehune but instead discovered more of the same mess. Small trees had toppled over, leaving broken branches everywhere. The cardboard box trap had been blown to one side of the banyan tree, while the stick and string were on the other. There was no sign of cookies or a magical creature anywhere.

  For a few moments, neither girl spoke. Finally, Iris broke the silence. “What do we do?”

  Hana shook her head. “Like Tutu said, we start over.”

  Tutu dropped Hana, Iris, and Leilani off at the flower field to collect more plumeria for the leis. The garden looked completely different from the day before. The trees were practically bare. Instead, petals and leaves were scattered all over the ground.

  “This place looks really bad too.” Hana said. Her voice quivered. “I think this is our fault.”

  “Me too,” agreed Iris.

  Leilani overheard them. “What are you talking about?”

  “We caused the storm,” said Hana. “Last night we caught a Menehune.”

  “What?” asked Leilani.

  Hana told her about their plan to get the work done more quickly. She described how they had built the trap and sneaked out of the house to check it at midnight.

  “I think we made him angry!” said Iris. “Now he’s punishing us and making bad things happen.”

  “Will Malia and Jay’s wedding be ruined?” asked Hana.

  Leilani chuckled and shook her head. “Menehune aren’t real, silly. Like Mom said, they are part of a legend. You probably caught a gecko in your trap!”

  “Do you really think so?” asked Iris hopefully.

  “I’m sure,” replied Leilani. “Now let’s get back to work. There have to be some plumeria here that we can still use for the leis.”

  The girls split up in search of fresh flowers, but it wasn’t easy. “I can’t find any!” Iris declared.

  “I found some,” Hana yelled from somewhere out of sight.

  “Where are you?” shouted Leilani

  “Up here!” Hana had climbed high up a tree and was stretching to reach some plumeria far out on a branch.

  Iris and Leilani ran over to the tree.

  Leilani yelled, “Get down! It’s too dangerous!”

  “I’m fine. Look how pretty these are.”

  Hana stretched her arm out toward the brightly colored petals.

  Snap!

  The branch cracked, and Hana started to tumble down. Thinking fast, Leilani moved underneath the tree to catch her sister.

  Thud! Hana fell, knocking Leilani over.

  “Oh, no!” Iris cried. She ran over to Hana and Leilani. They were both lying on the ground. “Are you okay?” Iris asked.

  Hana slowly rolled over. She was able to move her arms and legs. “I’m not hurt, thanks to Leilani. She broke my fall.”

  Iris looked at Leilani, who had tears streaming down her face.

  “I think my ankle is broken!” Leilani cried out.

  Chapter Ten

  In the waiting room at the hospital, Hana and Iris huddled together on a bench next to Tutu. Leilani and her parents were meeting with a doctor in another room.

  Tears filled Hana’s eyes. “This is all my fault,” she whimpered. “Leilani’s leg, the storm, the spoiled food, the ruined decorations. I feel terrible.”

  “It’ll be okay,” comforted Iris.

  “What?” Tutu narrowed her eyes as she overheard them. “How could all this bad luck be your fault, Hana?”

  Iris exchanged a glance with Hana. “Well…” Hana began, “we…”

  Tutu listened as the girls told her the whole story about catching a Menehune.

  “I see,” Tutu said. For a long time she didn’t say another word. Then she cleared her throat.

  “I’m glad you girls told me what you did. Hana, you know better. You should never leave the house late at night without getting permission from an adult. I hope you have learned your lesson. The Menehune are not to be messed with.”

  “But Tutu, is there anything we can do to make things better for the wedding?” Hana asked with a sniffle.

  “You already broke the rules, and we can’t turn back time. But…” Tutu gave the girls a stern look. “From now on, cooperate and be extra-good helpers. We have a wedding to save!”

  Hana’s grandmother hugged both girls. “One more thing. Put some more vanilla wafers out for the Menehune. You have to keep them happy.”

  “But Leilani said the Menehune aren’t real,” said Hana.

  “What could it hurt?” asked Tutu.

  Iris and Hana exchanged looks and shrugged. They were finally smiling again too.

  Just then, Leilani entered the waiting room with her parents. She was using crutches to walk.

  “We have some good news and some bad news,” Hana’s dad said.

  “Leilani’s ankle isn’t broken,” said her mom.

  “Whew!” Hana sighed in relief.

  “But it is badly sprained,” she went on. “It’s wrapped in a tight bandage, and she’ll have to use crutches.”

  Iris swallowed hard. “What about the wedding tomorrow? How will she walk down the aisle?”

  “We’ll decorate the crutches with some flowers,” said Hana’s dad. “We’ll make the best of it.”

  Hana turned to her sister. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “I know. You were trying to help the wedding,” Leilani said. “I forgive you.”

  Hana smiled. Iris began to feel better too.

  “Speaking of the wedding, we have a lot of work to do,” Tutu said.

  “Wait a minute,” Leilani interrupted. “What about the hula? I won’t be able to dance. Oh, no, Hana. It was our special gift to Malia and Jay!”

  “What are we going to do?” Hana wailed.

  “No worries!” Tutu declared. “Iris can take Leilani’s place.”

  All eyes turned to Iris. She felt her face heat up.

  “No way!” Iris blurted out. “I can’t do the hula. I’m a terrible dancer! There’s no time for me to learn. The wedding is tomorrow!”

  “Please, Iris!” begged Hana. “I can teach you. It’s for Malia and Jay.”

  Iris was having trouble swallowing. How could she possibly learn a dance in one day?

  “Nope! No way! Can’t do it!” she repeated.

  Everyone was still looking at her. Iris could see sadness in all their faces.

  “You can do it, Iris,” said Tutu calmly. Then she whispered into Iris’s ear, “Don’t forget, the Menehune will help you too.”

  Iris gulped. She didn’t know what to do. I wish Rosie and Starr were here to help me decide, she thought. B
ut she already knew what they’d say.

  “Alright,” she said softly.

  “Hooray!” the family cheered.

  Hana hugged Iris. “Thank you! Don’t worry, you’ll be a great hula dancer!”

  Iris wanted to believe Hana, but she couldn’t help worrying. Everything in this wedding had gone wrong so far.

  Chapter Eleven

  There was no time to waste! When the family returned to the house, everyone went right to work. A neighbor had heard about Leilani’s accident and brought over baskets of fresh flowers. Now the girls were remaking all the leis.

  When she finished her first lei, Hana proudly held it up for all to see. “Look! I’m ready to make another one.”

  “Wow!” Leilani said. “It’s perfect!”

  Iris was amazed at how quickly Hana had strung the flowers. And she hadn’t broken any petals!

  When all the leis were finished, Hana and Iris asked their fathers if they could help them with their jobs. The girls raced each other to see who could set up more chairs on the beach. Then they offered to help their moms with the decorations. Hana folded napkins while Iris arranged flowers in vases.

  With no more tasks to complete, the girls headed to the banyan tree to make things right with the Menehune. They decided to leave a whole box of cookies as an apology gift. Hana wrote a note. It said:

  Dear Menehune,

  We are SO sorry! Will you

  forgive us?

  Mahalo, Hana & Iris

  P.S. We hope you like the cookies!

  “What does Mahalo mean?” Iris asked Hana.

  “It’s Hawaiian for ‘thank you.’ If we’re polite, maybe they’ll be nice again.”

  “I hope so!” agreed Iris.

  After dinner the girls met on the back patio. It was the moment that Iris had been dreading all day: the hula lesson.

  “You can do it, Iris!” cheered Leilani from a chair.

  Iris scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something rotten.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll help you,” said Hana. “Every hula dance tells a story. The movements are the words of the story.”