Kainak the Awesome

Chapter 9

Gina and John went back to the camp after the hypnosis session. Julie and Kimi stayed behind to visit with their adopted fellow tribespeople. Admittedly, neither one could really wrap their heads around the fact that they were official members of a tribe. Perhaps Western and Far Eastern civilizations are so separated from humanity's tribal roots that Going Native/Tribal is an indescribable thrill. Must be one of the reasons Kainak decided to stay.

NOT counting people being made honorary members of a tribe or some white dude becoming a registered member of a Native American/First Nations tribe. That's something else entirely. We're talking about the real, tribal society deal here.

Whatever.

Julie did try to ring Kai up on the radio but didn't get an answer. Eventually, she gave up and agreed to have them send a hawk to the treehouse to deliver her note. The hawk came back after half an hour without the note. That's good, because the hawk was supposed to deliver it like a mail hawk (ba dum, tsh!).

But Julie was doubtlessly worried about Kai. He would've liked the roast piggie the tribe shared for the informal feast.

New that he was doing fine, relatively speaking, and he was. In some little corner of the jungle, he'd killed a wild chicken, plucked its feathers, put it on a spit and cooked it. Kind of like the countless nights he spent before, killing whatever he could get his hands on just to survive. Unfortunately for Julie, those bad memories were making him consider going back to civilization. At least he'd get a good meal, quality healthcare and a chance to finally watch the Jets.

Kings fan Julie though, wasn't too crazy about going back to Cali.

You probably know where this is going.

For now, though, Julie's concerns were focused on Pua's description of his ordeal. She tried to focus on something else, like the stories Kame told, but it wasn't working out like she'd hoped. She'd look back over at the indie villager every now and then, only to be pulled back by Lilo.

To get her focus away from them, she looked over at Hana, whom she felt must have been making scheme against Pua. She narrowed her eyes at the tribal elder and wondered what she was up to.

However, this put a strain on Lilo, who only wanted to see her friend laughing. So, despite her own dignity, she grabbed some Spirit Water, drank a good deal of it, got up, shed her clothes and danced wildly around the bonfire. Julie was just as bewildered as the rest of the village was, but soon, she was hopped up on Spirit Water and dancing nakedly with some of the other twenty-something villagers. Kai was going to miss out on this, but it was his loss.

Lilo's efforts worked in the end. Julie was too busy dancing nakedly, hopped up on a hallucinogenic drug to care about the stress she was dealing with, and about the stares. She also didn't care that she was white girl dancing, either.

When they were finished, Julie helped Lilo stumble back to her hut with clothes in hand and Lilo yammering excitedly about how awesome getting naked was. The stunned expressions on everyone's faces made her feel empowered, that she was in control of who she was. She knew she'd get an earful from Hana tomorrow morning, but Lilo didn't care. Julie even congratulated her and asked what she was going to do next.

"I don't know," she said as she laid down on her little hammock. "Maybe I'll just go to sleep."

Julie shrugged and climbed into another hammock next to Lilo's.

She didn't know what transpired next.

Gina and John got back to the camp just a little bit after nightfall. The weekly bonfire was raging, with the other researchers gathered around to cook hot dogs, marshmallows and whatever you could think of. Even mangoes. Yes, people actually grill mangoes. That aside, the research team was still feeling loose, despite, or in spite of, the drama gripping the island.