An excerpt from my book “Red Jewel:”
And this Huleia River? Its flow was peaceful and sleepy. It took us
toward the southwestern part of the island. From our perspective we did
indeed find ourselves bound within an earthly Garden of Eden. Kauai
was the Hawaiian Garden Isle. It was God’s gift to the Hawaiian people
and their pagan interpretation of their deity. But for God’s salvation’s
sake, it was only necessary for them to keep their own faith and beliefs
and be righteous underneath their god’s light.
After a couple of bends to the right, right again and then left , Nina
motioned me to row toward a clearing that she saw on the left bank of
the river. This I did but in the blind as my back was to our course upriver
under her direction. We were giggling, and then laughing, as our little
dinghy came to rest up on to a small red sandy strip of river beach. I got
out, then Nina and we pulled the dinghy to a safe berth out of the water
and onto dry land. I tied it off to the trunk of a palm, the shaft of which
was bent out and then up and over the river. There was a small clearing
that was perfect for us to sit, lay and relax under the warmth of the late
afternoon sun. Beside me Nina lay, stretched out, her eyes closed with
a broad smile of contentment and happiness that could be discerned
by the features of her youthful face. Th e soft light of the afternoon sun
highlighted her natural tan. To me, she was perfect: a real Hawaiian
Princess.
“What?” she opened her eyes and looked at me above her studying her
every feature. Embarrassed, I turned away and couched my head into
the crux of my left arm.
“Nothing Nina. Just thinking. It is so peaceful here…so beautiful.”
“Mmmm, yes, it is,” she moaned, as if she was caught within the
confusion of a conscious thought and unconscious sleep.
I got up and walked over to the river bank and looked around. To my
right there was what appeared to be a weathered path that followed the
course of the river.
“Nina, get up, let’s follow this path here and see where it goes.”
Nina stretched her arms high above her head with clasped hands and
intertwined fi ngers. She then gasped, shook the late aft ernoon tiredness
from her being and came over and joined me. Together we began to
walk that path.
After about thirty minutes we could hear a light whooshing, rumbling,
splashing sound ahead of us. We looked at one another without making
a sound. Could this be the sound of a Hawaiian legend: of Pele looking
out for her lover? Who knows? But in an instant the landscape ahead
of us opened up to this large, wonderful vista. The Huleia Stream
transformed itself into a cascading freefall over a cliff that was just to
the left of our pathway. Not a very big cliff , mind you, but big enough to
form a beautiful waterfall.
“Whoopee!” Nina screamed then ran ahead of me, like a child…down,
down she went to a fl at area of shale at the bottom of the cliff . I followed
suit but my cautious nature had me treading gingerly down the path. It
was slippery aft er all. It didn’t matter to Nina. At the bottom, with the
waterfall to our left , was a large pool that captured the cascade above us.
The water was an emerald green color but graced with a bluish turquoise
hue. A rainbow, a perpetual beautiful rainbow, with all of the colors,
hung magically and perpendicularly across the face of the falls, forming
a perfect arc across the mist. Behind the sheen and veil, you could make
out the smooth, brownish grey rock face, the backbone of the hill that
formed the cliff and the underbelly of the waterfall itself.
Nina screamed with delight. She stripped down, naked to me, on
some flat smooth rock that framed the east side of the pool.
“Oh Jimmy” she exclaimed “this is so wonderful, so magical, mystical,
whoa–wee. I am so happy, so excited here. This is a gift , a gift to us from
the Hawaiian gods Jimmy.” Her eyes lit up and sparkled. “Oh, to my God
Jimmy…a gift to share with us.” And with that she dove off of the rocks
and into the pool. Her tanned bottom shimmering, refractively under
the clear water was the last thing I saw. She surfaced a few yards out with
her beautiful back to me. She turned toward me, and screamed…a happy,
happy excitable and playful scream. Nina smiled such a broad smile. At
this very moment in time, to me, she was perfect. And she was with me
— thank you Lord for thinking about me.
I stripped as fast as I could, hobbling on one leg in my excitement to get
my runners off . A short run later and off I went, into this magical pool of
enchantment with a girl that I was beginning to fall for. A cannonball for
heaven’s sake. I had a juvenile mind I must admit. The water was so fresh
and clean especially after our salt water bath. Surfacing, I swam over to
Nina but stayed a respectable distance away. Shyness was drowning me.
I just stayed there in one place treading water and watching her. Scared,
but in a good way. Nervous? You bet I was. Nina disappeared below the
water and then rose breaking the surface behind me. She wrapped her
arms around my neck, turned me ever so gently toward her and then
held me close, face to face, smiling at me. Her deep blue eyes drew me
in to her as if I was caught in a barb and being reeled into a net. I had
no control. The water around her, the waterfall, the rainbow colors, the
mist, the mountains around us and the outflow of the cool refreshing
water of the Huleia were nature’s aphrodisiac. I was trapped, nervous
with anticipation and helpless all the same but willing and able. Nina
drew me close to her. I could smell her sweet warm breath on my face.
Closer and closer and closer to her I came. Suddenly her broad, almost
comical smile and mischievous expression disappeared. She closed her
eyes and drew me to her mouth: her arms and hands firmly placed
behind my neck. We kissed — a long sweet embrace. I could feel the
warmth of her breath and her nudeness all around me — envelop me,
even with the cool ambient temperature of the pool. This was indeed
paradise. If heaven is even close to this…
“This is our heaven Jimmy,” she whispered to me. “Never forget this
place of ours.”
You can read more of “Red Jewel” through Amazon.com. Check out these books, all good reads.
Check out www.johnmorrisonauthor.com
Have a great day.