The Twins walked toward the beach area with no idea of what they were
supposed to be doing or where they were supposed to be going. One had said
that if they walked around long enough, they were sure to find something to
interest them, even if it meant throwing sand on the passing tourists. They
soon stopped by a tree to rest while looking over their new surroundings.
"Hey, One, what does this mean?" Two pointed to a sign hanging on the tree next to them.
" 'Watch out for falling coconuts'." One read the sign aloud then shrugged at not knowing what it was talking about.
"What's a coconut?" Two asked.
"I think it's some kind of fruit or nut or something." One replied.
"Then why would they have a sign like this here?"
"Dunno."
Just then something fell from the tree and hit Two in the head. Two yelped in pain, dropped the suitcase he held and put his hands on his throbbing head. One ran to his side.
"You ok, ol' chap?"
"Yeah I think so. Someone's up in the tree throwing things at us!"
One glanced up in the branches of the weird looking tree but saw no one.
"I don't see anyone up there." He said turning back to his ailing sibling.
"Well someone's got to be up there! That thing didn't come out of the sky." Two rubbed his head.
One picked up the coconut Two had pointed to and looked at it curiously.
"Well it won't bother us anymore." One got up and tossed the nut as far as he could then turned back to Two. Both Twins sat down under the shade of the tree until Two felt well enough to continue walking. A tap on One's shoulder broke the long silence. One turned and looked up, only to look into the face of that one muscular man they had met on the plane, the same one who had shown One that there was more than one use for a trombone slide! One swallowed before trying to speak.
"Y-yes?"
The guy held out the coconut One had thrown.
"Does this belong to you?" the guy asked in his deep voice.
One nodded slowly before swallowing again. The guy took off the baseball cap he wore to reveal a huge swollen place on his forehead. One's forced smile dropped. Replacing his cap and throwing the coconut hard onto the ground, the man started to roll up the sleeves of his shirt, never once taking his eyes off of One. When he was done the guy reached down and grabbed the front of One's coat and pulled him up to meet his face.
"Mother." One whispered to himself before seeing the knuckles of the man's fist coming toward his face then seeing nothing but stars then blackness afterwards.
It was awhile before One regained consciousness. He looked around him for a few seconds while trying to remember what had happened. Two sat up against the tree, his legs drawn up to his chest.
"Welcome back." He said when One's eyes rested on him. One tried getting up and grabbed a handful of sand as he did so. Disgusted by its feeling, he quickly threw it down and tried wiping what was on his hands on his coat. He groaned as he leaned up against the tree beside Two.
"I feel like my face has been hit by a boulder." One groaned again.
"Phase." Two calmly said. At Two's words, One phased for a few seconds then reappeared.
"Better?" Two asked. One nodded, feeling new again.
Both of them sighed in unison as they sat in silence, the cool sea breeze blowing their silver dreadlocks. One picked up the coconut that the guy had thrown down into the sand.
"There is no coconut." A voice said. The Twins looked up together to see the little bald boy that they had seen on the bus.
"Not you again!" One grumbled.
"There is no coconut." The boy pointed to the round nut One held.
"I wish you'd tell that to the guy that flattened my face awhile ago." One dropped the nut back on the ground.
The Spoon Boy finally left, walking down the beach toward the ocean.
"This is a nightmare!" Two whimpered. "That kid and the guy you met on the plane are following us, I know it!"
"Seems that way."
"At least giggle box isn't following us." Two shuddered when he thought of the girl with the high pitched voice.
"Yeah, that is a relief."
One turned a half-smiling face to Two.
"Hey, want to try that out?" One pointed to the ocean where several surfers were riding waves toward the shore.
"And dress up in those shorts?! No way! Remember what I said on the plane?"
"Aw, come on." One got up and grabbed onto Two's arm.
A little while later found both Twins in one of the beach's changing rooms. One flipped open the small suitcase the Mero had packed for them and started dragging out its contents. Two did the same.
"What do you suppose this is for?" Two held up a bottle of something. One took it and looked at the label.
"It says 'Sunscreen lotion'." One opened the bottle and squeezed out a blob of what was inside into his hand.
"Ewww." Two's nose wrinkled.
One poked at the blob in his hand then winced in disgust.
"Well whatever it is, we aren't using it." One grabbed a towel and rubbed the gooey mess off of him. Two reached for a pair of brightly colored shorts the Mero had stuffed in his case and held them up.
"You have got to be kidding."
"What?"
"There is no way I am gonna wear these things." Two looked over the bright blue shorts dotted with huge hot pink flowers. One reached for his pair and held them up, bright lime green dotted with neon orange palm trees.
"The Mero must be out of his mind." Two whispered as they stared at their shorts.
"When was he ever in his mind?" One whispered back.
"Why not wear what we have on? We can always phase afterwards to dry ourselves."
"It's tempting. However, we may get a lot of weird looks."
"Yeah that's true, but we'll probably get even more weird looks if we go out that door with these things on."
"Put them on." One sighed.
"Wha?!"
"Just do it!"
"But,"
"It won't kill us to do it just this one time. At least the Mero isn't here to enjoy the moment. No one out there knows who we are. To them we look like ordinary people at the beach."
"Ordinary?"
"You know what I mean. Now put the shorts on."
"There are no shorts." A tiny voice came from a bench behind them.
"Don't tell me." One gasped before turning around. Yes, it was the Spoon Boy again.
"Will you ever fade?!" The Twins said in unison while watching the boy get up and walk toward the door. He smiled, opened the door and walked out before closing it behind him.
"Sheesh!" Two mumbled while taking his coat off.
After much gathering of courage, the Twins finally came out of the changing room they had been in.
"I don't want to go out there. I feel like such an idiot!"
"Oh, Two, will you forget it and come on?!"
Two slowly stepped out from behind the door and followed his brother. Both of them carried a brightly colored surfboard each that they had found propped up against one of the walls inside the changing room.
"What do we do now?" Two's voice was low.
"I guess we walk toward the ocean." One began walking, careful not to hit anything with his board. It was only a short walk until they reached the edge of the water.
"Now what?"
One stared at the water for awhile as Two looked over his surfboard.
"Blast it, how does this surfboard thing work anyway?!"
"There is no surfboard." The Spoon Boy said as he walked by the two twins.
"Will you go away?!" Two shouted irritably.
After the boy had walked on, Two frustratingly looked at the rest of the people around them. Turning to the left and forgetting how long the surfboard tucked under his right arm was, he heard a yell then a thump. Turning back around, he saw One face down in the muddy sand. Two threw the board down and ran to help One up.
"I'm sorry, One, I had no idea."
One grabbed up a handful of wet sand and pressed it into Two's face. Two cringed while he spit some of the sand out of his mouth.
"Now watch what you do the next time!"
One wiped his face off as he got up.
"This is not going to work, One." Two spit more sand out of his mouth. "We have no idea how to surf, it's terribly hot and uncomfortable out here, and the sun's too bright!"
"Will you stop complaining? At least we're away from the Merovingian and Persephone. Doesn't that thought alone make it better?"
Two thought a few minutes then nodded silently.
"Ok then. Now let's see if we can make these boards work." One started walking out into the water. Two slowly followed.
At first the Twins couldn't make the boards work, tumbling and crashing into each other and getting lost in the waves. Two gasped at getting soaked and tried persuading One to go back to the beach and giving up this surfboard thing, but One didn't say anything. Good thing they were programmed to swim, Two thought as he swam back to his brother after being carried out by the raging waves. After about ten or more tries, One finally learned to surf correctly. Two watched as One came in on the last wave.
"Alright!" One shouted after getting off of his board and coming up to Two. Two only shook his head.
"Aren't you even going to try?"
"You saw me out there."
"Aw, come on! I'll show you how." One grinned. Two for a moment thought One was actually enjoying this. Two sighed and gave in.
"There is no wave." That voice came again.
The Twins watched as the Spoon Boy walked on by and disappeared down the beach.
"That kid is freaky!" Said Two.
"Yeah. Well come on, I'll show you how surfing is done."
The Twins returned back out to the sea where One took Two through the steps of learning to surf. Two was scared at first, but he soon learned and before long both Twins were surfing.
"It's great isn't it?" One shouted to his brother over the roar of the waves.
"Y-yeah, it is." Two stuttered, trying to keep his balance.
Coming in from the last wave, they both settled down on the beach to rest. A beautiful young woman approached them.
"Everyone on the beach is invited to attend the luau tonight. If you two are interested." She said while smiling. The Twins agreed even though they had no idea of what they were agreeing to. The woman left to invite others.
"What's a luau?" Two whispered.
"I dunno. Guess we'll just have to go and see. Right now let's go over there to that stand and get something cold to drink."
The two got up and walked up the beach to a stand having tables with umbrellas out front. On the counter of the stand was a picture of a fish and a huge long name above it, Humuhumunukunukuwapuaa. Upon seeing it, Two's eyebrows rose above his shades.
"One, take a look at that name."
One turned to the picture and gasped.
"Humoounmhawnukeewapluw." One tried saying the word.
"I don't think you pronounced that right." Two again looked at the word.
"I think my tongue knotted up."
"Humuipeymununchuxunoooowoopa." Two tried.
"Nope, I don't think you got it right either. In fact that sounded almost like Japanese."
"And I thought French was hard to say!"
"May I help you?" the guy behind the counter asked.
"Give us anything you have that's cold and drinkable." One said, his soaking dreadlocks clung to his shoulders.
"You got it."
The man went and brought back two glasses filled with something yellow.
"There ya are." The guy smiled.
"Uh, what is it?" One picked up the glass.
"Lemonade."
One showed it to Two. Two picked up his glass and looked it over then sipped it. One looked on as Two's face began to pucker. One's eyebrows raised as his twin grabbed at his throat.
"Two, what is it?" One asked nervously. Two tried to answer but he couldn't. "Swallow it!" One grabbed onto Two's arm. Two shook his head 'no'.
"Then spit it out!"
Two turned his head and spit the sour liquid out and gagged awhile trying to catch his breath.
"Ack! I've never tasted anything like it!" Two huffed and breathed deep.
"Let's get back to the hotel." One suggested after sniffing the lemonade in his glass. "Run back to the changing room and grab a coin or two to pay for this."
Two returned with money to pay for the lemonade, then they both headed back toward the changing rooms.
"Hey, One, what does this mean?" Two pointed to a sign hanging on the tree next to them.
" 'Watch out for falling coconuts'." One read the sign aloud then shrugged at not knowing what it was talking about.
"What's a coconut?" Two asked.
"I think it's some kind of fruit or nut or something." One replied.
"Then why would they have a sign like this here?"
"Dunno."
Just then something fell from the tree and hit Two in the head. Two yelped in pain, dropped the suitcase he held and put his hands on his throbbing head. One ran to his side.
"You ok, ol' chap?"
"Yeah I think so. Someone's up in the tree throwing things at us!"
One glanced up in the branches of the weird looking tree but saw no one.
"I don't see anyone up there." He said turning back to his ailing sibling.
"Well someone's got to be up there! That thing didn't come out of the sky." Two rubbed his head.
One picked up the coconut Two had pointed to and looked at it curiously.
"Well it won't bother us anymore." One got up and tossed the nut as far as he could then turned back to Two. Both Twins sat down under the shade of the tree until Two felt well enough to continue walking. A tap on One's shoulder broke the long silence. One turned and looked up, only to look into the face of that one muscular man they had met on the plane, the same one who had shown One that there was more than one use for a trombone slide! One swallowed before trying to speak.
"Y-yes?"
The guy held out the coconut One had thrown.
"Does this belong to you?" the guy asked in his deep voice.
One nodded slowly before swallowing again. The guy took off the baseball cap he wore to reveal a huge swollen place on his forehead. One's forced smile dropped. Replacing his cap and throwing the coconut hard onto the ground, the man started to roll up the sleeves of his shirt, never once taking his eyes off of One. When he was done the guy reached down and grabbed the front of One's coat and pulled him up to meet his face.
"Mother." One whispered to himself before seeing the knuckles of the man's fist coming toward his face then seeing nothing but stars then blackness afterwards.
It was awhile before One regained consciousness. He looked around him for a few seconds while trying to remember what had happened. Two sat up against the tree, his legs drawn up to his chest.
"Welcome back." He said when One's eyes rested on him. One tried getting up and grabbed a handful of sand as he did so. Disgusted by its feeling, he quickly threw it down and tried wiping what was on his hands on his coat. He groaned as he leaned up against the tree beside Two.
"I feel like my face has been hit by a boulder." One groaned again.
"Phase." Two calmly said. At Two's words, One phased for a few seconds then reappeared.
"Better?" Two asked. One nodded, feeling new again.
Both of them sighed in unison as they sat in silence, the cool sea breeze blowing their silver dreadlocks. One picked up the coconut that the guy had thrown down into the sand.
"There is no coconut." A voice said. The Twins looked up together to see the little bald boy that they had seen on the bus.
"Not you again!" One grumbled.
"There is no coconut." The boy pointed to the round nut One held.
"I wish you'd tell that to the guy that flattened my face awhile ago." One dropped the nut back on the ground.
The Spoon Boy finally left, walking down the beach toward the ocean.
"This is a nightmare!" Two whimpered. "That kid and the guy you met on the plane are following us, I know it!"
"Seems that way."
"At least giggle box isn't following us." Two shuddered when he thought of the girl with the high pitched voice.
"Yeah, that is a relief."
One turned a half-smiling face to Two.
"Hey, want to try that out?" One pointed to the ocean where several surfers were riding waves toward the shore.
"And dress up in those shorts?! No way! Remember what I said on the plane?"
"Aw, come on." One got up and grabbed onto Two's arm.
A little while later found both Twins in one of the beach's changing rooms. One flipped open the small suitcase the Mero had packed for them and started dragging out its contents. Two did the same.
"What do you suppose this is for?" Two held up a bottle of something. One took it and looked at the label.
"It says 'Sunscreen lotion'." One opened the bottle and squeezed out a blob of what was inside into his hand.
"Ewww." Two's nose wrinkled.
One poked at the blob in his hand then winced in disgust.
"Well whatever it is, we aren't using it." One grabbed a towel and rubbed the gooey mess off of him. Two reached for a pair of brightly colored shorts the Mero had stuffed in his case and held them up.
"You have got to be kidding."
"What?"
"There is no way I am gonna wear these things." Two looked over the bright blue shorts dotted with huge hot pink flowers. One reached for his pair and held them up, bright lime green dotted with neon orange palm trees.
"The Mero must be out of his mind." Two whispered as they stared at their shorts.
"When was he ever in his mind?" One whispered back.
"Why not wear what we have on? We can always phase afterwards to dry ourselves."
"It's tempting. However, we may get a lot of weird looks."
"Yeah that's true, but we'll probably get even more weird looks if we go out that door with these things on."
"Put them on." One sighed.
"Wha?!"
"Just do it!"
"But,"
"It won't kill us to do it just this one time. At least the Mero isn't here to enjoy the moment. No one out there knows who we are. To them we look like ordinary people at the beach."
"Ordinary?"
"You know what I mean. Now put the shorts on."
"There are no shorts." A tiny voice came from a bench behind them.
"Don't tell me." One gasped before turning around. Yes, it was the Spoon Boy again.
"Will you ever fade?!" The Twins said in unison while watching the boy get up and walk toward the door. He smiled, opened the door and walked out before closing it behind him.
"Sheesh!" Two mumbled while taking his coat off.
After much gathering of courage, the Twins finally came out of the changing room they had been in.
"I don't want to go out there. I feel like such an idiot!"
"Oh, Two, will you forget it and come on?!"
Two slowly stepped out from behind the door and followed his brother. Both of them carried a brightly colored surfboard each that they had found propped up against one of the walls inside the changing room.
"What do we do now?" Two's voice was low.
"I guess we walk toward the ocean." One began walking, careful not to hit anything with his board. It was only a short walk until they reached the edge of the water.
"Now what?"
One stared at the water for awhile as Two looked over his surfboard.
"Blast it, how does this surfboard thing work anyway?!"
"There is no surfboard." The Spoon Boy said as he walked by the two twins.
"Will you go away?!" Two shouted irritably.
After the boy had walked on, Two frustratingly looked at the rest of the people around them. Turning to the left and forgetting how long the surfboard tucked under his right arm was, he heard a yell then a thump. Turning back around, he saw One face down in the muddy sand. Two threw the board down and ran to help One up.
"I'm sorry, One, I had no idea."
One grabbed up a handful of wet sand and pressed it into Two's face. Two cringed while he spit some of the sand out of his mouth.
"Now watch what you do the next time!"
One wiped his face off as he got up.
"This is not going to work, One." Two spit more sand out of his mouth. "We have no idea how to surf, it's terribly hot and uncomfortable out here, and the sun's too bright!"
"Will you stop complaining? At least we're away from the Merovingian and Persephone. Doesn't that thought alone make it better?"
Two thought a few minutes then nodded silently.
"Ok then. Now let's see if we can make these boards work." One started walking out into the water. Two slowly followed.
At first the Twins couldn't make the boards work, tumbling and crashing into each other and getting lost in the waves. Two gasped at getting soaked and tried persuading One to go back to the beach and giving up this surfboard thing, but One didn't say anything. Good thing they were programmed to swim, Two thought as he swam back to his brother after being carried out by the raging waves. After about ten or more tries, One finally learned to surf correctly. Two watched as One came in on the last wave.
"Alright!" One shouted after getting off of his board and coming up to Two. Two only shook his head.
"Aren't you even going to try?"
"You saw me out there."
"Aw, come on! I'll show you how." One grinned. Two for a moment thought One was actually enjoying this. Two sighed and gave in.
"There is no wave." That voice came again.
The Twins watched as the Spoon Boy walked on by and disappeared down the beach.
"That kid is freaky!" Said Two.
"Yeah. Well come on, I'll show you how surfing is done."
The Twins returned back out to the sea where One took Two through the steps of learning to surf. Two was scared at first, but he soon learned and before long both Twins were surfing.
"It's great isn't it?" One shouted to his brother over the roar of the waves.
"Y-yeah, it is." Two stuttered, trying to keep his balance.
Coming in from the last wave, they both settled down on the beach to rest. A beautiful young woman approached them.
"Everyone on the beach is invited to attend the luau tonight. If you two are interested." She said while smiling. The Twins agreed even though they had no idea of what they were agreeing to. The woman left to invite others.
"What's a luau?" Two whispered.
"I dunno. Guess we'll just have to go and see. Right now let's go over there to that stand and get something cold to drink."
The two got up and walked up the beach to a stand having tables with umbrellas out front. On the counter of the stand was a picture of a fish and a huge long name above it, Humuhumunukunukuwapuaa. Upon seeing it, Two's eyebrows rose above his shades.
"One, take a look at that name."
One turned to the picture and gasped.
"Humoounmhawnukeewapluw." One tried saying the word.
"I don't think you pronounced that right." Two again looked at the word.
"I think my tongue knotted up."
"Humuipeymununchuxunoooowoopa." Two tried.
"Nope, I don't think you got it right either. In fact that sounded almost like Japanese."
"And I thought French was hard to say!"
"May I help you?" the guy behind the counter asked.
"Give us anything you have that's cold and drinkable." One said, his soaking dreadlocks clung to his shoulders.
"You got it."
The man went and brought back two glasses filled with something yellow.
"There ya are." The guy smiled.
"Uh, what is it?" One picked up the glass.
"Lemonade."
One showed it to Two. Two picked up his glass and looked it over then sipped it. One looked on as Two's face began to pucker. One's eyebrows raised as his twin grabbed at his throat.
"Two, what is it?" One asked nervously. Two tried to answer but he couldn't. "Swallow it!" One grabbed onto Two's arm. Two shook his head 'no'.
"Then spit it out!"
Two turned his head and spit the sour liquid out and gagged awhile trying to catch his breath.
"Ack! I've never tasted anything like it!" Two huffed and breathed deep.
"Let's get back to the hotel." One suggested after sniffing the lemonade in his glass. "Run back to the changing room and grab a coin or two to pay for this."
Two returned with money to pay for the lemonade, then they both headed back toward the changing rooms.