In Hawaii Free ...: First Time

"Jump in," Kai grinned, pointing to a natural tide pool carved into the black stone.

By midday, the heat was shimmering off the asphalt. He hitched a ride in the back of a rusted pickup truck with a surfer named Kai. Kai didn't take him to the crowded tourist beaches. Instead, they pulled over at a jagged stretch of lava rock. First Time in Hawaii Free ...

As evening approached, Leo found a spot on the sand at Poipu. He didn't have a ticket to a dinner show, but he had a bag of local mangoes and a front-row seat to the horizon. As the sun dipped, turning the ocean into liquid gold, a group of locals gathered nearby. One started strumming a ukulele, the notes drifting over the sound of the crashing surf. "Jump in," Kai grinned, pointing to a natural

The humidity hit Leo the second he stepped off the plane in Lihue, smelling faintly of salt and crushed hibiscus. He had exactly seventy-four dollars in his bank account—hardly enough for a fancy luau or a guided helicopter tour of the Na Pali Coast. Kai didn't take him to the crowded tourist beaches