Would you like to be part of my barefoot wish? We could walk hand in hand dodging rainbows on the beach in Hanalei with cool rain falling on our heads and warm sand squishing between our toes. Clouds slip past the sun and the rainbow colors become so intense that our eyes fill with joy tears. We run faster and faster filling our lungs with the sweet salty air as we try to reach the end of the rainbow before it melts back into the furry green mountains. We’re nearly there and can almost touch the colors. A pod of dolphins gets there before we do. They leap with childlike abandon, spinning and flipping towards the rainbow, absorbing the vibrating colors until each individual is now a rainbow of its own. This is my barefoot wish.
Louie, I first met Hanalei when I was turning 21 and a young television actor co-starring in a made for television movie called Lost Flight, starring Lloyd Bridges, Ralph Meeker, Billie Dee Williams, Anne Francis and myself. Since I first set eyes on Kauai, it has been my favorite place on earth. And Hanalei my favorite part of Kauai. In my second novel, Movies on the Sails, I named a Hawaiian girl character Hanalei in its honor. The place stays with you, and calls to you. I want to take Wilder Kathleen there. Thanks for this. Happy trails, Michael.