Kanani, my German Shepherd, dropped something heavy on my foot. “Ouch!” I said.

I looked up from wiping down the tables outside my small grocery store and saw my niece Leila in hot pursuit of her. I leaned over and picked up the object, it looked like GOLD!

“Aunt Sophia, see what I found with Kanani, I could not stop her from running back here with it. We were playing on Hulopoe Beach and Kanani found a cave and ran in. I followed her in and there were crates and crates of gold and diamonds in them!” Leila added, “I think this isgold.”

“It looks real, why don’t you two follow me into the office and we will wash it off.  Let me tell Allen where we will be in case he needs me.”I told her. With that we trooped into my office and I closed the door.

              “Let’s clean it off,” I said reaching for a towel.

Kanani ran over to her water bowl and slurped up a bunch of water then went over and laid in her bed.

“It looks like gold with the dirt gone,” I said. “Let me call John and Kimo, we need more opinions.”

I put it in my safe and told them to stay in the office.I walked out into my market and told my manager Allen Johnson and employee Billy Martin that they could close and start cleaning up. Then I made some calls.

“Allen, tomorrow you can run the shop; John will be around if you need him,” I told them.

John Barnes was my good friend that owned the small hotel up the road; he was a retired FBI agent I met some years ago on another adventure on Maui. When I moved to Lanai and bought this market a year ago, he decided to retire here and buy the local boutique hotel that was for sale. My good friend Kimo Kai moved over from Maui and bought a dive business on Manele Bay, both of us moored our yachts there.

“Enjoy your days off on Sunday and Monday, I will see you Tuesday.” I said.

With that I walked back to my office and closed the door.

“John and Kimo will be over in a bit I told Leila, I want you to tell them the story you told me.” I said.