Moana Has a Case of Summer Blues

Aloha, makamaka! Moana is back to write again. Anyways, around mid-June, summer was starting to creep in, and all the dolls could feel it. Now I love summer, but unfortunately, the season does bring a great deal of heat. The question was, how were we to cope with it?

***

"It's hooooottttt." Anna whined. She was laying on the tile floor of the kitchen with the rest of us, which was supposed to be the coolest spot in the house with the air conditioning coming from the grates there, but I doubted so. I have a very high tolerance for heat, but even I was starting to feel the humidity. The calendar said it was technically still spring. But we said it was definitely already summer.
"We knooowwww," Elsa snorted. "Could you be any more dramatic?"
"Nooooo. But I have an idea. Let's get a pool."
Another snort from Elsa. "Oh, yeah? Where are we going to find such a thing?"
"We could go to the beach!" I cried.
Anna flashed me sympathetic eyes. "Sorry, Moana. We're landlocked. You know that already."
"I know, I know..." I groaned. Why did I have to be doomed to be the doll I was, named after the ocean, even, and end up with a human who lived no where near it?
"Besides, we shouldn't leave the yard without She. Much less the house. It might violate the Code of Dolls." Said Elsa.
"Oh yeah?" Anna tested. "You're one to talk. You told me about your first Christmas here, Elsa. I know all about the day you ran away from home. How many times do you think you violated the Code then?"
Huh? Elsa did what? "You never told me you escaped the yard!"
"It was a long, long, time ago," Elsa yawned. "Back when I thought my powers were strong enough to affect the weather of an entire state. But I'm old and boring now. Why leave when we have everything we need right here?"

"You're starting to sound like my character's dad," I said. "But Anna has a good idea. Bell likes making things. Maybe she can make us a doll-sized pool."
"It'll be a miracle if she can do that, though." Anna was fanning herself with a hand now.
"So? Miracles happen every day. Dolls have magic powers to create ice and snow..." Elsa paused. "Wait, why am I not using those right now to cool us down?"
"Because I want to relax, not freeze, that's why."
"Then talk to Bell it is," I decided, pulling myself up. "Can we go find her?"
"Only if we can get up off this floor!" Elsa laughed.
I rolled my eyes. "Gosh, you really are ancient."
We had only told the others we were having a pool party, and in the blink of an eye, Bell found a shallow bucket for the pool and Idina had made swimsuit tops out of colored balloons for Anna and Elsa. Idina knew that I already had my own, but I didn't want to tell her there wasn't any point in making swimsuit tops if you couldn't use them for swimming.
As soon as all the humans were away from the house, we gathered washcloths for doll-sized towels, brought Anelle her chair, and made the small journey outside. Bell had set up the "wading pool" on the concrete of the back deck, which had an awning over it to provide both sun and shade. It did look lovely, but not nearly tempting enough to go in. What was the point? I was a singing doll, and I couldn't get my batteries wet. Nor did any of us want to risk getting wet past our legs. We were pampered dolls, and wet hair could ruin us forever. Funny how it doesn't work that way for humans. I began to envy them.
Elsa stopped short of the deck when she saw me sit down on the step that led from the back door to the outside world.
"Moana? Are you coming?" She sounded surprised.
"You guys go ahead," I waved. "I think I'll just sunbathe for now."

Elsa and Anna shot each-other a weird look, and Elsa watched behind her as the sisters walked over to the makeshift pool. I watched them fold up their towels, then I choose to focus angrily on the line of trees in the back of the yard.
"So..." One of Magneto's eyebrows raised from under his helmet. "You, of all dolls, don't want to go in the water."
"No."
"Should I ask why?"
I grunted, frustrated. Well, Magneto and I were as close as two coconuts on a tree. He had the right to know. "I don't want stupid tap water in a dog dish! I want real water! Real saltwater. Ocean."
"Ah." He nods his head like he knew all along.
And he doesn't say any more. Now all I heard was Kristoff and Anelle splashing each-other in the background.
"Well, that's it? I know you've got something more to say."
"You'd be right," Magneto said. "I do. But you're too angry to listen, so I won't."
I sighed through my nose. "I'm not mad at you. Or at Bell. She did what she could to make us a pool. I guess if I had to be mad at anyone... it would be She. Why did our humans have to live somewhere without an ocean?"
"Maybe it wasn't their choice to live here. Maybe they had to."
I hadn't thought of that. "Maybe. Then I'm mad at... I don't know! I'm mad at myself. Why did I have to feel such a strong connection to the ocean?"
"You were made that way," Magneto pats my leg. "But if you're ready to listen, I'll show you what I wanted to a long time ago. But now I feel is the right moment."
"Wait, show me?"
Magneto reached behind him, past the glass door and into the house, and used all his key-chain strength to pull a small jewelry box into his lap. "There's something Anna and Elsa didn't tell you. They wanted me to be the one to break the news."

"Good news, I hope?"
Magneto's mouth was a flat line. "If you want it to be good news, then it is."
I scooted a tiny bit closer to him. "Okay?"
Magneto carefully opened the jewelry box. I squinted against the brightness of the white box clashing with a different brightness of the sun.
"A shell?" I snatched the shell from Magneto's box so that I could get a better look. It was a connected freshwater clam shell, rough but still together. "Where did you find this?"
"It wasn't me who found it. Like I would ever leave the comfort of the humans' house," Magneto chuckled. "But do you like it?"
I could tell that he was avoiding my question, but I didn't really care. Last year, when I wrote the Moana Talks Seashells post, none of those shells were mine. The only shell I could call my own were the teeny tiny ones She had glued on to the headband She made me long ago. Now I could take this one and hold it in my hand, and that made all the difference.
"It's beautiful," I gasped. "It's not saltwater, though..."
"No, but good enough," said Magneto. "This is all we have around here." He paused, looking at me and waiting for me to speak, but I couldn't.
"Who found this if not you? Does it have something to do with Anna and Elsa?"
Magneto bowed his head, as if he were ashamed for someone else. "Yes. At the end of May, She took them to a local park, and in that park was a creek. They-"
"They got in the water, didn't they?"
Magneto frowned. "No. They're singing dolls, same as you."
"Oh." Right.
"See, I knew I shouldn't have told you. Now you're going to be jealous."
"No, I'm not jealous! Just... curious. Tell me what happened there."
"They took pictures in the park, and some by the water. That's all. But before they left, Anna thought of you and told She to go into the water and pick up a shell to bring home."
"If Anna got me this shell, why did you tell me about it and not her?"
"They were afraid you would be mad at them."

I wanted to laugh, but I felt a little sad. Why didn't She think to take me to the creek if She knew I loved water so much? "Lolo, they're my friends. How could I ever be mad at them?"
Magneto shrugged. "You've been angry before."
"Because there was a good reason to be."
"If you say so," said Magneto. "Anyways, the reason Anna and Elsa went and not you is because they were celebrating the 100th blog post they've written."
"But Anna was never a blog writer." If anything, I was the blog writer instead of her.
"Sure, but Elsa started the blog. She's been a writer since 2014. Aside from that, Anna and Elsa are inseparable. That's how sisters are sometimes," Magneto gave me a nudge. "Don't worry. You'll get your day in the sun. In fact, that day might be today."
Magneto pointed to the bucket. Everyone was relaxing, having fun, smiling, things you're supposed to do in the water. I sighed, feeling disconnected from the happiness my friends were feeling.
"Yes, but..."
"It's lacking scenery, right?" Magneto crawled inside again, but instead of pulling out another jewelry box, he had a small plastic bag filled with the same seashells I'd used for the Moana Talks Seashells post. "These items were collected from around the house. If you want, you can use them to decorate the pool."
It puzzled me why the other dolls thought Magneto was mean. He was anything but that, and in my eyes, he was actually very thoughtful and generous.
"So what do you say? Want to go to the beach?" He took the bag in his tiny fist, the calm shells clashing together like nature's windchimes.
"Why did you do this?" I said quietly, taking the bag and playing with the shells inside.
"Because you needed it," Magneto explained vaguely. "Now come on. I brought towels, too."
I grabbed the "towels" and Magneto's key-chain clasp and carried them over to the pool. Everyone's faces lit up when they saw we were joining, and I knew I had made the right decision. Who was I to miss out on water? If it hadn't been for Magneto, I might have, and I owed him for that.
But for now, I was content to put plans out of my mind and put my feet in the water.

Time to dive in!

Even Pua wanted to join me by the water.

HeiHei is such a silly chicken.

There's no better way to wind down after a day at the pool then a family-sized blanket and a movie on She's iPad.

Ioihi makamaka,

Moana of Motunui