Claymore Laukahi sat silently on the banks of the old stream in the depths of Paoa Valley, tossing a few large stones in the water.
Something on the other side of the stream caught his attention. It was a Hawaiian boy and girl seated on the bareback of a horse, staring intently at him as if they were waiting to be acknowledged. He raised his hand and gave a slight wave, but rather than return the salutation, the boy gently kicked his heels into the horse's sides, causing the animal to lumber forward. Claymore watched the horse gingerly walk into the stream until it was more than halfway to his side. Without warning, a massive surge of water appeared out of nowhere, slamming into the horse and its two riders, sending them tumbling downstream until it reached the ocean. Claymore had no time to react, think, or feel about what he just witnessed because of how suddenly it happened. The whole tableau was gone. On the other side of the stream, near the banks, Claymore could not see any footprints from the horse. Yet, the horse reappeared less than a foot away from him with the same two Hawaiian children riding it. All three went into the stream and were again swept away by the massive surge of water. How could something like that be possible when the stream has always been ankle-deep? Crossing to the other side, Claymore decided it was time to go. Could the whole thing have resulted from heat stroke since he hadn't eaten anything all morning? Or the sun reflecting off the surface of the water caused a mirage. Before he could work out the problem in his mind, the horse with the two Hawaiian children manifested a third time and was again swept away by the tremendous surge of water.
No matter how many old newspaper articles he researched, Claymore never found out who the two children might have been. Nor were there any available obituaries regarding drownings in the Paoa stream. Claymore also tried for a few years to return to the stream when and where he first encountered the manifestation, but something else was needed. He finally let it go.
In 1972, Willy and Clara Laukahi were up the depths of Paoa Valley, crossing a stream while on horseback. Looking up, they saw a strange man on the opposite bank of the stream, making them pause. Just then, a huge rolling surge of water appeared out of nowhere, missing the two by mere feet, saving them from being swept away and drowning. This explains why Claymore couldn't find records of anyone drowning in the Paoa stream because it never happened. Willy ended up becoming Claymore's father. Clara, Willy's sister, and her husband Kempfer raised and trained horses in Kamuela.
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