Chapter 8 Hawaii (8) Treasure Hunt on the Beach.

The whereabouts of the ring remains a mystery.

Since she didn't know when the ring was lost or how long it had been missing, Carla didn't call the police after listening to Keona's advice. Instead, she chose to comfort Mrs. Mailer every day.

The old lady appeared calm, but she knew for a long time that there was still an unresolved issue in the other person's heart.

If it were her, losing her precious treasure would surely cause her great distress and she would search for it for a long time. Even if she couldn't find it, it would feel like a heavy stone had been dropped into her heart.

Mrs. Mailer began to check the calendar more frequently.

The front door became something the kitten would gaze at every morning. Thick sheets of paper were torn off one by one, and the other person sat on the veranda, wearing reading glasses and running their fingers over the days circled in red pen.

The hula festival in August is coming soon.

"My little Emily, little Lucas..."

Chichi eventually learned that these two names belonged to Geona's two children.

Mrs. Mailer would mention her grandchildren's names, along with their favorite salmon salad, coconut jelly, and grass skirt dolls.

After Kara left, she would repeatedly tidy up the guest rooms despite her physical limitations.

Weave a small blanket to put on the bed, prepare a sheet with a hibiscus pattern, arrange some unique little statues, and wipe down the two small, colorful children's surfboards in the storage room.

It's like preparing for a grand event every day.

Make sure everything is in order so you can welcome your family home anytime.

She didn't understand the complicated illness for a long time, but seeing a family of three surfing on the beach, she thought that maybe when the Geonna family returned, Mrs. Mailer would forget the sadness of losing her ring.

After initial investigations ruled out Richie and Kara as suspects, the cat detective's search for the lost item reached a stalemate, and he sadly lay on the beach sunbathing all day.

Hawaii has many beaches, but this area is quieter and more beautiful than the most popular Waikiki Beach. The kitten was a little depressed at first, but then it was infected by the scenery in front of it and lazily lay down and wouldn't get up.

1221 flew around the surfing humans and came back to see the kitten.

"Let's stop worrying about human matters and go learn how to pick coconuts from that guy over there?"

He kept shaking his head, saying, "I want to lie here like this for a while, feeling utterly defeated."

"You've been lying around listlessly all day."

1221 tried to encourage the kitten: "I just looked at the map, and we can hitch a ride with a human to the big park over at Diamond Hill, which is several times bigger than this park!"

"Let's go another day," Chi Chi said. "I have other things to do."

"What's up?"

The kitten rolled around in the sand a few times, stood up, shook off the sand stuck to its fur, and immediately felt much better.

The good thing about being a kitten is that there's no frustration that rolling around in the air can't solve.

If so, roll it a few more times.

Returning from the beach late, the cat searched around in every corner. The system assumed the cat was still determined to help Mrs. Mailer find her ring, until the kitten pulled a coin out of a crack in the bricks.

Rings are shiny things, and humans would probably feel happy seeing shiny things, just like cats would roll around on their backs.

Depressed people need gifts.

Those sparkly, cheerful things were the gifts I'd been wanting to give to Mrs. Mailer, hoping to make her eyes light up.

Not relying on herself was not enough, so she deliberately chose to bring the budgie out when Richie went out in the early morning, so that he could have some bling-blings for her while letting him go out for a walk.

"Don't you birds love sparkly little things? Help me find something good to give as a gift on this street."

Chichi used his beak to hold the parrot's leash and led it along the street in a treasure hunt.

On the beach near the market, there are often some discarded or accidentally dropped "treasures".

Chichi used his claws to dig through the sand, while 1221 and the parrot checked for anything that glittered inside.

"look!"

The budgie was completely mesmerized by the treasure hunt, cawing triumphantly as it used its beak to retrieve a blue glass bead buried in the sand.

It held it in its mouth like a precious treasure, playing with it repeatedly.

"Be careful not to swallow it," Chi Chi cautioned the other person before continuing to search for the treasures hidden under the sand.

They found one and buried it under the coconut tree where he usually liked to lie.

With the help of birds, the search was much faster than the kitten searching on its own. In just a few days, a small pile of spoils appeared in the sand under the coconut trees.

Several coins of different denominations, colorful rhinestones on plastic hair clips, metal decorations on clothing, and candy wrappers that shimmer in the sunlight...

Some of them were shiny but looked cheap. After hesitating to listen to 1221's advice, he decided that finding coins to save money to buy a ring was a feasible plan.

With this idea in mind, the kitten appeared on the beach more frequently, each time digging little holes in the sand with the belief that it was looking for something.

Chichi was digging a hole, and the humans around her just assumed she was using it as a natural litter box, so they politely but disdainfully kept their distance from her.

Except for a human cub who is engrossed in playing in the sand.

The other person was wearing a floral dress, had two small braids, and wore a large, sparkly plastic toy ring on her finger.

More importantly, there is an extraordinarily large sapphire at the top of the ring.

Suddenly filled with energy, he sprinted towards the other person.

The little girl was squatting on the wet beach where the tide had just receded, intently digging a sandcastle with a shovel.

He slowed his pace, not daring to rush forward.

1221: "Do you want the ring on her hand?"

Chichi: "Hmm, I'll go find something to exchange with her."

The kitten dashed back to the street, climbed over the wall, found a brightly colored tail feather under the parrot perch, and then went back to the coconut tree to dig out the largest denomination coin.

Carrying these two items, it squatted down in front of the little girl, its tail tip slapping nervously on the sand, quietly waiting for her to notice it.

The sun shone on the kitten, making her look like a harmless ball of fluff.

The little girl, who was still building sandcastles, was soon attracted by the cat. When she saw that it was a beautiful cat that sunbathed nearby every day, a smile spread across her face.

"Hi, little kitty." She waved the shovel in her hand. "Want to come play with me?"

At a perfectly timed moment, it used its claws to ruffle the feathers of the brightly colored parrot in front of it.

The interplay of emerald green and bright yellow colors looks magnificent under the sunlight, easily catching the eye of human infants.

The kitten carried the feather and coin to the other person's hand, politely looked up, and gently placed its paw on the diamond ring on the other person's hand.

The little girl's eyes widened, and she took the opportunity to touch the cat's soft paw. After hearing a soft and sweet meow, the ring on her hand was touched by the other person.

She looked at the beautiful feather on the beach, then at the kitten's longing eyes, and understood after a moment.

"Do you want this?" she asked, waving her hand with the ring on it.

"Meow!" came the firm reply after a long pause.

The other person laughed heartily and, without the slightest hesitation, took off the ring and generously placed it next to the feather. She didn't take the coin, which was worth more than the ring, but instead generously and considerately exchanged the feather with the kitten.

Chichi found an unwanted plastic bag among the piles of junk in Richie's yard and carried all the shiny little trinkets he found back to Richie's yard to "divide the spoils" with the parrot.

Finally, the kitten picked out a butterfly-shaped metal decorative clasp and a frangipani brooch.

And there was the sapphire ring she spotted at first sight.