Makaha has a group of older men that act as 5 _______ in the community. They are called “uncles”. The most famous uncle is 6) _______. He was the first person who ran 7) _______ and told me about a very talented surfer with a troubled past named 8) _______. Later, I met Paishon and we went to 9) _______. He joined the dozen surfers already in the water and was quickly seen as being the best.
Paishon was poor, but the uncles noticed his talent for 10) _______ and 11) _______. He competed in many surfing contests, but 12) _______. He dropped out of school and started smoking marijuana. Sometimes he sold the surfboards his uncles gave him to 13) _______. The biggest setback came when 14) _______. 15) _______ and potential sponsors turned away. Later, he stopped using drugs, got a job and planned to use his salary to finance his dream of 16) _______.
I didn’t want to have another bad surfing experience like I had with the teenager, so I went to see a respected man 17) _______. He said that they wanted the new comers to 18) _______.” I went back to the beach and started a conversation with man in the water. We saw a 19) _______. I looked at him. Mine? He gently 20) _______.