"Usually," he answered in sign, "we play with a stick, and the song of the hand game is sung by both of us while the one with the stick makes many motions of his hands until he hides the stick in one of his hands, which he then places before him for all to see. The opposite side now has to guess which hand the stick is in. If this person is right, he wins the bet. If he is wrong, the other person with the stick wins, giving him the opportunity to keep the stick.
“But, because you cannot use but the one hand, we might use large shells to hide the smaller stick beneath one of them. The first one to win twenty games wins all the stakes. There are other more complicated games, but many of those are for men only, others for women only. In the stick game, both men and women play. It is a simple game and has simple rules, but when one adds prizes, it becomes more interesting. Shall we play?"
"Yes," she signed. "We have a game similar to this at home that I have engaged in with my sister. We call it 'hide the button.' You say we must sing a song? What song, then, shall we sing?"
"We will sing the hand game song. There are many of them. Shall I teach one of them to you?"
"Yes."
"It goes like this:
"Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Aakíí waaníí vai saa,
Aakíí waaníí vai saa.
Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Aakíí waaníí vai aa,
Aakíí waaníí vai aa.”
He signed, "Can you repeat those words to me?"
"I am not certain I can."
"Let me teach them to you," he signed, then said, "Nit-aa-wai-ai-ta-ki."
She repeated them.
Then he said the next line aloud, "Aa-kii-waa-nii-vai-saa," which she again repeated.
The lesson continued for several moments until it was all said.
"What do those words mean?" she asked.
He looked away from her and shook his head as he signed, "I cannot say it."
"But, how can I repeat these words if I don't know what they mean? I should know what I am saying."
He sighed, yet answered her question and said aloud, "Nitáa' waiai'taki"—then continued in sign—"means ‘I ask for a wife.’"
"And the rest?"
"Aakíí waaníí vai saa"—he spoke the words aloud before signing—"means 'she said no.'"
"Aakíí waaníí vai aa." He said the words, then signed, "This is the last part of the song, and it means 'she said yes.' What the song is about is the woman's suitor keeps asking her to marry him until she says 'yes.'"
Laylah grinned and caught him looking quickly at her lips before he lowered his eyes and glanced away.
A few uncomfortable moments passed by between them before he asked by way of gestures, "Shall we play?"
"Yes."
