Stella Gavi is a seventeen year old girl. She lives in Honolulu Hawaii.  For sixteen years it has just been her and her mother. Her father died overseas while fighting for our country. Her mother is hardly ever around because she works all the time trying to support the two of them. Its summer and Stella is particularly bored this year. Her only two friends have gone to Greece for the summer with one of the classes they are taking, and her boyfriend is in Montana learning how to snowboard for at least two more weeks. Between exercise, yoga, celebrating five years as a vegan and writing her slam poems she feels alone and sort of in a rut. An adventure is exactly what she needed.  Later that night Stella packed her bag with determination in mind. She was running through what she was going to say to her mother. Later that night when her mom came home they had a long discussion, Stella had asked her mom is she could go on a walkabout. All alone in the jungles of hawaii for a little over a month.
“ Please mom I want to go, I need this.”
“I just don't like the idea of you tracking across the Hawaiian islands by yourself on foot with no phone or mode of communication. How long will you be gone?”
“Well I'll have to be back in time for school in six weeks so… yeah.”
“Did you forget that you were supposed to apply to colleges this summer?”
“I already have, I applied to Hawaii Pacific University and Brigham Young University.”
With two more hours of pleading and convincing Stella’s mom gave in but not without a compromise.
“You can go, but you have to take my old flip phone. I won't call you or bother you, but you have to have some way to talk to me if you run into trouble.”
“OMG thank you mom I love you I love you so much.” Stella’s voice rang through the house.
The I love yous and goodbyes were exchanged and then with a hat, the clothes she had on, a small sack that contents included a water bottle that could filter water to make it clean for drinking, two other minimalist outfits, a map, and one thousand dollars dollars she was off and ready to go. She was really surprised her mom allowed her to go. She didn't have a plan and she hadn't really thought about shelter at night. She decided she would walk until night. It was roughly 6 in the afternoon and the sun was about to start turning in for the night. Along the way she stopped by a dollar store and bought a fairly large blanket in which she could lay on and also cover herself with. She knew  one thousand dollars was a lot but she also knew it wasn't a lot, living on this beautiful Island and being vegan she knew she wouldn't be spending much money on food. That night she had one of the best sleeps of her life. Sprawled out on the blanket looking at the sky with the crickets chirping and the moon gleaming, she could smell the sweet nectar of the fruit tree she was sleeping under. That morning she awoke peacefully, she didn't know what time it was but it didn't really matter anymore. She packed up her things and headed out for her first full day of walking. As she walked she took time to notice the birds high in the trees and the small beads of dew still hanging on the leaves. She felt good as the summer sun beat down, the brim of her hat protecting her eyes from the heated rays. She thought to herself about what her friends were doing in Greece and how the snowboarding lessons were going in Montana. She kept walking for a while longer just thinking to herself about life and such. She found a banana tree and decided to fill up for breakfast. Once she started walking again she had the goal in mind of finding a spring or river that she could get water from. Shortly after she started walking she found one. Stella was grateful but she knew not all the days would be this great and not all of the walks would be this rewarding. After a full day's journey Stella set up camp under another tree and calculated that she had walked roughly five miles.She thought this wasn't a lot but she knew she had just been strolling along and taking her time. After all she did not see how or why anyone would want to rush through all the beautiful scenery.
After about four weeks of exploring the Hawaiian islands Stella was done. She had seen all there was to see and she had experienced so much from meeting furry friends to taking part in a street festival. At the end of the four weeks she was left with roughly eight hundred dollars. She bought a small engined boat and headed to the coast of California, quit abruptly. Many awful days later, spent under the beating sun with uncomfortable bumps and waves in the night. That wasn't even the worst part the mosquitoes were terrible.  She finally made it to California. With only 75 dollars to her name she got a motel room and started looking for jobs. She knew she would have to take a break from her walkabout and save some money, she would have just asked her mom for more but she really wanted to be independent. After only two hours of walking around Cali she landed a job at Forever 21. They said she had just the right look and all the other teens that worked there were about to go back to school, she was perfect for the job, they said she could start tomorrow. Stella had had some doubts about going on the walkabout but so far she had been blessed with good luck the whole time. Honestly though she was more doubtful about leaving Hawaii and her mom without telling anyone. Once she landed the job she did text her mom and let her know what had happened. Outraged was an understatement. Threatening to get on a plane to retrieve her daughter Stellas mom was furious. After a very long and loud phone call Stella had almost lost her mom. The phone call didn't end the way she had hoped. Her mom finally said “Fine stay in California or whatever but don't come crying to me when life goes south for you!”
One day while refolding a pair of distressed light wash boyfriend jeans a young mom with a small child came into the store. The mother was looking for new clothes and it looked like taking care of the child seemed like a chore to her. The child wasn't a bad child he was sitting contently in his mother's arms, not crying and  just taking in all that was happening. Stella didn't think much about it again until she noticed the mother had placed they very young the child on the floor while looking through the jeans. She went over to the mother.
“Could you please put the little baby on the platform where the jeans are being displayed I just don't want anyone to hurt him.” Outraged the mother replied with.
“If you care about him so much you take him.” And with that the women left and Stella was left sitting there holding a small child that looked to be about eighteen months old. Stella left work early that day with baby in hand and when she got home her head was spinning. She had this baby now. She didn't even know what to do. Go to the police and tell them what happened? Find the mother? She decided to go to the police because she wasn't going to be the person to take that poor baby back to its disrespectful unloving mother.
“Hi yes I was a work and a women came in and handed me this child, then she left. I wasn't sure what to do so he stayed with me last night.”
“ah yeah, you want him?”
“What? Do I want him? What kind of question is that.” Stella became angry so she took the baby and left. This man wasn't anymore fit to handle this baby then his mother was. She took the baby to the store and bought diapers and things like that but She wasn't really sure she didn't know how to be a mother. She  decided to ask Maggie, a girl who lived in the same apartment building as her. Maggie had a four year old and a two year old so Stella figured she would have some good advice. “ Hey Mags um…”
“Oh, who is this cutie?”
“Yeah that's kinda why I am here it's a long story.”
“ Yeah come on in.” Stella decided it would be best to just dive in because the more she thought about the whole situation the weirder it started to sound.
“I was at work and this poor baby's mother was just dragging him along and setting him on the floor, when I asked her to pick him up for safety reasons she shoved him in my face and left the store. He has been with me since then but I don't know what to do with him the police weren't any help so I thought I would keep him but I’m barely 18 I don't know how to care for a baby but I'll have to admit little Georgie had grown on me.”
“Georgie? You've already named him? Anyways that's beside the point. Just calm down we'll figure something out. Are you going to keep him”
“ Well at first I thought I had to but then I knew I couldn't because I'm only supposed to be here for another four months because I was planning on continuing my walkabout but now I love him, he's so cute. I wish my mom was here she would know what to do.”
“Well I can help you with what to do about Georgie but it's your fault that you left Hawaii without telling your friends or family.  If my kid did that I wouldn't be too happy with them either.”
“ I know, I know but I don't feel bad, I'm doing fine, yes I could have gone about it a better way but I feel great and my life is great.”
The truth was Stella felt awful she didn't know what was going through her mind when the she bought that boat and sailed away to California. She didn't let her mom or her friends know where she was. She didn't even know if her friends knew now. Once she was settled she did call her mom to tell her that she was safe. Her mother was beyond furious but because she didn't really have a good grip on Stella she didn't even insist that she come home.
As days and weeks and months went by Stella was raising little georgie and going to work to save money for her walkabout that she dreamed of returning to. While she still wasn't sure how the whole baby and walkabout thing was going to work she never lost hope. Two years had gone by since little Georgie had come into her life and things were great. Stella had saved more than enough money to support the two of them, she had successfully adopted Georgie, and she was already planning there walkabout. Although Maggie had advised otherwise Stella knew in her mind that Georgie and herself would do just fine on the walkabout. New challenges would appear this time around but she felt certain they could tackle them. Two weeks after Georgies fourth birthday they boarded the plane headed for the Hawaiian islands and would soon start their new life together walking and becoming more in touch with nature. She kept thinking as she was raising Georgie in California and she knew that wasn't the life she wanted for him. She wanted him to grow up eating fresh fruits and playing outside in the thick lush grass. After several weeks of exploring the island of Honolulu they came upon a familiar house with a familiar smell and Stella knew she was home. She finally felt at peace, as if her life would now be together and whole. With open arms Georgie ran to meet his long awaited grandmother.