Authors: Everett Peacock
Shirley,
Larry and practically every resident on the Big Island of Hawaii knew
that “inflation” could only mean one thing. Lava. Magma
was upwelling from the hotspot in the Earth's crust many miles below,
pushing the landscape up in measurable amounts. Sometimes it
deflated later. Sometimes it didn't. The real question, as always,
was where it would exit. Currently there were three active areas,
Halema'uma'u, Kilauea and a small vent near the sea. With those
established pressure releases the odds were that one, or all of them
would become more active. But, there was another option for the
volcano.
What
everyone dreaded was another Kapoho type event. There in 1960, when
young Starshine Aloha and her parents were living the idyllic hippie
dream of papayas and the beach, the unbelievable happened.
Deep
within a five hundred year old jungle, rich in koa trees, native
ferns and surrounding banana farms a series of small swarm
earthquakes alerted HVO of magma movement. A few days later on
January 13
th
,
a crack opened up in the jungle floor. That same evening lava
fountaining was reaching above tree height and within a week 900 foot
lava geysers built a 160 foot tall cinder cone. All of this was
feeding a carpet of devastation that engulfed an entire village,
farms and the beaches. Dozens of acres of ocean were claimed by the
island, extending the coastline outward.
Shirley
was holding the walkie talkie up to her chest now, looking out at her
garden, at the beautiful yard they had created out of weeds and
non-native bushes. Uncertainty was, she knew, a reality of living
next to an active lava pit on the side of the planet's most active
volcano. Hawaiian volcanoes, though, were probably the most
predictable of the bunch and were benign enough, for the most part,
to allow humans to enjoy complimentary space around them. But the
privilege came with precautions, and a precautionary evacuation was
one she could live with. Lava would probably never overtake their
home. Probably.
Larry
had almost reached his first altitude step of 6000 feet. From there
he could approach the climbing terrain uphill of Halema'uma'u safely.
Shirley's silence told him she was upset by the news. No one ever
wanted to evacuate their home. The world, Larry knew, was a volatile
place. There was always something that could chase people away:
tsunami could force beach dwellers to higher ground, as well as
flooding rivers. Snow avalanches cleared out valleys, earthquakes
knocked over buildings, fires ran Californians out of the hills. At
least the sky was smooth and safe where he was.
“
Shirley?”
Larry whispered as best he could over the noise of his engine.
Shirley
broke her focus and walked back inside her kitchen. “I'll put
some things in the car, Larry.” A few moments of silence
followed before she added “Over.”
“
Great,
listen, it's just precautionary. But, would you please put my 1945
Haut Bailly and some of my Bordeaux in the car first? Please?
Over.”
Shirley
rolled her eyes, but agreed. They
would
need wine.
Larry
found his mark on the GPS and verified it with the steam plume behind
him as he turned his paraglider on a heading of due north. The
massive Mauna Loa loomed ahead, her white crown of snow glittering in
the clear air.
Descending
slightly to just above cloud level he opened the backpack Jack had
given him, and set his timer to sync with his speed giving him a
ground speed of 200 meters per minute.
He
picked out the first sensor, held it over to the side and dropped it.
This terrain was remote and extremely difficult to hike into, no one
would be below. But, the birds and other creatures that lived there
would no doubt find it strange to see florescent yellow balls falling
from the sky in the middle of a foggy morning.
~~~
Poho
was cooing quietly, waking up I suppose. I could now easily
penetrate poor Janet's static field and communicate directly with my
little boy. My entire being had that tingle I used to remember
getting on my scalp when I felt ecstatic. My boy! Poho!
He
laughed a little when he felt me there, then seemed to stretch and
take a moment to move himself around. So cute! Could my heart get
any bigger for him?
Star's
return to the car quickly reminded me, though, that Poho was in
mortal danger. Quickly, I tried to find Janet again, her lucid mind
that I had touched a moment ago. I dove deeply into the static,
leaving Poho behind for just a moment. There was nothing. I
followed path after path of her thoughts, her emotions, but all I was
finding were nightmares and horror.
“
Jimmie,”
Star was saying softly. Her hands were folded in her lap, her gaze
out the window ahead. “I explained everything to them.
Everything.” She looked over at Janet, still rocking slightly
in her chair, eyes shut tight and moaning. “They said they
classify this as a late term abortion.”
Janet
continued rocking back and forth, oblivious by the looks of it to
what Star was telling her. I had some hope that maybe she would back
out of it, or even better that Dr. Zhung would refuse to do the
procedure.
My
optimistic nature, as I had always suspected, had very little
connection with the darker sides of reality.
“
They
want $5000 before they'll agree to do it,” Star said softly,
tears streaming down her cheeks. She watched her own hands shake
with nervousness, one borne, no doubt, from the pain and suffering
that was occurring. And, I thought, from that which might soon
occur.
Janet
kept rocking, clutching her stomach now and moaning. Star just
watched her, for probably a full minute. Convinced Janet was too out
of it to make a decision, she started the Tercel.
That's
when Janet reached for and opened her door. I felt a darkness
pouring from the car, and her. She stepped out and stood up
straight, reached into her back pocket, pulled out a wallet and threw
it onto the hood of the car.
Star
just stared at it for a moment. Horrified. She wanted nothing to do
with this, had hoped for a way out, but saw now that her commitment
to another sister was assured.
Janet
walked around the front of the car now. Her eyes searching Star's.
Star
turned off the engine and reluctantly opened her door. She watched
Janet closely as she reached into the wallet.
“
Here,”
Janet said. “This debit card has $20,000 on it.” She
then turned and began a slow march up the dozen or so concrete steps.
My
signing bonus for another enlistment! My money for signing up to
send bad guys to the other side, and now it was going to be used to
send my son there instead.
Star
put the debit card back in the wallet and followed her up, leaving
tears on every step behind Janet.
I
moved to the top of the stairs and with all my will tried to keep
them from going inside. My focus was as strong as I could manage,
but there was, of course, nothing I could do physically. Star seemed
to hesitate as I begged her to take the wallet and throw it away.
She did stop at the top of the stairs and looked at it in her hand.
“
Throw
it away,” I repeated into her mind a million, billion times.
I was probably breaking every rule in heaven by doing so, but no one
was going to blame me, that I knew.
Her
hands seemed to change grip, from one of carry to one of toss.
“
Here,
give me that!” Janet snatched it out of her hands. “Let's
do this.” She turned back toward the door and walked right
through me.
~~~
Agatha
Turner had never flown on an airplane for this long. Four hours had
been a record when she went to Miami once. Now, she was on a six
hour marathon to Honolulu, with a plane change and then another hour
to Hilo on the Big Island. She was intent on finding her boy James.
In
her mind she replayed the good days. When he was just becoming a
teenager and all the other kids were getting in some kind of trouble,
her boy James was volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club. He kept
his room clean and washed the car without being asked. He had never
given her any trouble, in fact some of her friends made comments what
an angel he was. Of course he was, she murmured to herself, of
course, he was her son. James Madison, James Madison, she repeated
over and over.
“
Agatha
dear,” Adam whispered. He could hear her repeating something.
“What are you saying?”
The
first class cabin on Hawaiian Air flight #19 was spacious but it was
also quiet. Adam feared that Agatha's murmuring might disturb the
other passengers.
Agatha
shook her head a little waking up. “Am I snoring again?”
she asked, embarrassed a little.
“
No,”
Adam comforted her. “Not anymore.”
Agatha
sat back in her large leather seat and found her feet up on the seat
rest, another new experience as well. Looking out her large window,
the ocean had a tropical color to it already, brushed lightly with
the white of waves far, far below.
“
Thank
you so much for coming with me Adam,” she leaned over and
kissed him on the cheek. “And for these excellent seats!”
Adam
had considerable resources at his disposal. He had more money than
he could probably spend on himself, plus he had connections
throughout the military and defense industry. Finding lost people
was a challenge, but one that money and intel could usually solve.
“
My
pleasure dear,” he lifted his guava, papaya smoothie up in
toast. “My absolute pleasure.”
One
thing Adam had forgotten about oceanic crossings – there was no
Internet access. He would have to wait until they landed in Honolulu
to get the emails he expected would tell him more about one Private
James Madison Turner.
~~~
Star
refused to fill out the paperwork in Dr. Zhung's office. She
insisted Janet do it herself. That gave Janet the opportunity to lie
about every single detail it required, except she matched her name
with that of our shared debit card. Dr. Zhung was never going to
check it anyhow, she could see that. After they had cleared the card
charges it was all a done deal.
A
nurse came out and took Janet back for a quick physical.
Star
sat in her uncomfortable chair and watched the carpet. She felt that
it at least would not offer up anything stressful. Her tears had
slowed but still marched out, one by one, each carrying another drop
of sadness from her soul.
Moving
close to her I nudged her mind to open to me. She was one without
many walls and soon she was daydreaming. There, in her memories,
were the magic days of her youth, playing on the sandy beach by the
ancient lava coves. She was smiling up at the birds above and the
little fish below. Her mom was next to her, singing some sweet
hippie love song, while her father was husking coconuts close by.
The air off the ocean was warming her skin with tingles.