Authors: Everett Peacock
“
Starshine,”
I said with a voice she would remember as her mom's. “Did you
feed the little fishes yet?”
Fully
engrossed in her memory she looked to her feet and found the frozen
peas in a plastic bag. The fish loved these, she remembered fondly.
“
Go
ahead baby, they are hungry,” I whispered. “Look how
happy they are that you are here.”
Star
sat quietly in her uncomfortable chair in Dr. Zhung's office lobby,
dreaming. She remembered how the little fish darted back and forth
in the shallow water snapping up the little peas long before they
could ever sink the few inches to the bottom. Sixty years later she
could see it in her mind as clearly as I was seeing it. This little
moment, this memory was one of the most beautiful things either of us
had ever felt.
“
Good
Star,” her mom's voice said to her. “You have shared
some love.” One thing the hippies got right was love.
“
Mom,
can I keep some of them? Take care of them in a bowl?” Star
asked, as she had no doubt asked so many years ago.
The
light I had been watching for so long was now slipping inside the
windows of the office, easily penetrating the canopy of the avocado
tree. I felt it warming me as well.
“
Star,”
I said one last time in her mom's voice. “You must let them
take their own path now,” a vision of her mom holding some sand
in her hands filled her dream. “Let them swim where they will.
It is, you know,” reaching over to tickle little Star, “what
makes them free.”
Star
stood up and walked to the door, opening it and moved down the stairs
to her car. She suddenly felt good having helped out this lost kid
Jimmie, had given her as much love as she could, sharing her Kapoho
cabin by the sea. Jimmie was free though, she now felt, and would
swim where she might.
I
followed Star to the shaded spot in the parking lot where she sat,
waiting. Here I would wait too.
I
knew the doctor was now talking to Janet, counseling her on the
options they both knew she had already rejected. I knew the nurse
had entered the room now with a tray of tools and drugs. I knew Poho
was awake and looking for me.
“
Poho!”
I sang to him. “Poho my boy!”
His
laughter was infectious, even in this saddest of moments for me. He
called out to me, “Let's play!”
I
knew they now had Janet lay down on the table, her legs strapped
down. I knew a second nurse had come in. I knew the doctor was
wearing a mask.
“
My
Poho,” I asked. I needed to distract him somehow. “Have
you ever seen a bird?”
He
giggled a little at the strange idea I had sent him. When he felt
the feathers with his little brand new fingers he laughed out loud
again, forcing me to laugh as well.
I
knew the doctor was injecting Janet with a drug now. I knew that one
of the nurses was holding her shoulders. I knew that Janet was so
full of static that the room she was in vibrated with it.
“
Poho,
my boy! Have you ever seen a fish?” The slippery creature
fascinated him, especially when it wiggled right out of his grasp.
He squealed with delight.
The
light was coming closer to me. I could almost reach up and feel it.
It felt so wonderful to have it so near. It felt so wonderful to
know I could soon be with it. Yet, I resisted going to it. I needed
to help Poho, help him get through.
I
felt some confusion in him. His laughter had stopped, and I could
sense worry.
“
Poho,
it's OK, my son,” I cried to him, trying to sound brave on his
behalf.
I
knew the doctor was telling Janet to push. I knew the nurse was
pulling the tray of tools closer. I knew his little feet were
kicking.
“
Poho!
Have you ever played in the ocean?” He immediately responded
with a small whimper. “Poho, it is so warm, and the sun is
bright. You can see the sky full of blue!” He hummed his
approval but whimpered again.
I
knew the nurse had handed the doctor his tool. I knew Janet was
screaming and squirming. I knew the other nurse was holding her
shoulders tightly.
The
light was now just upon me and I could fight it no longer. I felt
myself lifting into it, softly, with welcoming voices. Star seemed
to look up a moment and then blinked when the branches let the sun
through to her face.
“
Poho,
my boy!” I said one last time. I couldn't feel his presence
there anymore. I searched and searched but I was moving deeper into
the light, away from them. “Poho! Poho!”
“
Yes,
here I am.”
There
next to me. He came close to me, both of us moving into the light.
He was with me, at my side, smiling.
“
Thank
you for waiting,” he said as clearly and lovingly as anything I
had ever heard before.
“
Ah
Poho,” I cried with joy. I looked ahead of us to the greatness
of the universe, the immeasurable happiness. “Poho, have you
ever flown through the sky?”
~~~
Jack
was sitting next to Alice, the Lead Scientist at the Hawaii Volcano
Observatories. He would have much rather been up in the air with
Larry.
“
Can
you call him again? I need to know if he dropped the mothership
yet.” She stood up quickly, pushing her chair back so quickly
it fell over. “Damn it,” reaching down to pick it up,
she mumbled loud enough for Jack to understand. “I need that
data right now!”
“
Roger
that, boss,” Jack turned to walk outside so he could escape
the steel roof of the building and it's perverse habit of destroying
radio signals.
“
Hey
Larry, how much fuel you got left? Over.”
He
listened for something to come through the static. Looking to his
tuner he fidgeted with the frequency. It sounded like he was off
frequency, bursts of low frequency hums were coming over his walkie
talkie.
Holding
it up to his mouth to speak again, he was interrupted.
“
Howzit
Jack. I've got another hour, easy. Over.” Larry's voice
sounded hollow in the rising interference.
“
Good.
Great!” Jack turned back quickly to see Alice pacing back and
forth, glancing his way. “Look Larry, I don't mean to hurry
you or anything, but Alice is anxious about that data. Over.”
A
moment of silence followed, another burst of low growls of static,
then some high pitched pops.
“
Just
dropped the soccer ball Jack. Damn Jack, I dropped the ball!”
Jack
could hear him laughing above the noise of his engine and the static.
He would have to tell that one to Alice. Tomorrow perhaps.
“
Over.”
Larry finally added.
“
Thanks,
Larry, we really appreciate it. All done over here. How's it look
for landing? Over.”
A
long, almost howling, mid tone raced through the static now, drowning
out any human communication. Larry must hear it as well Jack
figured, as he waited until it was done to attempt answering.
“
Lot
of weird static yeah Jack? Over.”
“
Yeah,
buddy, got an earful from all angles down here,” Jack looked
at Alice now running to her workstation as the soccer ball mothership
must have begun transmitting. “Over.”
“
Looks
like the cloud is dissipating. I'll just circle around and enjoy the
view. Probably land at home in an hour or less. Over.”
Jack
was only half listening to Larry as he began walking over quickly to
Alice's computer screens. She was now standing up again, but this
time covering her mouth with her hands.
“
What
ya seeing Alice?” Jack asked, glancing up to see Alice's eyes
wide with fear.
She
looked to her seismograph feed on the screen to her right, already
bouncing wider and wider.
“
I
don't think...I never thought I ever would...” Alice
stammered.
Jack
moved next to her and put his hands on her shoulders to calm her.
“What Alice, what is it?”
She
stared at him blankly for a moment. Blinking she seemed to gain her
composure and answered, “I never thought I could predict a
major earthquake. But, I am now.” She sat down heavily into
her chair, leaning her head against her desk.
“
When?
Come on Alice, you're freaking me out a little here,” Jack
demanded. “When?”
Alice
was shaking her head back and forth as she reached for her red desk
phone. “Any moment.”
~~~
Shirley
was back in her garden, taking advantage of the cool fog to get some
especially hard work done. Checking her watch she figured Larry
would get another check-in ten minutes from now. Her dogs were out
in the yard with her, chasing imaginary mice or something similar.
The
taro required a lot of hands-in-the-mud time which usually meant arms
in the mud. She heard Larry and Jack talking and wanted to join in,
but would wait until she was finished with the planting of the new
roots.
She
was reaching deep into the mud when she finally felt it at her
armpits. The dogs were barking and running around in circles,
something she had never seen them do.
“
What's
up, little guys?” Her hair fell from her bun and spilled into
the mud. She might have cursed at that, but the dogs were really
acting strange now. Frantically trying to dig into the ground,
barking into the dirt as they did. It was the strangest...
It
was just at that moment that she felt something moving in the mud. A
rumbling far away, but strong enough to shake the mud like jello all
around her arms. Terrified, she pulled her arms out just as she
heard deeper rumbling coming from the slopes of Mauna Loa. She tried
to stand up, but for some reason kept falling down, once, twice,
until she saw the mud sloshing out of her taro patch and up into the
air.
Her
thoughts immediately said 'Earthquake!' Stay on the ground. At
least she was outside. The dogs had quickly gone quiet and were
running toward her. Shirley could have sworn she was hearing the
earth growl low and powerfully as large rolling waves moved under
her.