Authors: Everett Peacock
Star
kept silent, letting Janet continue.
“
The
volcano, here,” Janet continued. “It destroys but it
rebuilds what it took away. It eventually makes it all right.”
Leaning back into the hammock she placed her fingers into her hair.
“Star, I've destroyed things I can never bring back. Ever.”
Star
felt a wave of grief emanate from Janet, but one that quickly receded
into a puddle of sadness. She watched Janet sink into that puddle,
slowly. If she could offer any hope it must be something that could
speak to her recent trauma at the clinic in Hilo. Maybe that, she
thought, could offer some consolation.
“
Jimmie,
look, that baby wasn't right for you, wasn't good. But you can
always have another, find a good guy, you know.”
“
No.
No Star. You see, my curse is that I don't want to create
anything.” Her voice gave away some emotion, but Janet kept it
well masked. “I don't know what I want actually. Nothing I
guess. I want nothing.”
Star
watched the young woman say words that made no sense to her. She
tried to let the words fashion some kind of meaning as she silently
listened, but that idea was quickly overwhelmed by a large explosion
behind them.
Both
of them jumped a little, especially when they heard the artillery
type sound whirling over head. Quickly they both got out of their
hammocks and walked out toward the beach for a clearer view of the
sky.
“
What
is that?” Janet asked, looking up into the dusk.
Crackling
and popping in the purple sky above them was what they first thought
to be a meteor. As they watched the arch it followed they saw it
splash only a few hundred yards out into the ocean. Quickly, two
others followed, smaller and splashing closer.
“
Shit!”
Star hissed. “Lava bombs!”
Another
larger, heavier explosion some distance away rumbled the ground with
a shock wave. It was followed immediately by what sounded to Janet
like a waterfall. A very large waterfall.
Janet
looked to Star with some hope of an explanation. 'Lava bomb' didn't
make any sense to her. She grabbed Star's arm.
“
Lava
what?”
Star
was shaking but didn't realize it until Janet held her. “The
volcano honey. It's shooting out big rocks, popping them out like
corks.”
Janet
let go of her arm, horrified. She ran around to the driveway,
looking for the cinder cone. She couldn't quite see it so she ran a
few yards up the road just in time to see a steaming, glowing rock
about the size of a basketball rolling toward her along the asphalt
road. The cinder cone, in the far distance looked like a giant
firework, the kind other kids were always allowed to set up in the
street. The kind that shot fire and sparkles and tons of smoke out
of its top to the cheers of all around.
Those
had always been so beautiful to her.
This
one
was of course quite different she thought, turning to run back to
Star.
This
one
would not stop in thirty seconds.
This
one
looked alive, and somehow hungry.
Janet
took a few steps before it hit. A burst of static swept through her
head, surprising her enough to stumble and pause. Quickly putting
both hands up to her head she tried to push her increasingly long red
hair into her head. Anything to quell the noise, the chaos. The
static, her personal monster, her resident demon simply shouted
louder.
“
Jimmie!”
Star was yelling above the increasing volume of the cinder cone.
“Jimmie! Are you hurt?” Star ran over to Janet, saw she
wasn't injured and quickly moved out to the road to see what Janet
had seen.
She
noticed several still smoking lava bombs on the road where the
asphalt ended but her eye was immediately drawn up toward the cinder
cone. Star had seen it all before, on TV of course. But, now, right
in front of her she could hear it. Her ears told her she was too
close. Too close - to the massive amount of liquid rock fountaining
over a hundred feet into the early evening sky. Too close – to
the splattering sounds of the falling lava, louder than her own
racing heart. Too close - to escape.
She
turned and ran back to where Janet was still immobilized, now on the
ground, on her hands and knees.
“
Jimmie!”
Star had to shout about the roar. “What's wrong honey? Come
on, I'm going to call the fishing boats and see if we can get out of
here.”
Star
tried to pull Janet to her feet. She could hear her friend moaning
pitifully, but managed to get her almost up when they both were
thrown to the ground. Another earthquake, somewhat larger, had moved
through. A large rumble continued to move under them.
Janet
had rolled over, curling up now, holding her head. Star was dazed
but managed, as she sat back up, to catch a strange sight. All the
coconuts in her grove fell at the same time, thumping the ground so
solidly she could feel it.
Suddenly,
by certain instinct of having lived so close to the ocean for
decades, she stood up and looked over at the beach. There she
watched horrified as in the remaining dim light she saw the water
receding.
“
Oh
my god!” The words never made it to her ears with all the
other noise around them, but she felt them in her heart. They spoke
as a dagger of fear thrust deeply into her chest and twisted back and
forth.
She
turned back to Janet quickly. “Get up, Jimmie! Now!”
She pulled on Janet's shirt, trying to find her armpits to forcefully
pull her up. “Now!” she screamed.
Janet
was completely overwhelmed. She could barely hear her friend yelling
at her. It was just too much to move. She could feel her friend
pulling on her shoulders and relented a bit, but felt she could not
cooperate, could not move right now. The stress, the fear, the
bubbling insanity just below her consciousness was rapidly rising.
Star
was hitting her now, hitting her on the back. “Get up! Now!”
Looking with trepidation she turned again to the ocean. It was
obscenely misplaced, the entire bay was a hollow bowl of coral and
sand. The dark ocean had left it there, alone. Movement caught her
eye off to the right, around the point. It didn't make sense to her
mind, this large frothing movement where there should be none. A
strange movement where there was only a point of land extending out
to sea.
In
a momentary flash of clarity that spoke directly to her primal
survival instincts she stood, dropping her hands away from Janet.
Frozen with terror, she managed to find a fragment of control for a
split second, enough to scream an alert. An alert to all who might
hear the last warning, the last chance to save themselves, indeed the
last human voice they might ever hear.
“
Tsunami!”
~~~
Up
in the high jungles of Volcano village people were still shaking from
that last earthquake, a frightening reminder that it wasn't just lava
that could destroy.
Larry
and Shirley, with their two little dogs right under their feet, were
looking at the incredible plume rising above the jungle. It was
indeed impressive, beautiful, amazing and historic. Unfortunately,
it was only two miles away as well.
They
had lived close to the volcano for well over a decade and knew the
risks and the protective terrain between them and Halema'uma'u. Lava
from the massive crater would certainly never flow into their yard.
Statistically it was safer than living on the beach, considering
hurricanes, storm surf and the occasional tsunami.
However,
volcanoes had other bad habits besides simply pouring lava all over
the landscape. Fumes from such massive plumes could be quite toxic,
lava bombs could pepper the land for up to two miles away –
putting them within range, and earthquakes could tear the ground and
your home's foundations apart.
“
You
know, Shirley, I better give Jack a call and see what the latest is.”
“
OK
Larry,” Shirley said, leaning down to pet her nervous dogs.
“I'm going to go see if I can squeeze any more stuff into the
car.”
Larry
nodded to her as he listened as well to the ringing of Jack's cell
phone. He stood and watched the plume roll like a thunderstorm
pouring into some hole in the sky.
Jack's
phone answered but sounded like it was still in his pocket.
“
Hello?
Jack?” Larry looked at his phone to confirm it had indeed
connected.
“
Larry...we're...”
Wind noise or rustling was distorting his voice.
“
Jack,
what's going on over there?” He looked at his phone again. It
was still a live connection.
“
Larry...we're
evacuating for God's sake...” Suddenly his voice became
clearer. “I'm running to my goddamn car.”
Larry
felt a tinge of fear creep into his heart. “Jack, you said
you're what? Evacuating?”
Jack
was only steps behind Alice and all the other Hawaiian Volcanoes
Observatory employees running to their vehicles. He jumped into the
passenger seat of Alice's Ford 150, closed the door and pulled the
phone from his shirt pocket.
“
Larry,
we're getting the hell outta here! Halema'uma'u is overflowing and
that last quake took out most of the windows and some walls.”
Jack
leaned over and gave Alice a big kiss on the cheek as she accelerated
out of the parking lot.
“
Larry,
you still there?”
“
Yeah,
Jack.” Larry had that sinking feeling that things were growing
dangerous. “Where are you headed?”
Alice
was the lead car and rocketing toward the exit to the National Park
when she slammed on her brakes, getting a lot of attention from her
co-workers just behind her.
There
were large cracks in the asphalt ahead. Several trees were down as
well, partially blocking the road.
“
Larry,
gotta go, roads are fracturing as well. You and Shirley better head
for Hilo, that's where we're going.” Jack hung up, stepped out
of the truck and began walking ahead, giving Alice directions around
the worst parts.
“
Shirley!”
Larry yelled from the porch. He was still watching the plume when
he saw something glowing inside of it, rising rapidly through the
gray and black.