increasingly lined
with pregnant coconut palms, guiding them toward the sea.
“ Do
you live near the ocean?” Janet whispered, incredulous.
Star
smiled. She flipped off the windshield wipers and rolled down her
window, letting her hand surf the airstream like a kid. “Yes.
Yes we do Jimmie.” Star took a long deep breath of the fragrant air,
something Janet was doing as well, having rolled her window down as
well. Star always loved going home and probably loved it more when
she could share it. Proudly, she announced to her new friend their
destination.
“ We're
headed for the very edge of paradise.”
15
Paperwork
would kill her before the Taliban ever did.
Sergeant
Johannson hated it as much as any enemy sniper, perhaps more so. At
least she could make an enemy sniper go away. AWOL, A bsent W ith O ut L eave,
was bad enough, but going AWOL to miss a deployment was far worse.
Yet, you could still top that by going AWOL to miss deployment to an
active war zone. Old timers called that desertion in the face of the
enemy, garnering a death penalty.
Modern
America didn't pursue that but the Sergeant could see the point. If
one man fled and made it more difficult for the others to survive, an
argument could be made for manslaughter. She would be one head short
on this deployment because of the absence of Private James Madison
Turner. She wrote his name out with disgust and a rapidly fading
spark of compassion.
One
man short meant everyone had to pull a little extra weight until a
replacement could show up, if one even did.
“ Turner,”
she spoke softly to herself. “You better be dead.”
~~~
Still
I followed Janet.
Still
I didn't quite know why. It made me think for a moment whether I had
become what we had always called ghosts. Maybe. Maybe I was in that
Catholic thing called purgatory, but not having ever set foot inside
a Catholic church, I wasn't sure. My Catholic friends had talked
about it once or twice, just enough for me to understand it meant
something like being stuck.
The
light above me had moved a bit closer, so I had that feeling that
whatever it was I was in, it wasn't going to last that much longer.
Funny though, I didn't care a bit about the delay, nor did I dread
the inevitable whatever it was coming my way. I simply went with the
flow of things, and honestly I wished I had enjoyed that freedom when
I had been alive.
Janet
and her new friend Starshine Aloha had made it to the small grouping
of very modest dwellings she called home. They were haphazardly
placed between towering coconut palms and rested on a thin layer of
sand just above the hard lava. Papaya trees decorated the space
beneath the canopy with brightly colored fruit.
“ Look
Jimmie,” Star said pointing them out. “Breakfast in the
morning.” Janet, I could tell, was in better shape now. The
static from her mind was missing now, her muscles seemed less taunt.
“ Everyone
must already be at the tidal pools. We're going to a heated one just
off the Champagne pools.”
Janet
tried to figure out how a tidal pool could be heated, but finally
gave up and asked, “Heated?”
“ Oh
yeah. We're pretty close to the volcano, as you know. And, all that
mountain rain has to go somewhere, much of it underground into lava
tubes, where the rock is perpetually molten or almost so.
Eventually, it exits to the sea still hot. This little place we're
going has a perfect mix of cool seawater and heated rainwater.”
Janet
was quiet for a few minutes, standing there in a strange, but
wonderful place, unsure of her luck. She clutched Star's beach towel
tightly to her chest.
“ What's
wrong, honey?” Star whispered. “Here, take this new
towel. Do you need a swimsuit?”
That
question broke the spell but released a fair amount of embarrassment.
She took the fresh towel and admitted something she had never
thought she would ever be ashamed of. Star had to get her to repeat
it, and she did, this time slightly higher than a
with pregnant coconut palms, guiding them toward the sea.
“ Do
you live near the ocean?” Janet whispered, incredulous.
Star
smiled. She flipped off the windshield wipers and rolled down her
window, letting her hand surf the airstream like a kid. “Yes.
Yes we do Jimmie.” Star took a long deep breath of the fragrant air,
something Janet was doing as well, having rolled her window down as
well. Star always loved going home and probably loved it more when
she could share it. Proudly, she announced to her new friend their
destination.
“ We're
headed for the very edge of paradise.”
15
Paperwork
would kill her before the Taliban ever did.
Sergeant
Johannson hated it as much as any enemy sniper, perhaps more so. At
least she could make an enemy sniper go away. AWOL, A bsent W ith O ut L eave,
was bad enough, but going AWOL to miss a deployment was far worse.
Yet, you could still top that by going AWOL to miss deployment to an
active war zone. Old timers called that desertion in the face of the
enemy, garnering a death penalty.
Modern
America didn't pursue that but the Sergeant could see the point. If
one man fled and made it more difficult for the others to survive, an
argument could be made for manslaughter. She would be one head short
on this deployment because of the absence of Private James Madison
Turner. She wrote his name out with disgust and a rapidly fading
spark of compassion.
One
man short meant everyone had to pull a little extra weight until a
replacement could show up, if one even did.
“ Turner,”
she spoke softly to herself. “You better be dead.”
~~~
Still
I followed Janet.
Still
I didn't quite know why. It made me think for a moment whether I had
become what we had always called ghosts. Maybe. Maybe I was in that
Catholic thing called purgatory, but not having ever set foot inside
a Catholic church, I wasn't sure. My Catholic friends had talked
about it once or twice, just enough for me to understand it meant
something like being stuck.
The
light above me had moved a bit closer, so I had that feeling that
whatever it was I was in, it wasn't going to last that much longer.
Funny though, I didn't care a bit about the delay, nor did I dread
the inevitable whatever it was coming my way. I simply went with the
flow of things, and honestly I wished I had enjoyed that freedom when
I had been alive.
Janet
and her new friend Starshine Aloha had made it to the small grouping
of very modest dwellings she called home. They were haphazardly
placed between towering coconut palms and rested on a thin layer of
sand just above the hard lava. Papaya trees decorated the space
beneath the canopy with brightly colored fruit.
“ Look
Jimmie,” Star said pointing them out. “Breakfast in the
morning.” Janet, I could tell, was in better shape now. The
static from her mind was missing now, her muscles seemed less taunt.
“ Everyone
must already be at the tidal pools. We're going to a heated one just
off the Champagne pools.”
Janet
tried to figure out how a tidal pool could be heated, but finally
gave up and asked, “Heated?”
“ Oh
yeah. We're pretty close to the volcano, as you know. And, all that
mountain rain has to go somewhere, much of it underground into lava
tubes, where the rock is perpetually molten or almost so.
Eventually, it exits to the sea still hot. This little place we're
going has a perfect mix of cool seawater and heated rainwater.”
Janet
was quiet for a few minutes, standing there in a strange, but
wonderful place, unsure of her luck. She clutched Star's beach towel
tightly to her chest.
“ What's
wrong, honey?” Star whispered. “Here, take this new
towel. Do you need a swimsuit?”
That
question broke the spell but released a fair amount of embarrassment.
She took the fresh towel and admitted something she had never
thought she would ever be ashamed of. Star had to get her to repeat
it, and she did, this time slightly higher than a
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