HONOLULU, HAWAII
The Announcement
“Aloha! And welcome to Hawaii! It’s great to see you girls! Did you enjoy Europe? Been there long enough that you wanted to get back to the US of A? I know it wasn’t that you girls just wanted to see us that badly.” Sabrina, her new husband Oliver Stewart, and her sister Madi Cooper greeted Taylor Callihan and Autumn McNeely at the airport terminal.
“Oh, it’s great to see you girls, but we needed a climate change from Europe.” Taylor replied, gathering her camera box, satchel of notebooks, and two suitcases. One of them was filled with back issues of papers she had reported for and mementos and souvenirs of her past twelve years, travelling France, Austria, Germany, and Britain, with shorter forays into the rest of the continent, including a memorable week in Turkey. Without going into details, it involved an earthquake and two terrorist scares.
“Well, why not Florida? I hear it’s nice there and they’re not having climate troubles.”
Autumn finally spoke up. “He’s there, on vacation.” Her face twisted, sourly.
“Who’s. . . oh,” Oliver stopped as his wife, sister-in-law, and Taylor all shot identical warning glares at him simultaneously.
“Anyways, let’s get your stuff back to the cottage. I sure hope nothing strange happens with the volcanoes while you’re here. They’ve set up three labs on the main volcanoes. All of the islanders are nervous,” related Madi, loading the two girls’ bags onto the back of five nearby bicycles.
“Away!” yelled Sabrina. “I bet I can beat you all back to the house!”
“Cannot!” Oliver raced past, huffing and puffing.
“Hey, wait for us!” Autumn shouted, rushing to catch up. Everyone began chuckling and giggling as the race turned into a childish contest. They, like the Woods and Perry families across the country, were laughing for the last time in a long while.
-------------------------------------------
As they careened around a corner, a young man in a military-like formal uniform rode straight into Autumn’s bike, knocking her off and totally smashing both bikes.
“Oh my, are you okay? I’m sooo sorry! I wasn’t watching and. . . Oh gosh, I really am sorry,” his face the picture of regret and concern.
“I’m fine Mr. . .”
“Hony. Eugene Hony. Please though, just Gene. Everyone calls me that. Can I help you carry this stuff home? Where are you going?”
“Next left, five house down. We’ll meet you there, you two follow behind us, okay? I’ve got a bad feeling. I want to get my emergency kit, papers, and cash in the van. I’m sorry to push this on you two,” Oliver said, looking at Autumn and Taylor, “but I think we need to leave. Now!”
“What makes you say that?” Madi attempted a calm face, though her worry and anxiety clearly showed through.
“Look.” He pointed at three massive volcanoes, all of which were belching black smoke. “That’s the two-days-prior warning. So no rush, but absolutely no dawdling or poking. Enjoy the walk,” he gave a sarcastic chuckle as he, Madi, Sabrina, and Taylor pulled away on their bikes, leaving Gene and Autumn with her purse, Taylor’s notebooks, Gene’s briefcase, and his expensive -looking laptop bag.
“Let’s leave the bikes here; I can come back for them later,” he said, picking up his computer and the notebooks.
“Sounds good to me. So what do you do here? Are you in the military?” Autumn asked, shooting a curious look at Gene’s uniform as she tucked her black hair behind her ear.
“No, not strictly speaking. Most people don’t completely understand my job, so I don’t really expect you to, but I design military software, with an emphasis on missile directive and tracking programs.”
“Neat! I happen to understand because I have set up several security systems and written no small amount of programs, but it has all been civil stuff. In fact, just the other day I” she broke off abruptly as an extremely amplified voice began speaking at a volume level where the speaker could be heard across the entire island.
ATTENTION CITIZENS! THREE MAJOR VOLCANOES WILL BEGIN ERRUPTING IN EXACTLY ONE HALF HOUR. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU BEGIN EVACUATIONS NOW. ALSO, FOR THOSE TRAVELING BY BOAT, (“Ridiculous,” Autumn later remembered thinking, “because Hawaii is all islands!”) THERE WILL BE AN INCREASE IN SEISMIC ACTIVITY, SO PREPARE FOR A CHOPPY VOYAGE. THANK YOU.
Autumn and Gene stopped in their tracks, stared at each other, then broke into a full out run the rest of the way to the Stewart home.
