SafeWater

Chapter 1

It was around Christmas when we got the call. It really was more of an invitation. My mom picked up the phone just like always with the usual, “Hello, you've reached the Finets. Who is this?” There was a long pause which usually meant it was the school calling yet again about a detention for me. I just keep forgetting how to sit quietly. It’s not my fault. “Okay,” my mother said suddenly, which opposed the common “Maya, get over here.” Really, for my routine life, this was exciting. “Oh yes definitely.... We’ll be there.... Okay. Bye.” She hung up the phone but she didn't place it quite right so it fell off the stand as usual. She didn't pick it up and struggle to put it back, which was out of the ordinary. My mom’s blond, cropped hair momentarily covered her expression. What was going on?  

“What is it?” I asked with genuine interest. My mom just looked at me, all calm demeanor was replaced by a scary childlike fascination. “Mom, tell me!”

She blinked, “We’re taking a trip.”

“Walking to lake Superior is not a ‘trip’, we live here”

She blinked again. “No, a trip to Hawaii!”

She must have been joking. There was no way that we could afford that! A meal or some soap was at the top of our “need this” list. We can’t go and buy sunshine! We lived in a crappy apartment, in a crappy building, in the crappiest part of town. No living space meant no bank space for this crazy trip!

“Mom, we can’t pay for that, there’s just no way!” I looked at her with a little sense of longing in my eyes. She saw it, and stroked my long brown hair. Her sighing turned to a smile. It was a sweet smile that only a person on the brink of insanity would give- or perhaps my mother.

“Sweetie, they are paying for us! We are leaving tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Who’s paying? What? That’s the first day of Christmas Break! Sam and Corey were gonna host a party!” I complained.

My mother frowned saying, “Lame party or... sunny, perfect, warm and awesome Hawaii!”  She was really going to make me cancel on my friends? Sam was forgetting things like my favorite color and Corey and I were on the last straw. I don’t even know what got into her between the summer of freshman year and the beginning of sophomore year. All I know for sure is that my mom is set of pulling me away from them before I can set things right.

But it is Hawaii. I've always wanted to see it in person. When I was seven, I cut out all pictures of beaches and palm trees and put them on a giant poster board labeling it “Hawhyee.” Maybe this is good. Actually, this is great! I can escape the drama, I don’t even have to bring my phone! I don’t have to hear about how I’m a terrible friend or be reminded that some people have horrid memories. An escape, that’s what I need.

“Yeah, let’s go to Hawaii!”

No sooner said than done. We ecstatically told my older brother who was equally shocked. We packed, we slept, we ate, we showered, we boarded the plane and off we were.

---

A nasally voice echoed through the stuffy plane, “Okay folks, we are fifteen minutes away from landing in the sunny city of Kahului, Hawaii. Make sure you wear sunscreen!”  My mom and I turned to each other with a look of unamusement. My mother looked the part of a Hawaiian, blonde hair, perfect bikini body. The only thing she was missing was a much needed tan. But that wasn't my current concern. I was more preoccupied with my rolling stomach.

“God, I hate airplanes!” I spoke.

“Yeah, half the plane knows that!” My brother jutted in. My brother really is the lanky type, he has my mom’s blonde hair and my muscleless arms. Actually, I’m pretty sure I got it from him, but I don’t want to get into that. Well, soon he will learn that I’m one tough cookie. If you see my brother, you notice that he is a giant in length, as opposed to my mother’s and my shortness. My mom said we are like beauty and the beast, I get flawlessness and Jacob can have what’s left. But right now, this beauty is getting pissed.