Ben and Jess. Sibs escape the rain for a day at the beach.
This is my first submission. The beach is a composite of several beaches in the Kona area. Body surfing is possible at Spencer Beach; some of the others may have dangerous rocks. I've never tried tandem body surfing but would love to.
Jess stared at the solitaire hand she had just dealt herself and signed. Nothing to do but play on, she thought, fingering the cards absentmindedly. She looked over at her younger brother, sprawled out on the couch across from the table where she sat, and frowned at him. He was reading a book called, "A Natural History of Hawaii," and seemed totally engrossed. Why this seemed to annoy her so completely she wasn't sure.
"Jess," he called.
Oh, god, she thought. Here comes another fun fact from Mr. Ben, Wizard of the Wonky.
"Jess," he said again. "Did you know that there are two different kinds of lava on the Big Island? One of them is smooth and is called, 'phanohoe', and the other is rough and sharp and is called, 'a'a'. I wonder if it's because the rock itself is different or whether it's because the rate of cooling is different, which would give it a different crystal structure, don't you think?"
"Ben," she said. "I wouldn't have the foggiest. All I know is that I'm extremely, totally, utterly bored."
"Well there's nothing we can do about the weather. So why make yourself miserable?"
"Why are you so effing annoying? I think I have a new name for you: 'Wiz'. As in 'Wizard of Wonk'. That's what you are, the 'Wizard of Wonk.'"
"So 'Dork' and 'Nerd' aren't sufficient. You needed another one. I guess that's how you pass the time, making up names for me. Very productive."
"They all fit you. It just gives me some options, depending on the situation."
"Love you too, Sis," he said.
Jess walked to the window and stared out at the pouring rain. It waxed and waned but when it waxed it returned with a roar, even though there was no wind to speak of. Just the roar of the pouring rain, a monsoon, falling straight down, harder than she had ever seen it rain. Hawaii. The Big Island.
It was supposed to be their last big family trip together. A fun time with hiking and beaches and plenty of time to lie in the sun, flirt with beautiful guys, read trashy novels, sneak off at night and get drunk. Her spring break. For her it was going to be better than the silly Florida bacchanals. Done that. For her brother, a dubious hiatus in his spring baseball training, but worth it, he had decided. Her parents had and saved and scrimped and planned and now, here they were, cooped up in a rental house for 6 days in Hawaii, in the rain, getting on each other's nerves. She should have stayed home.
"Hey Dork," she said. "Check the forecast. How many more days do we have of this?"
"I just checked it a few hours ago, Jess. It's not gonna change."
Two more days of rain. Then a chance of clearing. Maybe. Her spring break, ticking away.
The rain seemed to let up for a minute. It always seemed to let up for a minute, sometimes 10 minutes, but then the monsoon returned. As it cleared she saw the forest shrouded in mist surrounding them on all sides. So much for hot sun, warm surf and pristine beaches. They were staying in a rain forest jungle. The only good thing about it was that it was warm; they were having a snow storm back East.
A family of wild pigs waddled out onto their rudimentary lawn: a sow and 8 piglets, moving across the puddled driveway toward the opposite woods.
"Ben, look! Wild pigs! A whole family!"
Her brother came to the window and watched a huge sow and her piglets disappear into the dense foliage. "Cool, thanks for showing me. That lady looks pretty intimidating. I guess hunting them isn't working very well."
Ben had already recounted to his sister how the Hawaiian government had tried for a while to eradicate the feral pigs because of the environmental damage they did, to say nothing of the damage to lawns and shrubbery. This, in addition to his little asides on Hawaiian geology, history and wildlife.
Ben was a voracious reader, curious and quick-minded. But he had the habit of somehow assuming that his innocent enthusiasm for whatever he was reading would be shared by whoever else was in his vicinity. Thus came, "Hey Jess, did you know...," which annoyed her so, and prompted her numerous nicknames. Mostly, Jess pretended to be annoyed more than she was. Secretly she found his habit endearing and never interrupting him when he got going. It was fun seeing the world through his curious eyes, even though she mocked him for it.
So what would today bring? She tried to imagine what activities her parents were cooking up. Yesterday, their first full day on the island, they had boldly tried to hike despite the rain but it ended up with all of them soaked and muddy despite rain jackets and umbrellas. The trail was a river of mud so slippery that each of them wound up falling several times. They retreated to the rental house for hot showers and dry clothes and tried sightseeing from the car. This, too, proved impossible, so they wound up spending the afternoon at the Tsunami Museum in Hilo, which was interesting, for about an hour. There didn't seem to be many options, really. Not with it raining like this.
"Tell me, oh master of all knowledge" she said. "Is there someplace on this island where it's not raining?"
"Kona, most likely," he said. "There are places north of Kona that get only about 10 inches of rain per year. Here around Hilo, we get about 130. That's about 11 feet of rain per year."
"Why does all of it have to fall this week? Couldn't we have stayed in Kona instead of Hilo?"
At this point their mother entered from the den, where she and their father had been reading. "Because, dear children, we could not afford that side of the island. One of you is in college and the other is about to start. Remember? It was a gamble coming to this side of the island and I guess we lost." They'd had this conversation before.
"Sorry, mom," said Jess. "I guess I need some diversion besides playing cards with myself and listening to Ben reciting fun facts about a place that it's too rainy to see."
"There's some interesting books that people have left in the shelf over there."
"I suppose..."
"Jessie, sweetie. I think we're stuck for today. Maybe tomorrow it will let up some and we can head to the Volcano Park."
"That would be terrific. Sorry to be so bitchy."
Her mother smiled. Her mother, always the optimist, so unlike Jess herself. Jess felt her skin crawl as she contemplated spending the day here in the rain, trying to interest herself in one of the drugstore novels people had left behind. Making the best of things was not her way. There must be something..."
"Mom, what if Ben and I take the car and drive to Kona and find a beach for the day? It's still early and we've already had breakfast. We could be back tonight. What do you think?"
"I don't know if your father and I want to be stuck without a car. Besides, there's a lot around here we haven't seen yet."
"Mom, driving around sitting in the back seat with the windows fogged up staring out into the rain at sights we can't see... We did that yesterday."
"Let me see what your dad says. Maybe he and I can be without a car for a day."
