“What was that first one you said?”
“Opakapaka.” Then leaning closer he said, “Don’t tell Paula, but it’s snapper, and hapu’upu’u is bass.”
He smiled, and Christy smiled back. Not being much of a fish-eater normally, even after hearing their names in English, she wasn’t sure if she knew the difference between how snapper and bass tasted.
“Have you decided?” The waiter suddenly stood before them. Christy needed more time, but everyone else was ready. She hated these moments when she had to make a quick decision, especially when she barely even knew what she was deciding between.
David ordered a hamburger, Paula ordered steak, and Todd ordered something called mahimahi broiled with pineapple rings. Now it was up to her.
“I guess I’ll have the New York steak also. Medium well, please.”
“See?” Paula said. “You knew I was right all along, didn’t you, Christy? Never order something you can’t pronounce.”
Paula’s words hit Christy like a stinging slap. Here was yet another area in which Paula seemed to say, “I’m right, and you’re wrong.”
Todd’s comment didn’t help much either. “I can see you three aren’t exactly ready to live adventurously. I’ll have to teach you how to hang loose and live ’da kine island-style.”
“I can be adventurous, Todd, really!” Paula said. “You’ll just have to teach me how.”
Todd isn’t going to teach you a thing if I can help it! You stay away from him, Paula!
“I’m not sure you can teach anyone to be adventurous. Either you are or you aren’t. I don’t think it’s a learned thing,” Todd said, looking serious. “And living ’da kine island-style is, well, it’s something you just do. You can’t teach somebody how to relax.”
“Why do you say that ’da … what is it?” David asked.
“ ’Da kine,” Todd told him. “It’s the pidgin way for saying, ‘the kind,’ and in Hawaii they use it to mean, well … just about anything.”
“What’s pidgin?” David asked.
“Slang. You know, like an easygoing way of talking. I think pidgin is a combination of all the languages that came to Hawaii. It’s the way all my friends and I talked when I was growing up here. Not in school. Just with each other when we were hanging out.”
“Like your own secret code?” David asked.
“It’s more than that. When you talk pidgin and understand it, it’s a way to show other locals that you live here and you’re not some malihini, some tourist, just passing through.”
The waiter appeared with four carefully balanced platters on his arm. Christy’s steak turned out to be much more than medium well. Burnt would be more like it. She ate about six bites and gave up when her jaw started to hurt from all the tough chewing.
Todd’s fish looked really good. It was a large serving of tender white fish with pineapple rings on top. Christy wished she’d ordered the same.
Next time I’m going to learn from what Todd does. If Paula can have a rule about not ordering anything she can’t pronounce, then I can have a rule too. Whatever it says over the restaurant’s door, that’s what I’ll order. If it says steak house, I’ll order steak. But if it says seafood, from now on I’ll order fish!
David wanted dessert, but Mom said no since he hadn’t finished all his hamburger. Christy didn’t want anything but a nice, soft bed. It had been a full day, and they were all too exhausted to even watch TV after they walked back to the condo.
Without saying much to each other, Christy and Paula both soon floated off to sleep, lulled by the endless rocking of the ocean right outside their window.
It seemed to Christy she’d only been asleep for an hour when she slowly opened her eyes and surveyed the surroundings of the bedroom in the brightness of the morning light. It took her a moment to realize it was morning already, and this wasn’t part of the sweet dream she’d been in all night.
This was a real dream. A waking dream with a real ocean outside her open window and calm morning breezes tiptoeing across her face.
We’re in Hawaii, and today is … hey! Today’s my birthday! “Paula,” she whispered to the lump of sheets on the bed across the room, “Paula, wake up!”
Paula wasn’t in the bed, and she wasn’t in the bathroom either. Tumbling into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, Christy quietly checked in Mom’s room. Empty too.
“They must all be next door,” she decided while washing her face and doing a few twists with the mascara wand on her eyelashes. She smiled at herself in the mirror. “Maybe it’s like a surprise birthday breakfast.”
That thought prompted her to plug in her curling iron and pick out a nicer top. She chose a red one. Rick once said he liked her in red.
Rick! I can’t believe I thought of Rick. I’m in Hawaii with Todd on my birthday. What am I doing thinking about Rick?
Then she remembered why. For months and months, Rick, a tall, good-looking, popular guy from her school, had promised that when she was officially old enough to date, he would take her out. He even told her once that he’d never forget her birthday, July 27, because he’d marked it on his calendar.
Christy set to work curling her hair, reminiscing about the numerous up and down times she’d had with Rick during the school year. She’d never quite figured out if she liked him or not. How convenient, as it turned out, that he’d gone to Europe with his family, and she’d gone to Maui. Now the long anticipated and promised birthday date would never take place.
In a way, she felt relieved. Rick, who had just graduated, would go away to college in the fall, and she’d be only an elusive high school memory to him. She could pack away her complex bundle of feelings toward him. It was a nice solution to their nothing-more-than-friends relationship.
Putting the curling iron down with a bump, Christy looked in the mirror. She tried to look at herself the same way she’d often looked at Rick. Every time she had, he’d called her “Killer Eyes.”
Then with her chin forward and her voice soft and clear, she said, “Okay, Christy Miller, try explaining this one. If Rick means nothing to you and you say he never really has, then why is it that on your sixteenth birthday, of all the things you could be thinking of, your first thought is of Rick Doyle? He is far away, and he should be far away from your thoughts today. I’m sure he’s not thinking of you. You’re here with Todd, remember? Now go next door and act like you’re sweet sixteen, and let Todd, not Rick, make this a birthday to always remember.”
After three crisp little knocks on Bob and Marti’s door, Christy tried the knob. When she found the door open, she bounced in with a vibrant “Good morning, everyone!”
Silence. She felt like Goldilocks.
With a much softer voice, she said, “Hello? You guys up yet?”
Oh, how fun! What if they’re hiding around the corner, waiting to pop out and surprise me!
Just then the bedroom doorknob turned, and Christy braced herself for the surprise. She was surprised, all right.
Bob, dressed in his pajamas and robe, emerged, yawning like a Papa Bear, so wide that his eyes remained only slits on his groggy face.
“Oh, Christy!” He looked startled to see her. “I didn’t see you there. Good morning.” He yawned again. “What got you up so early?”
She followed him into the kitchen. “I thought, I mean, it’s, well. Paula and Mom were gone, so I thought they were over here.”
Bob measured the coffee beans into the grinder, and with a push of a button, the wonderful aroma of ground Kona coffee surrounded them. “Nope. I heard the boys leave more than an hour ago. My guess is Todd went surfing as he has every morning since we got here. I don’t know where the rest of them are.”
Christy pulled up a stool at the kitchen counter and tried to figure it out. She also tried not to let her hurt feelings show while Bob propped open the front door to let the morning sun and wonderful breeze dance around the room.
“Beautiful day,” Bob said, breathing in the morning fresh
ness. “Couldn’t ask for a more perfect day.”
“Yeah, if you’re a weatherman,” Christy said under her breath.
Bob turned to look at her. “You hungry?”
“No thanks. I don’t feel like eating.”
“You want a cup of coffee?”
“No.” Then something inside Christy made her change her mind. “Well, yeah, maybe I will. Do you have cream and sugar?”
He handed her everything, and Christy prepared her first cup of coffee. She loved how coffee smelled but never drank it because previous sips had proved to be so bitter. The cream and sugar would change that. At sixteen years old, it was time to have her first cup of coffee.
The first taste was awful. She added more cream. That didn’t help, so she put in more sugar. By the time she finished her concoction, it tasted like warm hummingbird nectar, and she could force herself to swallow only a few sips.
Bob sliced open a papaya, scooping out the black pearl-like seeds and squeezing a lime over it. Then he spooned out the orange portion and popped it in his mouth.
“So, tell me,” he said. “I haven’t heard yet. Did you pass your driver’s test?”
“I haven’t taken it yet.”
“I thought you were going to take it on your birthday?”
Christy felt like sobbing out, “Today is my birthday!”
But before she had a chance, Todd and Paula charged through the open door, laughing and looking like they’d just shared the kind of birthday morning Christy should have been having.
Todd wore a wet bathing suit, and Paula had on her pink bikini with a beach towel wrapped around her waist. Her wet hair gave away that she’d been in the water with Todd. David followed right behind, also wet.
At least David was with them. Knowing that helped, but it didn’t diffuse Christy’s hurt and anger.
“Christy,” Paula gushed, “you should’ve seen me! I almost got up on the board. A few more tries, and I would’ve had it. We’ll have to try again tomorrow, or maybe later today. You should’ve come. It was so fun! I love the ocean, and you were right, Christy. The water is really warm.”
“I would’ve loved to come,” Christy said flatly, trying to hold back an ocean full of churning emotions.
“I tried to wake you.” Paula fluffed her hair with her fingers, unaware she was sprinkling little flecks of sand and saltwater across Christy’s face. “You just rolled over and told me to leave you alone, so I did. Face it, Christy. You’re a night person. You need to switch over and become a morning person like Todd and me, at least while we’re here!” Paula smiled brightly at Todd.
He smiled back and then poured himself a cup of coffee before saying, “She’s really good, Christy. You should’ve seen her. She’s got a natural sense of balance.”
And I’m a klutz, Go ahead and say it, Todd. You could barely get me to balance on a body board last summer. I definitely don’t have a natural sense of balance. Go ahead! Tell everyone how uncoordinated I am and how graceful Paula is!
“We came back because the guys were starving,” Paula explained. “Todd said he’d take us snorkeling to a place where we can actually feed the fish. He said they like frozen peas. Isn’t that wild?” She continued on with a glowing expression that infuriated Christy. “I’m up for the adventure. Are you?”
Then Christy remembered Todd’s comments from the restaurant the night before about her and Paula not being adventurous. Now she could see Paula’s game. Paula was trying to prove to Todd she already was adventurous, and Christy was a prissy little cream puff.
“I’m so excited! This is going to be so much fun! Todd said he knows a place where we can rent masks and snorkels. We’ll get one for you if you want to go snorkeling too, Christy. Do you? Do you want to come with us?”
“No, I don’t want to go on a snorkeling adventure!” Christy spouted loudly and sarcastically. “I’d rather stay here all by myself and spend my birthday alone in my room!”
Everyone became silent and stared at her.
The intensity, the embarrassment, the anger of the moment, pushed Christy out of her chair, swiftly through the open door, and into her condo.
“Christy?” Mom called out as Christy ran past her and into her room.
“Christy?” Mom followed and stood next to the bed where Christy had thrown herself down face first. “What happened? I went for a walk along the beach, and when I came back, you were gone. What’s wrong?”
“Me!” Christy sobbed. “I’m wrong. Everything about me is wrong. Why am I such a jerk?”
Mom sat on the bed and placed a loving hand on Christy’s back. “This isn’t like you, honey. What happened?”
Christy didn’t answer.
“Is it something with Paula?” Mom ventured.
“Which Paula?” Christy asked between sniffs. “The one I used to know or the new, improved Adventure Woman who has Todd wrapped around her little finger?”
“So that’s it,” Mom said, removing her hand. “Listen, Christy. It’s never worth losing a best friend over a guy. And it’s silly for you to be jealous of Paula. Actually, I’m kind of surprised. I’ve always been proud of the nice, healthy relationship you have with Todd.”
“Well, what if Todd wants a ‘nice, healthy relationship’ with Paula instead of me?”
“He might. And that’s okay,” Mom said calmly.
Christy turned to face her. “No, it’s not! You don’t understand. Paula wants a boyfriend really bad, and she’s setting a trap for Todd.”
“Christy, I think you’re exaggerating.”
“I’m not, Mom. You don’t understand.” Christy scrambled her thoughts together, trying to figure out how to explain everything she knew to Mom.
It wouldn’t matter, though. It hadn’t mattered when she told her about the bathing suit or chasing the movie star at the airport. Christy could tell by the kind smile smeared across Mom’s face that, regardless of what she said now, it wouldn’t matter.
“Let me give you some advice my mother gave me when I was a little bit older than you.” Mom paused, then precisely formed her words. “If it is meant for you and Todd to be together, then nothing or no one will be able to break you up. If you’re not meant to be together, then nothing you try will keep you together.”
Christy rolled Mom’s words over in her mind before asking, “Did Grandma say that about you and Dad when you two were dating?”
“No, actually, it was when I was crying over a boy I liked very much. His name was Chuck Clawson.”
“What happened to him?” Christy propped herself up on her elbow, intrigued because Mom seldom shared this kind of story.
“Well, as it turned out, he married my best friend, Pat.”
“Oh, great!” Christy flopped back onto her pillow. “You’re supposed to cheer me up, Mother.”
Mom looked as if she had expected Christy to be enthusiastic about her story. “Don’t you see? God had someone better for me, and that was your father. I didn’t know that at the time because I hadn’t met your father. All I knew was how much I liked Chuck and how much I wanted him to like me.”
Releasing a deep sigh, Christy said, “It’s hard, Mom. It’s really hard.”
“Yes, it is hard. So don’t make it any harder, okay?”
After a moment Christy pulled herself up. “Okay, I’ll try. I guess I’d better go apologize to everyone.”
“I’ll go with you. I want to see if Bob has any more coffee. I can smell it from here.”
“I want to apologize to everybody,” Christy announced to the group, which was seated around the patio table, feasting on scrambled eggs and toast. “I didn’t mean to act like that.”
“Don’t worry about it!” Paula moved her chair closer to Todd to make room for Christy. “If everybody forgot my birthday, I would’ve thrown a bigger fit than that!”
“Happy birthday, Christy.” Bob kissed her on the cheek. “Have a seat, and let’s try to start this beautiful morning all over again. It’ll be a ha
ppy birthday, I promise. Ready for some eggs?”
“Sure. They look great.” Christy pulled up a chair and listened as they discussed their plans for the day.
More than once Todd caught Christy’s eye and looked like he was trying to ask her something or tell her something. She wasn’t sure which. Even though it perplexed her, it made her feel closer to him and gave her hope that he really wanted to continue his “nice, healthy relationship” with her and not start something with Paula.
She didn’t have a chance to talk to him alone until later that afternoon. All seven of them piled into the van and went snorkeling at a beach Todd called Black Rock, named for the lava flow of black rock that protruded out into the water.
Black Rock was high enough and the water deep enough that many high-diving tourists followed the supposed old Hawaiian custom of jumping from the rock into the warm water below. Todd jumped three or four times for their cameras and tried to convince David to go off with him. But once David climbed to the top of the rock and found it looked too scary to jump, he took the rocky trail back to the beach.
Christy loved snorkeling. She released handfuls of bright green peas into the water, then watched the fish swim quickly to gobble them up. The colors of the fish amazed her.
Later she stretched out on an air mattress, floating on the calm water above the fish. Todd suddenly popped his head out of the water right by her raft.
“Did you see those little yellow ones?” He lifted his mask up to his forehead.
“I like the ones with the blue and yellow. They look almost iridescent underwater,” Christy said.
Todd agreed and then, in his usual right-to-the-point manner, said, “What was going on this morning?”
“What do you mean?”
“You made it sound like you were upset about your birthday, but something else was bothering you.”
“No, nothing was.”
“Christy,” Todd rested his arms on the raft’s side, “you’re a bad liar. Your eyes give you away.”
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, her face lifted toward the sun. “I was just tired, that’s all.”