“Todd!” Christy called out again, sprinting across the room. The group of friends stood back, making way for Christy.
When Todd heard her calling his name, he pulled away from Heather's hug around his neck and looked for Christy. Those silver-blue eyes that Christy had dreamed about met her gaze across the room. Todd's face lit up, and he opened his arms to receive her embrace.
Just before Christy reached him, she spotted a white sling on his left arm. With great self-control, she curbed her hug to a modified side squeeze on his right side.
“What happened?” she breathed into his ear, her tears giving way and trickling down his T-shirt.
“It's nothing. Here,” he said as she pulled back. “This is for you, Kilikina.”
Feeling the warmth of hearing him call her his special Hawaiian version of her name, Christy watched as Todd looped a plumeria and orchid lei off his neck and placed it around her neck, kissing her once on each cheek.
“Aloha, Kilikina,” he said softly.
The tropical fragrance of the plumeria set off a cascade of hopes, joys, and dreams in her heart. “You're back” was all she could say.
Todd's gaze left her face and locked on the gold bracelet circling her right wrist. A huge grin spread across his face. He kissed Christy again on her damp cheeks and said, “Yes, I'm back.”
“Well? Tell us what happened!” Marti said, eagerly wedging her way into the circle. “Are you through with surfing for a while?”
“Looks like it.” Todd raised his sling for emphasis. “Here, Marti. You need one of these.”
He began to remove one of his leis for her when Marti protested. “Oh, no, give them to the younger girls first. Look, Katie doesn't have one yet.”
Katie shyly stepped forward, and Todd presented her with a lei, kissing her on the cheek in the Hawaiian custom. Christy thought it looked like Katie was blushing. Oddly, Christy didn't feel jealous. She knew Todd's kisses on her cheek, even in front of everyone, were different from what the others received.
The football game was forgotten as everyone started to ask Todd questions.
“Whoa!” Bob said. “Let's let the poor guy catch his breath. Are you hungry, Todd? Come into the kitchen and get yourself something to eat.”
The group followed Todd into the kitchen, and he answered questions along the way.
“I arrived this afternoon—an hour ago. Doug's mom said you were all over here. I was on standby out of Honolulu, and they had an opening on a flight early this morning.”
Marti handed him a soda as Bob spread some mayonnaise on a French roll. “What do you think, Todd? A little of everything?”
“Sure, that would be great.” He sat at the table, popped open his soda, and took a long drink.
“What happened with the surfing?” Doug asked, joining the others crowded around the table.
Christy had managed to slide in and take the empty chair next to Todd. She scooted closer to him so Tracy could wedge in next to her. That made room for Rick to slip a bar stool in on the end.
“Surfing was outrageous,” Todd said, a smile lighting up his tanned face.
His skin was so dark. Even in the summer Christy had never seen him this bronzed. And his hair looked almost white. She noticed it was a lot longer than she had ever seen it, especially in the back, where it curled at the nape of his neck. Todd looked different—really good, but different.
“The championships…” Doug said, bringing Todd back from his apparent daydream of the foaming waves. “What happened? Did you drop out?”
“Sort of.” He chomped into the huge sandwich Bob placed before him.
Everyone waited while Todd chewed and swallowed.
“Great sandwich,” he said to Bob. “Mahalo.”
Come on, you surfed-out beach boy! Christy thought. Stop being so easygoing and tell us what happened.
“The big ones came in at Waimea last Monday afternoon,” Todd began, gulping his soda. “Man, you can't imagine the feeling of standing on a beach you've stood on day after day and looking at an ocean you only played in before. All of a sudden everything is changed. The waves are so outrageous. When they crash on the sand, you can feel it through the bottoms of your feet.”
The group bent in closer. Todd took another bite, smiling at each of them with his eyes.
“Nobody went out right away. You have to get psyched up for waves like that. You know it's going to be a wrangle between you and the wave. Only one of you is going to win. You have to make sure it's going to be you before you go out there.”
“Is that how you hurt your arm?” Heather asked.
Todd took another bite and another swig of soda. Instead of answering her, he continued the story. “Kimo was ready first. I think Kimo was born ready.”
“Now, who is Kimo?” Marti asked.
“The guy I went to school with when I grew up on Maui,” Todd answered and took another bite.
Christy filled in for him while he ate. “Todd stayed with Kimo over there. The two of them always wanted to get on the pro surfing circuit, ever since they were kids. Kimo has a house on the North Shore of Oahu.”
“More like a shack,” Todd said with a laugh. “A lot of times we just slept on the beach because his apartment was so full of cockroaches, centipedes, and geckos. It was hard to sleep at night with all the local critters crawling across my face.”
Christy could easily believe Todd had spent the last few months sleeping on the beach and living off the land. He certainly looked like an island boy. Knowing him as she did, she imagined such a life must have been a dream come true for him.
“So Kimo takes this wave on, and he makes it!” Todd's eyes grew wide. “I mean, this is like riding down the side of a four-story building, and he makes it look like nothing. Now we're all psyched. If Kimo can take it, we all want a ride.”
'Was this part of the competition?” Tracy asked.
“No, competition wasn't supposed to start until the next day. The waves showed up early. We all paddled out, feeling the spray on our faces. There it is, man! This monstrous wall of pure blue, and we all know it's the day of reckoning.”
Christy remembered the cover on the surfing magazine with the huge wave, shooting the surfboards to shore like toy arrows. She also remembered that it was a Monday. Todd said they were surfing the big waves on a Monday. I wonder if the Monday I prayed for Todd at work was the same Monday he's talking about?
“Eddie catches it on the outside,” Todd continued, “and in seconds he's shot out of the water like a rocket, with his board right behind him. Before I even have a chance to feel the fear, it's my turn, and all of a sudden, I'm on it. I'm riding this monster to shore! I'm riding it!”
“Weren't you afraid that you were going to be killed?” Marti asked. “Didn't you think of that, Todd?”
Todd smiled, “Actually, I thought of Elijah.”
“Elijah?” Marti asked. 'Who's that? One of your surfing friends?”
“No, you know, Elijah, the great man of God in the book of First Kings. Remember? He stood in a cave on the side of a mountain waiting for the presence of the Lord to pass by. First a wind came that tore the mountain apart, then an earthquake, then a fire. But God's presence wasn't in those natural things. Finally, Elijah heard a gentle whisper, and he knew that was God's voice speaking to him.”
Marti blinked and glanced around at the group of teens nodding their understanding. Obviously, Marti had never o heard that Bible story before.
“That's what I felt like,” Todd said. “There I was, standing in the hollow of this mountain of a wave, everything crashing around me, and then right here,” he said, patting his chest, “I felt this total calm, and I knew God was about to do something.”
Everyone remained still, waiting for Todd to continue. His expression looked a little glazed as he said, “That's when I saw Kimo's board shooting past me, and I couldn't see Kimo anywhere. So I plant my feet, and I ride this killer wave. It felt like Jell-O under my board. I could
bend and turn that wave any way I wanted to, and it carried me like a baby in a basket. I rode it all the way to shore, man! Do you know what I'm saying? A wave like that only comes once in a surfer's life. This was my wave!”
“What happened to the other guys?” Tracy asked.
“When I hit the sand, an ambulance was there, and two lifeguards were pulling Eddie out of the water. They started CPR, and I started to pray and scan the water for Kimo.”
“Oh, how awful!” Marti spoke up. “Why did you boys ever do such a foolish thing? You could have all been killed!”
“I'm not afraid of anything in creation,” Todd answered. “I know the Creator.”
'What happened to Kimo and Eddie?” Christy asked. “Were they all right?”
“Kimo came up spewing chunks, and Eddie came real close to going to hell,” Todd said bluntly.
One of his grins spread across his face, and he said, “Then they both got saved, right there on the beach!”
Christy and most of the others knew what Todd meant and expressed their joy and amazement. Marti, however, looked to Bob for an explanation. Bob only shrugged his shoulders.
“The paramedics were able to revive them, you mean?” Marti said.
“Oh yeah, their lives were spared, and I'm sure the paramedics helped out with that. But they both surrendered their lives to God, right there on the beach, with the waves spraying them and a whole crowd of people watching. It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen!”
“These guys you were staying with this whole time weren't Christians?” Doug asked.
“Not when I got there. That's mostly what I did for the last four months—tell them about Jesus. When I left yesterday, five of them had laid down their weapons and surrendered to God. It was like a revival, man!”
Marti looked perturbed, and in an effort to change the subject, said, “You still haven't told us about the competition. How did your tryouts go? That's what you worked so hard for, wasn't it?”
“I didn't go,” Todd said, munching on his last bite of sandwich.
“What?”
“Hey, I surfed my wave on Monday. I'll never suri another wave like that—ever. Kimo got saved. That's what I went for.”
“I don't understand,” Marti said, looking to Bob for interpretation.
“What about your arm?” Bob asked, motioning to the sling. Todd held it up and said, “Centipede. I got bit last week and ended up in the hospital. Seems I'm more allergic to centipedes than I am to bees.”
Christy jumped in and told everyone how Todd was stung by a bee last summer on his foot and how it swelled up twice its size. “He has to carry around this kit to give himself an injection or else he stops breathing.”
“Now I have two kits,” Todd joked. “A bee antigen kit and a centipede kit.”
“We're all glad you're back and in one piece,” Tracy said. “Think you'll stay around for a while?”
“I have to get into school somewhere.”
“Where do you want to go?” Doug asked.
“Any place where I can transfer my credits from the University of Hawaii.”
“That shouldn't be too hard to find,” Doug said. “Have you considered the ever-popular San Diego State?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.”
“It just so happens Rick and I lost our roommate at the end of last semester. We're looking for somebody to start paying rent on that empty room. What do you think, Rick? Did we just find our third amigo?”
Christy couldn't believe this was happening. It was freaky enough when Rick moved in with Doug last fall. But the thought of the three of them sharing the same apartment was too much.
Rick sounded casual when he answered, “Sure. He looks harmless enough. But can he cook? Or do we feed him bananas and coconuts off the tree?”
Christy wondered if this living arrangement would really work. Could Rick see Todd as anything but a competitor? Time would tell.
The group around the table started to break up. The guys headed back to the family room to see what had happened in the game. And Doug and most of the girls stuck around to ask Todd questions about Hawaii and what it was like to go to college there.
Christy had felt her stomach grumbling for the last half hour and thought it was the excitement over Todd. But with a glance at the clock, she realized it was dinnertime. All she had eaten since the muffins in Doug's truck that morning were a few potato chips.
As she folded the thin slices of roast beef onto her piece of bread, Christy caught Todd looking at her while still answering questions. She pointed at the food and mouthed the words, “Do you want another?” Todd nodded, and she eagerly set to work making him a masterpiece. It felt so good to have him back.
But Christy really felt like a princess when everyone started to leave. She had already asked Katie and Rick if she could catch a ride home with them, and Rick had agreed nicely, without making any comment about her sitting in the backseat.
Todd came up beside her and asked, “Would it be okay if I drove you home?”
She was about to protest that it was a long drive and he must be tired, but no words formed on her lips. She only smiled at him and nodded her appreciation.
Once they had said good-bye to everyone, gathered Christy's things, and thanked Bob and Marti several times, Todd and Christy stepped into the cool January night. He led her half a block down the street to where he had parked his Volkswagen van, Gus the Bus.
He opened the side door and tossed Christy's suitcase inside. Even the door's sound filled her with memories.
She recalled the first time she had ridden in Gus. Thinking Todd had asked her for a date, she had dressed up. But he had arrived with Gus loaded with people all casually dressed, and off they went to a concert at his church.
Now Todd opened her door, and this time she climbed into an empty but musty-smelling van and adjusted her position so she wouldn't sit on the rip that had begun in the seat.
“Smells like Gus needs a bath,” Christy said when Todd got in.
“He's been locked in my dad's garage since I left.” Todd started up the engine and drove a few blocks, sniffing the air. “Oh, I think I know what it is,” he said, pulling into a gas station and jumping out.
He pulled out a pizza box from under the driver's seat and gingerly lifted the lid with his bandaged arm.
“If that's what I think it is.” Christy eyed the box Todd had snapped shut, “I don't want to know how long it's been under there, and I don't want to know what color the fungus is.”
Todd jogged over to a trash can and dumped the moldy pizza.
Returning, he said, “It's kind of a shame to waste a perfectly good science experiment like that. Your little brother could have gotten an A with that one.”
“Todd, do you know how gross that is?”
He laughed, “You should have looked at it, Christy. You really missed a miracle of nature!”
“I can think of other miracles of nature that I prefer over a five-month-old piece of pizza.”
They talked and laughed for the first half hour of their drive down the coast. Somewhere near San Clemente, Todd pulled off the main highway and drove on a bumpy dirt road up the side of a deserted hill. City lights were behind them, but the farther up Todd drove, the darker it became. He coaxed Gus over several huge ruts in the road. Suddenly, the road leveled out, and they were on a flat surface.
“Where are we?” Christy asked.
“You can't see it in the dark, but that's Tressels down there.”
“Iressels?”
“Surfing spot,” Todd explained. “It's a good one.”
This is it? You risked my life to bring me up this road to show me a surfing spot I can't even see in the dark?
“Come on.” Todd reached for Christy's jacket in the backseat. “I want to show you something.”
Christy got out carefully, unable to see if she was about to step on firm footing or fall off a cliff.
“What way did you go, Todd?
I can't see anything.”
“I'm up here,” he called, and she looked around to see how his voice could suddenly be coming from above her. “I'm on top of Gus. Come around to the back, and I'll give you a hand up.” Christy felt her way along Gus's side. Once she reached the back, she placed her foot on the bumper.
“There's a little thing to put your foot on,” Todd instructed. “Good, you've got it. Now give me your hand.” He helped her up, and Christy, still unsure of herself, crawled over to where he had spread out her jacket. She sat down and waited for Todd to join her.
He sat down close beside her and said nothing. Christy remembered when they had sat nearly this close on the beach several months ago. It was the morning Todd had announced he was going to Hawaii. He had told her he was selfish to try to hold on to her and wait for her to grow up. And then he put his hand on her forehead and blessed her.
That was a horrible morning. It was basically where they had left off.
Tonight, just like that morning, Todd said nothing. He stared at the stars.
In the past, such silences had made Christy nervous, wondering what he was thinking, wondering if she should say something.
Now she didn't mind the stillness. Todd was here, beside her. They could be together and be silent. The main thing was that they were together.
Christy tilted her head back and looked at the stars.
“Last time I watched the heavens like this was on Christmas Eve,” Todd said.
“Really? Me too! We were in the mountains on Christmas Eve, and I sat for a long time and looked at the stars out my bedroom window,” Christy told him.
“Imagine,” Todd said, “we were looking at the same stars the same night except I was sitting on a beach five thousand miles away. What were you thinking about that night?”
Christy wished she could tell Todd that she had been thinking about him and dreaming about when he would come back. She couldn't lie, so she told him, “I was thinking about Jesus, when He was a baby. I was wondering if He noticed the bright Bethlehem star from His manger.”
“Do you know what I was thinking about?” Todd asked. Without waiting for her to answer, he continued, “I was thinking of Abraham.”