Boyd Morrison - The Tsunami Countdown

Teresa fumbled through her purse to get her watch. It was 10:08 a.m. Only an hour and fourteen minutes until the tsunami arrived.

“… For Kauai, the wave arrival time is 11:35 a.m. Please follow all instructions given by your local authorities.” A brief pause; then: “This is a tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands. This is not a …”

The message began to repeat.

Teresa felt her stomach go cold. “It’s not a test,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Darryl said.

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t repeat. It would end with a message saying that it was only a test, and the siren would shut off.”

“You mean there’s a real tidal wave coming?” Eunice said, alarmed at the prospect. “What should we do?”

“Is your hotel nearby?”

“Yeah,” Darryl said, “it’s that big one over there. The Hilton.” He pointed to a thirty-story building.

“What floor is your room on?”

“The twentieth.”

“Good. Go back to your hotel room until they say it’s over.”

“You should come with us. Got plenty of room. Maybe even order up some room service.”

“I can’t. I have to find my daughter and her friend.”

“Oh, my goodness, dear,” Eunice said. “You don’t know where they are?”

Teresa felt stung by the comment, even though she didn’t think Eunice meant it as an criticism of her parenting skills.

“No. They went shopping.”

“What store?” Darryl said.

Teresa shook her head. She pointed toward Diamond Head. “They went that way.”

“How will you find them? They have a cell phone?”

Teresa was feeling worse as a mother by the minute. She had let her daughter go off to who-knew-where without any way of communicating with her. She didn’t do anything differently from what a thousand other parents on this beach would have done. But the thought that she wasn’t the only person who had lost track of her kids didn’t make her feel any better.

Teresa put on her sarong and tank top. “No, they don’t have a cell phone,” she said, her voice cracking from worry. “And my cell phone battery is almost dead anyway.”

Eunice put a hand on Teresa’s shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll come back, dear, now that they’ve heard the sirens. We still have over an hour.”

Teresa nodded in agreement. The best thing for her to do was stay calm and stay where she was. If she left in search of them, she would surely miss them. And if they returned while she was gone, they might do something stupid, like go in search of her.

All she could do was pace back and forth along the sand, straining to see any sign of her daughter.

10:09 a.m .

1 Hour and 13 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

Lani paddled her kayak next to Mia and the two boys who they had met only thirty minutes ago. By this time they had to be at least a half mile from shore. Lani was still bewildered at the sequence of events that had gotten her out there. After they had left Teresa to read her book, she and Mia had wandered along the beach, looking at the vast horde of sunbathers, the families playing in the water, the surfers paddling out to take on their first attempts at waves, the college students playing Frisbee, the vendors of all sorts hawking snacks and kitschy souvenirs. Lani loved it. She didn’t know anywhere else you could find such a cross section of humanity.

The day was glorious. The strong smell of suntan lotion complemented the salty breeze coming off the ocean. As they walked, Lani noticed how Mia kept eyeing the boys who passed them. A raucous crowd of boys played beach volleyball, and Mia waved at one of them. Lani pulled Mia’s arm down and raced forward, giggling. But inside, Lani could only wish for that kind of confidence.

Of the two of them, Lani had always been the tomboy, excellent at athletics, ready to try every sport. She played soccer and volleyball, surfed, loved any kind of water sport. She had even been star shortstop on the otherwise all-boy Little League baseball team, where some of her teammates would barely talk to her because they resented her athletic skills. And because Lani was shy, making friends with girls was even harder.

Mia, on the other hand, was a girly girl. Other girls wanted to hang out with her because she was so cool and pretty and seemed to know the latest trends in fashion, even though her mom still didn’t have much money to spend on clothes. She danced on the drill team, took ballet lessons, and had even been out on a date. Her mom had driven her to the mall movie theater and back, but Mia found a secluded moment and made out with the boy. Lani felt like she was falling behind Mia.

When she and Mia were about half a mile from Teresa, Mia pulled her to a stop.

“Look.”

Mia pointed at the two boys who had passed them earlier when they were looking for a spot on the beach with Teresa. Now that she had a better look at them, Lani thought she recognized one of them. He was taller than the other boy and seemed more sure of himself. His mocha-colored hair tousled in a mop, he sported the deep brown skin of a native islander, while the other boy, blond and three inches shorter, still had the remnants of a farmer’s tan. The boys were listening to iPods as they walked.

“What about them?”

“Let’s go say hi,” Mia said, pushing Lani forward. Lani dug her feet into the sand.

“No. I don’t want to.”

“Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“But I know one of them.”

“Really? Which one?”

“The one on the left.”

“The tall one? He’s cute. But not as cute as the other one. Introduce me.”

“How?” Lani was no good at that kind of thing.

“Say my name,” Mia said.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, if you want, I’ll do the talking. Come on.”

Lani reluctantly went along. They cut in front of the boys, who took out their earbuds when Mia practically stopped them in their tracks.

“Hi!” the tall boy said in recognition. “Where are your boogie boards?”

“We’re not boogie boarding right now,” Mia said. “We’re going shopping.”

“Hey, don’t I know you?” he said, looking at Lani.

“Me?” Lani said, gulping silently. He had actually noticed her!

“Yeah, you go to my school, right? IPA?”

The boy looked different out of his school uniform, but it was definitely him. He was a couple of grades ahead of her at Island Pacific Academy, so she never thought she’d actually meet him, that he’d never be more than a hallway crush.

“Yes. I’m a freshman.”

“Her name is Lani. I’m Mia.”

“Cool. My name’s Tom. This is Jake. He’s visiting from Michigan.” Jake nodded at them. “Hey, we were thinking of heading out onto the water.”

Lani felt herself uncharacteristically speaking up, perhaps in competition with Mia.

“Surfing?”

Jake jumped into the conversation. “We rented some sea kayaks for the week,” he said. “Have you ever been on a kayak?”

“We both have,” Lani said, bluffing with increasing boldness. Lani had paddled sea kayaks six or seven times since moving to Hawaii, but as far as she knew, Mia had never even seen one.

“Sweet,” said Tom. “You want to come with us?”

Mia turned and shook her head at Lani. When Mia had suggested talking to the boys, Lani was sure that doing something athletic was the last thing on her mind. Lani beseeched her silently, and this time it was Mia who relented.

“Yeah,” Mia said with little enthusiasm. “We’d love to.”

“Awesome. The kayaks are just up the beach.” He started walking, and the girls and Jake followed.

“You both from around here?” said Tom.

“Mia’s just visiting from Seattle.”