//------------------------------// // Just Fine Rehearsing On My Own // Story: So Much More To Me // by Split Scimitar //------------------------------// Next morning, I wake up just shy of 10:00, having slept for almost 11 hours. The reason why I couldn’t tell you, but I think it has something to do with a wicked dream I had last night. I guess I should talk about it. Nothing more than a classic teeth falling out and hearing voices, all but one of whom materialize into physical life forms, human life forms. When the materialized voices start taunting me with, “diabetic,” “heart attack,” “stroke,” and “fatty,” I have a brief trauma flashback but snap out of it rather quickly. Though it’s kind of obvious as to why they’re saying that, I still wonder why it bothers me, even though I’ve lost almost half my body weight since the last time I was called out for my weight. Not like it matters I guess. Most of the people who did call me out are either out of my life or no longer a part of it. In any case, the voice forms fade away and the room becomes a white null and void. No end in sight, but I’ll betcha if I had Pinkie Pie’s superhuman ability to find invisible walls, I would still go insane from the never-ending void. Suddenly, from behind me, a voice shouts, “Yo Max, I got a message for you!” When I turn my head around, the voice that called my name pulls a lever and activates a trap door. When the floor gives out, I shout “Hey!” and fall in. “You’re a conspirator to murder if you support your namesake!” Not that long of a dream sequence in retrospect, but it was enough to raise some questions aside from the obvious “why?” I won’t think much of it. In fact, I’ll probably forget it happened in a day’s time. Besides, I have more pressing real-world issues than worrying about who fat-shamed me way back when. Nevertheless, with cabin fever from approaching 36 hours indoors, and island fever from merely doing a poor job of entertaining myself on each island, settling in, I head into Līhu'e for a walk. If it keeps me from holing up indoors, I guess. After exploring the local Walmart, I decide to venture up the highway towards Princeville, since pleasure cruising is what I do best, and so I can keep my petrol load down. Ideally I’ll return to the plane with about 90 miles of range, and I hope the Q5’s I loaned are similarly returned. Passing Kapa’a, where most of my friends who like Kauai stay, I leave a nice loud exhaust note by punching the throttle to beat the traffic light where a lot of cars are lined up as I head for the north side of the island. Arriving sooner than I thought thanks to a lead foot, I find a relatively close yet secluded place to park, but when I see the condition of the lot, I quickly abandon my intentions and find much closer parking by one of the beaches. I can sink my toes in the sand if I want to like when I was on Maui, but only here on Kauai do I wish I brought my beach clothes. Oh well. Settling for getting my feet wet, I check the time and decide to head back to Līhu’e, when guess who should show up? Right on cue, three Audi Q5’s with three different state license plates, roll in and park. Confirming my suspicions (if the license plates didn’t already) are the obscured figures of Fluttershy and crew, plus their docent, who shows up behind them in a much less luxurious JL Wrangler. This one is a 2-door however, and is a Sport, the base model, but for seemingly obvious reasons, it doesn’t have the stock wheels, for good reason; well, except the spare, but judging by the size of the other four, the fifth simply wouldn’t fit anyway. Fluttershy gasps upon seeing me and shouts, “Max!” “Sweet ride.” I say to their docent. “Thanks man. Same to you!” “Well, thank you. You gonna “Jurassic Park” yours?” “Been thinking about it, but I don’t think so.” “Not to sway your opinion, but if you live here, this is one of the most appropriate places to have one.” “Touché.” “Split Scimitar,” I respond extending my hand, “I just go by Max.” “Max?” He responds shaking my hand. “John Michael. But just Michael’s fine.” “Well, alright Michael. I get called Michael all the time.” “The other “M” name?” “Yeah! How’d you know?” “I’ve been called every M name short of Methuselah. Matt/Matthew, Marion, Mike, etc.” “Same! Matt and Michael are usually what I’ll respond to!” We both share a laugh as Fluttershy greets the two of us. “Hey Max! I see you met J.M.” “Aye, I did. Fancy running into you here.” “I know!” “Where’d you just come from?” “Haena. Spent today here, then tomorrow we’ll hit up Waimea Canyon and the area around Barking Sands.” “Oh cool! How long you plan on staying here?” “Oh, a few hours. We’re actually pretty much done for the day, so we’ll meet up tomorrow.” “Where’s home, If ya don’t mind me asking?” “Princeville. Right by the Queen’s Bath.” “Oh, yeah, yeah! I’m familiar.” “They’re so beautiful. We were gonna go over there, but The Tide Is High.” “Ooh, yeah I feel ya on that one. Such a shame.” “I know. But that’s why we’re here.” “Well, don’t let me stand in your way.” I say as we all head down and set up camp. Since I’m not gonna get wet, I make some small talk with Michael. “What is the purpose of studying each island individually? I mean, I’ve spent a lot of time here, enough to know that each island has its unique little quirks and idiosyncrasies, but how could sustainability efforts be differentiated? In other words, what might be done differently here on Kauai than say Oahu or Maui?” “Actually, there’s not a whole lot that differentiates one island from another. Mostly it’s just working with local business and the resorts to curb waste generation, offset or exceed inputs, so to speak; but unfortunately, one of our biggest variables is tourist traffic.” “Well, not much to do there. That will remain a constant.” “Yeah, not much doing there.” “What have you been studying?” “Native species, invasive species, flora, fauna, the environment…” “The Classic Flora, Fauna, Merryweather.” “Pretty much. It’s relatively simple stuff. They’re a volunteer group at heart, so we haven’t done anything too intense.” “Have you been helping them on every island?” “I met them in Oahu, but another colleague of mine handled them at the lower two.” “Oh cool.” As we continue talking about their trip, they soon return. “Where are you all staying?” “Kilauea.” “Cool. I’m staying at my wife’s house in Lihue, so we’re not too far. Sorry Michael.” He only chuckles. Later that night, I get a knock at my door. “Hi Fluttershy. What’s up?” “Can I come in?” “Yes, of course. “How can I help you?” “Um, I made a mistake in booking, and as a result, we have one less night than we planned. Can we, um, spend the night after tomorrow with you?” “Of course! You’ll be cramped for space though.” “That should be okay.” “Thank you for coming in, though you could’ve easily texted me.” “Actually, I’m here so I can get an idea of how cramped it’ll be.” “Sure. And hey, it works out nicely because we’ll all be in the same place before we head back to the mainland.” “Mhmm. Do you mind if I take a peek around?” “No problem. Just stay out of the dressers. Rosalina keeps clothes here.” “Of course.” With two nights to go, I decide to shadow them up to the area near Barking Sands, but well after they’ve left the beaten path. This is a pretty nice area, and in spite of the obvious outdoorsy feel of Kauai, I could come here just to hang here. Now that we’re approaching less than 48 hours to wheels up, I take a look at the weather models and get some predictions for the journey back to Seattle. While I don’t expect anything too major to make the return trip unbearable, I also know that it is still a bit on the early side to rely on the currently disseminated information. Plugging in my planned route, I expect no abnormalities along the route. Because it’s SeaTac, I can pretty much guarantee that there will be flow control, and that no matter what happens, especially as SeaTac wraps up their construction projects, I hope they can do their operations in the same fashion as San Francisco. That night, I go out to Duke’s for a taste of the local fish, since it’s been a tradition of Rosalina’s and mine to have it at least once before I leave. One of many we have for the Hawaiian islands, I guess it just shows how unpredictable divorce is. Any couple no matter how intimate or comfortable is still just as susceptible as any other. There is no definitive formula. Wistfully, I ponder ways to cope with the process, since that rather than the actual event itself is what eats away at me. Hoping to find ways without eating into the schedules of my other friends, I move that thought to the back burner as I fall asleep before 22:00 again. Going for a morning walk with only my weather briefing in hand, I review all the models but specifically check PIREPs. It is springtime so the possibility of a phantom storm cell or system is real, but my main cause for concern is what could await us in Seattle. Winter came late this year up there, so it can be either CAVU, or San Francisco. (Rainier, please be out to play.) When I finish with my weather outlook, I satisfy an e-cigarette craving in lieu of lunch, because apparently smoking or even e-smoking suppresses hunger, but at what cost? For most, a rise in blood pressure. But hey, mine is only high because of what’s to come. Surely smoking can’t raise it any higher. Since I’m expecting company tonight, I need to warm up the house. Of course, being located in this region, I don’t mean that literally. Nevertheless, by the time I actually finish spiffing the house, I get the text that the Q5 brigade is here just as I see the sunlight reflections through the blinds. Quickly cleaning up evidence of my domestic work, I get the door after a few quaint knocks. As I pat down the wrinkles in my shirt and clean up my act, I open the door to Fluttershy and Wallflower as the frontwomen of the group, with the others coming in right behind them. “Thank you for doing this.” Fluttershy says as she gives me a hug. “Totally rad man! Appreciate the help.” Sandalwood says to back her up. “Of course! Happy to help!” I respond. “Please get settled and comfortable. ‘O ka‘u hale ka hale. Mi casa es su casa!” As everyone decides to pick out a bedroom, I run to the master and close the door before I ask around to see if everybody’s eaten. Kind of a bad question in hindsight, as it’s already 20:30, and a consensus of Yes is a slight relief to me, so I don’t feel so burdened on feeding them. After I call in a fuel order, since I completely forgot to when I landed, I then ask around again once almost everybody is in the room. “Are any of you bound by work schedules? If we need to, we can leave as early as midnight. Otherwise, I can leave our departure to you.” “I’m off work tomorrow, so I can be flexible.” Microchips responds. “So can I.” Adds Wallflower. “Well, let me ask you this: what time would you like to land in Seattle?” “What’s the time difference?” “Uh, counting time zones, add 9 hours. So if we left at midnight, we’d land at about 9 am.” “I don’t know about any of you,” Dr. Fauna chimes in, “but I’d like to not negotiate Seattle rush hour, so can we plan on that?” “Absolutely. That means our window is closed between… 7 and 9 am Pacific?” “Plus or minus an hour.” “Well, I figure it’ll take about an hour to unload and deplane, so we can figure that in.” “There’s no rush. We can leave whenever you like.” “Max,” Fluttershy then chimes in, “do you have a preference for departure?” “In any case, I’ll get a sunrise either way. Unless you want to leave at like 8 am. Red eye or early morning, doesn’t really matter.” “But do you have a preference?” “If I had to choose? Probably late red eyes, meaning departure between 11 and 2, depending on the local time at my destination.” “Anyone wanna leave at midnight then?” Fluttershy asks. “If you’re comfortable sleeping on the plane, we can head for the airport right now.” With no objections, we pack up all our things and head for Lihue Airport.