So Much More To Me

by Split Scimitar

I Like The Quiet, I Like The Calm

“Hello?” I answer just shy of midnight.

“Hi Max? Sorry to bother you.”

“Oh, it’s fine. No worries. Are you ready to head to Oahu?”

“Yes.”

“Okay! I’ll send you an address, meet there.”

“Okay. Thank you Max.”

“No problem. We’ll see you soon.”

“Alright, Bye.”

“Rosalina, Fluttershy just called. They’re ready to go, so can we use the Sunshine ramp?”

“Of course. No need to ask me. Just make sure the gate’s closed when you leave.”

“Okay.” I say as I send Fluttershy the address for Sunshine.

“You know, I never really like this part.” She says as I finish packing.

“Which part?”

“You leaving.”

Blindsided by her response, I sigh and can only say, “I know. It’s always painful for me too, but if our marriage worked for all these years like this, and neither of us ever really decided to speak up, maybe it was a good thing. I mean, I wished I had been able to live with you, but we always knew that we liked our distance from each other. But you know what? That made the time we had together that much more special.”

“Indeed it did.”

“I’ll be back soon.” I say after we share one more kiss.

“Bye.” She says as I walk out the front door.

When the gate to the driveway closes behind me, I quietly exit Lahaina and make for Kahului, the sound of the Lamborghini V12 roaring amidst the sky at morning civil twilight a rather nice one.

I beat the group by only a few minutes, so when I let them all in and secure the fence, I load the airplane and get us going quickly. There’s a small 45-minute slot between arrivals at HNL, and I’d like to sneak in it.

Once we land on my favorite island, and ironically the only island that Sunshine doesn’t serve, I can relax a bit, because not only are there the most things to do here, I can drive my car comfortably because Honolulu, meaning I can comfortably drive it in a city without fear of over-idolization.

When the group leaves me behind, I head for downtown Honolulu with Fluttershy’s parents close behind. They end up leaving me behind though when I leave the city and head for one of my many houses in Honolulu. This particular house is the one that Mario and Luigi’s kids lived in when they were studying at The University of Hawai’i Mānoa.

When I step in and get comfortable, I finish the e-cigarettes I have with me to try and take an edge off. I don’t know if it’s because of seeing Rosalina or the fact that I know I have to give her my Focus RS collection, my all-time most-prized love and passion, and dream car above every other car in my garage. In hindsight, I should’ve expected it, since she knew from the time we began dating that that car holds a special place in my heart, so it really shouldn’t surprise me that she would want them. And it’s not even an issue of her wanting to hurt me. While does want to leverage the divorce by using what’s close to me, I seem to have a knack for getting hurt by what’s the most near and dear to my heart.

When my cigarettes run dry, I pop on the tv here and check for any interesting games. Only sports at this time of the year are spring training, NBA, and NHL, and most of my teams playing are on local blackout. Oh well, I guess I can rent an exotic car here. You know, like a person who owns an airline and ships his own cars to wherever would.

Seeing as how I’m here by sunrise, I elect to stay in the city for a little while and leave during the heart of morning rush. The question is, where do I go? North shore? Ko Olina? Kailua? Actually, the better question is, where do I start?

Not thinking too much of it, I let the roads take me, and by some surprise, I end up on H-2 towards Wahiawa. One thing to note is that while Hawaii has Interstate routes, they obviously don’t go outside the state, but the roads link the military bases. H-1 takes care of the traffic from Hickham to Kalaeloa, or Barbers Point. H-2 links Hickham and Wheeler AAF (Army AirField). H-3 links Hickham to Kaneohe Bay MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station). H-201 doesn’t actually link bases at each end, but rather serves as an H-1 bypass and freeway-grade road access nearby to the Tripler Army Hospital.

I leave H-2 behind at Wheeler (the northern terminus) and note a training sortie in progress, evidenced by the extensive ops active at the moment just observing the runway threshold. Silently saluting our service members as they work hard at their job, I end up in Wahiawa town, enjoying a nice walk after parking at the local shopping center.

I’m not in town for long though as I boom up the road just another mile or so and park at the island’s largest tourist trap, the Dole Plantation. Parking a Lamborghini in a place where a lot of families enjoy time with their kids, I nervously park close to all the buses, since there is a space available.

Having been here dozens of times, I order some breakfast and take advantage of a Kama’aina discount, since I am a resident of Hawaii.

When I finish my food and check out the queue times for the train and the maze, I ponder at what could happen over time once our marriage dissolves. I mean, sure we’re not going to stop seeing each other, and in no way do either of us want to make a big deal out of it, but I can’t help but notice the lack of any tangible ill will on either of our parts, well except for Rosalina wanting my Focus RS collection.

Nevertheless, I quickly abandon that train of thought as I head for the north shore. These beaches are nice, and largely less crowded than Waikiki at least by comparison, and today’s no exception. As nice as the water does look, I’ll settle for a pleasure cruise this time.

A fuel stop in La’ie results in an encounter with some students that are ostensibly LDS, which makes sense, since BYU has a campus here. No trouble aside from having to go inside to pay, I make my way to Kailua with no other goal in mind other than to pass the time.

Late in the evening, well past evening rush, I return to the city and join the nightlife scene, the warm tropical air mixing with urban excitement and relative bustle, mostly in the neighborhood of Kalakaua and Waikiki for obvious reasons. Just to fulfill a childhood fantasy, I keep the engine in a low gear to attract as much attention as possible, only to be blown out of the water when 2 Mustang GT pass me.

In no time, I return home after grabbing a quick dinner of ABC Store Spam Musubi and some POG. No messages or emails come in before 22:00, which is when I fall asleep.

Next morning, I take my sweet time and buy some groceries just to minimize my meals out, but since it’s early, I decide to head to my favorite Koa Pancake House just outside Ko Olina.

Knowing I have a friend or two that may be staying at Aulani, I stay away from the area. Even so, I take a drive near the area just to check out what’s around outside the resort. Nothing really fit for a single person, since most of the activities here are family-oriented, as they should be, I make my way back to the city, grabbing some Teddy’s Burgers for lunch and planning on making my own dinner.

That night, Fluttershy gives me a call.

“Hello?”

“Hi Max, Fluttershy here. Um, it looks like we’ll have to head to Kauai early. Due to military activity, we’ve reached the extent of our abilities here on Oahu.”

“No worries. You still have the location we left?”

“I do.”

“Cool. We’ll meet there!”

“Thank you Max!”

“No problem, see ya soon!”

The groceries I bought will just have to travel with me, so after I take out the trash and make for the airport, I end up being the second one there.

“How long have you been here?”

“Only a couple minutes. We got out of the city just in time.”

“Why? Evening rush is over.”

“There are sobriety checkpoints in the city.”

“Great. Let’s get going then. Sorry you couldn’t accomplish everything here.”

“It’s okay. Our docents warned us beforehand.”

“Alrighty.”

---

“Mālama ‘Āina 2, runway 3, cleared to land. Be advised, wind shear has been reported on final.”

“We’ve encountered some on the way down, Mālama ‘Āina 2, cleared to land runway 3.”

50.

40.

30.

20.
10.

“Power!”

TOUCHDOWN!

Suddenly, a loud and high pitched scream comes from the cabin. I can tell it’s pretty loud, because I can hear it through my noise cancelling headset.

Spoilers up, brakes on, 2 in reverse. Short runway, short field landing.

“Mālama ‘Āina 2, left B, taxi Sunshine via B, remain this frequency.”

“Left B to Sunshine, stay with you, Mālama ‘Āina 2.”

Parked, shut down, offload.

“Sorry about that everyone. It was a pretty windy approach, and this is the shortest runway we’ll use on this entire trip. It’s pretty standard practice to land firmly like that, and with the wind swirling in all directions, and having it shift like that right before touchdown, not much I can do there.”

“Sorry, everyone.” Fluttershy says adding to my apology. “I didn’t expect us to land that hard.”

Everyone is a good sport about it though and quickly understands why we had a rough approach when we move the cars out. It seems like every few moments, the wind changes. Speaking from my standpoint, it feels more windy than usual, even for Kauai.

Nevertheless, when the group leaves me behind, I make a note that Fluttershy’s parents will spend the rest of their vacation on Oahu, so I don’t have to go back for them. Fortunately for them, I have a house they can stay in, so I send them that address and the passcodes for the front door and the main entry gate. Glad I could help them with their vacation, I wish them well knowing we’ll be leaving them behind in a couple days’ time.

Unfortunately for me, because I spend most of my time on either Oahu or Maui, I have to find ways to stay entertained here. I can explore Hanalei and Princeville, or stay in Lihue and Kapa’a, but either way, it’s gonna be difficult to not be bored, especially because Rosalina’s not here, since I would spend most of the day with her and possibly joining her on flights.

Nevertheless, I’m bored of cruising in a Lamborghini, since I’ve been doing it for the last 5 days in a row. Let’s also be honest here: the only reason a good amount of time has passed is because Rosalina and I had to extensively review the paperwork and begin the proceedings. Life is easy for the both of us, as we’re both residents of Hawaii, and I’m a resident of Honolulu county.

Notwithstanding anything outstanding, such as divisions of property or splitting ownership on other things, everything is settled and all we have to do is find a date to finalize the divorce in court. I know I sound pretty repetitive and it definitely is because I’ve just been lounging around in Hawaii waiting for the next leg of the trip.

I’ve spent the whole day at home. The food I have with me is supposed to last a few days at the most, so I’m holding off on eating it. Even so, I find some places I like to go to plan some meals out, since the last time I spent more than a day or so here was a few years ago, otherwise, Rosalina has always sent me away so I don’t bore myself to death or eat too much. Nevertheless, I soon fall asleep to the TV playing Man v. Food.