You know about centrifugal force, and if you let go of the bucket it sails into space? Whap, a tree, Bang, a boulder, Ping, Pong, Bonk. It rolls to a stop.
Hawaii: July 21, 4 am. Get up, shower, leave at 5 am, whoops 5:30, you know me. I say Good Bye to the house, it looks good, the kitchen is great, new cabinets, new paint, new flooring, candles on the cupboard, new plates decorating the backsplash, artificial orchids. You know I like real, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
I grouted the lanai flooring two days ago—to the wire you know. The living room has a desk, more candles, a basket, a decorative pillow. The bedroom box springs—courtesy of the previous owner—covered with a turquoise sheet and a Hawaiian throw decorates the bed room, oh yes, bamboo on the ceiling—a new towel in the bathroom. Cute house. I like it. What a change from the house we moved into seven months ago with its cracked ceiling, gray kitchen floor, plywood lanai floor, white throughout, but not that clean, cracks, mildew, water damage in the cupboards. We did good. Bye house.
We load two dogs, two cats, nine suitcases, Baby Darling, Daughter Darling, Husband Darling, and me into a van.
We’re off to Kona on the other side of the island where Bear, DD’s Newfoundland dog, can fly United, the same plane as us, a direct flight to LA.
WHAP! About 40 miles out of Hilo we encounter a road-block. A tanker rolled over, and it will take about a half a day to clean up the mess. Okay, turn back to Hilo, take Saddle Road. Bear needs to be at United Cargo by 9 am. Everyone is silent for awhile while we worry.
We arrive on time. From the car I see the fork-lift driver shaking his head. More talk, more head shaking.
BAM! Bear’s kennel has been modified, they will not take it. (HD made a stretch limo out of it by bolting two kennels together. It met Continental Airline and Aloha’s specifications, when we traveled to Hawaii initially. United, however, refused to be responsible for a modified carrier.)
Okay, we go to Pet Co, where—miracle—they have the largest kennel available.
Back to Cargo. It is 1 ½ hours before the flight, time enough we think, No, they will not load him. He must go that night at 8 o’clock. THUD!
We go to ticketing where a nice man changes all our tickets to the 8 pm flight, we go back and rescue Bear from confinement and heat.
Be back at 2 pm. Okay, we’re back, deposit Bear, and go into town with the other animals in tow. En route we get a phone call. Our flight has been canceled. We’re scheduled to leave in the morning at 10:00 am. PING, PONG, BONK! (No hotel in Hawaii will take animals. I envision a hot night in the car.)
Back to the airport; wait until 6 pm as no person occupies the ticketing booth until then. There we encounter other passengers who got the same phone call.
ROLL, ROLL! GEORGOUS GRASS AHEAD! An exquisite woman by the name of Karen, changes all our tickets to another plane with a stop-over in San Francisco. We leave at 8:55 pm, arrive around 9 am in the morning, HAPPY DAY! She calls to have Bear shuttled over to that plane, gets all four animals aboard, checks our carry-on’s, but doesn’t charge us, bumps us up to first class, and we are off.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
We’re in first class, food for the family, wine for me, we relax. What is that sound we hear? From beneath us, from the bowels of the airplane comes a recognizable yap. It is Peaches, our dog, our poodle, “What dog? I don’t hear any dog.” We sail out over the grand Pacific Ocean to the tune of, “Yap, Yap, Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap...”
Aloha,
Joyce
P.S. More about Hawaii later if you care to read it. I haven’t mentioned Hawaiian Hula…
