Page 2 of Catch a Wave

I told him we were only friends. And along with everything else I felt for her, we were friends. Mavs and I had an ease between us. She’s the type of person who gets along with everyone. But we had a certain chemistry from the moment I met her. That sparkle in her honey-gold eyes. The way she’d look over at me sideways, tilting her head and sending me a coy smile. She made me want to impress her. And yet I always felt like I was fully accepted by her despite my flaws. I didn’t mean to fall for her. It just happened. And when I found out she felt the same, Kai was the last person on earth I considered.

He says everything that went down between us is in the past, but moments like this tell me he’s never quite forgiven me for pursuing his sister. And even if he did forgive me for overstepping his clearly drawn lines, he’ll never forgive me for the fallout when things ended between us.

I’m half watching the three other women in the heat, half up in my head, until it comes time for Kalaine’s next wave. The room isn’t nearly as tense as it was when she went out the first time. We’re fueled by confidence from watching her master that last one. The other surfers have all ridden well, though Kalaine’s wave was superior. And she got tubed, which gave her the competitive edge she needs to advance. Still, the anticipation is thick. Everyone gathered in our living room wants to see her move on to the next round. And we all know the risk she’s taking each time she approaches another colossal wave.

Dan tows Kalaine in, and just like clockwork, he takes off as soon as she releases the line, racing ahead along the backside ahead of the peak. Mavs shoots over the top of the wave, and it looks good until the wave breaks prematurely.

Everything happens in slow motion. Kalaine’s body looks like a doll being spit off the lip of the wave, flying headfirst toward the water twenty or thirty feet below. Her board flies away from her in another direction.

My eyes are glued to the screen. I feel my jaw tighten so rigidly I could break my molars. I sense Kai shoot up off his seat next to me. I don’t look over. I can’t. My whole body and mind are focused on the woman I still love being thrown into the water. We don’t see her after she goes down. The wave tumbles over her with a force and magnitude I won’t ever forget.

It feels like an eternity.

I’m a restless ball inside my perfectly still frame.

Zodiacs swarm the ocean immediately.

The announcer’s voice tells us what we can plainly see.

“Kalaine Kapule has been underwater for more than thirty seconds, going on a minute now. The turbulent foam makes it difficult to even tell where she got thrown to. Her surf partner and coach, Dan Hale, turned the jet ski around and is searching the water near where she dropped.”

Another announcer’s voice chimes in. “That was quite a drop, Steve.”

“It was. I’m not going to speculate, but I’ve seen other surfers fall from big waves, and they’ve rarely come out of a fall like that without some sort of injury.”

“Wait!” the first announcer interrupts. “I think I see some action out there.”

I see it too. We all do.

“That’s her!” Kai shouts from next to me. “Get her out of there, Dan!”

I squeeze my eyes shut, sending up the closest thing to a prayer as I know how to utter. When I open my eyes, Dan’s jet ski is the main object the camera has zoomed in on. He’s off the Zodiac and in the water, tugging Kalaine with him. He manages to pull her out, drape her across the jet ski, and then he zooms toward the shore where he’s rushed at by a team of medics and lifeguards. When Dan carries Kalaine’s limp body onto the sand, it’s hard to see what’s going on through the throng of bodies instantly surrounding him and Mavs.

On our side of the screen, no one dares utter a word.

A phone rings. I swivel my head to look at Kai. He pulls his cell out of his pocket and answers.

“Yeah. … we’re watching.” Kai’s eyes don’t leave the screen where Kalaine is being placed on a stretcher.

She’s not responding yet, according to the announcer.

I’m numb. Seeing her fall was like witnessing my surfing accident from outside my own body. But this time, it was her. I sat here, completely powerless to do anything, my hands itching to grab a Zodiac and speed through the water to her rescue—to be the one carrying her out of the water. I should be standing next to her now, holding her hand in mine and not letting go until she wakes from this nightmare.

But I waived those privileges a few years ago. I’m an afterthought in the middle of this family’s crisis. An interloper.

2

BODHI

Aren’t we all tormented by past relationships?

~Alex Rosa

“She’s doing better,” Kai tells the customer as he rings her up for a beach towel and some sunscreen.

The customer smiles and tells Kai to pass along her positive thoughts and prayers for Kalaine. She even pronounces Mavs’ name right: Kah-lah-ee-nay. Everyone gets it right now that Mavs has been immortalized for surviving her accident. Even people who aren’t into our sport have heard something about the young woman who defied death at Mavericks. The news spread—because she’s a woman doing something as dangerous and life-threatening as big-wave surfing.

Kai thanks the customer and starts working on inventorying our full wetsuits.

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