Page 1 of Big Island Horizons
1
Lani
The drive to Kona was long, but Lani never tired of it. She loved the wide open spaces and shifting landscapes of the Big Island, so many colors and biomes in just two hours.
They started their morning under Pualena‘s gray skies, loading Emma’s bags into the back of the truck under a protective cab. Then they drove through the misty drizzle, along the green highway with its towering trees and familiar plants with their huge tropical leaves. A wild pig rooted through the brush, trailed by a group of piglets.
Then she turned inland and drove up themauna. The greenery gradually fell away until there was nothing left but fields of black lava rock and a few hearty plants in alien colors, bursts of pink and red against the black.
By the time they neared the playground that marked the midway point, they had left the clouds behind. The sky was summer blue, and the bright sun belied the cold air outside.
“Can we stop?” Rory asked from the backseat. “Please? Can we?”
“Stop where?” Kai asked.
“We’re almost at the park!”
Kai gasped and pressed his face to the window. “I wanna play at the playground!”
“Mama, please?!”
Lani flinched at the volume and tapped her foot lightly on the break. She glanced over at Emma.
“What do you think?”
Emma glanced at her watch. “We have time.”
The kids cheered as Lani turned into the parking lot.
The little campground with its cabins and picnic tables was the only thing around for miles, that and the public playground set against the rolling green hills of the island. Visitors were often surprised at how much open space the Big Island still had, vast stretches of pasture and wilderness in between population centers.
Lani loved her island fiercely.
It felt strange to remember how eager she had been to leave Hawai‘i as a young adult, how small the island had felt to her then. She had lost both of her parents in the span of a few years, and she’d been running from her grief more than the confines of the island itself.
She’d been back for a few months now, but her gratitude at being home again hadn’t faded. It had only deepened as she reconnected with family and found her footing again.
Here in the middle of the island, they were at least six thousand feet above sea level. When she opened the driver side door, the cold air whipped in with an immediate bite.
She wrestled Rory into a jacket before releasing her. The kids sprinted to the playground to climb the tall, twisting structure made of metal and rope.
She and Emma stood shoulder to shoulder, hoods up and arms crossed against the cold wind.
“We’re going to miss you,” Lani said.
“We’ll miss you too, but we won’t be gone long. I’ll be back by the time that permaculture course starts, at the latest. Kai doesn’t want to leave at all, but he’ll be happy to see his grandpa and cousins and everybody over there.”
“I know, he’ll have a good time. He’s just sad to be leaving his dog.”
“That’s a solid sixty percent of it, yeah.” She bumped her hip playfully into Lani‘s. “You’re just sad that I won’t be there to take care of the goats.”
“Their eyes freak me out. I’m not the only one. Have you noticed it’s all the animals with weird pupils that get grouped in with demons? Goats, cats, snakes…”
Emma laughed. “Well, I appreciate it.”
“Anything for you, boo.”
Lani and Emma went way back. They had grown apart during the years that Lani spent working on cruise ships and then stuck in a terrible marriage. Really, she had withdrawn from everyone she knew during those dark years. But she and Emma had been friends ever since they were in their teens.
