Page 83 of Big Island Horizons
At one point, she looked up and saw that Cody and Maddie had joined them. They drifted away from the shallow waters where the tropical fish congregated and out into the deep blue water of the lagoon.
Eventually, the dolphins lost interest in their game (or lost their leaf, she wasn’t sure) and started to jump. They gathered speed beneath the water and burst out over the surface, spinning in acrobatic corkscrew curves before splashing down again. The afternoon sun shone off the varicolored gray of their bodies as they jumped out of the bay again and again.
Up above the surface watching the dolphins, she realized how far from shore they had come. When the pod moved away, she turned her crew back towards shore while the twins still had the energy to make it here. Their energy mightseemboundless, but they were only eight years old and unused to snorkeling.
When they finally made it back to shore, the girls were panting. Tara was tired too, the muscles in her legs burning from the unfamiliar exertion of swimming with fins. They all climbed up onto the rocks to catch their breath.
“I can’t… go… any… farther.” Piper sprawled dramatically across the rocks, half of her body in a sun-warmed tidepool. “I can’t make it up the mountain. Someone will have to carry me.”
“I’m not carrying you,” Cody groused.
“What if I break my leg?”
“Not this again.”
“Are you going to break your leg on purpose so that he has to carry you?” Paige asked.
Piper considered this for a moment. “Maybe a toe?”
“Okay,” Tara laughed. “Get up, take your fins off. Come over to the shade and eat some lunch.”
“Can’t… move. Need… sustenance.”
She screamed with laughter when Cody hauled her up off of the rocks and threw her over one shoulder with her fins still on. Maddie laughed, which only encouraged them. Cody tromped through the growing crowd of tourists and claimed a spot in the shade, setting his sister down on a tree branch.
After lunch, they were ready for another quick dip before they made their way back up the mountain. It was a serious hike, four miles uphill, and the twins probably couldn’t have handled it until that year. As it was, they still struggled.
“I’m gonna puke,” Piper said two miles in.
“You are not,” Cody told her.
“She might,” Paige said. “She drank a lot of seawater.”
“Well what did you do that for?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Piper shouted. Then she groaned and leaned over, bracing her hands on her knees.
“She got excited when she saw the dolphins,” Paige explained.
“You’ll be okay,” Maddie said, patting Piper’s back. “Just take slow, deep breaths. Do you want some water?”
Piper squeezed her eyes shut and took her head.
Eventually they made it to the top. The climb had taken so long that it was nearly nightfall, so they took their time on the last leg and stopped to watch the spectacle of a fiery sunset over the ocean. It was a spectacular view, all gold and orange offset by deep purple clouds.
Finally, they loaded back into Tara’s van.
There was a sweet little town nearby, and they treated themselves topokeand ice cream at two local shops before beginning the long drive home.
“Can we do this every week?” Piper asked as they drove south along the coastal highway. Her voice was sleepy and content.
Tara glanced at Liam, who grinned.
“I’m game if you are,” he said quietly.
“You know what?” she said to her daughter.
“We don’t have time,” Piper droned, disappointed.
