Read Notes from a Spinning Planet—Ireland Online
Authors: Melody Carlson
Notes from a Spinning Planet—Ireland (23 page)
I shrug. “That was then….”
“Hey, I forgot to tell you I talked to your mom at the airport.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. I wanted to make sure she had the adjusted flight schedule.”
“Yeah, I figured I’d just call her when we got back into the
States,” I tell her. “But she probably appreciated hearing from you. You know how protective she can be.”
“I know. That’s why I figured I should give her a heads-up, since we’ll be a few hours late.”
“Thanks.”
“I told her how great you were to travel with.”
“You did?”
“Sure.” Sid smiles. “And I told her I was impressed with what a mature, smart, and thoughtful young woman they had raised.”
“You really said that?”
“Why not?”
“Wow, thanks again.”
“And I told her I’d probably want to take you on all my trips now.”
“That’d be cool.”
“Well, your mom wasn’t too excited about that. Seems she’s been missing you. And your dad too.”
I nod. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Dad’s probably getting ready to harvest and wants me to drive the combine. Mom probably misses me helping with her garden.”
“Oh, it’s probably more than that.”
“Yeah. The truth is, I miss them too.”
Sid glances at Ryan peacefully snoozing across the aisle from us. Just as he was on the way over. Although his mouth is closed at the moment, no slobber drooling down his chin. “You know you’re lucky to have them, Maddie.”
“My family, you mean?”
She nods and keeps looking at Ryan.
“I know…”
“But I think he’s feeling more of a sense of family now.”
“I hope so.” I take a quick glance to be sure he’s really asleep, then lower my voice. “He’s a nice guy, Sid. I really like him.”
She winks at me, then opens her computer again. “Guess I should keep plugging away on this story”
“The one about the RIRA?”
“Yeah. People need to know about this stuff. They need to remember that just because some papers have been signed and some weapons have been destroyed, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over. It takes a lot of people to make and to keep peace.”
I consider this as I open my journal and begin to write. I remember how I was fighting with Ryan and even my aunt at first, arguing with them about whether it was right to drink Guinness. I guess that’s how religious wars get started. In the end, I decided it wasn’t right for me to drink Guinness. Not because God wrote it out in the heavens, but because it gave me a headache and didn’t taste that good. Maybe that was God’s way of showing me what’s best for me. Or maybe I still need to figure some things out. More important, he showed me I can’t tell other people what’s best for them.
I think about my friend Katie and how she thought she’d be engaged before I got home. I remember how adamant I was about that being wrong, wrong, wrong. Now I’m not so sure. I guess I’ll tell her that she’ll have to figure it out for herself. Well, with God’s help. I write several more pages and finally end up falling asleep.
“Please prepare for landing,” the flight attendant is saying over the loudspeaker. “Please put your tray tables into their upright position. Make sure your seat belts are securely fastened and seats fully upright.”
I sit up straight and follow the instructions, thinking how we’ll be home soon. Ryan is awake now, and he smiles at me from across the aisle. “Doing okay?” he asks.
“Fine.” I smile at him and wish I could think of something else to say. It’s hard to believe that after hanging with him for two weeks, this is it. We’ll be saying good-bye. I mean, I could give him my phone number, but that seems pretty weird. Still, the idea of parting ways makes me really, really sad. I think he’s one of the sweetest guys I know.
“Oh, yeah.” My aunt nudges me. “I almost forgot to tell you, Maddie. Your mom can’t pick you up at the airport.”
“She can’t?” I feel my spirits plunging.
“She had something at the church. The flight delay kind of messed that up for her.”
“Are you taking me home?” I ask hopefully.
“Sorry. I have to go into the office and figure some things out.”
“Well, what then?” I’m suddenly feeling like a discarded piece of baggage—like something someone forgot to pick up.
“While you were turning in your receipts at the airport, I asked Ryan if he had time to give you a lift, and he said no problem. Do you mind?”
I feel my face bursting into a smile. “Not at all.” Then I pull my brows together. “Although you could’ve asked me first.”
She nods. “Kind of like you asked me about meeting with Ian?”
“Okay…you got me. We’re even now.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“What?”
“Well, I wasn’t kidding when I told your mom I’d like to take you on some more trips, Maddie. It gets old traveling alone. I realize you have school and a life, but what do you think about coming along once in a while?”
“Are you kidding?”
“I’m serious.”
“I’d love to!” Okay, I’m imagining Paris, Rome, maybe the Swiss Alps, or even Russia. This could be totally awesome. I can’t wait to tell Katie. No more fresh-off-the-farm jokes about me.
“Great!” Her eyes light up. “How do you feel about Papua New Guinea?”
“Papua New Guinea?” I hear the enthusiasm draining from my voice. “Isn’t that some third-world country where people still live in the Stone Age?”
She smiles. “It’s an amazing country, Maddie. No place like it on the planet. Unfortunately there’s an AIDS epidemic brewing there with the potential to mimic what’s happened in sub-Saharan Africa. That’s what my story will be about.”
“Papua New Guinea…” I say the exotic name again, trying to soak this in. “Isn’t that near Australia?”
“Yes, it’s the largest island in the South Pacific. Think rainforest jungles and exotic birds and tribal cultures. Very remote and unique. Not many people get to travel to places like that.”
“Okay.” I think her enthusiasm is catching now. “That might be cool.”
And so, as our plane lands at Sea-Tac, I imagine myself in lightcolored safari-type clothes, walking through a tropical jungle, trying to read a map and a compass. And, okay, my image is a little fuzzy, but I think it’ll come into focus before long.
From Notes from a Spinning Planet—
Papua New Guinea
Available February 2007
S
ome of the passengers on this flight are getting all stoked because their final destination is Honolulu, Hawaii. The rest of us will remain on board this “direct flight” to Sydney, Australia. We’re only stopping so that the plane can be refueled for the second leg of our journey. I already told Sid that I’d love to get out just so I could brag to my friends that I’d stepped foot in Honolulu, but she said that would probably be impossible due to security. Still, I think I can
say
I was in Honolulu, even if it was brief and my feet never actually touched the ground. At least I’ve got a window seat on the left side of the plane, which, according to the flight attendant, should help me get a quick peek at Pearl Harbor right before we land and maybe even Diamond Head after we take off. After that, we’ll fly all night and reach Sydney the morning of August 10. And August 9, my twentieth birthday, will be permanently erased from my calendar. Weird.
After a while my Margaret Mead book puts me to sleep. And when I wake up, I can hear the pilot announcing that we’re only fifteen minutes from landing. I push up the vinyl window shade and look out in time to see some islands appearing. “It’s so beautiful down there,” I say to Sid.
“Uh-huh.” Her nose is still in her computer.
“You should see how blue the water is,” I tell her. “It’s so clear I think I can see the bottom of the ocean.”
“Uh-huh,” she mutters again. Whatever she’s reading must be really interesting.
I want to ask a flight attendant to point out Pearl Harbor, but it seems they’re already getting into their seats, preparing for the landing. And so I just look and try to figure things out for myself. Too bad I didn’t think ahead to get a travel brochure or something. Well, if nothing else, I can say that what little I saw of Hawaii was really beautiful.
It’s 1:48 p.m. when we touch down in Honolulu. Hawaii time, that is, which I understand is three hours earlier than Pacific Standard Time. Still, I don’t readjust my watch yet. Why bother? I observe some of the other passengers standing up and cramming themselves into the narrow aisles as they pry pieces of luggage out of the overhead bins. It’s actually kind of funny. Like, what’s the hurry since the doors aren’t even open yet? But they eagerly stand there with their bags and purses and briefcases and things, just waiting. It reminds me of our cows back home when it’s close to feeding time. They’ll just line up and wait and wait. Sometimes they’ll wait a couple of hours. Finally the passengers begin slowly moving toward the exit. They still remind me of cows as they amble along. It’s all I can do to keep myself from mooing as they go past. Or maybe it’s just Hawaii envy. I really should grow up.
“You ready?” asks Sid suddenly. Then she closes her laptop and slips it into her briefcase.
“Ready for what?”
“To get off the plane.”
“Really?” I say hopefully. “We can get off?”
“Yes,” she says. “Didn’t you hear the flight attendant say that we can get off here if we want?”
“No.” I look around and notice that a lot of passengers are remaining in their seats. But maybe they’ve stepped foot in Honolulu before.
“I guess you were asleep,” she says as we stand up. “I think the plane is going to be here a while. Maybe they need to check something mechanical.”
I frown. “Hopefully there’s not a problem.”
She nods. “Boy, I sure hope not. Oh, yeah, and if we get off, we’re supposed to remove our carry-on items too. It’s a security thing.”
So we both get our carry-on pieces and exit the plane. And I have to admit that it feels so great to stretch my legs, and at least now I can honestly say I’ve really been in Honolulu, even if it’s only the airport. I know Katie will be impressed.
“Hey, do you think I have time to find some postcards?” I ask. “Or do we have to stick around here, close to the plane?”
“I think you have time,” she says. “Let’s walk this way.”
So we walk for what seems quite a ways through the terminal, going past lots of gates, and the next thing I know we’ve gone right past the security check too. “Aunt Sid,” I say suddenly. “We’ve gone too far! Now we’ll have to go through security again.”
She laughs. “I don’t think so.”
“Huh?”
“Happy birthday, Maddie!” She unzips her carry-on and pulls out a slightly rumpled white lei, then puts it around my neck and gives me a big hug. “Aloha, sweetie, and welcome to Honolulu!”
“What?”
“We’re staying in Honolulu, Maddie.”
“What about Papua New Guinea?” I ask with concern. And, okay, this seems pretty weird, but I’m suddenly worried that
this is it
—that were not going any farther than Honolulu! And as much as I want to see Hawaii, I don’t want to miss going to New Guinea either.
“Oh, don’t worry,” she tells me. “This is just a little layover. A birthday surprise for you. I didn’t really want you to miss your birthday as we flew over the International Date Line.”
“
Really?
”
She nods. “Yes. We have three days to do whatever we please in Honolulu. And then it’s back on the plane and off to the other side of the planet.” She smiles at me. “So you really do want to go to Papua New Guinea?”
“Of course.”
We collect our checked bags and get into a hotel limousine, which takes us to a very cool hotel right along Waikiki.
“Swanky,” I say as we go into a very luxurious room that overlooks the beach.
“Swankier than the inn in Clifden, Ireland?” she teases.
I consider this. “You know, they’re both swanky in their own way.”
She nods. “I’m glad you can appreciate a variety of cultures.”
“I’m learning.”
She tosses her bags onto one of the queen-size beds and stretches her arms. “Ah, this is just the kind of break I need right now.”
“Man, am I glad you told me to pack a swimsuit for this trip,” I tell her as I look out the window to see tall palm trees and white sandy beach and miles and miles of varying shades of bright aqua blue water.
“Ready to hit the beach?” she says.
“Woo-hoo!”
We change and gather our beach stuff, then make a quick exodus down to the ocean, where I splash around in the energetic waves, which are surprisingly warm and nothing like the chilly Pacific in Washington State. I even let a couple of friendly guys give me some tips on body surfing, which is way harder than it looks. And finally, feeling totally relaxed and happy, I flop down onto a beach towel next to my aunt and soak up the last rays of afternoon sun.
I could so get used to this!
M
ELODY
C
ARLSON
is the award-winning author of more than one hundred books for adults, teens, and children. She is the mother of two grown sons and lives near the Cascade Mountains in central Oregon with her husband and a chocolate Lab retriever. She is a full-time writer and an avid gardener, biker, skier, and hiker.
Join Maddie Chase on her next international adventure as she explores the beautiful country of Papua New Guinea—and discovers the power of hope.
