Storm (3 page)

“Well, I was thinking that maybe we could have a
surf-a-thon.
Kind of like a jog-a-thon, but where people commit money to every wave ridden to the beach.”

“Hmmm.” Sarah cocked her head to one side, thinking. “It has possibilities. But don’t you think it would be hard to get people to pledge for something that is so much fun? And what about the kids in our youth group who don’t surf?”

“I was just thinking about that,” Bethany said, trying to contain her excitement. “Maybe this is stupid, but what if we had a surf-a-thon with inflatable pool toys? You know, those big blow-up animals, air mattresses, and inner tubes.”

Sarah’s eyes danced at the idea.

“Sounds crazy,” Holly said from the backseat. But when Bethany turned around, she could see Holly was just teasing her.

“If it was crazy
enough,
people might be interested in supporting it!” Bethany rushed on. “And you don’t need to know how to surf to ride one of those things to the beach; all you have to do is to hang on!”

“You know, I think you might be on to something,” Sarah said.

“It would be a lot more fun than another car wash,” Holly added, catching the excitement.

“Well, I think we may have a few more of those in our future. But the surf-a-thon sounds like a really unique way to have fun
and
to help us raise funds.”

“I vote for the surf-a-thon” Holly said.

“I thought you wanted the jog-a-thon,” Bethany said, trying to sound innocent.

Holly’s heavy silence was followed by a burst of laughter from all three of them as Sarah popped the girls’ favorite Switchfoot CD into her player. There was no mention of running or anything else until they stopped and parked next to Hanalei Harry’s Smoothie Shack.

After they ordered their smoothies, Bethany, Holly, and Sarah sat down at a bench together to sip their drinks. Bethany stirred her papaya and acai fruit smoothie with a straw and thought about the surf-a-thon idea.

“Check it out,” Holly said, tapping Bethany’s shoulder as she pointed. “It’s the celebutante and her mom!”

Bethany glanced over to see the teenage girl they had seen riding in the limo earlier that day. She and her mom were sitting at a picnic table, drinking smoothies, and looking at a Kauai hiking trails book. Bethany overheard the girl mention the Hanakapiai Trail.

“Sounds like they’re going for a hike,” Bethany said. “Hey, Holly, why don’t we run the Hanakapiai Trail tomorrow.”

“Ugh!”

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Bethany coaxed. “We can run to the stream, go bodysurfing, and then run back.”

Holly pursed her lips as she thought it over. “Well, I guess I could. If it’s good enough for the celebutante, it’s good enough for me.”

“Thatta girl!” Bethany laughed.

“Do you know that girl?” Sarah asked.

“No, she’s just some rich girl we saw riding in a limo earlier,” Holly said with a disdainful note to her voice. Sarah raised her eyebrows at her.

“I know your parents didn’t teach either of you to think of people like that!”

“I know, I know,” Holly said as Bethany glanced back at her with a sheepish look.

“Well,” Sarah said, “just remember, the Bible tells us that the rain falls on those who live right as well as those who don’t. We don’t know anything about this girl and her family.”

“You’re right, Sarah,” Holly said, contrite. “I just wish the rain would fall on us a little more right now. We could really use it.”

Sarah steered her car into the driveway of Bethany’s house, put it in park, and then gave both of the girls a soft smile of understanding.

“I understand where you two are coming from — I really do. But I want you to think about this: Sometimes when the rain falls, it isn’t always a
good thing. Sometimes it can be the beginning of a pretty bad storm. Let’s be patient. The money for our trip will come. We are lucky we have God with us through the good times—as well as the bad.”

Bethany suddenly felt a chill go up her back. She remembered her dream … and then remembered the look of sadness on the girl’s face as she glanced up through the window of that limousine.

Whatever gave her that sad look, money wasn’t curing it. Bethany prayed for the girl and then she wondered if the girl knew God.

Bethany felt herself being drawn back into another memory: the morning of the shark attack when she’d lost her arm … She tried to imagine what it would’ve been like if
she
hadn’t known God when it happened.

I don’t know that girl, God, Bethany silently prayed. But you do, and I think she could use your help right now. Bethany thought about what Sarah had said, then quickly added. Me too; I have a feeling there’s still a lot I gotta learn …

“It says here that we should come across a small stream just before we get to the parking lot for the trail,” Andrea said only seconds before the rental car suddenly dipped into a six-inch stream running over the road. She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

“Great timing!” Her mom laughed, turning into the parking area. Andrea exhaled, relieved that her
mom had taken it so well. Dead ahead of them was the ocean, and to the left was a steep velvet-green cliff that soared straight up, hundreds of feet into the air. Hikers were everywhere with backpacks and walking sticks. One group even packed a baby in a baby carrier.

“Want to stretch a little before we take off?” Andrea’s mom asked.

“Sure. Should we bring the sunscreen with us?” said Andrea.

“A good thing you remembered that. We would’ve been burned to a crisp!”

Andrea beamed at the compliment. She still couldn’t believe that they were going hiking together—that her mom had actually turned off her cell phone, wished her dad and brother well fishing, and then tore out of their vacation home like a woman on a mission. Andrea snuck a glance at her mom as they did leg squats and stretches on the beach.

They had been on vacations before—stayed in other beautiful places with awesome views—but those had been
working vacations,
as her parents liked to say. Which basically meant she and her brother, Mark, were left to explore with assistants or tour guides instead of their parents. This time was different, but it felt shaky too. Like her Uncle Mike’s death had shaken them awake, but they weren’t sure where to go from there.

“Okay! Let’s do it!” Her mom said, sliding her backpack on.

Andrea quickly shrugged into her small pack as well and followed her mom to the entrance of the trail. Then she spotted the well-worn path that shot upward at a forty-five degree angle, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Are you sure I can do this?”

Her mom turned around and gave her an encouraging smile. “You’re my daughter, aren’t you? Of course you can do this!”

Andrea shrugged shyly. “I mean, you and dad might have hiked Mount Kilimanjaro when you were young, but the highest thing I’ve climbed lately is the bleachers at school.”

“Kilimanjaro was
fifteen
years ago,” her mom said. “But, if it’ll make you feel any better, I think I took the stairs at work one day last week.”

They both laughed and were evidently so pleased at the sound of their laughter— together—that neither of them noticed the small well-worn sign at the entrance of the trailhead that read “Danger! Do not leave trail. Steep cliffs, crumbling rock.”

“Come on, Holly! It’s not dangerous!”

“I looked like a maniac when I got home from the run this morning. I never look that crazy after surfing,” Holly said on the other end of the phone. Bethany couldn’t help smiling. “And it’s uphill half the way!”

“And downhill the other half,” Bethany coaxed as she sorted through her CDs. “Come on, it’ll be fun
and
a good workout!”

“Okay, okay.”

“Oh, and bring some shoes you can actually run in. Junky ones if you have them ‘cause of the mud.” Bethany winced and then rushed on, hoping Holly would miss the part about the mud. “We’ll go early in the morning, and I’ll ask my mom to bring our boards and stuff when she comes to pick us up. That way we can surf after the run.”

“How is she going to know what time to get us? Cell phones don’t work out that far,” said Holly.

“Not on the trail, but they do at the end of the road. My mom used to train out there.”

“Well, just so you know, I’m not sure I want to run all the way to the falls.”

“Why not?” asked Bethany.

Holly dropped her voice to a whisper. “I heard there are creepy people who hang out back there.”

Bethany smiled to herself. “Nah, just Kauai bares,” she whispered back mischievously.

“Bears?” Holly asked, her voice suddenly a little panicky. “We have bears on Kauai? We don’t even have snakes, how could we have bears?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t seen them before,” Bethany said, all serious. “They travel in pairs most of the time. Oh, and every once in a while you’ll see them dressed in hats and shoes … but that’s about it.”

“You’ve lost me … Wait! Are you talking about those crazies that get out in the back country and take off all of their clothes?”

“Yep! Kauai bares … get it?” Bethany laughed. “B-A-R-E-S!”

Holly laughed. “I like trustafarians better.”

“Me too,” Bethany giggled. “They wear clothes.”

After they set a time to meet, Bethany flipped her phone closed and leaned back against the pillows on her bed. She should’ve been tired after all she had done today, but she was way too excited to be tired. Besides, it wasn’t dinnertime yet.

She scrambled off the bed and dragged her daypack and hiking gear out of her closet. Not only
was she looking forward to running the Hanakapiai Trail in the morning, but she was even more excited about the surf-a-thon—and the idea had come when her friend Liam popped into her head.

If there was anyone who knew how to raise funds for a good cause, it was Liam. The surf contest he’d held in California for handicapped kids was not only successful, it was also a blast to participate in.

Bethany smiled as she packed. How wild it was that God had put Liam in her path — and how Liam had been inspired to do something for handicapped kids after they met. And now Liam was inspiring her to do something for others too. And he didn’t even know it! She’d definitely have to write and tell him about everything—after she got back from her run with Holly to the falls. With Holly along, she was sure there would be more to report back to Liam.

Bethany’s smile faltered for a moment as the memory of the girl from the limousine popped into her head again. Bethany wondered how her hike to the falls was going. She shook her head, not really understanding why someone she didn’t even know would be on her mind—especially someone who seemed to have everything.

Still, the memory of her sad face lingered.

Long way down,
Andrea thought as she and her mom stopped for a breather. They had been
concentrating so hard on making it over the slippery boulders and around the mud puddles that they hadn’t realized they had climbed hundreds of feet. Until they stopped to view the scene below.

It was a breathtaking view. The massive Na Pali cliffs were tipped in mist as they snaked along the coastline. They were so beautiful and immense, they almost didn’t seem real.

“I heard
Jurassic Park
was filmed here,” Andrea said, her voice soft with awe, and her mom nodded.

“I can see why,” said her mom. “It almost looks prehistoric.”

Andrea bit the inside of her lip, thinking as she took it all in: the bowl of blue sky above them; the cliffs, bigger than anything she had ever seen; the trees; even the ocean below that spread out as far as the eye could see.
It was just too beautiful to be an accident. Why haven’t I ever thought of that before? Why did it take Uncle Mike’s death for me to wonder about life?

She knew a lot of kids thought she had it made, but the truth was she felt like there was something
missing
inside her most of the time. She had so many questions—questions she didn’t even know how to ask—or maybe was afraid to ask …

Andrea glanced over at her mom who was studying the sky, and she wondered if her mom was thinking about her uncle Mike. Did her mother wonder what happened when people die or if
there really was a heaven or a God? She took a deep breath and plunged in before she could think of being scared again.

“Mom … do you ever wonder if there is a God?”

Her mom gave her a quick look of surprise, then turned back to look at the sky. “I guess it’s kind of hard not to wonder when you see something like this,” she answered slowly, then frowned. “I know you have a lot of questions about Uncle Mike. We all do. But your dad and I have always prided ourselves in being thinkers—thinking for ourselves, believing in what
we
could make out of our lives. It just doesn’t seem rational to depend on something or someone you’re not even sure exists.”

Andrea felt like a balloon that had been deflated. She’d really hoped her mom might say something to help her with the “something’s missing” feeling.

“Time to roll out, kiddo. I want to get back to the boys by dinner!”

Andrea was caught off guard as her mom suddenly hooked her arm in hers as they continued on the trail. It felt good, though, so she wasn’t about to mess it up with any more questions.

As they continued on, the mud became something they could no longer dodge, and their legs and shoes were heavy with the goo.

“I didn’t expect it to be this wet,” her mom said suddenly. “It was so nice when we started out. How did it get chilly so quickly?”

The trail turned slippery, making their way up even more difficult. Andrea suddenly felt uneasy.

“Do you think we should turn back?”

“Let’s keep going,” her mom said between breaths as they struggled on up the steep, slippery trail. “It can’t be that much farther.”

A turn in the footpath, and the falls came into view—still several miles away but close enough to spur the hikers on.

The last two miles turned out to be almost treacherous; each time the trail switched over the stream, crossing became harder. The force of the water almost knocked them over. A light rain began to dribble down through the canopy of trees and onto the hikers. Fear coursed through Andrea with almost as much force as the stream. But she pushed ahead, unwilling to admit her fears to her mother.