by Larry LaVoie
“No,” Lisa said.
“Me neither. If I’m going to die, I want to know how, why, and when.”
“Well, I’m going to try and forget work for a few hours today. If that asteroid is going to strike the moon, there isn’t a thing anybody can do about it. There are a few others out there that NASA is developing plans to change their orbits if they are on a collision course with earth, but they have decades to plan for that. This one is still an unknown threat. It will probably zip past us without the public even knowing it was there.”
“Come on, Dr. Wilson,” Cody said. “You’ve already been on TV.”
“Telling everyone there was nothing to worry about,” Lisa said. “I hope I never have to change what I said last July.” She took another sip of her drink. “You sure you don’t want one of these?”
Cody declined, lifting his mug of black coffee.
“Enough shop talk,” Lisa said. “You don’t have many more days here and we haven’t even seen the ocean.”
“I’m not complaining,” Cody said, “but if I return to Yellowstone white as a ghost, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Then get into your swim trunks. I have snorkels and a place picked out.”
Lisa pulled the Mini off the road and continued down a winding dirt road that ended near a rocky outcropping. “The beach is behind that pile of rocks,” Lisa said.
“Looks like an ancient magma flow, probably rhyolite,” Cody said. “How do you know about this place?”
“My old boyfriend,” Lisa said.
It was the first time he had even considered she had a boyfriend. Why wouldn’t she? She was a beautiful and intelligent woman. He looked at her in her bikini. She was only lightly tanned, but he could see a small area of white where her bikini top didn’t quite match the tan-line on her breasts. Must have been a different suit, he imagined.
“An old boyfriend, should I be jealous?”
“I’m not sure,” Lisa said, unfastening her seatbelt. “Martin and I ended it a year ago when he got promoted over me.”
“Ouch,” Cody said. “Department policy?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. You get the gear and I’ll get the blanket and picnic basket.”
They made their way down a narrow path between broken boulders the size of automobiles. At the bottom was a small beach and a lagoon that was the prettiest shade of aqua Cody had ever seen. The sun shining on it made it look like an opal gemstone. In the distance he heard giant waves crashing against rocks. Each wave sent small ripples inland to feed the pool. From the other end a small stream flowed into it. As they rounded the last rock his attention was drawn to a waterfall.
“This is incredible,” Cody said. “Do you come here often?”
“I haven’t been here since Martin and I broke up.”
“Where is he now?”
Lisa looked at him with tight lips. “Didn’t I say I didn’t want to talk about it?”
“Sorry,” Cody said. “It’s just… you brought me to a place where you and an old boyfriend obviously spent some time together. I’m not sure you’re over him.”
“What about you?” Lisa sat the basket on the sandy beach and spread out a blanket. “You probably have a dozen or so past romances that you don’t care to discuss.”
“A dozen or so,” Cody said. “I’m flattered you think I’m that hot.”
“I was just giving you the benefit of the doubt. If we must discuss past relationships, you start first. Before you do that, help me with this blanket.”
Hilo, Hawaii, October 2
Cody was at the kitchen table having coffee when Lisa emerged from the bedroom. She was wearing Mini Mouse pajamas and bunny slippers. Cody laughed. “You forgot your mouse ears.”
“My cousin got me these last Christmas. I’m going to see her again so I have to tell her I wore them.”
“You wear them very well,” Cody said. “There’s fresh coffee.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“It was a compliment,” Cody said.
“You look good with three days growth of beard,” she said, pouring a cup of coffee. She added some hazelnut-flavored creamer and stirred it in.”
“You think I should grow a beard?” Cody asked.
“No,” Lisa said. “It’s too cliché.”
“You know your academic types,” Cody said.
“You don’t look academic at all. More of a rugged mountain man.”
“Maybe a pair of glasses would help.”
Lisa sat in a chair next to him. “What are you working on? Every morning you’re on your computer.”
“Just checking YVO data. This past month there’s been a significant rise in average ground temperature in the caldera.”
Lisa took another sip of her coffee. She really liked having Cody around. He would be leaving in another two days. She hated to think about it. She liked the companionship and secretly hoped it would go further, more than an academic friendship. There were a few moments when she thought she might be falling in love. At the lagoon the day before, they had almost kissed, but a slight hesitation on his part caused her to pull back. She wondered if she had misread him. Maybe it was a distraction. She didn’t have the nerve to ask him. What if he didn’t have those kinds of feelings for her? She wished she was better at this. Her time with Martin had been the only serious relationship she ever had and that didn’t end well. She wondered if she would still be with Martin if she had gotten the promotion instead of him. Probably not; his ego couldn’t handle it.
“You said the ground temperature was rising?” she asked, breaking her muse.
“A little bit. There are a few hotspots that can run up the averages. If I kick out the outliers, we still have a mean that is one degree Celsius higher than last year.”
“You sound concerned. What does that mean?”
Cody took a sip of coffee. It was cold and he quickly set the mug down. “It could be nothing, or it could mean the magma pool is rising. There’s so much we don’t know about Yellowstone. It’s probably the most studied volcano in the world, but we still don’t know that much. Still, this is the highest temperature I’ve seen since we’ve been keeping this record.”
“What can you do about it?”
Cody smiled. “I get that question a lot and the truth is, nothing. Mother Nature does what she wants and we observe.”
“Isn’t that the truth.” She took a sip of her coffee, grabbed the coffee pot and filled up his mug. “I’ve been thinking, you have to leave in two days. Why don’t we spend your last days in Honolulu?”
“You can get away from work?”
“As much as you can. I have a computer and a link to NEO. They won’t miss me at the observatory.”
“You’re sure your boyfriend would approve?”
She playfully hit him on the shoulder. “He’s my boss, not my boyfriend. I’m not going to discuss it with him.”
“He doesn’t know I’m here, does he?”
“I don’t see you calling up a former lover telling her you’re visiting me.”
“A lover, you two were close.”
“We aren’t even in a relationship, you certainly can’t be jealous. We were engaged, all right?”
Cody smiled. “Not jealous. Envious, perhaps.”
“Well, what do you intend to do about it?”
Cody got up. “Put your coffee down.” He guided her hand to the table. They were standing inches apart. “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet,” she said.
He pulled her close to her. “I have.”
They kissed for the first time.
“It’s been a long time,” Lisa said, snuggling her head in his chest.
“Me, too,” Cody said, “too long.”
Honolulu
Lisa skillfully brought her plane in for a landing and taxied to a hangar near the General Aviation Terminal. Cody helped tie down the plane and they met a cart that took them to the parking area.
“You have another car here?”
“It’s leased. NASA pays for it.”
“How do I get a job like that?” Cody asked. “I run the wheels off my Jeep in Yellowstone and I’m lucky to get reimbursed for mileage.”
“You’re not getting any sympathy from me,” Lisa said. “If you wanted, you could have one of those fancy Government vehicles with National Park painted on the doors.”
“Yeah, I like my Jeep. It’s gotten me out of a few scrapes. I do have a snowmobile that the government provides I can use in the winter, and I guess you can count the helicopter.”
“See, we’re both taking advantage of the taxpayer’s generosity,” Lisa said, opening the door to a white Ford Escalade with NASA written on the door. “I sometimes have to haul VIPs around,” she said. “They like to ride in style.”
“Congressmen and Senators?” Cody asked.
“On occasion. Mostly visiting scientist from other NEO sites around the world. Hawaii seems to be a must stop for them when they are checking out their counterparts.”
Cody tossed his bag in the back. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Is there anything on Oahu you haven’t seen, but have always wanted to see it?”
“Actually, I’ve spent very little time on Oahu. I’ve never been to Pearl Harbor. I understand it has a little of our past history.”
Lisa shook her head. “You have a way of understating everything. I’m beginning to wonder if I can believe anything you say.”
“You may be right. Remember when I said I thought you were an incredible person?”
Lisa let out a sigh. “I guess I should have expected that. You’re trying to sweep me off my feet.”
“Now that is an understatement,” Cody said. He pulled her close and kissed her on the lips. She leaned into him and made it a long kiss.
Yellowstone National Park
Jerry Adams entered the office where Doug was scanning the ground height measurements Cody had asked for.
Adams stood in the doorway as if he wanted to make certain Doug couldn’t escape.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jerry Adams asked.
Doug turned around and looked wide-eyed at the Park Director. He had been introduced to Adams once back in June, but had not seen him since. He wasn’t sure of his authority over work the USGS was doing or if he was violating some protocol by using the equipment in the director’s office. He wasn’t even certain he wasn’t trespassing, but the door was open when he had arrived.
“Dr. Street asked me to scan these documents so they can be upgraded to a digital format.”
“Dr. Street isn’t here after December. You should be taking direction from the USGS office in Menlo Park.”
“Dr. Street didn’t tell me that. I’m just doing what I was asked to do.”
“Looks like busy work to me. I’m going to check with USGS and see if it’s necessary.”
“You want me to stop?” Doug would only be too happy to go back to working on his paper.
“How much more have you got to do?”
“At least another week’s work.”
“Shouldn’t you be out taking measurements or whatever you were hired to do. This looks like secretarial work.”
“I’d be glad to hand it over to a secretary,” Doug said.
“Okay, then do that.”
“We don’t have a secretary, sir.”
“Oh, in that case carry on.”
What was that all about? Doug thought. He stopped what he was doing and called Cody.
He relayed the conversation and then asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“I’m sorry you got caught in the middle. Jerry doesn’t have any say in what we are doing and we all share the cost of the equipment. He’s a figurehead, responsible for running the park, not overseeing what we are doing.”
“He seemed pretty upset.”
“Just make sure all the scientific data is collected and that all of the stations are transmitting. It doesn’t look like you’re going to get the data loaded in time anyway. Did you notice the rise in ground temperature over the past month?”
“No, I’ve had my hands full while you’ve been gone.”
“I’ll be back in a few days. Thanks for covering for me.”
“You said I won’t get it done in time. In time for what?” Doug asked.
“I’ll let you know when I get back.”
“What was that about?” Lisa asked. They were sitting in a restaurant overlooking the beach at Waikiki.
“Just a territorial dispute,” Cody said. “The Park Director is trying to tell my employee what to do. It’s nothing. He’s a bit of an ass, if you know the type.”
“You mean a power-hungry jerk? Never met one.”
Cody laughed. “I can’t believe how quickly this week has gone by.”
“Way too fast,” Lisa said. “In a way it seems like I’ve know you for years, and then I realize we hardly know each other.”
“We’ve spent every hour for the past five days with each other,” Cody said. “I think we know each other pretty well. If there is something, anything, you want to know, ask me. I promise I’ll answer truthfully.”
Lisa lifted her glass of Chablis and peered over it at him.
“I can see that smile,” Cody said.
“What smile?”
“That silly grin you have when you want to ask something, but are not sure it’s appropriate.”
“I don’t do that.”
“Go ahead. Ask me anything.”
“You said you were almost married and she left you,” Lisa said.
Cody grimaced. “Heather and I met in college. We were close; at least I thought we were. I took a summer to go to the Philippines so I could study the aftermath of the Pinatubo eruption. By the time I returned, one of her professors had swept her off her feet. She had moved in with him.”
“Ouch,” Lisa said.
“It gets worse,” Cody continued. “She now works for USGS and I have to deal with her every time I go to Headquarters in Menlo Park. Sometimes she answers when I call the office.”
“Are you still in love with her?”
Cody chuckled. “It wouldn’t have worked out anyway. She was from Venus and I was from Mars, or however the book goes. My parents hated her after she left, but I was relieved. Not at first, but you know that feeling when you’re not happy, but can’t put your finger on it?”
“Melancholy?”
“Yeah, like I didn’t have anything to look forward to. I was sad, but then I realized she was dragging me in a direction I didn’t want to go. I was free to keep my hands in the field and not become part of the bureaucracy. I am doing what I like right now.” He grimaced. “Or at least until the end of the year.”
“What about next year?”
Cody smiled. “C’est la vie, as they say in France. “I am still working for USGS. I have a shot at working on any volcano in the world.”
“But I know you. You don’t want to leave Yellowstone.”
“See, we know each other better than we let on. I may be sad, but look at all the other possibilities… ”
A young lady approached. “Would you like to order?”
“We’re going to have the lunch buffet,” Lisa said. “We’ve still got a drive ahead of us.”
“Drive,” Cody said.
“I’ll tell you about it over lunch.”
“This is Hukilau, fresh fish stew,” Lisa said, as she pointed out the selections in the buffet. The buffet also included made-to-order pasta, grilled Panini, grilled Teriyaki Chicken, Kahlua pork and cabbage, and a variety of greens for salad.
That morning Lisa had asked that he bring a pair of jeans with him. She wouldn’t explain why. Now she let on they were driving a long way. How far could you drive, they were on an island? After filling his plate and returning to the table, Cody said, “So, how long is the drive?”
“I’m not telling you,” Lisa said. “It’s a surprise.”
Cody took a bite of salad
and pointed a fork at her as he spoke. “You can be a bit of an enigma at times.”
“A bit of an enigma? I should think I either am or I’m not.”
“See what I mean?”
She smiled and shook her head. “I’m still not telling you.”
They drove for two hours before Lisa eased the Escapade off the paved highway onto a sandy road that turned inland. After a quarter mile they approached a pickup truck with a trailer parked in a wide spot. Lisa pulled in behind it. They were in the jungle, surrounded by trees and flora with names Cody had never seen before and was sure he couldn’t pronounce.
“This is where we’re going?” Cody asked.
Lisa smiled. “There’s my friend Kaapo.”
They got out of the Ford and Lisa introduced them. Kaapo was a thin Hawaiian man dressed in jeans, cowboy boots, a flannel shirt, and a straw cowboy style hat. He looked like a rancher you might see in Wyoming or Montana. Cody had seen many of them. He had a broad smile, tan skin, black eyes and pearl-white teeth.
“Lisa, my friend. It has been too many years. You promise you will not be away so long next time.”
“My friend just can’t go back to the mainland without taking a ride with me,” Lisa said. “I appreciate you meeting us here.”
“Kaapo is a friend of the family,” Lisa explained. “My father found the ranch for Kaapo’s father. We used to come here on vacation when I was a child.”
“How far is the ranch from here,” Cody asked.
“You are on it,” Kaapo said. “Lisa said you were short on time so we agreed to meet here.”
“I have to go back tomorrow,” Cody said. He looked at Lisa and smiled. “It’s been an incredible trip.”
“I have a feeling it will get even better,” Kaapo said, grinning.
“Kaapo!”
“Just saying, a beautiful girl and her man on a beautiful day.” He raised his eyebrows. “Come see what I have saddled up for you.” He showed them the horses.
“What makes you think I can ride?” Cody said.
“Come on, you were born in North Dakota. You are named after the state or a city in Wyoming, I haven’t quite got that figured out. I’m going to be very disappointed if you can’t ride a horse.”
