“Here today, gone to Maui!” David said for about the fifteenth time as Mom drove the car along the freeway. It was almost six o’clock, and they’d be late picking up Marti. That would make Marti mad, and if they missed their flight, that would make everyone mad.
“All right, David,” Mom snapped. “That’s the last time I want to hear you say that. Understand?”
He nodded and wisely kept quiet. Mom didn’t get ruffled often, but when she did, look out.
Christy exercised the same prudence and kept her mouth shut, feeling the tension Mom displayed as she clutched the steering wheel tightly and drove close to the car in front of them. They’d left home when it was still dark, but now the day was wide awake, and the freeway was crowded with vacationers and commuters.
“Come on, come on,” Mom muttered to the motor home in front of them. “Either speed up or move it over, buddy.”
Christy had rarely heard her mom talk to other motorists, and she thought it was kind of funny.
“My mom does that all the time too. Talks to cars, I mean,” Paula told Christy in the backseat, where they sat with a big duffel bag between them. “It cracks me up. She really gets upset at tractors on the road. I just pass them, but my mom follows them for miles. It’s so funny.”
“You have your license already?” Christy asked.
“No, just my permit. But I drive all the time anyway. Everyone does.”
“What about the insurance? What if you got in an accident?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re kidding!” Christy looked at bright-eyed Paula. “Insurance is a big deal here. Nobody can drive without insurance, and it’s super expensive. My Uncle Bob said he’d pay my insurance for the first year if I passed my driver’s test the first time I tried.”
David turned around and announced, “And she needs insurance! She already had an accident!”
“You did? What happened?” Paula quizzed her.
Christy gave her brother a dirty look before explaining the parking lot incident in a matter-of-fact way, hoping it would come across as no big deal.
Paula giggled. “That must’ve been embarrassing! Did anyone see you do it?”
“No, just my dad.”
“So, did you get your license yet?”
“I haven’t taken the test yet. My birthday’s not until …”
Christy’s eyes grew big and bright. “I can’t believe it! I almost forgot all about my birthday!”
“Hey,” Paula added, “it’s tomorrow, isn’t it? With all the Hawaii stuff, I almost forgot too. Can you believe it? You’re going to spend your sixteenth birthday in Hawaii. Is that like a dream, or what?”
“You may end up spending your sixteenth birthday in this car if that motor home doesn’t move it!” Mom sputtered.
Christy and Paula turned and made giggly faces at each other, laughing at Mom’s anxiety attack. A few minutes later, they spotted the reason for the clogged freeway—a stalled truck had closed off the center lane, and traffic had been routed around on both sides.
Once they made it past the holdup, the freeway cleared, but the tension kept building until they reached Marti’s. Then the fireworks really began. Christy and Paula watched as the two women acted like teenage sisters, squabbling over why Mom was fifteen minutes late, which car they should take, and why they couldn’t have been more organized.
The group ended up in Mom’s car, with David in the backseat, his seat belt tightly holding both him and the duffel bag, and Marti in the front seat with a suitcase under her feet.
“This is precisely why I requested you each fit your things into one suitcase apiece,” Marti scolded. “This day is certainly starting out wrong; I’ve never left so late for a flight in my life!”
“We hit a lot of traffic, and there was a stalled truck,” Mom explained, still gripping the steering wheel tightly as she maneuvered back onto the freeway.
“We might be able to bypass some of the traffic,” Marti suggested, “if we get on the 405. See the sign there? Stay in this lane.”
Mom followed the directions while Marti continued to make plans. “Okay, now if we do miss our flight, which I certainly hope we don’t, then we’ll find out when the next flight leaves and switch to that.”
As it turned out, they didn’t need Marti’s alternative. They made it to the airport, checked their luggage, received their seat assignments, and ended up with half an hour before they could even board the plane. Mom gave in to David’s pleas for a pack of gum, and the two of them scurried off to the nearest shop, leaving a somewhat subdued Marti sitting in the waiting area with the girls.
“We should’ve gone with them,” Paula suggested after Mom and David were out of view. “I don’t have any gum, and my ears always bother me on airplanes.”
“Paula,” Christy pointed out, “you’ve only been on one airplane in your whole life, and that was a few days ago coming out here.”
“I know. And I chewed gum the whole time. Marti, would it be okay if we went to get some gum?”
“I suppose. If you hurry. I’ll stay here with the carry-ons. Don’t forget, we board in less than half an hour.”
“Would you like us to bring you anything?” Paula asked sweetly.
“No thanks, dear. Just hurry!”
Paula and Christy briskly nudged their way through a throng of people lined up at the check-in desk. Christy suggested they make a quick stop at the bathroom too since Marti had said the flight would take five hours.
“First some gum,” Paula directed. “And I saw a magazine I wanted to get while we were running past all those shops on the way in.”
Suddenly, Paula stopped. “I don’t believe it!” she squealed under her breath, or as under her breath as Paula was capable of squealing. Then plunging her hand deep into her huge shoulder bag, she rummaged around until she pulled out a pair of glasses, which she quickly slipped on.
“When did you start to wear glasses?” Christy asked.
“That’s him! Over there … see him? That’s the guy from that TV show—what’s that show? You know, there are these two guys and—”
Grabbing Christy by the arm, Paula yanked her past the bathroom area and into another section of the terminal. “Come on! He’s going this way! Did you see him? What’s his name, Christy? I can’t remember his name!”
“Paula!” Christy yanked her arm back and yelled at her friend. “Paula!”
Paula turned, looking dazed but still heading toward the movie star. “What? What? Come on!”
Christy hustled to keep up with her. “I don’t see who you’re even talking about! Come on, Paula! What are you doing?”
“I’m going to get my first movie star’s autograph! Come on!”
They blitzed past a large tour group and ended up in a section of the airport that had two wings to choose from.
“This one.” Paula grabbed Christy by the arm again. “I saw him go this way.”
“Do you even know who we’re chasing?”
“I can’t think of his name. He’s on that show, you know.” Paula stopped short. “Where did he go? I don’t see him!”
“Paula, I mean it! We have to go back right now! I didn’t see anybody who looked famous. This is stupid!” Christy brimmed with anger and exasperation but kept her words brief. “We have to go back right now!”
She abruptly turned and marched away from Paula.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Paula caught up. “I know I saw him, though. What’s his name? This is going to drive me crazy! He’s really cute and popular, and he’s on that show …”
“Most movie stars are cute and popular and on shows!” Christy picked up her pace, scolding Paula over her shoulder. “I can’t believe you! We could’ve gotten lost or missed our plane over this phantom movie star!”
“Wait, Christy.” Paula slipped her glasses back into the bag and grabbed Christy’s arm again, which she jerked away. “I want to go in here and get some gum.”
“We don’t have time!”
“Yes, we do. Your aunt was just pressuring everybody. We have like an hour until the plane takes off.”
“Half an hour,” Christy corrected.
“Half an hour till we board; then it takes another half hour until the plane even takes off. We have plenty of time.”
Paula entered the small souvenir shop and took her time browsing through the magazines before selecting one. She picked up a pack of gum and held it up for Christy to see. “You like this kind?”
“I don’t care. Anything. Let’s go!”
Paula slipped her purchases into her bag, and the two girls stepped back into the main terminal area and looked around. Neither of them moved. Nothing looked familiar.
“We go this way,” Paula said, regaining her self-assurance.
“Are you sure? I thought our gate was over there.”
A cloud of uncertainty came over Paula, casting a puzzled shadow on her expression and revealing her growing feelings of terror.
The noise and constant hubbub from the throngs of people rushing past them made Christy feel dizzy.
“Let’s ask somebody,” Paula said breathlessly, scanning the bustling crowd, apparently looking for a stranger who appeared approachable and trustworthy.
“We can’t just start talking to some stranger!”
“Then what are we going to do?” Paula dug her fingernails into Christy’s arm, sounding as panicked as she looked. “What are we going to do? We’re lost!”
“Let go!” Christy said. “Where’s one of those monitors that shows all the flights and their times?”
“Over there!” Paula pointed to one on the wall behind them. “What flight are we on? What airline? Do you know? I don’t even know what airline we’re on!”
“It was United, wasn’t it?” Christy asked as they scrambled closer to the monitor for a better view.
“There!” Paula said, pointing. “Honolulu! There’s a flight in half an hour to Honolulu. That’s us, isn’t it? Honolulu is in Hawaii, isn’t it? Of course it is. Isn’t it?” Her voice rose and became squeakier.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Christy’s irritation overtook her fear. “But what’s the one listed above it? How do you say that—Ka-hu-lu-i?” Christy asked. “I think that’s the airport we’re going to because that one leaves at the time we were supposed to, and it has a Hawaiian name.”
“How do you know it’s a Hawaiian name? Honolulu—now that’s a Hawaiian name. Kahului could be some place in Bora Bora, or worse, it could be a flight to the Antarctic! We can’t go jumping on the first flight we find that has a Hawaiian-sounding name! I think we should go to Gate 87, where the flight to Honolulu is. Everyone knows Honolulu is in Hawaii.”
Just then the Kahului line began to blink, and instead of a time being listed, the words “Now Boarding” flashed across the screen.
“Now boarding, Paula! I know that’s our flight! I know it! And they’re leaving right now. Come on! Gate 57. Where’s Gate 57?”
The girls took off, sprinting down the nearest wing of the terminal, then realized it was the wrong one and ran the other way, following signs and bumping into people. Both of them were starting to cry. Panting and blinking wildly, they suddenly recognized the wing they’d started from.
“This is it! I’m sure of it,” Christy said. The girls dashed to the waiting area, which previously had been crowded with people. It was empty now, except for Christy’s mother, who had her back to them. She stood next to the ticket counter, talking to the flight attendant and using sharp hand motions.
“Mom!” Christy yelled from twenty yards back, not caring who heard her. “Mom!”
“Mrs. Miller!” Paula screeched.
Mom spun around, and instead of welcoming them with a relieved embrace, she planted both fists on her hips. Her face, stern as stone, told Christy everything she didn’t want to know.
“We missed the plane, girls,” Mom stated. “We missed the plane! Where have you been?”
Christy scrambled to regain her composure and respond as maturely as possible. Before she could say a word, Paula let her emotions rip. With wild sobs, she clung to Mom’s arm and went on hysterically about trying to get away from some strange man and getting lost and being afraid the man was going to kidnap them and a whole bunch of other unintelligible garble.
Mom instantly changed her approach and tried to calm Paula down before she drew a crowd.
“Excuse me,” the flight attendant said, leaning over the counter and looking much sweeter and more concerned than she had when Mom had been talking with her a few minutes ago. “Are you girls okay?”
Christy nodded.
Paula could have won an Oscar for her reaction. She curled in her lower lip, opened her eyes wide, and let more inky, mascara-stained tears zigzag down her baby face.
Then softly, to Christy’s mom, the uniformed woman said, “We did experience an abduction of an eight-year-old girl at the airport last Thursday. Perhaps I should call security.”
“No!” Paula said quickly. “I mean, it would take too long. We already missed our flight, and it would take too long to answer all the questions and everything.”
“We’re okay,” Christy added. “Nothing really happened. We got lost. That’s all.” No one seemed to believe Christy’s mild account.
“Let me check on something.” The woman lifted the phone and held it in place with her shoulder while typing something on her computer keyboard.
“Mrs. Miller,” she said in a professional tone, “why don’t you and your daughters have a seat. I’ll let you know what I can find out here.”
The three of them moved over to the seats in the waiting area, and Mom pulled out some tissues from her purse for the girls. “You sure you’re all right?”
They both nodded and blew their noses. “Mom, I’m really sorry. We got lost, and—”
“It’s okay, honey. Marti and David boarded the flight, and I had you paged. I also tried to get us on another flight, but they’re all booked. Right before you came up, the gal was telling me that the best we could get would be three seats on a flight leaving tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night!” Paula wailed and began to cry all over again.
“That’s my birthday!” Christy bleated, joining Paula in another round of tears.
Just then a security guard drove up in a tan motorized cart. “Mrs. Miller? Would you like to get in? I’ll drive you to the gate.”
Mom looked questioningly at him. The woman at the desk then slipped out from her spot behind the computer and placed a tender hand on Paula’s shoulder. “I’ve cleared three seats for you on another carrier. You’ll have to change planes in Honolulu and take Aloha Airlines Flight 210 into Kahului.”
She handed Mom some tickets and pointed to the handwritten information at the top of the packet. “Make sure you give them this code number when you check in on both flights. It’s very important that you show them this number.”
She turned and smiled sympathetically at the girls. “You two look out for each other on your vacation now, okay?”
Before any of them fully realized what had happened, they were seated on the cart and whisked away through the crowds to the other side of the terminal. Mom showed the tickets and the special code number, and they were immediately ushered onto a waiting plane and given three seats in first class.
People looked at them, and the flight attendants treated them like royalty. In a few minutes, they had their seat belts on, and the plane was taxiing down the runway. The roar of the engines matched the roar of emotions revving up inside Christy.
She leaned over and whispered to Paula, who was watching the smoggy world miniaturize below, “Why do you think they treated us like that?”
“It must’ve been because of the abduction thing. They thought we had been chased by a kidnapper.”
“But Paula, that’s not what happened at all! They thought that because you made it sound that way.”
“Well, I was scared!”
“I was too! But you shouldn’t have lied.”
“I didn’t really lie, Christy.” Paula looked offended.
Christy clenched her teeth and gave Paula a serious look.
Paula broke into a big smile and breathed a lighthearted laugh. “Relax, will you? You should see yourself right now! You look like that old prune-faced lady who used to work at the post office. What was her name?”
Christy was not pleased with the comparison. The prune-faced lady at the post office, a lady whose glares had frightened her as a child, was not a person she wanted to remember and definitely not a person she ever wanted to resemble.
“Besides, I don’t much remember what I said.” Paula reached for her headphones and began to untangle the cord. “Everything turned out fine, so I think it’s best if we just don’t say any more about it, okay?”
“It isn’t right, Paula. It’s deceitful.”
“Why? Nobody was hurt, and we didn’t get in trouble. Actually, it turned out great. If we hadn’t been crying and frightened and everything, they certainly wouldn’t have given us all the special treatment. They never would have put us on this flight, and we wouldn’t have left until tomorrow night. Think about it, Christy. Would you like to spend your birthday at an airport or on the beach?”
“On the beach, of course, but—”
“Then give it a rest!” Paula interrupted, confidently reclining the plush, first-class seat and popping her headphones into place. “Face it, Christy. This is what your friend Katie would call a God-thing.”