When Saturday finally arrived, Ledward picked me up in the dark before sunrise. I stumbled into my shorts and T-shirt. Ledward had told me not to bring anything. Bill would take care of it.

“My favorite time of day,” Ledward said as we headed down our deserted street in his jeep. “Got the whole world to yourself.”

He was right about that. The only other person we saw was a kid on a bike delivering papers.

Mom, Darci, and Stella were still asleep.

Dang. I hadn’t asked anyone to feed Streak. I hope you’re a good beggar, girl.

Ledward drove up and over the mountains that split the island in half. On the other side, we headed down a green valley with high thin waterfalls that flowed up instead of down. They were hard to see in the dark, but I knew they were there. They flowed upside down because when the water fell, the wind blew it back up.

I sat hunched forward in the open jeep with my arms crossed in the cool morning air. Heat from the engine warmed my feet. Like Ledward, I was only wearing my rubber slippers, shorts, and a T-shirt.

I could hardly wait to get out on that boat.

“I forgot the guy’s name who has the boat,” I said. “Is it Bad Bill?”

Ledward laughed. “No, but that would work. Everyone calls him Baja. But I like to add the Bill part. Baja Bill sounds more like a sea captain. Anyway, we went to high school together. He’s got a head full of stories, so hang on to your hat. Got a head full of knowledge, too.” Ledward chuckled. “He’ll tell you it’s useless knowledge, but it’s not. You’ll like him.”

Cool name. Baja Bill.

We headed down into Honolulu, and finally, to the airport.

The airplane was like a giant tube. We made our way down the aisle to the back. I scooted in next to a window. Ledward sat next to me.

“Does this plane go fast?” I asked.

“Sure does, but when we’re up in the air it won’t feel like it. It’ll be a nice, smooth ride.”

We took off as the sun began to lighten the sky. The plane shot up and turned toward the ocean, pressing me into my seat. I squeezed my eyes shut. But when Ledward elbowed me, I slowly peeked out the window.

Ho …

Below, I could see the gray-blue morning ocean, and reefs, and big patches of underwater sand, and fishing boats heading out of the harbor, and the edge of the island with all the house lights and roads and buildings and ballparks and rivers.

Man oh man.

I loved flying on airplanes! “Look,” I said. “We’re going higher than the clouds!”

“Yup.”

I stared out the window at the ocean until we dropped down out of the sky and landed on the moon.