Death by Facebook

by Everett Peacock

  Perhaps it was an appreciation common to those who have had near death experiences, an appreciation enhanced by surviving. Star looked around for the few moments it took for Wally's son to run up to her and saw a special place worth saving. She just wasn't quite sure how she might do that.

  He gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “Auntie, I'm so glad you're OK.”

  “Thank you. Me, too!”

  “Dad!” his son announced. “What do you need me to do?”

  Wally was just reaching Janet up in the top of the coconut palm. His brief three years in the Army had exposed him to injuries of all types, and methods for dealing with them in the field, away from professional medical help. Here he saw a classic blunt force trauma with complimentary lacerations where the skin had given way to pressure.

  “She can't climb down, get me all the rope you have, and something we can sit her in.” Wally looked out to sea for a moment. “And get one of the guys on tsunami watch OK?”

  “I'm on it!” the young man got on his CB radio while rounding up nylon rope and some seat cushions.

  “How you feeling Jimmie?” Wally asked, knowing she must be in some considerable pain. Bruises covered her entire torso, from her shoulders, down her back, and onto her legs. It looked like her stomach was purple as well.

  Janet was shaking again, in fear. She could not get the events of the previous night out of her mind, thinking that the sea might come back for her any moment.

  “I'm scared,” she whispered. “Why are you up here?”

  “I'm here to help you...”

  “Is there another wave coming?” She yelled, then quickly began moaning in terror, the static flooding her overwhelmed mind.

  Star and Wally's son both looked up into the tree at that. Star quickly turned to look at the beach and the young man scanned the southern points of land.

  “Dad?”

  “Go to my boat and get my medical kit. Hurry!” Wally knew Janet was too injured to move without first giving her some pain relief.

  “Do you see another wave Wally?” Star asked. The concern in her voice struck Wally deep. His love, his companion of many years, was now afraid, afraid of the sea. Great, he thought, and I'm a fisherman.

  “No, baby, nada!” He took another look just to be sure. The horizon was clear, the points of land on either side of them were old black lava rock against blue sea. No white water. He looked over toward the vacation rentals to his left. They were gone.

  “How is Jimmie?”

  “She's all buss up Star. We gotta get her to a hospital.”

  His son soon had climbed the tree with sixty feet of rope and the seat cushions. He also had the small medical kit that Wally kept in his boat. Injuries at sea, while fishing, could be debilitating. If the weather turned bad you couldn't afford the luxury of pain, you had to get to port.

  “Thanks son,” Wally whispered. “Here, help me.”

  Both of them used their one free hand, the other holding onto to the tree, to prepare the syringe. Wally had prepared 15mg of morphine capsules, which he now stuck the needle into, drawing out the liquid.

  “Let me see your foot, Jimmie,” Wally said with the certainty of a man determined to fix a problem.

  Janet moved her leg as best she could, giving Wally a look. Several of her toes seemed broken, but the veins on the top of her feet were what he needed.

  “A little poke and you will be a lot better. OK Jimmie?” He looked into her eyes, beyond the clouds of confusion and deep into what he knew were cascading spasms of pain. “Here you go, girl.”

  It took them half an hour to get her down and into Wally's boat. Star seemed quite a bit better, walking normally now. The other fishermen had returned from their search and rescue mission and had anchored offshore again.

  Wally, with Janet comfortably secured in his boat, prepared to leave. His son had his anchor in his boat as well, ready to push away.

  “I'll take her over to Hilo bay, where we can get an ambulance.”

  “Good,” Star said, leaning into the boat, touching Janet's hair softly.

  “Hop in, Star,” Wally said.

  She hesitated and turned to look back at her home, now virgin beach and coconut grove. Wally noticed her reluctance.

  “Starshine! There is nothing left. The waves took it all. Nothing!”

  “I know, I know.”

  “Look, even those two story vacation rentals are gone, Star.”

  Star looked quickly over to the other side of the bay, where three beautiful homes had been built, where many a party had celebrated what she herself could every day. There was nothing but rubble, and sand.

  Wally watched her closely, hoping to find an angle to convince her into getting into the safety of his boat. He knew Star's story well. She had grown up in this area, decades of living at the very boundary between earth and heaven.

  “Come on Starshine, we can come back in a few weeks if this thing blows over and see what we have left.” He looked at her, imminently afraid of her unpredictable behavior when it came to her heart. “OK?”

  Star was unable to look into his eyes, afraid of his persistence, his undeniable logic. She was watching the little yellow tangs play around her feet as she stood in the shallow water.

  “Star! For God's sake, we gotta get your friend to a doctor. Get in!”

  Wally's son was already moving away from the beach into the deeper waters, looking back as he did. He knew his Dad's girlfriend, his Auntie, was a free spirit. She had a big heart that seemed rooted in the land deeper than anyone he had ever known himself. He was proud of her for that, if not worried sometimes about the decisions she seemed to make.

  Star reluctantly climbed into Wally's boat. He immediately pushed off the sand and dropped his twins into the water, threw them in reverse and quickly retreated.

  The waters were still of floating debris, forcing Wally to pick his way carefully. His son had already stopped, clearing rope from his propellers.

  Wally pulled up next to him to see if he could help. He was still worried that they were close enough to shore to get caught in another tsunami.

  “Small kine,” the young man said. “There!” he tossed the old nylon into his boat, so no one else would have the pleasure.

  “Good job,” Wally proudly said. “Let's pick our way out carefully.” He looked at Star, still staring back at the beach. “Star, can you stand watch on the bow please? Look out for logs and such?”

  She looked back at Wally and then down to Janet, asleep on the seat cushion couch in the shade of the boat's bikini top.

  “Sure.” Walking slowly she made her way to the front of the boat, immediately yelling out. “Log!”

  Wally threw his engines into reverse for a moment, enough to stop their forward progress. Nervously he looked back at the beach. At fifty yards they were still too close in case another earthquake decided to stir things up.

  “Move left about two feet or so,” Star directed. “Slowly.”

  Wally's son moved slowly in behind them, following their cleared path. Both boats were running at just above idle. Star was constantly looking back at the beach, until Wally would point ahead.

  “Stop! Stop!” she suddenly announced.

  Both boats came to, with the son's boat sliding easily up to the right side of Wally's.

  “What, Star?” Wally demanded, frustrated with their slow progress.

  Just ahead in the clear waters were dozens of green sea turtles, all headed to the shore. The Hawaiian sea turtles, or Honu, were large, certainly a hundred pounds or more.

  “Honu!” Star said, almost laughing. “Wally, the honu are returning,” she looked at him with conviction and a sparkle in her eye. “They're going home, Wally.”

  Both fishermen had a lot of respect for the turtles, as both competitors for bait fish and as a sign that the ocean waters were healthy. But, few had made the mystical connection between them and humans like Star had. Wally knew this and was rapidly get
ting worried as he watched them swim by his boat.

  “Star. That's a good thing, maybe they are exploring the flotsam for food.”

  “Yes, it is good.” Star was watching them fly beneath the boat, surfacing at times for air and a quick glance at her. A light wind moved her pareo, tied above her breasts and hanging to her knees, as a colorful flag.

  Wally had seen this before with his long time girlfriend. She was tuned into nature to the point of being blind to the inherent dangers there. He would have bet she would have been hurt or died a dozen times since he met her and he would have lost each time. Something in nature, something in the universe, loved her right back. Something there kept her out of harm's way, despite whatever she did.

  “Star,” Wally attempted. “We can come back tomorrow, check on things you know. The turtles,” he silently cursed their timing. “They'll be around for you to play with then.”

  Janet woke a little, surfacing from her morphine nap to find acute pain in her back, in her feet and in her head. Still she tried to sit up when she heard Star talking about turtles.

  “Where?” Janet said hoarsely. “What turtles, Star?”

  “Hey there!” Star smiled. “Are you any better?”

  Janet shook her head, and tried to stand, falling back into the seat. Wally moved over to help her stand, putting her hands on the windshield.

  “There, Jimmie,” he pointed. “The turtles are swimming right past us.”

  “Wow!” Janet laughed. “Look at them all!”

  Star was walking back to the stern of the boat, now leaning on the engines as she watched them.

  “Beautiful, aren't they, Jimmie?”

  Wally kept an arm around Janet as he continued to prop her up so she could see.

  “Oh, yes!”

  “And brave, too!” Star added. “Heroic, actually.”

  Wally had never heard that said of green sea turtles, but he knew he would hear an explanation soon, one that would color Star's personality even brighter. Crazy as she might be, he loved that she embraced all creatures as special. Fishermen had a degree of that as well, except that they ate what they appreciated.

  Star had taken off her slippers and had climbed up on top of the railing of Wally's boat.

  “Star...” Wally moaned. “What are you doing?”

  She turned to look at her boyfriend, and then over to his son, and back to Janet.

  “They are going to the beach, to protect it. To guard it against the lava.”

  “Auntie!” Wally's son was getting the same thought that his dad had.

  “Jimmie,” Star said, now turning to her injured friend. “Honu have a connection with the sea and the beach. They know when it is safe.” She turned back to watch the last of the turtles move past the boat on their way to the white sandy stretch Star still called home. “They are defending the magic, and I must go with them!”

  With that she dove into the clearness, took several long strokes underwater, as if she might mimic the turtles themselves, and finally surfaced twenty yards away.

  “Dammit, Star!” Wally exclaimed. “That's insane! Come back to the boat right now!” He knew his voice would simply skip off the surface like a flat rock thrown just as hard as those words.

  Her brightly lit smile was hard to argue with.

  “I love you Wally!” She splashed the water with her arms like a little kid would playing. “I must defend the magic, my home!” With that, she turned and started swimming into the beach, just behind the large group of turtles leading the way.

  “Go, Star! Go!” Janet managed to yell before collapsing in a burst of pain.

  “Dad? Should I go pick her up? At least give her a ride to the beach?”

  Wally looked at Star, swimming strongly and confidently behind dozens of sea turtles toward a white sandy beach line with stunning coconut palms, a brilliant blue sky behind them all. The plume from the cinder cone just beyond spoke to her mission like a soldier's charge at the enemy. She was the bravest woman he had ever met, and maybe the craziest.

  “No, son,” Wally answered. “Joey's got a tent on his boat. Can you go get that, some water and food and drop them off for her?”

  His son nodded and throttled up slowly to meet with the other boats in the deeper waters.

  “I am going to take Jimmie here to Hilo,” Wally told him. He looked to Janet, now back on the seat cushion couch, fighting her own battles.

  He pushed his boat slightly beyond idle into a slow forward slide. Looking back one last time, he could still see Star swimming, closer now to the beach. It was her home, he knew, it was her only home. It was a home almost completely surrounded now by a six to ten foot wall of slowly creeping a'a lava. Another week and it would all be gone, he figured. Turning back to sea, he moved his boat out farther and farther.

  “Your friend,” he said to a sleeping Janet, “is brave, crazy and...” he paused. He fought a supreme sadness at leaving his love behind with an ever increasing hope he was learning from her.

  “...and I'll never bet against her.”

  19

  Two days had passed since the reports of tsunami waves sweeping the Kapoho area had been broadcast on television and the internet. People all over the world were fascinated with the Hawaiian volcano, the destructive lava and now the impressive power of tsunami.

  The Hilo airport air traffic control folks had to set up a temporary tower of sorts just outside the evacuation zone to work all the helicopter and over flight traffic. Everyone who had ever heard of Hawaii, with all it's natural blessings of sun, sand and surf now wanted to see the destruction. The rest of the world was having a quiet news week, so this was the top story everywhere.

  When word got out that a woman was hold up on a tiny sliver of her land, trapped between the sea and the lava, it put a human face on the nature story. Every airborne flying machine that could adjusted their flight path to include a low pass near Star's beach.

  At first she waved to them all, but on the second day it was easier to ignore most of them. She was busy building her little ahu structures everywhere she could, especially near the edge of the slowly approaching wall of semi-cooled lava. Ahu, or cairns, had taken on many meanings in Hawaii, from trail markers to sacred beacons.

  Using small rocks, pieces of coral, abandoned coconuts and driftwood, Star created her own version of the ahu, stacking them in short piles. When they were done, she sat back at the beach, cross-legged in the sand, facing the sea, hands upturned on her knees and her head slightly back. It made a fantastic shot for the news, but in her heart she only focused on the lava, focused on asking the great mother to spare her home by the sea.

  Civil defense boats were keeping out dozens of boats that wanted to land fans there and join Star. The authorities reasoned that Star owned the land she was on and could stay, but due to the obvious danger, no one else could approach. Wally was supplying her once a day, pleading with her to leave each time, but slowly understanding her resolve. He brought her food, water, hugs and kisses and then returned to the deep waters offshore.

  ~~~

  Janet had been met by an ambulance at Wally's request as soon as they made the small dock at Suisan's Fish market in Hilo harbor. Her injuries were for the most part severe bruising and lacerations that would all heal. In the two days she had been at the Hilo Medical Center she had begun to walk again.

  The police had been there briefly to interview her and file a report. The doctors were all fascinated with her survival story and a few news reporters had been trying to reach her, unsuccessfully. But, it was a small island, a smaller town and a much smaller community. Everyone in the hospital knew her story, of how she survived a tsunami by climbing a coconut tree. Quickly the connection between her and the now famous Star were made, cementing Janet's fame as well.

  As Janet sat in the cafeteria, trying to force down the strawberry jello a young man approached her, took her picture quickly and left. Little did Janet know, but within minutes he had posted her picture and the
story, as he had heard it on his Facebook profile.

  Within hours several fan pages had been created featuring both Star and Janet as the Heroes of Kapoho. Youtube videos of Star's brave stand against the lava were interspersed with the story of how she and Janet had been swept by the sea to within inches of the hot lava approaching from the other direction, then swept back through a grove of coconut trees in the retreating wave.

  Every television in the hospital had the news on with the continuing coverage of the volcano. Janet was on her third jello when another segment about Star came on, this time via CNN. They showed an aerial view of the cinder cone and how it had now covered some 500 acres of land and, including to the south of Star, over 10 new acres out into the sea.

  It was shocking to see how little land was left for Star. The slowly moving a'a was piling up in the last remaining low area behind the beach there. It had already consumed Champagne pool on one side and the entire southern coastline was suffering its final gasp before succumbing to the lava.

  Video of Star praying toward the sea was overlaid with the fountaining cinder cone. Her stacks of rocks and sticks, ahu, were shown while the commentator talked of this brave woman who was holding her own against the powerful volcano.

  A close up of the coconut grove led into the story of how Star and a companion, now in the Hilo Hospital had climbed them to escape several tsunami waves.

  That was the moment Janet saw her picture flash onto the television, along with Star's.

  “Both women,” the commentator reported, “have various fan pages on social networks and blogs where you can keep updated as to their progress.”