The Tsunami Countdown (8 page)

10:07 a.m
.
1 Hour and 15 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

T
eresa had just dozed off, soothed by the warm sand and light breeze from the ocean. When the warning siren went off, it startled
her so much that the book resting on her hand went flying and landed next to an elderly couple sitting in beach chairs five
feet away. She sat up and looked around to see where the sound was coming from. After a few seconds she spotted a bright yellow
siren atop a pole a few hundred feet along the beach. The wail rose and dropped in pitch, reminding her of the air raid sirens
she had heard in movies.

The man in the chair rose and picked up the book. Although he wore a hat and had slathered his nose with zinc oxide, the poor
guy was only another hour from a severe sunburn on the rest of his body. He handed the book to her.

“Here you go,” he said with a thick southern drawl. “You look pretty surprised.”

“I was taking a nap,” she said. “What the hell is that?”

“Yeah, I wonder what the heck is going on. We getting bombed by the Japs again? And on Memorial Day too.” He laughed at what
he thought was a good joke.

Teresa didn’t smile back. “Maybe it’s some kind of drill.”

“Oh, yeah, tsunami warning test. I read about that on the plane over here from Mississippi. Hattiesburg is where we’re from.
Never been out to Hawaii before. Wanted to read all about it. Couldn’t get Eunice here to read a bit of the book. Said she
just wants to relax.”

“Did they have to schedule it for the middle of the morning?”

“Don’t know. Thought the book said it was sometime around the beginning of the month. Maybe I didn’t read it right.”

The siren continued to wail. Teresa thought it would go off after just a minute, but the minute passed. It didn’t stop.

“Darryl,” Eunice said, “what is that siren?” She picked up a radio that had been at her side and nervously twiddled with the
knobs.

Darryl patted her reassuringly. “It’s a tsunami warning. Don’t worry about it, Eunice.”

Teresa scanned the beach; few of the other beachgoers even seemed to notice the siren. Most of them went on with whatever
they were doing: playing, sunbathing, swimming. The siren seemed to have no effect on them, except that she saw several small
children with their hands over their ears.

“That’s funny,” said Eunice. “The radio just said there was a salami warning. I thought that meant there was something wrong
with the lunch meat on the island.”

“It’s just a test. And it’s tsunami, not salami. You know, a tidal wave.”

“They didn’t say it was a test. It just keeps repeating.”

Teresa walked over to the radio to hear it for herself. An even, measured male voice issued from the ancient-looking device.
She supposed the voice was intended to convey a sense of calm about the situation, to prevent panic, but she thought it seemed
mechanical, too detached, as if he were describing the potential for afternoon showers.

“… warning for the Hawaiian Islands. This is not a drill. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has advised that a destructive
tsunami may be approaching the coastline of Hawaii. Evacuation procedures are under way. It is recommended that you move to
high ground immediately. All Hawaii telephone books include maps that show evacuation routes and safe areas under the section
called ‘Disaster Preparedness Info.’ The earliest arrival time for the
tsunami is listed as follows: For the Big Island, the wave arrival time is approximately 10:44 a.m. For Maui, Lanai, and Molokai,
the wave arrival time is approximately 11:14 a.m. For Oahu, the wave arrival time is approximately 11:22 a.m …”

Teresa fumbled through her purse to get her watch. It was 10:08 a.m. Only an hour and fourteen minutes until the tsunami arrived.

“… For Kauai, the wave arrival time is 11:35 a.m. Please follow all instructions given by your local authorities.” A brief
pause; then: “This is a tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands. This is not a …”

The message began to repeat.

Teresa felt her stomach go cold. “It’s not a test,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Darryl said.

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t repeat. It would end with a message saying that it was only a test, and the siren would shut
off.”

“You mean there’s a real tidal wave coming?” Eunice said, alarmed at the prospect. “What should we do?”

“Is your hotel nearby?”

“Yeah,” Darryl said, “it’s that big one over there. The Hilton.” He pointed to a thirty-story building.

“What floor is your room on?”

“The twentieth.”

“Good. Go back to your hotel room until they say it’s over.”

“You should come with us. Got plenty of room. Maybe even order up some room service.”

“I can’t. I have to find my daughter and her friend.”

“Oh, my goodness, dear,” Eunice said. “You don’t know where they are?”

Teresa felt stung by the comment, even though she didn’t think Eunice meant it as an criticism of her parenting skills.

“No. They went shopping.”

“What store?” Darryl said.

Teresa shook her head. She pointed toward Diamond Head. “They went that way.”

“How will you find them? They have a cell phone?”

Teresa was feeling worse as a mother by the minute. She had let her daughter
go off to who-knew-where without any way of communicating with her. She didn’t do anything differently from what a thousand
other parents on this beach would have done. But the thought that she wasn’t the only person who had lost track of her kids
didn’t make her feel any better.

Teresa put on her sarong and tank top. “No, they don’t have a cell phone,” she said, her voice cracking from worry. “And my
cell phone battery is almost dead anyway.”

Eunice put a hand on Teresa’s shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll come back, dear, now that they’ve heard the sirens. We still have
over an hour.”

Teresa nodded in agreement. The best thing for her to do was stay calm and stay where she was. If she left in search of them,
she would surely miss them. And if they returned while she was gone, they might do something stupid, like go in search of
her.

All she could do was pace back and forth along the sand, straining to see any sign of her daughter.

10:09 a.m
.
1 Hour and 13 Minutes to Wave Arrival Time

L
ani paddled her kayak next to Mia and the two boys who they had met only thirty minutes ago. By this time they had to be at
least a half mile from shore. Lani was still bewildered at the sequence of events that had gotten her out there. After they
had left Teresa to read her book, she and Mia had wandered along the beach, looking at the vast horde of sunbathers, the families
playing in the water, the surfers paddling out to take on their first attempts at waves, the college students playing Frisbee,
the vendors of all sorts hawking snacks and kitschy souvenirs. Lani loved it. She didn’t know anywhere else you could find
such a cross section of humanity.

The day was glorious. The strong smell of suntan lotion complemented the salty breeze coming off the ocean. As they walked,
Lani noticed how Mia kept eyeing the boys who passed them. A raucous crowd of boys played beach
volleyball, and Mia waved at one of them. Lani pulled Mia’s arm down and raced forward, giggling. But inside, Lani could only
wish for that kind of confidence.

Of the two of them, Lani had always been the tomboy, excellent at athletics, ready to try every sport. She played soccer and
volleyball, surfed, loved any kind of water sport. She had even been star shortstop on the otherwise all-boy Little League
baseball team, where some of her teammates would barely talk to her because they resented her athletic skills. And because
Lani was shy, making friends with girls was even harder.

Mia, on the other hand, was a girly girl. Other girls wanted to hang out with her because she was so cool and pretty and seemed
to know the latest trends in fashion, even though her mom still didn’t have much money to spend on clothes. She danced on
the drill team, took ballet lessons, and had even been out on a date. Her mom had driven her to the mall movie theater and
back, but Mia found a secluded moment and made out with the boy. Lani felt like she was falling behind Mia.

When she and Mia were about half a mile from Teresa, Mia pulled her to a stop.

“Look.”

Mia pointed at the two boys who had passed them earlier when they were looking for a spot on the beach with Teresa. Now that
she had a better look at them, Lani
thought she recognized one of them. He was taller than the other boy and seemed more sure of himself. His mocha-colored hair
tousled in a mop, he sported the deep brown skin of a native islander, while the other boy, blond and three inches shorter,
still had the remnants of a farmer’s tan. The boys were listening to iPods as they walked.

“What about them?”

“Let’s go say hi,” Mia said, pushing Lani forward. Lani dug her feet into the sand.

“No. I don’t want to.”

“Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“But I know one of them.”

“Really? Which one?”

“The one on the left.”

“The tall one? He’s cute. But not as cute as the other one. Introduce me.”

“How?” Lani was no good at that kind of thing.

“Say my name,” Mia said.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, if you want, I’ll do the talking. Come on.”

Lani reluctantly went along. They cut in front of the boys, who took out
their earbuds when Mia practically stopped them in their tracks.

“Hi!” the tall boy said in recognition. “Where are your boogie boards?”

“We’re not boogie boarding right now,” Mia said. “We’re going shopping.”

“Hey, don’t I know you?” he said, looking at Lani.

“Me?” Lani said, gulping silently. He had actually noticed her!

“Yeah, you go to my school, right? IPA?”

The boy looked different out of his school uniform, but it was definitely him. He was a couple of grades ahead of her at Island
Pacific Academy, so she never thought she’d actually meet him, that he’d never be more than a hallway crush.

“Yes. I’m a freshman.”

“Her name is Lani. I’m Mia.”

“Cool. My name’s Tom. This is Jake. He’s visiting from Michigan.” Jake nodded at them. “Hey, we were thinking of heading out
onto the water.”

Lani felt herself uncharacteristically speaking up, perhaps in competition with Mia.

“Surfing?”

Jake jumped into the conversation. “We rented some sea kayaks for the week,” he said. “Have you ever been on a kayak?”

“We both have,” Lani said, bluffing with increasing boldness. Lani had paddled sea kayaks six or seven times since moving
to Hawaii, but as far as she knew, Mia had never even seen one.

“Sweet,” said Tom. “You want to come with us?”

Mia turned and shook her head at Lani. When Mia had suggested talking to the boys, Lani was sure that doing something athletic
was the last thing on her mind. Lani beseeched her silently, and this time it was Mia who relented.

“Yeah,” Mia said with little enthusiasm. “We’d love to.”

“Awesome. The kayaks are just up the beach.” He started walking, and the girls and Jake followed.

“You both from around here?” said Tom.

“Mia’s just visiting from Seattle.”

“Must be good to get out of the rain.”

“Yeah,” Mia said, “it’s pretty cool here.” And for the first time since she’d moved there, Lani felt like it
was
cool. “Are the kayaks big enough to fit two people?”

“They’re single-seaters, but we have four of them,” Tom said. “My parents are away for the day at some Memorial Day ceremony.”

After a few minutes of walking, Tom stopped on the beach next to a large condominium.

“Okay,” he said. “You wait here.”

“I thought you said we were going to kayak,” Mia said.

“The kayaks are back at our condo,” Tom said. “We were going to go this afternoon when my parents got back.”

“They’re sit-on-tops,” Jake said. “And we’ve got life jackets and paddles.”

“We’ll be back in a minute,” Tom said.

While Tom and Jake sprinted across the street and disappeared into a parking garage, Lani gave Mia a crash course on the kayaks.
Instead of enclosing the kayaker inside like a river kayak, the plastic shell of a sit-on-top kayak was molded so that the
seat perched on top. Although sit-on-tops were better for warm weather because you didn’t get as hot, they were also less
stable. Mia wasn’t happy to hear that, given her inexperience, but Lani tried to reassure her that paddling in them was easy.

Tom and Jake came trotting back carrying one kayak each over their heads. The kayaks didn’t look that much different from
the ones Lani had been on before: about eleven feet long and bright yellow, with black nylon around the seating area.

“Maybe when we’re done kayaking,” Tom said, “we could go get some lunch somewhere. My mom left her credit card for us.”

“In that case, definitely!” Mia said.

The boys high-fived, then turned and ran back to get the other kayaks and gear.

“What about your mom?” Lani said, awed at Mia’s brazen flirting.

“I’ll think of something.”

In another five minutes, all of them had their life vests on, and the kayaks were bobbing in the gentle surf. To the
left were the enclosed waters of Kuhio Beach, protected by a breakwater. To the right, waves crashed into the beach, but the
sea was mild where the kayaks floated.

“Shouldn’t be too bad getting past the waves today,” Jake said.

Lani saw that Mia was apprehensive. She lowered her voice to give Mia some tips.

“Just keep the kayak pointed straight out. There’s an undertow at this point, so the waves will be small.”

Mia waded up to her knees and sat on the side of the kayak to get in. She slipped off and sank to her shoulders. Jake laughed
but rushed over to pick her up. She tentatively balanced herself on his arm as she climbed in. After two more false starts,
she finally perched primly on the kayak.

“You sure you’ve done this before?” Jake said.

Mia nodded. “It’s been a while since I did it the last time.”

“We’ll head out past the breakers,” Tom said. “Then maybe we could turn and head up toward Diamond Head. I’ve heard there
are some killer houses along the beach there, but they’re hard to see except from the ocean.”

They started paddling. When the first waves broke over the front of their kayaks, Mia let out a little scream. Lani laughed.
She was finally in her element.

“Come on,” Lani said. “It’s not that bad.”

“Remember to put the paddle sideways into the water, Mia!” Tom yelled. “Come on!”

The boys pulled forward easily, and they looked a little surprised to see Lani keep up with them. Mia fell behind immediately,
her paddling technique abysmal. But with a few more minutes of practice, and with the others slowing down, she was able to
keep up. The trip out took longer than expected as they fought the stiffened breeze coming off the ocean. After twenty minutes
they were about a half mile out and turned east toward the towering walls of Diamond Head.

As they came around, Lani thought for a second that she heard a sound coming from the direction of the shore. But the wind
picked up again, whistling as it whipped over the water, and she couldn’t even hear the roar of the surf.