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House of The Sun • William Starr Moake "Do you think she believed it was a coincidence that you happened to be here on Maui at the same time as us?"

The road to the top of the mountain climbed steeply as it twisted through a landscape that looked like a nightmare in the headlight beams of the car. The driver glanced over at the young woman in the passenger seat.
"What time is it?"
"Five forty," she said. "How much farther is the lookout?"
"The last sign said twelve miles."
"It's cold up here. I don't suppose this rental car has a heater."
"It doesn't work," the young man said. "I brought a blanket from the hotel."
"Where is it?"
"In the trunk. You want me to stop and get it?"
"Never mind," the woman said. "I'm still half asleep anyway."
"You drank too much wine last night."
"So did you," she said.
"But I'm used to it," he said. "You're a lightweight."
"I kept thinking that Donna would knock on the door any second."
"I told you I didn't give her my room number."
"What did you say to her?"
"Nothing. I acted surprised."
"You must have talked about something in all that time."
"I only had one drink with her."
"Tell me exactly what she said."
"She wanted to know where I lived and what I did for a living."
"Was she worried about me?"
The man laughed. "She thinks you ran off with some hula boy. She said she was going to chew you out when you came back to her room."
"What's a hula boy?"
"You know, a gigolo."
"God, she must think I'm a slut."
"You told me she was your best friend."
"She is, but you know how her mind works."
"I didn't know her very well in high school. She hung out with a different crowd."

He continued driving in silence for a moment until- "Do you think she believed it was a coincidence that you happened to be here on Maui at the same time as us?"
He smiled at her. "It was a coincidence, June. Did you think I knew you were here?"
"Of course not," she said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "It was just a happy accident. I couldn't believe it was really you when I saw you in that bar last night."
"I would have gone crazy if you didn't recognize me."
"I thought about you a lot after you left Masonville. Why didn't you ever write, Lou?"
"I wanted to forget Masonville," he said. "I hated that town."

Suddenly, he hit the brakes as something scurried across the road in front of the car. "What the hell was that?"
"Probably a nene goose," the woman said. "Didn't you read the brochure at the hotel?"
He pushed the gas pedal and the car started moving again. "It didn't look like a goose to me," he said.
"They have wings, but they can't fly. Isn't that sad?"
"Maybe they don't need to fly."
"Where did you go when you left Masonville?"
"Los Angeles, but I only stayed there a year. I couldn't find a job I liked."
"Where do you live now?"
"In Concord. It's across the bay from San Francisco."
"What sort of work do you do?"
"I'm a graphic artist. I design newspaper ads, brochures, things like that."
"I always thought you would become a scientist."
"Why?"
"You were one of the smartest kids in high school."
"In everything except math. I almost flunked algebra."
"Do you remember Lester Givens? He was two classes ahead of us."
"I never met the guy, but Donna told me you married him. She also said he's a real jerk."
"He is a jerk. I'm amazed he let me come on this vacation with Donna. By the way, are you married?"
"Nope."
"Don't want to get tied down, huh?"
"Not if I can help it."
"I'll bet you have a lot of girlfriends in California."
"Dozens," he said.
"I know I don't have any right to ask," she said, turning away.
"I'm kidding, June. Where's your sense of humor?"
"Did you ever think about me in the last six years?"
He smiled again at her. "Once in awhile."
"I thought you were in love with me in high school."
"I was, but you were a tease back then."
"I didn't tease you last night," she said.

He took his eyes off of the road long enough to kiss her. "You were wonderful last night."
"I suppose I'll have to make up some lie to tell Donna today."
"Why not tell her the truth? She seems to hate your husband."
"She does, but she's such a gossip I can't trust her."
"Why did you marry Givens?"
She lit a cigarette. "I don't know. I was lonely and I felt lost. Lester seemed so charming at first."
"Donna said he owns a car dealership."
"I didn't marry him for money," the woman said. "He's a tightwad, if you want to know the truth. The reason he didn't come to Maui with me was to save money. He claimed he couldn't spare the time for a vacation because of his damned business, but I know the dealership practically runs itself. He only goes to work to lord it over the salesmen."
"If you're not happy, why don't you leave him?"
"Is that an invitation to move to California?"

She coughed when she took a drag on her cigarette.
"You shouldn't smoke at this altitude," he said.
"How high are we?"
"Nearly ten thousand feet above sea level. This the highest mountain on Maui."
She extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray. "I thought I was feeling a bit light-headed."

A moment later they arrived at the summit and the man pulled the car into the parking lot. He got the blanket out of the car trunk and they walked to the overlook. To the east the night sky showed the first sign of pale light.
"We made it just in time," the man said.
They took a seat on the overlook railing and he wrapped the blanket around both of them.
"Cold?" he asked.
"I'll be all right."
He removed a small bottle from his pocket, unscrewed the lid and poured some liquid into the lid. He offered it to the woman.
"What is it?"
"Brandy."
"At six in the morning?"
"Take a sip. It'll warm you up."
When she drank some and coughed, the man laughed and shook his head.
"Lightweight," he said, drinking directly from the bottle.
"They call this mountain Haleakala," she said. "It means house of the sun."
"There it comes now," he said, pointing to the first rays of sunlight.

They sat in silence as the edge of the sun peeked above a mountain ridge, illuminating a volcanic crater that stretched for miles below them. Inside the crater the colors slowly came to life in the brightening light: mostly black lava and red cinder, but also patches of sulfurous yellow and even some green from trees at the far end of the crater.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the woman said.
The man seemed to snap out of a trance. "Yes, I'm glad we came."
She turned to look into his eyes and saw the sun reflected in them. "I always loved you, Lou."
"Let's not talk for awhile, okay?"
He said it without turning his gaze from the sunrise and a moment later he pretended not to hear when the woman started crying softly.

© Bill Moake November 2003
starrauthor at yahoo.com
Bill is a published writer living in Hawaii

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