Travel Reference
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with me. I fell asleep immediately from exhaustion; it had been a long week. I did not hear
Gavin return.
I awoke with a headache and remembered with a sinking heart the night before. I felt stu-
pid. I had certainly messed things up with Liz, and I wanted to get away from her and her
lagoon. The kitten meowed, and I got out of my bunk slowly and gave it some water and
bread.
Yes, I thought, I want to get away from here and leave behind this sordid yard and its sordid
people. I began to feel better the more I thought about it. I would set sail to Lanai; it was
one of the smallest and quaintest of the Hawaiian Islands according to friends and cruising
sources. Oh, to be out at sea again in the blue waters of the Pacific where the birds are free
and the northerly trades blow endlessly, their tangy breath warm and humid on the skin!
There would be no one out there to tell me what to do or to hurt me. I would call the shots
again, set my own pace, and be my own boss. Oh yes, that is what I wanted to do more than
anything else in the world.
Having made this decision I felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off me. I knew
I was running away from something; it was a heartache that was beginning to really hurt,
and I needed to replace it with something. I had no ties here in Keehi. I was not committed
to anyone or anything; I might have wanted to save some more money, but I felt that the
work we had been hired for here had been done and done well. It was a classy time to quit.
Besides, I knew that there were work opportunities everywhere I went. By the time I made
coffee, I was humming a tune and felt I was almost on the high seas, at least in my heart.
“Wake up, you drunken sailor!” I prodded Gavin awake.
“What?” he started up, blinking. “What time are we going back in?”
“Soon, and we are not just going in, but we are going to Lanai!”
“Hey? What do you mean?” he was shocked at my decision. “What about work and Liz
and what about my car? We can't just up and leave?”
I explained to him about Liz, and suddenly I remembered the kitten and looked over into
the box where I had placed it. It was fast asleep still. Let sleeping cats lie, I always say.
“Quite frankly Gavin, I am sick of scumbagville. I am burnt out with working in the heat
and the dust at the yard. I am tired of this industrial nightmare. I know there are greener
pastures beyond here, and I have a broken heart because of Liz. I want to leave.”
“Well, you won't believe this, but I met a very nice girl, Felicity, last night at La Mariana's.
She's a friend of Liz's, and she wants me to do a whole lot of work on her boat.”
