Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
came sputtering back to the boat, I encouraged him towards the towel. I was very pleased
to see how well he could swim and how he made straight for the towel. He clawed his way
swiftly up and over the boat, shaking off the seawater and, glaring venomously at me with
slitted eyes, “Don't you ever, ever do that to me again,” he yelled at me, spitting for effect.
“Oh come now Murphs, I did that because one day it might save your life. Your dad loves
you very much and would never harm you. I would have jumped in and saved you.”
“Yeah right! I'm mad at you!” he sulked, and, with a pained expression, limped sadly from
view up to the foredeck and began licking himself dry. I felt terrible. He could do that to
me; he had his ways, as small and scrappy as he was. But the next morning he tripped along
behind me down to the beach, head and tail held proudly up, and when I went for my swim,
he stood knees deep in the water as usual as if nothing had happened. He had forgiven me
and was prepared to let me stay aboard his boat.
Up until this point I had not been in to town, some eight miles up the road. It wasn't that
I was not interested, but that I was content to just relax and enjoy myself here in the two
Maneles. Besides, I had no transport. I decided one morning I would start walking up the
hill and visit the town and assumed I could hitch a ride. I was now curious about the little
city of Lanai and its people, and I could do with some more groceries.
I set off early one morning after I'd had my usual stroll to the beach with Murphy and
my orange. I packed my backpack with water and some snacks and put on a pair of ten-
nis shoes, quietly sneaking off without Murphy seeing where I was going. He was lying
sprawled out on the end of the Coon's dock waiting for his first boatload of tourists with
bored indifference.
The old tar road wound its way up the gentle, dry, sloping hill. It had been patched up many
times but again needed attention desperately, judging by the potholes. There were a lot of
dense, wild scrub and Kiawe trees as well as long, dry, yellow grass, not unpleasant to the
eye. I came around a bend and froze. Not a hundred feet away from where I stood were
several deer by the side of the road, poised and ready for flight. They were beautiful, fragile
looking Axis deer, imported from Maui, I later learnt. I remained still as we took in each
others' company and finally one hooted, and they gracefully melted into the green shadows.
Farther on up the road I came across a flock of wild turkeys that spotted me a long way off,
and they too took to their heels and fled. The edges of the pineapple fields were now visible
as I puffed my way up. Rows upon rows of green pineapples marched out into the distance
taking their sweet time to mature, sometimes two or three years. There were a couple of
little yellow ones that were ripe and very tempting. I decided that if I spied one near the
road I would have no option but to pop it into my backpack.
