'But things are different now, is what I was going to say.'
Teresa stopped at the exit. 'Mia, I just don't like the idea of you lifting your shirt to show some boy your navel ring. I know it's totally illogical given that you are going to be prancing around the beach in a bikini in a few minutes, but that's the way it is. For now. We can talk about it again when you turn 15.' Teresa knew that this wouldn't be the last time she heard about it until Mia was 15, but she was clear that it wouldn't be brought up again today. Mia ground her teeth, but said nothing.
'Good,' Teresa said. 'Let's go find some beach.'
They emerged from the Hyatt onto Kalakaua Avenue, the main drag up and down Waikiki. To the west, the view was obscured by the hundreds of high-rise hotels and condominiums that extended to the office buildings of downtown Honolulu. In the other direction, Kalakaua stretched past the last hotel on Waikiki about a half-mile away, where it passed the zoo and Kapi'olani Regional Park until it ran into Diamond Head, the massive extinct volcano that served as Honolulu's dominant landmark.
Teresa loved the views, and just for fun, she had looked at some real estate web sites before coming, but after about fifteen minutes she'd stopped. The homes here were way out of her range.
The Honolulu landscape resulted in some of the priciest real estate in the world. The narrow strip from the peaks to the beach was less than two miles wide in most places, meaning the only direction to grow the city was up. Dozens of immense luxury hotels-some more than 30-stories tall-loomed over Honolulu, and thousand-square- foot condominium units didn't go for less than half a million dollars. The majority of the hotels and condos were concentrated in Waikiki.
Once Teresa had seen a map of Waikiki in her guide book, she realized why it was so packed. Waikiki itself was actually a peninsula bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the south and the Ala Wai Canal on the west and north. The canal, built to drain the swampland that Waikiki stood on until the 1920s, drew a sharp boundary between the magnificent skyscrapers of Waikiki and the squat landscape on the other side. Only three bridges near the Ala Moana shopping complex linked the peninsula to the rest of Honolulu on that side, and the resulting traffic jams were a constant source of irritation for drivers. The only other way off the peninsula was to the east, through the Kapahulu residential neighborhood that abutted the zoo and the Ala Wai municipal golf course.
Despite the astronomical costs of land, many buildings still dated from the post-war building boom that saw smaller 10-story buildings go up. They provided cheaper and quirkier accommodations for those who couldn't afford the mega resorts. Teresa knew it was only a matter of time before they would be replaced in order to squeeze every last dollar from tourists' pockets. She supposed that was the cost of capitalism.
Teresa, followed by Mia and Lani, plunged into the throng of people crowding Kalakaua Avenue and crossed the road to Waikiki Beach. They passed a magnificent banyan tree and stepped onto the beach itself.
As Teresa searched for a spot big enough for the three of them, she heard people speaking Japanese, French, German, Spanish, and a few languages she couldn't place. Like all beaches in Hawaii, Waikiki was open to the public, so a mish-mash of all walks of life mingled with the guests of the expensive resorts.
Two boys, both about 16, walked past. Tan and lean, they looked like younger versions of Brad. They gave the girls an appraising look and the taller of the boys spoke to them as they went by.
'The surf's a lot better by our condo.' He pointed his thumb in the direction of Diamond Head.
The girls laughed, and the shorter boy yanked his friend and kept walking. The boys' attention to her daughter tickled Teresa, but she hid her amusement.
She was paying attention to the boys and didn't notice a grungy man in blond dreadlocks going in the other direction until she bumped into him. He said 'Buds?' in a voice so low that Teresa wasn't sure she heard him properly. But she had treated enough homeless people to know not to encourage him, so she didn't stop him when he continued on without pausing.
'What did he say?' said Mia.
'Buds,' Lani said. 'It was a Rasta trying to sell pot.'
'Oh great,' Teresa said. 'They've got drug dealers on the beach?'
'Just ignore them. They're harmless.'
'And how do you know about them?'
Lani rolled her eyes. 'I've never bought any. But they're all over the place. Why do you think dad won't let me go down to the beach near our house?'
'Maybe he's got a point.'
'He's overprotective. I can handle those guys.'
'Well, I'm not worried about it here. There must be thousands of people on the beach today. But one of us should always stay with our stuff.'
Teresa stopped at an open patch near an impressive hotel called the Outrigger Waikiki. She dropped her bag and started spreading out her towel. She had a clear view to the breakwaters on either side, and the waves coming in were good-sized, but still mild enough for safe boogie boarding.
'How's this?'
Mia made a show of propping up her boogie board in the sand. 'So Mom, since it's safe around here, Lani and I are going to walk down the beach.'
'We just got here. Don't you even want to get in the water? Look how clear and blue it is. It's gorgeous.'
'Yeah, it's great,' Mia said, stripping down to her bikini. 'But I saw some great T-shirts back there, and I want to get some souvenirs while we're here.'
Lani piped in, now down to her bikini as well. 'Yeah, and we want to get sarongs for the luau tonight.'
Teresa wasn't very concerned about letting the girls go off on their own. Mia had been babysitting for three years now, so walking around the beach, especially with someone else, wasn't worrisome. Teresa looked at her watch. It was still a couple of hours until lunchtime.
'All right. How long do you think you'll be gone?'
The girls looked at each other and shrugged in unison.
'There's a lot to see,' Mia said. 'Maybe an hour or two.'
'You have some money?'
Mia waved her wallet. Babysitting money.
'Sunscreen?'
'We put it on at the house.'
'OK. But be back by 11:30. After a morning in the sun, I'm going to be starving.'
'Thanks, Mom,' Mia said as she and Lani turned toward Diamond Head and began walking. 'You're the best.'
'Bye, Aunt Teresa,' said Lani.
Teresa gave them a wave. She was actually relieved to have a little time alone. After she liberally applied sunscreen, her plan was to immerse herself in a good mystery novel for a peaceful morning.
Chapter 11
It had been half an hour since the tide gauge reading from Christmas Island was supposed to be transmitted, and Kai was growing more worried by the minute. Reggie's calls to Steve Bryant, their maintenance guy on the island, still went unanswered. Kai could sense that Reggie's tension had ratcheted up a notch.
'What the hell is going on down there?' Reggie said to no one in particular.
The phone rang, and Kai swept the receiver up in the hope that it was the operator with good news.
'Dr. Tanaka, this is Shirley Nagle, the operator you spoke with earlier.'
'You got through?' Kai asked hopefully.
'Well, no I haven't,' she said. He slumped in disappointment. 'But I wanted to call you back since you said it was so urgent. I asked another operator here, Charlie, if he had any other ideas. He said that, in addition to the undersea cable, there's a backup satellite hookup on the island. But the funny thing is, I'm not getting through to that either.'
