“You’ve given me a good list to try out. Thanks, Lorilee.”
“You have a nice trip around the islands. I hoped I have helped you some,” she said.
“You have, thank you, bye.”
“I’m probably worrying about nothing,” I said to myself as I Grabbed my nightshirt and headed for the toilet room. Dressing in there made me feel Ivan couldn’t watch me. Silly, I know, if he is a ghost.
I scooted under the light covers and decided to read my book for a little while. After a half hour, I bookmarked the page I had stopped reading on and turned out the room light.
—-
I slept well and woke up with the sunshine the next morning with only one bathroom break during the night. No sign of Ivan here or in my dreams. Wrapping into a robe, I opened my balcony glass door and breathed in the fresh salty air. I could hear my neighbors next door to my right. The sounded like they were enjoying the sunshine as well.
“Good Morning,” I said to them.
“Good Morning to you,” said the woman.
Before I dressed for the day, I decided to make a cup of coffee in the little hot pot the room provided. Once I washed my face, I felt like a new person ready to face the world.
The small percolator dripped coffee into my cup and then I unplugged the appliance. One of the ship’s rules is not to leave anything plugged in while you are gone from the room. Fire hazard, I guess.
Someone knocked on my door, and after I checked the peephole to view Larry’s face, I opened the door.
“Well, you look like you could face anything today,” he said.
“How’d it go last night?” Trisha asked.
“Great, I only woke up once to go to the bathroom and then I fell back asleep right after that.”
“Good. Let’s get something to eat and then we’ll go shopping,” she said.
“That’s all you think of, Hon,” Larry said.
“Yes dear, how often do I get to shop in Hawaii?”
“Point made, let’s go,” I said, closing my door with a secure pull.
While we ate our breakfast on Deck Five, Larry said we could go shopping without him.
“You girls go and have a good time,” he said.
“And what will you do?” Trisha asked him.
“Oh, maybe I’ll learn how to make those towel animals, or play Bingo up in the lounge. No, I wanted to talk shop with a fellow bail bondsman I met yesterday. He works in Chicago,” he explained.
“Well, have fun. I know we will,” she said.
“Oh, first I want to look at the photos taken when we boarded the ship. Do you think they would be ready by now?” I asked her.
“They should. I think they are on deck six,” she said.
We decided to walk up the one flight of stairs and noticed the whole deck inside along the corridor lined by various paintings.
“I think they are going to auction these off tomorrow. See any you like?” she asked.
“Not really, these seem too modern for my tastes. Oh, I do like this little farmhouse and the color of the fall leaves.”
“Oops, $675.00. Maybe they give discounts,” Trisha said after looking at the price tag.
“Oh, there’s the photo display on those boards near the wall,” I said, pointing to our right.
Trisha began looking over the P section of the photos while I scanned through the E’s. She found hers, and then I located mine.
“Let me see,” she said peering over my arm.
“Looks good,” I said.
“He certainly does, but what’s that shadow on your side?”
I looked again and frowned.
“Darn, maybe someone walked in front of the camera when they shot it.”
“Well, you don’t have to buy it if you don’t want it,” she said.
“But I wanted this photo. I’ll ask them if they can reschedule a shoot,” I said.
I turned and approached the young girl behind the photography desk.
“Excuse me,” I said to catch her attention. “I’d like to buy this but there’s a shadow on this side of me. Is there any way we can reshoot this?” I asked her.
“I’m sorry, it’s a one-time picture,” she said without changing her expression.
“Then I guess I’d have to talk to your superior. I don’t think I’m asking too much for something you allowed to happen,” I protested.
Her expression frowned. She then flipped through a spiral notebook.
“There’s a formal photo shoot on Deck Twelve outside of the Far West Restaurant at six o’clock. Can you make it to that one? Can you dress formal?” she asked.
“Yes, I can. I still have my flower lei. I’ll be there.”
She put my name down in her notebook and I put my ruined picture back on the rack.
“Way to go, Susan,” Trisha said. “Since you are getting all dressed up, I’ll try and convince Larry so we can go to dinner with you.”
“You, don’t have to. I can sit with the other guests and see what tours they have taken. Or you can come with me and Larry can do his own thing.”
“I could, but I’d better go where he goes. I’ll talk to him when we get back from town. She returned to the photography desk and paid for her pictures. We stopped by her cabin so she could leave her photos in her cabin. Larry wasn’t there yet. Then we left the ship and left for our volcanic tour.
The bus took us to the volcano lookout, Kilauea Volcano, where lava still rises up and flows off the island. Every time several fissures hissed steam into the air, we took pictures. Our guide took us over the hardened lava from eruptions past that looked like it was frozen in time. We could see in a few areas where the lava still moved along the surface and over toward the ocean.
We returned to the bus which drove to a small gift shop. After twenty minutes,
