Hawaii By D.I. Jolly
“This is not what I had in mind when we were planning a tropical holiday.”
Johnny was standing by the window staring out at the sheets of water falling from the sky and the bursts of lightning that seemed to erupt into spiderwebs across the clouds.
“What do you mean, this storm is so tropical it’s practically a cliché.”
“It’s just not what I had in mind. I was thinking, you know. Girls in bikinis on the beach, swimming in the sea, cocktails and exotic fruits.”
He turned to face Josh who grinned and reached into the basket next to him and produced a mango.
“That’s not exactly what I meant either.”
“Oh come on, sit down tea is almost ready.”
Josh tossed the mango and stocked the coals under the kettle. The storm which had been raging for almost a week had taken out the power in the first few hours and, as far as they could tell, no one was really planning to do anything about it. Johnny slumped down next to his friend and let out a harrumph.
“It’s not that bad, I mean, isn’t this why we got a private cabin, to get the authentic Hawaii experience. This is it, man, embrace the adventure.”
“I don’t want the authentic Hawaii experience, I want the Girls Gone Wild Hawaii experience. I want to get so drunk that I don’t know how I ended up wherever I wake up with people I don’t know the name of. I want to scream ‘spring break’ at some dude with a video camera and regret it when I find it online the next day.”
Exasperated he got back to his feet and started pacing around the room, unsure of what to do with himself, while Josh poured them both cups of tea.
“Man, the storm has to pass at some point, just give it a bit of time. We can still have that other wilder experience afterwards. Live in the now man, embrace island life.”
Johnny drank some tea and let himself really hear his friend’s words.
“Yeah, yeah you’re right man. Ok, ok I’ll chill.”
As the days turned into weeks and the storm showed no sign of stopping, Johnny and Josh found that the more they embraced the world as it was, the calmer they felt, and when the mudslide came crashing through their wall, they were ok with it, they were at peace. Totally unaware that the tea they’d been drinking was an incredibly strong hallucinogenic herb, and that they were just on their couch at home watching documentaries.