The Hibiscus Ladies

Packed into the taxi shuttle aka, minivan, carry-ons perched on our laps, I observed my two best friends; glaring at me. Sandi looked ready to spit nails, and Ray was chewing on her bottom lip the way she always did when nervous. Any confrontation between the three of us made her nervous.
      I thought the air in Honolulu was almost heavy enough to see, but the tension in the minivan was just about as thick.
      “Mary McFadden, I can’t believe you didn’t rent a car!” Sandi, (Sandra Dee Williams on her birth certificate), only used our full names when she was trying to sound like an angry mother; ironic since she wasn’t married and didn’t have any children. Her voice was loaded with disgust and I was glad we were the only three in the car so no one else would witness my embarrassment.
      Swallowing my dismay, I licked dry lips, realizing I should have known they weren’t going to be happy with the situation. 
      “How did you expect us to travel around the island while we’re here?” Sandi continued. “Find one of those bike rental shops?”
      I sighed; tired, frustrated and getting angry myself. 
      “I’ll explain it when we get to the condo,” I told her in a low firm voice, the one usually reserved for my children. It generally worked on everyone, and to my relief, Sandi clamped her mouth into a thin line and looked away.
      Turning my gaze to the front of the van, I watched the amount on the meter continue its steady climb, my stomach dropping with each number.
      It had been my idea to spend a week in paradise at Brad’s and my condo timeshare. None of us had been to Hawaii before and the internet had all the information we would need, right? I’d promised the girls that everything would be taken care of, I’d handle all the arrangements. 
      “You could have let us know what to expect,” Ray said, her voice low. “Then it wouldn’t have been such a surprise.”
      I had fully intended to set up a car rental with the three of us splitting the cost, but by the time I’d gotten around to doing that, they were all booked. Apparently we were arriving during the same time as several conventions, and the only car available was some luxury thing for $200 a day.
      There was no way I was going to pay that. A luxury car? We were here on a budget, well at least I was. There had to be a better way.
      So, unable to admit that I’d waited too long, I hadn’t said anything, hoping they wouldn’t mind too much and would be willing to find alternatives with me. Obviously it wasn’t going to happen that way, and I should have known. Typical. We rarely do things the easy way.
      “Here we are, ladies,” Our driver, an oriental looking man named Sid, said cheerfully, pulling into a circular driveway, disrupting my thoughts. “The Waikiki Banyon.”
      He got out of the van and went to get the suitcases from the back. I reached over to open the sliding door, anxious to get out and away from the tense atmosphere. The instant it slid open, the warm, moist air whooshed in, feeling as foreign to me as the lush greenery surrounding the entrance to the resort. 
      We sure weren’t in Utah anymore.
​

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Wildflowers

The view from the large tinted window was awe inspiring. The late afternoon sun glinted off the office buildings below, and a hawk lazily floated on a thermal as the Wasatch Mountains dominated the scene.
It was what I’d spent the past ten years working for. To think I’d almost lost it due to the actions of a coworker...my teeth ground together at the memory, darkening the edges of my vision.
Much as I had worked at forgiving him, bitterness still colored the memories of that experience. At the end of a vacation in Hawaii, I’d arrived at the Honolulu airport to discover my receptionist had been trying to call me. For several hours she’d been trying to let me know what had been happening at the office during my vacation.
The new VP in sales had panicked about a presentation, despite my preparation. He’d blown the whole meeting due to his nerves and lost the client. Not satisfied with how things had gone, he’d then informed everyone it was my fault due to lack of planning and I’d had to prove myself. Again.

Fortunately, the CEO and board managed to see through his lies and after a thorough investigation had managed to gain the truth, enabling me retain the position I’d worked so hard to achieve. The VP had been shown the door, much to my relief. It had been a big scandal, and the talk of the company for too long for my tastes, but it was finally behind me and I could focus on doing what I did best.
It wasn’t as if I had anything else to focus on, no family life to go home to, nothing else to fill my time.
I swiveled in the leather chair to face my desk, a lovely cherry wood piece that made me want to run a finger over it every time there was a spare minute. But my gaze was pulled to the large glass vase sitting to one side, full of roses of every color. It was big enough to block my view of the door, and I wanted to toss it in the trash.
So much for the latest dating prospect, I thought with a sigh, wishing I could just enjoy the beautiful flowers. Unfortunately, they reminded me too much of the man who’d sent them. Hopefully Samantha, my receptionist, would like them.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the man behind the flowers, Peter Zackary, floated through my mind. Egyptian cotton shirts, Linen suits, silk ties from China, custom made shoes, $100 haircuts with bleached tips. He’d tried to dazzle me with money so I wouldn’t notice the glaring holes in his personality. It hadn’t worked. 
He’d taken me to the ballet, and then to dinner at a fancy restaurant the night before, but there hadn’t been any chemistry. None. Nada. Zilch. Forget Chemistry, there hadn’t been even a spark of interest.
We simply had nothing in common. Despite his average good looks, he wasn’t active in the church and he didn’t want to have children. 
His slightly snobbish voice still rang through my ears; “My sister has two little rug rats and they get fingerprints all over my car–“
Suddenly the phone rang, jarring me out of my musings.
“Sandi Williams.”
A friendly chuckle tickled my ear. “I still get a kick out of how you sound when you answer the phone.” The voice belonging to Mary McFadden, my longtime best friend, erased all troubling thoughts of Peter, and I smiled.
“Hey Mary!” Greeting her, I turned my gaze from the flowers to focus on the suitcases ready and waiting by my office door. “What’s up?  

Snow Angels

​The sunset over the mountains was glorious mix of red and yellow as I drove along the highway, headed toward Fish Lake National Forest. It had been a long time since I’d driven this way, and never alone.
Brad hadn’t been happy. But, as the girls would say, Brad was never happy when I left for a trip. This one wasn’t the best timing, but then he would probably say none of them were good timing. We had children, a life that didn’t stop when I left home, and it was never convenient.
However, after 20 years of marriage, he was finally coming to grips with the fact that it saved my sanity and probably the children’s hind ends. He actually admitted this time that it probably benefitted him as well, and it had made my whole day when I heard that.
It was progress that he’d been able to admit it in the first place. The warm glow of that discussion started in my stomach and went up to my heart, bringing tears to my eyes.
       “Oh good grief, Mary McFadden, you are one sentimental old fool,” I said out loud as I turned onto the section of highway that went through Gunnison and headed south-east toward Fish Lake. It was a four hour trip, this drive from my home. I’d convinced Brad that I would be fine without the girls going with me.  It was Ray’s friend’s house, and this was her deal, but I’d been anxious to get away.
I could see Ray’s face now. “Yeah, right. You just want to make sure you’re in control.”
“Okay, maybe so,” I muttered, reaching over for a pretzel. But it couldn’t be helped. I’d spent most of the ride listening to a book on tape, but now needed a break from the reader who was a bit monotone and much in need of voice inflection lessons. Heck, I could read better than this guy.
I ejected the CD and put in one of Enya, as her music always seemed to calm my soul. I had hoped to reach the cabin before nightfall, but with one thing after another, and one crisis after another, I’d left an hour behind schedule. Now I would be lucky to get there before eight.
It wasn’t Brad’s fault, he was there as promised, but it was more of what was now becoming the norm. Winston, my seventeen year old, had been cutting classes again today, and we’d just been to the truancy court last week to discuss what had become an issue. My heart caught on the thought that he might need something more drastic. Should we put him in a charter school? Did he need private instruction?
And then there were the twins, Candace and Mark, both eighteen and in their freshman year of college. They had come home for Christmas break and Candace had informed us that she was going to China to teach English for a year as soon as her Visa came through. China?
I couldn’t fathom what had brought that about, let alone how she was going to afford it. She’d said something about a sponsor and babbled on about how excited she was. I’d ventured a question about her latest boyfriend, and she’d only shrugged it off that he’d been too immature and that she was hoping to catch up with Will when she got back. Will? I wasn’t sure what to think about that either.
Mark was in discussions with the Bishop, trying to decide if he was going to go on a mission or not. Now that the age had been changed, he wasn’t sure if that meant he needed to go now or not.
Cathy had just turned sixteen and was the joy in our heart. She was president of her Mia-Maids class, but lately she was wanting to wear short skirts and high heels–something she’d never done before. It was enough to drive any sane mother stark raving mad.
We hadn’t heard from Jacob, our twenty year old, since receiving a letter from his Army Captain that he was being deployed to Afghanistan, which had been four months ago. We prayed every night for his safe return, even if we never saw his face.
Out of the group, Winston was the most troublesome. He was supposed to be graduating this year, but it didn’t look like that would happen. He didn’t have the credits for it, let alone the desire.
I had held the dream in my heart of all my children being successful, popular and smart–walking across the graduation stage with honors and prestige. I guess it was more of a prideful thing than a righteous desire, and the knowledge that it wasn’t happening made me sick at heart.
I gulped and all the pleasure I’d derived from the sunset faded away with the rays of the sun as I headed into the back mountain roads of Fish Lake National Forest. I still had a good hour or so travel.
Why had I wanted to do this on my own? It would have been so much more fun with someone else, preferably one of the girls. It would have kept me from dwelling on all of this–which was actually why I’d done it, I realized with a wry smile.
I’d needed some solitude to contemplate my children and their issues. It was an opportunity to ponder and pray and try to hear the guidance from the Lord. It was becoming increasingly difficult at home to find a quiet spot to do so. Granted, it was a little easier without Mark and Candace there, yet it left things feeling empty at the same time.
How can a home feel empty when there are still two children there? But it did. Perhaps because one of those children rarely came out of his room...though it probably wasn’t fair to talk about Winston as if he was a child. As far as looks go, he looks more like a man than any of my sons, including Jacob when he’d joined the military.
Sighing, I reflected on Sunday, when surprisingly, he came to church with us. He’d come out of his room in a white shirt with a neon pink tie, his hair clean and his face shiny from a recent shave. I’d tried not to stand with my mouth hanging open and act like it was a normal everyday thing. It was pretty hard, because it had been several weeks since he’d gone to church.
He’d grinned wryly at me and shrugged, grabbing his scripture case before closing his bedroom door.
“What? I thought I’d go to church.” He’d managed not to sound too defensive, and I’d smiled back.
 “Great!”
And now he’s cut class again. It was enough to drive one to drink...if I were a drinker.  
Shifting in my seat, I wondered why Ray had wanted to do this trip now--usually our trips were in the spring or summer. We’d never gone in the winter before. Fortunately it was over a holiday weekend. Monday was Human Right’s Day, and we had the cabin all to ourselves. That made it less of a stress with the children, which was probably why Ray had picked it, I guess.  She didn’t have any children, but she was always trying to think of mine.