Man Trip (5 page)

For a minute no one said anything.

“Who’s Shayla?” Ledward asked.

“What?”

“The girl who called you?”

“Uh … she’s just a … girl. She won’t leave me alone. It’s kind of a problem.”

“That’s not a problem.”

“You don’t know Shayla.”

Ledward chuckled.

He glanced at the lawn mower. “What about that?”

I looked up in fake surprise. “Oh. Yeah. Forgot.”

Ledward laughed but said, “Be good if you finish that job. Your mom counts on your help.” He crossed his arms over his knees. “What’d you do with the fish?”

I lifted my chin toward the bushes. Ants were probably crawling all over them by now. “In there.”

Ledward said nothing. Then, “I’ve been thinking. You know those tickets I won?”

“Yeah. Hawaiian Airlines.”

“Got two left, and I think you and me should take a trip, too. A man trip.”

I sat up. “Man trip?”

Ledward smiled. “Me, I try to get away once in a while, just to rest my head. Sometimes I go by myself. Sometimes I go with some guys I know. But I always come back relaxed and thinking clearly. That’s a man trip. You get away by yourself, or with some guys. This time you could come with me.”

“Me?”

“Why not?” Ledward bumped me with his elbow. “How’s about it?”

“A
real
trip?”

“Uh-huh. We could go deep-sea fishing. Fly to the Big Island for the day. I have a friend with a boat.”

“Ho!
Really?
”

“The fish will be a little bigger than those aholehole you caught, but I think you can handle it.”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!”

I could see myself catching a giant fish, tall
as me. But I’d never been on a boat bigger than my small rowboat. Never been on a plane, either.

“I’ll give my friend a call tonight, then. Sound good?”

“Yeah! But … well, Mom …”

Ledward winked. “I’ll take care of that part.”

Holy moley, deep-sea fishing! That would be so totally awesome! “Thanks, Ledward!”

“No problem.”

We stood and started back up toward the house. Ledward held his hand out for the tennis ball. I gave it to him and he tossed it over Streak’s head.

Streak ran after it … and brought it back halfway.

Ledward chuckled. “Your dog has a sense of humor, I see.”

“D
eep-sea fishing?” Mom said.

The yellow ginger that Ledward had brought her sat in a blue vase on the counter. Stella and Darci were near it, breathing in the sweet smell.

Ledward spread his hands. “It would be good for the boy. Do you remember you met
my friend Bill from the Big Island? Well, he’s got a boat, and fishing is his specialty.”

Mom studied me.

“Calvin has never been on a boat before, let alone on an airplane to get to that boat.”

“All the more reason to go.”

I couldn’t stand it. “Mom, I
want
to go. I’ve never—”

She held up her hand. “All right, all right, you can go.” She grinned at Ledward. “He could use a little man time. All he ever gets is us girls.”

A huge smile spread across Ledward’s face. “Don’t worry, Angela. I’ll take good care of him. I was thinking we could go next Saturday.”

This was really going to happen! I was so excited I could kiss a bufo! Maybe I’d even try to cut more grass. Yeah, I’d do that.

Like, right now.

But Stella had to butt in.

“Lucky for you wood floats, Stump.”

I hated when she called me Stump. I scowled at her.

“Because when you fall off the boat you won’t sink.” She laughed. “Get it? Stumps float.”

“Hardy-har.”

“Not hardy-har, party hard, because that’s what I’m going to do the minute you walk out the door.”

I looked up at Ledward. “Can we go right now?”

T
he next day at school I told Mr. Purdy about the trip.

“Wow,” he said. “Even if you don’t catch any fish you’re never going to forget being out on that boat.”

He grinned. “I caught a marlin two years
ago. This was along the Kona coast, right where you’re going. Hit the line at twelve-fourteen in the afternoon. Boom!
Hoo-ie
, that fish was strong. Took me over three hours to bring it in. Four hundred thirty-two pounds.”

“Wow.”

Mr. Purdy put his hand on my shoulder. “You know, I just got an idea. Most of your classmates may never get a chance to go deep-sea fishing, even living here in the islands. So what would you think about sharing your experience with us when you get back? Would you be up for that?”

“Sure, Mr. Purdy.”

“You’re a lucky boy, Calvin.”

I thought so, too.

Later that day, I was sitting at my desk, looking out the window and thinking about the trip. I couldn’t stop dreaming about it.

“Hi, Calvin,” Shayla said.

“Uhnn,” I grunted.

Mr. Purdy was on the other side of the room, passing out a math quiz. I didn’t want him catching us talking again.

“Did your sister tell you I called you? She said you were taking a bath.”

A
bath
!

“I don’t take baths. And that wasn’t my sister.”

“Anyway, I called about homework. But it’s all right. I figured it out.”

“Good.”

I could feel Shayla looking at me, her gaze like the heat off a lightbulb. I made a blinder with my hand on the right side of my face.

Mr. Purdy handed me the quiz.

“Word problems?”

“They’re easy,” Mr. Purdy said. “And you’re a smart boy.”

I puffed up my cheeks.

“Shayla,” Mr. Purdy said. “You look especially lovely today.”

“Thank you, Mr. Purdy.”

Mr. Purdy smiled and looked up at the class. “Okay, boot campers, you have ten minutes.”

There were five questions. Five!

Mr. Purdy tapped my desk. “Just use your head.”

Five minutes later I was only beginning number three.

Shayla slapped down her pencil. “Done.”

Show-off.

She took out a piece of paper and started drawing another frog. If she likes frogs so much, I thought, she should come over and dig the bufos out of my grass.

My pencil still hung over question number three.

Shayla sighed, like, It’s so hard being smart and finishing my test before everyone else.

I turned in my seat so my back was to her. Saturday’s man trip couldn’t come soon enough.

W
hen Saturday finally arrived, Ledward picked me up in the dark before sunrise. I stumbled into my shorts and T-shirt. Ledward had told me not to bring anything. Bill would take care of it.

“My favorite time of day,” Ledward said as
we headed down our deserted street in his jeep. “Got the whole world to yourself.”

He was right about that. The only other person we saw was a kid on a bike delivering papers.

Mom, Darci, and Stella were still asleep.

Dang. I hadn’t asked anyone to feed Streak. I hope you’re a good beggar, girl.

Ledward drove up and over the mountains that split the island in half. On the other side, we headed down a green valley with high thin waterfalls that flowed up instead of down. They were hard to see in the dark, but I knew they were there. They flowed upside down because when the water fell, the wind blew it back up.