Chapter 6-Arrival

I looked out the window beside me to see that we were quickly approaching the gray strip below us. "Kat!" I said excitedly. "We're landing in Puerto Rico!" She turned her eyes from her copy of "The New Yorker" and leaned over me to look out the window. Behind me I could hear Kyle and Joseph doing the same thing and a glance to my right showed Mitch glued to his.

"Look at the water!" said Kat with a slight breathless awe. "It's so blue and the beaches are so white!" I glanced in the direction she was looking, the airport wasn't far from the beach and I nodded in appreciation.

"Do you think we have time to head to the beach before we get on the plane for St. Lucia?" asked Joseph. It seemed odd for him to request something like that but I remembered his saying that he loved swimming, so it wasn't that odd.

"Well, let me check the itinerary," I said. We had 3 hours between our flights. "Excuse me," I said to a stewardess who was seated nearby.

She put on her ready-to-please smile and asked me, "Yes?"

"Do you know how close the beach is to the airport?" I asked.

"Hmm," she thought for a moment. "I think its only about 20 minutes by cab."

I looked over at my friends. "Do you guys want to risk it? We have 3 hours before our plane leaves." They all nodded.

"You kids should be able to make it," she said. "Just don't lose track of time."

"Believe me," I said. "We know what a hassle that is. We won't. Plus, we already have our boarding passes and that will make things much easier." She nodded with a smile and turned to talk with the cute flight attendant from earlier, who was seated next to her.

"If we're late, maybe we'll be able to sit in first class again," said Kyle mischievously.

I shook my head. "This plane is tiny-it doesn't have first class. Besides, I doubt that enough people want to go to St. Lucia to fill it up," I explained.

Kyle put on a hurt expression. "That's it, destroy my poor boyish dreams," he said with a whimper.

Kat punched me in the shoulder lightly. "Meany," she said.

I threw my hands into the air. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I said. "Yes Kyle, maybe if we're late we can sit in the first class and be served by supermodels in thongs who decided their true dream was to leave modeling and become flight attendants."

Mitch hadn't been paying attention to us on his side of the plane but at the mention of "supermodels" and "thongs" in the same sentence he whirled toward us. "What, what now?" he asked. "Did someone say two of my favorite words?" I rolled my eyes and leaned over Kat to toss an uneaten bag of peanuts at him. He ducked out of the way and it sailed over his seat, hitting a dignified looking, old gentleman in the seat behind Mitch's.

"I'm so sorry," I said quickly. Though startled, he didn't seem angry because he merely gave a polite nod of the head and a forgiving smile. His wife, on the other hand, glared with no inhibition.

"Reckless teenagers," she muttered. "No account for anyone else."

"I didn't mean to hit your husband and I did apologize," I said. "If I could take it back, I would; however, it was a complete accident." Suddenly, we touched the ground and everyone jolted, which was followed by a bunch of nervous chuckling. Most everyone in the area had turned their attention to us and didn't notice how quickly we were approaching the ground. When we first touched down, it seemed as though we were still flying down the runway. I could feel the pilot stopping the plane quickly though, and soon we were slowed to a more normal pace. Soon we were stopped next to the airport and I gathered together my things.

"Oh shoot," said Kat, slapping her forehead. "I just realized something. I don't know about you guys, but I don't carry my bathing suit and towel around in my carry on."

"They're automatically putting our bags on the other plane too. Darn it," I said.

"That would definitely present a problem," remarked Joseph. "I have an extra pair of shorts but definitely no towel."

"It's probably warm enough that we could dry off fairly quickly," I offered. The others nodded in agreement. "We could go anyway and see what we feel like doing when we get there," I said after they were finished.

"Let's go for it," said Mitch. "I feel like blowing this Popsicle stand. We've been in airplane-associated-type-things for entirely too long."

"Is that okay with everyone?" I asked.

"Definitely," said Kyle. Everyone else replied the affirmative in his or her own way.

We made our way off the plane and immediately the bright sunlight hit our eyes. Our plane had a removable staircase that led us down to the pavement below, instead of a connecting corridor like in Seatac. I could feel the sun baking my skin the instant it hit it. "Guys?" I asked. "Could we head inside before we go anywhere? I didn't think we'd be outside and I need to get sun block on."

"We have to go in anyway don't we?" asked Kyle. "For Customs?"

"There're no Customs here silly," said Kat, giving him a playful shove. "This is part of the states, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. Silly me," said Kyle. We headed for the direction of the double doors that led into the terminal.

"And in we go," said Mitch, throwing open the door dramatically. However, inside of the Puerto Rican airport, it was a lot like Seattle. People milled around waiting for planes and conversing with friends. The occasional group of children ran past. The only large difference was that almost everything was in Spanish. Most major signs had English translations but the majority of everything was en Español. I noticed that a lot of the local eyes went to me. I remember that my mother had once told me about their love of redheads down here.

"Lucky!" Kat whispered to me. "Everyone's staring at you."

"My mom visited Puerto Rico once," I replied. "She told me that nearly everywhere she received hoots and people would whisper, 'Rojo!' Which means red. Apparently its that way in a lot of other countries as well, particularly down here." Kat just grinned at me and shook her head. She didn't have reason to be too jealous. Since we were both Washingtonians, neither of us were that tanned and she has plenty of other features that were making both of us the central attraction.

"Alright, we're in," Mitch said in my direction. "Go ahead and get on your block pale-face." I grinned at him and got my bottle of 45 sun block.

"45?" asked Kat. "Yeesh child!"

As I spread it over my lily skin I grinned at him. "Its either this or you get to travel with a lobster," I warned.

"Lobster?" asked Kyle. "Yum!"

I picked up a glob of sun block and tossed it at him, hitting his face. "It probably wouldn't be a bad idea if the rest of you at least put on some 15," I said, pulling out a bottle of it from my large collection. "Our skin isn't used to this." Kat took it gratefully and spread started applying it. Then offered it to Joseph.

He smiled and indicated a bottle of 25 he had been pulling out of his backpack. "While I don't quite need as much as our Mel," he said. "I find it's a good idea if I wear at least this."

"Our Mel?" I thought as I lowered my head to cover the pink that was tinting my cheeks. Soon I was done and we went outside to hail a taxi so we could be on our way.

The beach was disappointing for being our first impression. It was certainly better than anything we had in Washington but I think we were all a bit disappointed. The walk to it was nice. The taxi had dropped us off in front of a grove of trees.

"Um?" I asked. "The beach?"

"Yo!" Mitch had said to him. "Where es el beach?" The driver pointed at the trees and nodded his head.

"This seems to be the right place," said Joseph. "Lets not make an issue out of it."

"Could you come back here in an hour? Please? Una hora?" I asked. The driver seemed to ponder it for a moment but then nodded.

"It cost double fare," he had said frankly.

Mitch had seemed ready to say something but Kyle put his arm against his chest. "OK," he said.

We got out and found a well-trodden path that wound its way through an array of thick foliage. Dark green vines wrapped around bushes containing bright flowers and beaming leaves. The occasional colorful bird chirped above us and I caught site of them a few times. My eyes would see the brief, small form of delicate beauties that were exotic to my eyes. At home we had plenty of brown, red, and black birds. Occasionally a blue jay would grace us with its presence, causing a huge uproar in my house. I had seen tropical birds in photos and zoos but that didn't come close to seeing them wild.

After the interesting walk, our minds were picturing the beautiful sweeping beach that would be in front of us when we broke through. As we could see now, this wasn't to be. There was a bit of tan sand amid a bunch of sharp rocks and the tide broke furiously against the mottled shore. I glanced over at Kat, who was staring with open shock. Mitch had taken to kicking the rocks and Joseph had a bit of remorse in his eyes. Only Kyle didn't seem phased. He immediately kicked off his sandals and took of his shirt then ran for the water. He jumped in excitedly and dove into the hard waves. A few locals were also in the water. One little girl was even on shore building a sandcastle. It seemed so, normal.

"Are you all just going to sit there gawking or make the best of it?" called Kyle from the water.

"I don't think this is worth riding a plane wet," said Kat.

"Oh come on!" shouted Kyle. "The water is great, its loads of fun." Kyle truly loved the water, he was always in our local pool during the cold months and the summer found him within any body of water that would have him. Joseph was the next to go in. I wondered if their mutual love of swimming was what first kept them chatting during conditioning.

I suddenly realized how hot it was on the beach and how cool Joseph and Kyle's forms seemed to be in the water. I fortunately had an extra shirt in my carry on so I wasn't as bad off as Kat, who had nothing but what she was wearing. Before I could change my mind, I ran quickly down the beach and jumped into the water. I sent a spray of water over Joseph, who was still in the shallows waiting for the rest of us. He laughed and pushed me back into the water, getting me drenched. I shoved away my shyness and leapt out of the water then wrapped my arms around his muscled torso and dragged him into the sea.

Kyle had quickly come over to where we were and when I got out of the water he grabbed me and threw me into an oncoming wave. I felt the water cover my face as the wave engulfed me and carried me all the way to shore. It ended by sending me face-first into the sand I coughed and sputtered, getting all the water and sand from my mouth and nostrils. I stood, brushing away sand from my face and watched as Kyle and Joseph were laughing it up where I had previously been. "Go ahead!" I shouted breathlessly. "Laugh! Just wait till I get back out there!" My shirt and shorts dragged as I pulled myself through the water. I hadn't gotten far before someone tackled me from behind. I struggled, trying to get above water as my nostrils and mouth were once again filled. Whoever it was had taken me by surprise and I didn't have enough air. I felt my lungs tighten and my head was getting light. I struggled harder until finally my elbow connected with the groin of my assailant. They hopped away and I pushed up to the surface, gasping down air.

I turned my eyes to see a now wet Mitch cursing and hopping from foot to foot. "Why'd you do that?" he demanded.

"Why did I do that?!?" I asked angrily. "I was drowning you jerk! If you're going to do something like that in which a person has no time to get some bloody air then you don't hold them under that long!"

He apologized profusely and even carried me to shore. By the time we were there I had forgiven him but warned him not to do it again. He set me down next to Kat, who put down the magazine she had been reading and gave me a worried hug.

"I think I'm going to stay here with Kat," I said. "My lungs kind of hurt." At my words Mitch looked extremely guilty.

"Well, I won't go in anymore either as punishment to myself," he said and sat down on a pile of very sharp rocks. I could see his eyes tearing a bit but he continued to sit on them, staring ahead at the sea in determination.

"Don't be a masochist," I said, pulling him toward us. "You didn't know. Its okay." He seemed to relax a bit then insisted he give me a massage while we waited for Kyle and Joseph. They both had been stalking angrily toward Mitch when I first got out of the water but seemed to have calmed down and were back to wrestling in the water. The two of them got bored with just each other in the water soon and returned to shore to dry off with us.

"I hope the other beaches are better than this," remarked Mitch.

"Well, they will certainly be better if you don't try to drown anyone next time," said Joseph. His manner seemed to present it as a joke and Kyle and Kat laughed. Mitch, who it was directed at, and I noticed the true warning tone beneath the humor. Soon all the swimmers ducked into the bushes to put on whatever dry clothing we might have. I thought it quite creepy to be changing right there but Kat reminded me how uncomfortable the plane would be if I didn't so I agreed and went into the trees to change.

I still wasn't comfortable. Eyes in the trees seemed to watch me and I changed extremely carefully, so as to let as little of myself be exposed as possible. When I emerged from the trees, only Joseph was still at the beach.

He flashed me a smile and said, "The others went to meet the taxi. I volunteered to stay behind at me you."

I smiled shyly. "Thanks," I said. I awarded myself mentally for being so very verbose.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked after we had walked a few moments down the path in silence.

"Oh yes, quite, thanks," I said.

He shook his head back and forth. "I don't know what Mitch thought he was doing," Joseph began.

"He was just having fun. It could have happened to any of us," I said with a shrug, defending my friend.

"Yes, but..well..there almost seemed to be more determination than humor on his face when he was holding you under," said Joseph, his face pondering.

"Don't say anymore, please," I said, quickly stepping in. "It was an accident. Lets not make it into anymore than it is, not at the beginning of the trip. Don't you known that suspicion has a way of ruining things?"

He nodded and turned away from me. "As you wish," he said. "I'm just concerned." Then he strode off in front of me quickly.

"Stupid!" I thought. "A man, not just any man, a special man expresses concern for you and you offend him." I sighed and picked up my pace, hurrying after him. Everyone else waiting in the taxi, which had returned as promise. I noticed that Joseph had sat in the front seat, alone, and my heart sank.

We reached the airport in a few minutes and headed leisurely toward our gate.

"Well boys and girls," said Kyle. "Unlike last time we have much time to spare. Should we grab a bite to eat?" I realized my stomach had been growling at me. I have a particular dislike for airplane food and hadn't eaten much of what they brought us. Though many of the more local mini-restaurants in the terminal looked interesting, we decided to stick to what we know and got burgers from a McDonalds booth.

"They have these things everywhere!" said Mitch, taking a bite from his Big Mac as we waiting in leather chairs by where our plane was unloading passengers.

"Yeah," agreed Kat, picking at her fish sandwich. "Its almost sad."

I shrugged. "This is an airport, I'm sure it's not that way everywhere," I said. "If you judge a place by the airport of all places, you're going to get an extremely bad view of it. They tend to be overly modern." They nodded at that then ate in silence.

A few minutes later they started boarding and we filed onto the small plane. Which was quite rustic and we hoped that our bags had managed to make it on. Then we were off into the sky bound for our final destination, St. Lucia.