Flurries

The weather can't make up its mind. Warmish, coldish, sunny, snow--we get all of those in the space of three days. It's driving my sinuses mad. I want it to stop. Today we're having flurries. Tiny flakes barely visible and then bigger flakes falling with purpose. Bah. It's not supposed to amount to more than an inch over the next two days. Hardly worth the effort.

February 22--Kawelikoa Point, Kauai, Hawaii. "Right there," Jared said, pointing past her out the window of the small plane. "Right there is where I'll build your house." Livia smiled and nodded, looking down at the little piece of paradise he indicated. She thought it looked idyllic like a perfect beach on a deserted island in a movie, but then she noticed the narrow and twisty road that slithered down from the mountain pass. And that mountain--it might be covered with a layer of soft green foliage but its angles were sharp and its faces were severe. This was not some old toothless mountain that had been worn down by time and the elements, no. This was a young, muscular mountain with plenty of attitude ready to keep people away. She looked up and down the coast as the plane flew toward land; there were no other houses or settlements on this stretch of windward shore, no neighbors to visit and borrow sugar from, no one to wave to as she walked the beach, no lights to twinkle at her through the tree when Jared was gone and she was alone. She leaned to shout in Jared's ear. "Is that a volcano?" She pointed to the most threatening peak. "It used to be, but now it's just an old mountain." He put his arm around her. "Don't worry, baby, I'll keep you safe." She smiled and reached up to touch his hand as he squeezed her as if she were reassured, but she shivered at the thought of the gilded cage he planned to put her in. The plane's wing dipped and for a split second they were weightless. The spell was broken and they were both laughing. How silly she was. Of course her sweet Jared wouldn't keep her prisoner, he just wanted her to have the best.

Uh-oh. No good will come of this, I can tell. Have a day.
--Barbara