1| Apparently Thor: Ragnorak is going for a 90s punk aesthetic, and I am HERE. FOR. IT. (Especially sexy blue-eyelinered Jeff Goldblum.)
2| I’ve always loved Spike, but now I love James Marsters for his beautifully compassionate discussion about that horrific rape attempt in season 6 of Buffy.
3| Full disclosure: I haven’t read this yet, but it’s Soft Professor Chris Evans talking about how much he hates ne0-Nazis, so I have a hard time believing it’s not worth reccing.
I am only JUST feeling human again after cuddling with my cat for the past couple hours. It has been such a crazy couple weeks, especially because my (very fun) trip to Thessaloniki last weekend gave me no time to rest before another crazy week.
The hardest part about being the Program Coordinator at HD is that now all the conflict comes to me. I’m the one making decisions for the Day Program now, which means that those who don’t like my decisions come to tell me so. Which, like, for a healthy human, is no big deal. But I have a little baby heart that assumes everyone is just waiting to hate me, so when three different people came to tell me “we need to talk,” I almost died. Well, what I really did was whine and complain to a dear friend “why can’t everyone be happy with everything I do always so I can be secure in their love and admiration???”, and then I sucked it up and kept going.
It really wasn’t even a big deal. I am privileged to work with wonderful people who preface their complaints with “I might be blowing this out of proportion because I am stressed, but…” and coworkers who defend me and seek to understand me. But still, I’m physically repulsed by conflict, and it’s hard going. I’m glad for it – I want to get more comfortable with conflict – but knowing it will be better in the future doesn’t fully take away the sting of fear in the present.
I’m so glad I have this job only this year, after I built up friends and a support system. On Tuesday night I went to Rosie’s for our first K-Drama club…four people in attendance to watch a new series together! Nerds unite! And on Thursday, after a stressful and long day at work, Luciana made us soup and then we watched the final episode of Coffee Prince! I love that she wound up loving the show, and I love even more that it inspired her to research the current political climate of North and South Korea. I have the coolest friends.
On Friday, we didn’t have classes so that we could prepare for a baby shower we threw for two of our participants who are due to give birth within the next month. It was a really sweet time, though sad in a way. Baby showers are meant to be shared with family, and these women have only known us for two months. But that’s kind of what we’re about at HD: taking ugly situations and making something beautiful anyway.
I came home to a party at my house, and I sat and kind of participated for as long as I deemed socially acceptable. But it didn’t help my introvert batteries when I woke up early on Saturday to join the other HD staff on our first weekend retreat. I took three naps throughout the day (always a good sign that my body is craving the sweet release of…no people) and avoided group activities in favor of staying in my room to read.
By Sunday, though, I was feeling more sociable, and the sunny weather highlighting some really stunning scenery only helped. We all went to a cave of lakes, strolled through gnarly trees and saw sheep and dogs and swans. We ate fresh trout (it was delicious despite having a head) and drank coffee and did things together that wasn’t work. It was a really nice time, but I was still very excited to get home to my bed and my cat. Here’s hoping six hours of introvert time will get me through the next week!
1| How should you spend your time on the Internet? Reading someone’s term paper entitled Mythical Hero versus the Modern Heroine: The Female Hero in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games! It’s got cool comparisons of Katniss to Theseus and Atalanta as well as a really delightful argument in favor of androgynous heroes with both feminine and masculine abilities.
This week was EXHAUSTING. By the end of the week I felt like I’d worked double, which is weird because the week actually started with a holiday!
Clean Monday is the Greek start of Lent. My roommates and I got the traditional bread and halva to eat for breakfast, and then we went out to the fancy park coffee shop because our stolen wifi isn’t working. It was a lovely lazy day, and the end of my peace.
The reason work was so crazy was because of a really good thing: we’re all finally officially moved into the new offices. This means there are people around all the time, which is SO GREAT, but it also means there are people around to give you more tasks to complete. We had a staff meeting on Wednesday that went on forever – tensions were high and there were five million things to address because we’ve been in separate places for so long. Plus I’m feeling stressed because it’s only one month until I have to leave Athens (no visa progress) and I’m trying to prepare the Day Program for every eventuality.
I got through the week by hanging out with Luciana literally every day. On Tuesday, we took a long late lunch, then got sweets at a bakery. While sitting outside, a man next to us said, “Is that an American accent? Do you mind if I ask how you feel about your recent election?” He was a (married) Welsh guy who’d lived in the States for a bit, and we three had a half hour long conversation about politics. Flash forward to my weekend with a Greek and an Englishwoman where we also talked about politics. I really like living in Europe. The US is so geographically isolated that it’s easy to selfishly think only of ourselves. But living here in a jumble of neighboring countries, people are so politically aware of not only their own country’s positions, but of others’. I like it a lot.
Back to Luciana. On Wednesday we stayed super late at work, then finally went back to my place where I cut her hair and we watched another episode of Coffee Prince (NOPE, I’m still not done talking about this Korean drama).
On Thursday, we had our Graduation Ceremony at HD. I’m in charge of them now, so I was Happy and Excited and Welcoming of All Our Guests! I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, and I didn’t want to go home because one of my roommates was hosting a Bible study and I didn’t want to say hello to any more strangers. Luciana invited me to her place, and Giorgos immediately said, “What’s wrong with you?” when he saw me. “I’m introverted out,” I said, and he nodded in understanding and fed me an omelette. “I know you will understand this as a compliment,” I told them both, “but I feel alone with you guys. Thank you!” Luciana then suggested we start watching another episode of Coffee Prince, half to see some emotion in my eyes, and half because she was starting to fall in love with it.
On Friday, we had a big HD board meeting that went on forever, and afterwards Giorgos had to stay in the office working on techie stuff, so Luciana and I watched another two episodes of Coffee Prince until 11:30 p.m. I am so happy that she is as big a nerd as I am.
ABRUPT SHIFT
On Saturday morning, Anthi and Rosie and I fled to Thessaloniki! We spent the whole weekend walking in the sunshine by the sea and eating bougatsa and souvlaki. We all were similarly interested in being lazy, so we only went to one (very nice) museum in the White Tower. Otherwise we just wandered and ate!
Rosie imposed a really great rule that if we talked about work-related topics for more than five minutes, she would cut us off and ask us a random question. These ranged from “If you could introduce any animal into Athens, what would it be?” (Answers: panda bears, koalas, and lemurs) to “If you had to kill off 90% of the world’s population, how would you choose who to kill?” (Rosie: You’re really into the dark questions, Tricia.)
I had a wonderful time with them both, and almost as soon as we got there, we were planning our next trip. But not seriously, because I’m leaving soon, and I don’t know when I’ll get to come back! *weeping*
This month I read some fantasy, some non-fiction, and some contemporary fiction both satirical and…weird. Recommended books are italicized!
Royal Assassin by Robin HobbThe second book in Hobb’s Farseer trilogy started out slow but became quite engrossing about halfway through. Initially, I complained about the dearth of female characters, but then Kettricken wound up being amazing (I’d still like more amazing female characters in this series, please!). I liked how the Wit was explored more, but I’m still very confused as to why it is so stigmatized when Seeing is not. Of course, since it is the second book in a trilogy, the novel ended with everything horrible. Here’s hoping things will get better in Assassin’s Quest!
Station Eleven by Emily St. John MandelRecommended to me by a bookkeeper in Santorini, this book totally lived up to my expectations! It’s a post- (and pre-) apocalyptic novel that focuses on cultural and individual changes rather than Outrageous Action. It’s both haunting and hopeful, and the writing is stunning. I definitely recommend it!
We Are the Ants by Shaun David HutchinsonThis is a beautifully sad and hopeful book about bullying, suicide, and depression that ultimately proclaims that there is beauty in the broken. This is all pretty standard when it comes to YA novels, but this stands apart by using alien abductions as a metaphor…or maybe they were real!
Gender & Grace by Mary Stewart Van LeeuwenThis has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, and I’m so glad I finally got around to reading it. Using both theology and psychology, Van Leeuwen creates a very compelling and easy to read defense of the biological and cultural influences on gender and sexuality. It’s conservative while also being open and accepting, and I really admired her balanced perspective.
South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki MurakamiI’ve been hearing a lot about Murakami recently, but I have to admit that I was disappointed by my first foray into his work. I feel like I missed something, but maybe this book really was about a self-obsessed and possibly psychotic middle-aged man getting over his exes and finally choosing commitment simply because he doesn’t want to be lonely. It all felt like obnoxious patriarchal “literature,” but I’ll give him one more try.
The Princess Diarist by Carrie FisherWhat is the opposite of patriarchal nonsense? CARRIE FISHER! Her last book is amazing: a testament to her wit and ability to self-reflect, and wow, when it was over did I wish she were still alive to continue gifting us with her talent. This is the book that reveals her affair with Harrison Ford while filming the first Star Wars movie, and her memories of that time are both humorous and touching. The world needs more people like her.
The Liar by Stephen FryI picked this up at a book bazaar, and it is quite possibly the most British book I’ve ever read, by which I mean it is extremely absurd. If you like twisty words and witty dialogue (and don’t mind a LOT of absurd British sex thrown into the mix), you’ll probably enjoy this. Just remember, everyone is lying, all of the time.
Packing Light by Allison FallonA book about a Christian writer who doesn’t want to be a “Christian writer” and packs up all her things to go on a 6-month road trip in pursuit of a simple, adventurous life couldn’t be more tailored to me. Perhaps that is why I highlighted so much of Fallon’s memoir, but I think it’s possible that she’s also just extremely quotable. It’s more of a thinkpiece than a travel memoir, but I recommend it nonetheless!
Well, the gig is up. I couldn’t last more than two seconds in Monday’s temperature check (the first half hour of HD’s Day Program during which time we share what we’ve been doing and feeling) before I blurted out, “I’ve been watching a k-drama nonstop and it’s SOOOO GOOOD” while flinging my face into my hands. “What’s a k-drama?” everyone asked. “A TV show made in Korea.” Everyone stared at me, so I repeated the part about it being SOOOO GOOOD. “You’re quite strange,” one of them said. “Ugh, I know,” I replied.
Honestly, Coffee Prince DID eat up a big part of my week, and I would hurry home from work to watch as many new episodes as possible while texting Rosie dramatic reactions to the show’s events. My roommates would delicately put their heads into my bedroom. “Are you still watching your favorite show?” I would look up from my nest of blankets with rabid eyes and hiss, “Yesssss.” They usually fled before I could update them on the plot development.
One bright spot was Luciana, who was so enthralled by my never-ending passion that she agreed to watch the first episode with me. “I don’t really like it yet, but it must be good because you won’t shut up about it.” In return, she insisted I start watching Arrow, but I don’t think it’s quite fair for her to hold me to five seasons when I’m only asking her to watch seventeen episodes.
Guys, it’s so good. I’m done now, and I tried watching some other shows, but I stopped them all after a couple minutes because nothing in the world was appealing anymore. Luckily, Rosie found two other people who like k-dramas, and we are going to try to start a weekly k-drama watching club! (At church today, I ran up to her and said, “Rosiiiie” and gripped her arm as I jumped up and down in excess of emotion. She laughed in what I think was delight and not fear.)
Four paragraphs later…
Work was pretty normal this week. We’re settling into a routine, which means our four participants (not on maternity leave) are showing up sometimes on time, and as the Program Coordinator, it is now my job to enforce tardy rules, and I haaaate it. But on the other hand, I got to start doing Weekly Goal Setting with each participant individually on Friday, and that is the part of the job that was so enticing that I agreed to take the whole thing.
Most of the women know their goals: stay in Greece, get a good job, support family members in their home country. With them, all I have to do is help them break those goals into smaller, weekly attainable goals, like learning Greek, figuring out what paperwork is necessary, pursuing new job skills. One participant is SUPER averse to the very idea of setting goals, because anything in the future terrifies her. That was my favorite session, because it required dusting off my jujitsu counseling moves. (Her: I don’t need to plan. I trust God every day. Me: That’s so great! I really look forward to seeing you grow to the point where you can trust God not just with your day, but also the coming week, and the coming month, and the coming year!) It’s fun to help them take control of their lives, to risk wanting something, and the stand beside them as they work toward it.
Pretty much as soon as work ended on Friday, a weekend of FOOD began. Four of us coworkers went to Cap Cap on Friday afternoon, a coffee shop that has bimonthly themes. Because of the forthcoming movie, they are now Beauty and the Beast, which meant I drank a Ballroom and ate a Bookworm. It was nice to hang out with my coworkers outside of work, and that only continued on Saturday.
There was a team of USian men who painted the outside of HD this week (the house, not the office where I was), so Dina and Argyris invited all of us plus them to a fancy restaurant in Rafina. Whenever US teams come to Greece, I either find myself super proud to be an American or super ashamed. This group started out embarrassing when their pastor stood up to pray over our food for at least five minutes, and everyone else in the restaurant stopped talking and also the staff turned off the music. But then they were the best kind of Americans, loud and happy and generous and sharing funny stories. It immediately felt like we were all old friends. Because they were from Memphis, I had a lot to talk about, and when they left, Dina assured me that next time they would invite a team of single men.
That segues right into…on Saturday, my new roommate’s mom came to visit. There was a conference in Athens, and she came to our house afterwards. While Ellen unpacked her new goodies, her mom and I got into a super serious conversation about singleness. She said a speaker at the conference had talked about how painful it was to go to dinner parties and see husbands and wives paired across from each other, leaving her with the “extra” seat at the end. Ellen’s mom said it made her pause, and she was now determined to make sure she mixed up the seating at every party she every throws. It was all I could do to keep myself from throwing myself at her and hugging her in grateful joy.
On Sunday, I met up with Kendra for coffee to hear about her weeklong adventure in Italy with her fiancée. We accidentally talked for too long, so we were late to church. Afterwards I met Haley, Dina, Argyris, and Mark for an extremely fancy work lunch (Haley works with SP). After far too much food, we took her to see the new offices that SP had financed. I got home around 5:00 and took a late nap.
It’s nice to be so social. When I think back to this time last year, I was in the midst of my language-learning mental breakdown. I was developing social anxiety at the Bible school, hiding in my bed so I could pretend to be asleep if someone were to stop by and invite me to the cafeteria for lunch. HD was still being renovated, and I was wondering what the hell I was doing living in Greece. This year? This year is so much better.
I’m on Step 5 of the 12 Steps, which says we “admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” This step is about confession, obviously, but its also about the connections we form with people when we are vulnerable. Keeping secrets is isolating, and it heightens our shame and our loneliness. The scariest thing – revealing the worst of ourselves to another person – is our only hope. If we risk trusting a safe person with our secrets and they still love us, well. That is simply the best feeling in the world.
I mentioned in a previous blog post that I’ve been going through a faith crisis. This isn’t new; I’m a doubter by nature, and every couple years I start thinking, “Am I wrong about everything? Is there a purpose to life, is God good or even real, can anything ever change for the better?” This time, my faith crisis began with the election of Donald Trump.
It has been so confusing for me to see Christians support a man who is explicitly racist, sexist, and xenophobic. When people who taught me the Bible as a small child defend his actions and even give Christian defenses of his “safety” measures that seem hateful and fear-mongering to me, I just…I wonder why our beliefs are so different. The God I believe in is more loving and grace-giving and patient than our wildest dreams. If other people believe in a God that calls us to hunker down and keep people out in order to stay safe, who’s to say whose God is the real one?
It hasn’t helped that I am reading through the Bible chronologically, and I’m currently wading through the Exodus/Leviticus laws. It’s a crime to kill a fellow Israelite, but if you beat your slave so badly that he or she dies, you simply have to pay a fine. That is…God’s law? That is not something I can stomach, and it’s been eating me inside out that some of these verses seem to support the hateful, elitist God of Trump’s “Christianity.”
I used to be able to see how the God of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New Testament went together, but right now, in the midst of confusion, anger, and sadness, I can’t see it anymore.
All of this felt immense. I worried that I was losing my faith and that I was hating God (I am, a little). It was suffocating me. But then I studied Step 5, and during lunch last week, I poured everything out in front of Luciana. She tried to encourage me, but I told her, “I’m sorry, but right now nothing you say is going to make me feel better.” She assured me that she shared my belief in a loving God, and I said, “Maybe you’re a heathen like me.” Finally, she suggested we share dessert and said, “It’s good to doubt. It makes our beliefs stronger, even though it’s painful. You’re in a really good place right now.”
I didn’t believe her, but talking to her DID make the weight on my chest ease up. I’d told someone that I kinda sorta hated God, and she had shared dark chocolate mochi with me. So a few days later, during a dinner to get to know my new roommate, I casually mentioned that I was going through a faith crisis. Two days later, we went out for coffee, and she carefully said, “You know how you said you were going through a faith crisis? I am too.” My vulnerability had opened a door that allowed us to complain to and encourage each other. We might have sat in adjacent bedrooms for months, not knowing that the person next door was also feeling confused and betrayed and scared for the very same reason.
Nothing is necessarily figured out for me, faith-wise. I’m still in the middle of a period of doubt, but it no longer scares me. I even believe that God timed things so that I would study Step 5 just when I needed it, that he isn’t annoyed by my “hating” him because he is excited for the moment when I see HIM, the real him, again, and love him even more than before.
Our fears and doubts are scary, but we make them bigger than they need to be when we keep them to ourselves. Finding the courage to share them with others can bring relief to yourself, and sometimes, for other people who need to know that they are not alone in their own fears and doubts.
We’re not meant to live alone. It’s only in a community of honesty and acceptance that we can grow and thrive and change, and I’m so glad that I was able to live that this past week.
Progress at the new offices continued to happen slower than expected, so we decided to have a “Program Lite” week at the house. This worked out pretty well, since we have a new woman (from Nigeria, 8 months pregnant, our house is now FULL and we’ve already had to turn down someone who wanted to join the program, ack), and it gave her time to adjust. But this meant coming up with plans last minute and never feeling quite settled, which makes me stressed. Luckily, I had some really fun friend moments this week, and that helped me survive.
One of the strangest and most wonderful things about my friends in Athens is that they usually share in one of my “shameful obsessions.” I have cat friends here! And video game fanatics! And Korean drama enthusiasts! The things that used to be “oh, Tricia is the cat/video game/anime friend” has now become “we like this thing.” It’s so much fun to have people to share these obsessions with.
On Sunday, the Four Cat Ladies went to Danielle’s apartment after church for her birthday celebration choice: a cat movie marathon. We ordered food and watched a documentary called The Lion in Your Living Room and exclaimed over the cute kittens and said things like, “Oh, that’s why Oscar/Louis/Pepperina/Hans Harrison” does that!” Then we watched a movie called A Street Cat Named Bob, a true story about a stray cat that saved the life of a drug addict. Cats are amazing, I truly don’t understand haters.
On Wednesday after 12 Steps, I went out for sushi with Luciana. I’ve been having a bit of a faith crisis post-US-election, and I opened up to her about it all. “You know what you need?” she asked. “WHAT?” I asked desperately. “Dessert!” So we got dark chocolate mochi, then walked back to her apartment. Giorgos was there, so the three of us played Zelda until 11:00 p.m. It was true gaming joy, with agonizingly frustrating puzzles that had people screaming and then cheering when they finally succeeded.
And on Saturday, I went to Rosie’s apartment to watch Coffee Prince, a Korean comedy about a girl who is mistaken for a boy and winds up working at a coffee shop intentionally run by hot guys. I LOVE these kinds of ridiculous shows, and found myself saying, “Oh, so he is going to fall in love with her knowing she’s a girl, and HE is going to fall in love with her thinking she’s a boy, right?” Rosie would respond, “The plot is incredibly obvious, but it is so much fun to see it play out.” That’s what I love so much about anime and Korean comedies. The characters are stereotypes (the Arrogant Rich Guy, the Edgy Foreigner, the Dumb Sweet Guy, the Delicate Wallflower, the Guns Blazing Girl) the actions are repeated (“he did the thing where he puts his hand on the wall over her head!!!”) and the plots are incredibly familiar. But there’s something so pleasing about knowing what’s going to happen and then laughing hysterically when yes, she DID have to hide in the men’s locker room while they were changing because she has to hide the fact that she’s actually a woman.
I realize this is a pretty specific media interest (in the Western world, I would fit right in in the East), which is exactly why it feels so amazing to have Rosie as a friend. And Luciana and Giorgos as my video games partners. And Kendra, Rosie, and Danielle as my fellow Cat Moms. There are few things as comforting as finding people who like the same weird things you do.
We did a lot of random stuff this week with our participants, but my favorite was on Friday. My friend Damaris came over to take professional pictures of each of the women. I knew this was going to be a success when we went upstairs and saw each of the women in their best clothes, makeup on and hair done ON TIME. We took photos on the roof and in the garden, and it was such a joy to see them open up and show off how amazing they are.
Maybe it seems silly to place value on taking someone’s picture, but these women so rarely get to dress up and feel beautiful while also being safe. They were getting fancy for themselves. Damaris is going to print the pictures and give them copies, and nothing is going to us to be used for promotional or fundraising purposes. This is all for them.
At the end, we were all in the garden, and while one woman was posing extravagantly against a tree and the rest of us were giggling, I put my arm around one woman’s shoulders, and she put her arms around my waist. It was such a touching moment, and it made me realize how every little moment is a healing opportunity – safe touch, laughter, freedom to choose how sexy or silly you want to pose – and I was overwhelmed by how much I love my job.
Bringing it down a bit, but that day was also a lesson in A Man Ruins Everything by Thinking He’s Funny but is Actually a Jerk. While taking pictures on the roof, a guy from the building next door called from his balcony, “Which one is the prettiest?” Luckily, the woman getting her picture taken only spoke Greek and didn’t understand, but I was ENRAGED. This is patriarchal idiocy at it’s core: the idea that women being pretty and happy is for a man’s enjoyment. He took a beautiful, fun thing and made it a dirty competition. UGH. Less of this in the world, please!!
On Friday, Ellen from Canada moved into my apartment! She and Olga are sharing a room, and so far, I think it’s going to be a good household. I really like having people around, and I love seeing other people’s things filling spaces in the bathroom. But this only works for me with certain people, and both Olga and Ellen are independent, friendly, introverted women. I don’t feel the need to care of them (thank God), and I know I can peace out and go to my room and they will understand.
It’s nice to have another American in the house, though I’m very jealous that Justin Trudeau is her leader and not mine. Already Ellen and I have had some great conversations about being outsiders in Greece (she lived here for a year a couple years ago), and she’s a life coach who is going to work with an anti-trafficking organization, so we will have plenty in common to talk about.
A Greek, a USian, a Canadian, and a cat share an apartment in Athens. We could star in a sitcom, though it would mostly show us reading books and talking about how we want to change the world.
The other day I listened to a playlist for the first time in two years. It’s the playlist I made when I nannied Anju and Ketan, full of songs we would sing to while driving to all of their extracurricular events.
Some are obvious kid’s songs, like all of my favorite Disney ballads. But our real favorites were pop songs that were current at the time, especially Imagine Dragons and Bastille. I still remember turning around in my seat to high-five Ketan when he mastered singing “Flaws” with a British accent.
One of the songs that came up was “Everything Ends” from A Very Potter Senior Year, because yes, I did introduce my pre-teen charges to the amazing world of the sometimes inappropriate, always hilarious college production of Harry Potter musicals. This particular song is from the end of their third musical, and it’s doubly upsetting because it’s about Harry using the resurrection stone to see his dead friends and family one last time AND it’s about the cast acknowledging that Darren Criss’s life has taken him away from Starkid. I’ll put the video here if you want to cry a little.
[Start at 6:08 for the song]
The lyrics hit me, listening to a playlist from my past, thinking about my Dallas life and all the people I’ve said goodbye to, and hello to, in just two years.
Harry: How do I make things go back to how they used to be?
Snape: That’s just it, Harry. You can’t.Group Singing: You can’t hold on to what’s gone.
Don’t try to fix it, just move on.
Only then, you’ll see the world all brand new.
And I felt…really great. I tend to cling to the past, to hoard memories and wish for things to be as they were. But there’s something so peaceful about saying, “Yes, the past WAS great, but so is the present, and so will the future be.” I don’t get to sing with Anju and Ketan in the car anymore. But this week I got to paint fingernails and watch Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights with women who have been trafficked.
Life isn’t about holding onto things or trying to recapture experiences. You’ve got to move on, and see the world all brand new.
by Elizabeth and Tricia
Justin and Angela, the ultimate buddy cop duo, team up to defeat international spy Vlad Poutine.
Justin Trudeau as Justin
Angela Merkel as Angela
Joe Biden as Joe
Barack Obama as Barry
The Hemsworth brothers as Chris and Liam
and Trumbledorf as himself
Justin and Angela stumbled down the boulevard. Justin pushed this wavy hair back, causing a surfer fifty feet away to fall off his board. Angela’s hair was immaculate, despite her having just run ten miles over rocky terrain. “There!” she said, pointing ahead.
She had seen the giant sign for “Frozen Joe’s,” Hawaii’s best-selling ice cream stand. The man leaning over the counter of the ice cream shop was the spitting image of the giant face on the sign: same Ray-Bans, same cheeky smile. The sign didn’t include the highlighter yellow tank top that the real man was wearing today. Against all odds, it made his teeth appear even whiter.
“What can I get you?” Joe asked. “Vanilla? Strawberry?”
Justin leaned against the counter, and Angela rolled her eyes at him. “I was thinking something more along the lines of…mint chocolate chip.”
Joe reached beneath the counter and pulled out an AK-47. Impossibly, his smile grew wider. “I know someone who’s been waiting to see you.”
The speedboat crashed over the crest of a wave, jolting Justin into the man standing behind the steering wheel. Justin glanced at his partner to make sure she was okay. Angela was calmly eating her mojito-flavored ice cream cone. She paused and fired two shots off the back of the boat, ducking for cover when the KGB agents behind them returned fire.
Over the noise, Justin shouted, “I never thought we’d reunite under these conditions.”
Barry grinned. It seemed like he’d aged backward in the time since they’d last met. Hawaii looked good on him, Justin thought.
“Really?” Barry asked. “This is exactly how I imagined it.”
They shared a small smile, but Angela had no time for them. She tossed the last of her cone over the side, put her gun on safety, and strode toward them. “We need to hurry. According to our last transmission, Chris and Liam are tied up at the Volcanoes National Park’s visitor’s center, and I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t save them before Trumbledorf starts showing them his Instagram feed of ‘things that are orange.’”
Fin
It Is Trish 