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with backpacks and walking sticks. One group even packed a baby in a baby carrier.
    “Want to stretch a little before we take off?” Andrea’s mom asked.
    “Sure. Should we bring the sunscreen with us?” said Andrea.
    “A good thing you remembered that. We would’ve been burned to a crisp!”
    Andrea beamed at the compliment. She still couldn’t believe that they were going hiking together—that her mom had actually turned off her cell phone, wished her dad and brother well fishing, and then tore out of their vacation home like a woman on a mission. Andrea snuck a glance at her mom as they did leg squats and stretches on the beach.
    They had been on vacations before—stayed in other beautiful places with awesome views—but those had been
working vacations,
as her parents liked to say. Which basically meant she and her brother, Mark, were left to explore with assistants or tour guides instead of their parents. This time was different, but it felt shaky too. Like her Uncle Mike’s death had shaken them awake, but they weren’t sure where to go from there.
    “Okay! Let’s do it!” Her mom said, sliding her backpack on.
    Andrea quickly shrugged into her small pack as well and followed her mom to the entrance of the trail. Then she spotted the well-worn path that shot upward at a forty-five degree angle, and she stopped dead in her tracks.
    “Are you sure I can do this?”
    Her mom turned around and gave her an encouraging smile. “You’re my daughter, aren’t you? Of course you can do this!”
    Andrea shrugged shyly. “I mean, you and dad might have hiked Mount Kilimanjaro when you were young, but the highest thing I’ve climbed lately is the bleachers at school.”
    “Kilimanjaro was
fifteen
years ago,” her mom said. “But, if it’ll make you feel any better, I think I took the stairs at work one day last week.”
    They both laughed and were evidently so pleased at the sound of their laughter— together—that neither of them noticed the small well-worn sign at the entrance of the trailhead that read “Danger! Do not leave trail. Steep cliffs, crumbling rock.”

three
    “Come on, Holly! It’s not dangerous!”
    “I looked like a maniac when I got home from the run this morning. I never look that crazy after surfing,” Holly said on the other end of the phone. Bethany couldn’t help smiling. “And it’s uphill half the way!”
    “And downhill the other half,” Bethany coaxed as she sorted through her CDs. “Come on, it’ll be fun
and
a good workout!”
    “Okay, okay.”
    “Oh, and bring some shoes you can actually run in. Junky ones if you have them ‘cause of the mud.” Bethany winced and then rushed on, hoping Holly would miss the part about the mud. “We’ll go early in the morning, and I’ll ask my mom to bring our boards and stuff when she comes to pick us up. That way we can surf after the run.”
    “How is she going to know what time to get us? Cell phones don’t work out that far,” said Holly.
    “Not on the trail, but they do at the end of the road. My mom used to train out there.”
    “Well, just so you know, I’m not sure I want to run all the way to the falls.”
    “Why not?” asked Bethany.
    Holly dropped her voice to a whisper. “I heard there are creepy people who hang out back there.”
    Bethany smiled to herself. “Nah, just Kauai bares,” she whispered back mischievously.
    “Bears?” Holly asked, her voice suddenly a little panicky. “We have bears on Kauai? We don’t even have snakes, how could we have bears?”
    “I’m surprised you haven’t seen them before,” Bethany said, all serious. “They travel in pairs most of the time. Oh, and every once in a while you’ll see them dressed in hats and shoes … but that’s about it.”
    “You’ve lost me … Wait! Are you talking about those crazies that get out in the back country and take off all of their clothes?”
    “Yep! Kauai bares … get it?” Bethany laughed. “B-A-R-E-S!”
    Holly