In the upcoming chapter, Rafael, Jessica and a small group of Catalina Island adventurers discover the meaning of life as they prepare to jump off of Catalina's highest mountains.
HAPPY READING!
Chapter 8: The Meaning of Life
The Pavilion Hotel is everything I dreamed it would be and more! Well, the bath is not a Jacuzzi bath, but short of that our room is perfect. Everything is modern, clean and new looking. The bed is fluffy and the décor says “luxury beach hotel”. It’s lovely.
We have just under an hour before our scheduled zip line tour at 4:00 p.m. and I decide that’s enough time to squeeze in the bath that I’ve been wanting for several days. Rafael runs to get snacks while I start to soak in the hot, hot water.
“Ahhh,” I think to myself. “This is what I’m talking about!”
Just as I’m starting to doze off into a peaceful bliss, Rafael bursts back into the room. We have twenty minutes to get to the other side of the island. I make a promise to the bathtub that I’ll be back soon, throw some clothes on, and run out the door with Rafael.
I’ve never been on a zip line before and I’m not exactly sure of what to expect. Before scheduling it, Rafael asked if I was afraid of heights. Sharks yes, heights no. Of course, I’ve never propelled down a piece of wire hanging 500 feet above the ground at 45 miles per hour. There is a small part of me that is nervous and wondering how long this contraption has been around and how its safety is rated, but still, I am more excited than fearful.
If I could choose to have one superhuman power it would definitely be having the ability to fly. This may be as close as I’ll ever get to flying, so I embrace my adventurous spirit. It is important for me to live life and each day to its fullest and therefore I try never to walk away from opportunities such as this zip line.
“Are you nervous?” asks the tour guide as he straps the harness onto my legs.
“Not at all,” I answer, beaming with confidence.
I may be over exaggerating my courage at this point but I noticed a young girl, who will be zip lining tandem with her mother, watching me closely. In hopes that she won’t be afraid, I want to set a good example. I smile and wave at the girl with excitement. She smiles back and puts her harness on with the same amount of confidence that I showed. Kids sure do follow the examples set to them.
“Are you nervous?” the guide asks as he straps the mother in.
What kind of question is that to ask everyone? I mean, if we weren’t nervous before, he is making us think about it now. Hasn’t he heard of the power of suggestion? Clearly, he’s never worked in marketing. Maybe I should slip him my business card.
“Yes!” the mother cries in response. “I’m terribly nervous!”
Great job, Mr. Tour Guide. Now everyone in the group is staring at this poor woman and she is not only terrified but also embarrassed.
As he tightens her harness I can’t help but notice his massive arm muscles. The boy has guns. I suppose if I am putting my life in the hands of this guide while we are hanging from cliffs, I should care more about his physical capability than his communication skills, or lack thereof.
“Don’t worry,” he says to the woman, offering her assurance. “You’ll be fine.
And surprisingly, these simple words spoken from him were quite calming to the lady, and to me.
The woman sat down on the bench next to me.
“Hi, I am Jessica," I say to her, offering my hand to shake.
She shakes my hand and says,
“Hi, I am Mary. It’s nice to meet you.”
The middle aged, Asian woman didn’t look like a Mary to me. I suppose that just goes to show that you never know about people until you have a conversation.
“Ya know,” I tell her, “my mom went on one of these zip lines in Hawaii and just loved it.”
I’m guessing that my mom is only a little older than Mary and I’m hoping that she might be able to relate to my mom’s experience.
“She was super scared before she went down the first zip line,” I continue. “But after she realized how easy and fun it is, she was having too good of a time to be worried.”
This isn’t one hundred percent true. My mother did zip line in Hawaii and love it, but she wasn’t for one second afraid of it.
Mary smiled and nodded at me. I’m guessing that she is too shaken up to talk much.
“I hope so,” she answers and grabs onto her husband’s hand tightly.
“My daughter is really nervous too, aren’t you, Katie?” Mary says and looks toward the girl that didn’t flinch while putting her harness on.
She doesn’t look that worried to me, but I think Mary wants some company in the chicken-coop.
Katie shrugs and sits down on the bench next to her mother. Something tells me she’ll be just fine.
After an extensive and mandatory lesson on how to operate the zip line and what to do if you get stuck in the middle of it, which is essentially not panic, we head toward the top of a mountain in a bus.
Our guides, Larry and Brian, are trying to make small talk with the group as we ride upwards. I think they are attempting to gain our trust and help people relax. Almost everyone is completely ignoring them. The passengers seem really focused on the upcoming event.
“Now if you have any questions,” Larry says, "please go ahead and ask us. We know all about the plant life, animals, history of the land, the nearby ocean…ask us anything,” he states.
It’s so quiet on the bus you can pretty much hear the crickets.
“Anyone have any questions yet?” Larry continues without anyone seeming to notice that he is speaking.
After it seems apparent that no one has any real questions, I ask:
“Do you know the meaning of life, Larry?”
He laughs and smiles at me, thankful for an acknowledgment of his existence.
“42,” he answers with certainty.
Being a philosophy nerd, I’ve asked several people this question before. Their answers are usually quite amusing and insightful to me. With all the individuals I’ve asked, no one has ever had such a quick, short and certain answer before.
“42?” I ask with a tone that implies that there’s not quite enough information for me to understand his point.
“42,” he restates.
“It’s a theory about the universe and the meaning of life. Check out Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” Larry says. “It’s a great book.”
“Any other questions?” he asks the group.
Hm. This guy is pretty certain that he just answered my meaning of life question correctly and is ready to move onto the next question. I make a mental note to check out the book and decide to trust this guy’s intelligence. At least he has thought about the meaning of life.
Between Larry’s brains and Brian’s bronze, I’m pretty confident that we’ll still be alive at the end of the day, and this is a good thing. Mary, on the other hand, is not so sure.
“I’m really, really nervous!” she tells everyone on the bus.
I start to wonder if she’s going to back out. Her daughter, who I am guessing is about eight-years-old, looks fearless.
“It’s OK,” she tells her mother. “This is going to be so fun!”
I decide that I like this girl.
“I don’t know…” Mary answers her daughter with much doubt in her voice.
Our group of about ten people chit chats as we climb the mountain in the bus. This is much easier than hiking. It’s too bad they don’t have any of these buses in Big Sur.
Rafael and Larry share a few jokes while Brian sits quietly in the front of the bus. At about 4:45 p.m. we reach the top of what seems like a really tall mountain. This is it. It’s time to jump.
Thank you for reading JQ TIME: A Blonde's Perspective. Please tune in next time to see if the team of islanders survive the jump!
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