Burned Read Online Free Page B

his eyes away from the TV long enough to tease Bethany and Malia.
    â€œYeah? Well, you should be first in line,” Bethany shot back with a grin. “Malia and I wouldn’t have to worry after that; we’d be old and gray before the mat got lifted off of you!”
    After lunch, Bethany and Malia headed back to their fale to prepare their surfboards for the days to come. Since traveling surfers remove the fins from their boards before putting them into the board bag, they needed to screw them back on, attach their leashes, and make sure there had been no damage to them during shipping.
    The familiar crunch of gravel caused Bethany to look up from her board. “Tagiilima!” she yelled as she pulled Malia along to greet her new friend.
    The Samoan stopped the van and leaned out the window as the girls approached. “Good morning, Miss Bethany and Miss Malia!” he said with genuine warmth.
    â€œWe went to church in Salani today,” Bethany said. “It was really cool — I looked for you there — ”
    â€œI don’t go today,” Tagiilima said with a tight look around his eyes as he tried to smile. He patted Bethany’s hand. “I must go now. Drop van to Mr. Clint.”
    â€œI wonder what’s wrong,” Bethany said worriedly as she watched Tagiilima swing the van in next to the dining area and step out, his huge shoulders hunched over like he was carrying the world on them.
    â€œHe seemed okay to me,” Malia shrugged. “Just kind of quiet.”
    â€œI don’t know, Malia. His eyes looked so . . . sad. And he is such a nice person.” Bethany frowned. “I hope that Liam guy didn’t give him any trouble after we left.”
    The girls glanced to the center of camp where Noah and Tim were engrossed in a game of volleyball with Liam’s cousins Del and Hank. Tim had told them that the older boys’ uncle offered to pay for half of their trip, if they brought Liam with them. They liked Liam but they were getting tired of babysitting him. And really tired of his outbursts.
    Liam, by the way, was nowhere to be found.

three
    Dawn bubbled up from behind the velvet green mountains as Bethany slid from her bed and stood over Malia’s sleeping form. The air was still, hot, and muggy. The little wobbly fan had been working overtime to keep them cool all night long. Not that Malia seemed to notice, Bethany thought with a grin. She swatted her friend with a pillow.
    â€œWake up! Let’s get something to eat and get going!”
    Malia groaned in response and rolled over.
    â€œSuit yourself,” Bethany grinned again. “I’ll just go surfing without you.”
    â€œOkay, okay,” Malia said from under the pillow. “Give me a minute.”
    Bethany chuckled as she went out to the porch of the fale and started to stretch. She knew that taking the time to condition her muscles would help her stamina and looseness in the water.
    As she stretched, she watched the sun spread across the sky like a watercolor, faint at first and then with a concentrated brilliance. A psalm she had read came to mind. She could only remember bits of it . . . something like “God, my God how great you are! Beautifully, gloriously robed, dressed up in sunshine.”
    She paused in her stretching. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming sense of God’s majesty as awe for all he created washed over her. She drank in the towering mountains and lush green landscape. Sometimes she was amazed beyond words when she looked around at all he created.
    â€œAnd yet, you choose to think of me,” the words from a Third Day song rolled through her mind, and she smiled softly. Thank you for blessing us with this awesome trip, God . . . for all that you have done and are doing in our lives . . .
    Her prayer was interrupted by the jarring sound of a rising argument coming from the porch of a neighboring fale. Bethany couldn’t make out what they