I knew well in advance that something was coming. I knew because of the frogs. I went for a jog the other morning and there were dead frogs all over the road. It was biblical. And then I drove to Macy’s in the Kukui Grove Shopping Center, parked the car, got out, and found myself beak-to-face with a wild rooster. The boyfriend tells me this is normal, but I beg to differ. There’s nothing normal about a crowing rooster in the parking lot at Macy’s. It’s unnerving. So I was already on edge and the omens were everywhere and I was drinking my Kona blend Sunday morning and learning Hawaiian vocabulary when those freaky aggressive Jurassic Park looking birds, the ones that have claimed the front yard of our rental house as their own, started squawking and then flew away. That was followed, seconds later, by that unmistakable rumbling sound. In the end, it was your garden-variety earthquake: 6.5, electrical outages, airport delays (lost luggage, naturally), and radio interviews of the locals recounting their experiences. And today, two days later, most things seem back to normal. Well, except for the sinister looking gecko hanging out in the foyer.

– Ray Cochran