Up in Flames

I’m sorry, but this time I got to laugh. Call me insensitive, but when Jaison’s road side memorial went up in flames yesterday afternoon, I thought it was hilarious. Stupid hilarious.

I helped get it started, not the fire but the memorial. Last Sunday night, after Jaison and the motorcyclist were pronounced dead, my upstairs neighbors bought flowers, a lei. I just got back with my new moped. They caught me in the parking lot and asked if I cared to join them. I parked the bike and we, with little fanfare strolled to the place where Jaison landed.

On the bougainvillea along the side of the road we placed the flowers, briefly shared our common disbelieve about the event and adjourned. Every mindful of the traffic, Maria tugged at me several times to pull me closer to the bushes, away from the street. I smiled, every time she did. We came back into the complex, and that was that.

Except the next day, more flowers appeared. Then candles and mementoes were placed on the bushes. A box, a poster, more candles, a few bottles and cans of beer. More candles. A couple tiki torches. And where ever a motorcyclist passes, they blast their horns. More for the other guy, not so much for Jaison.

One morning after I crossed the street to retrieve the newspaper from the minimart, I noticed the candles were still lit. Apparently they burned all night. Of course, there was a potential disaster sitting in those bushes. It hasn’t rained here all year. Okay that is two weeks. But it hasn’t rained in Kona in a very long time. So I wasn’t too surprised when the memorial went up in flames. Now, a charred reminder remains, a scar in the bushes that will take time to recover, much like the scar Jaison left his family and friends.

Maybe I laughed as my way of coping with the week's events. I lost a couple nights worth of sleep. I chilled for two days. I plowed through a friend's first draft to keep my mind occupied. I was moved to renew my CPR and first aid training. I had to chuckle, especially when the conflagration got more coverage in the local paper than the accident itself.

Life is funny.