Escaping the Giant Wave

In the dark by the cedar tree, BeeBee reveals that she would be okay if Daren died in the tsunami. She shares that Daren bullies her at school and Kyle wonders “if Daren had picked on BeeBee because she was [his] sister,” which makes him feel ill (124). Kyle regrets not standing up to Daren before and thinks that “there are worse things in this life than getting thrashed, and one of them is feeling shame for not having the courage to do what’s right” (124). Kyle vows that he will never let Daren bully BeeBee or himself again if Daren survives.

The next morning, Kyle, BeeBee, and Pansy start heading back to shore. They find food in a refrigerator in the forest and eat stale bread and pickles. They also find a pack of soda and drink it. Pansy gets excited when they find Josie’s handkerchief in the forest, but there is no sign of Josie and Norm. BeeBee is excited to return the handkerchief to Josie, while Kyle silently hopes Josie made it out of the second wave alive. Half of the hill they were on the night before when the first wave hit is gone, creating a steep cliff, and the waves they see are gentle now “as if the ocean had forgotten all about yesterday’s violence” (132). As they reach the shore, they find many people searching for survivors. Nobody knows what happened to Norm and Josie. Kyle and BeeBee ask about the ship their parents are on, and nobody has information for them.

An emergency worker points Kyle and BeeBee to a tent set up with food and services that will help them find their parents. While waiting in line for more information, Daren finds them and starts making fun of them for fearing the tsunami. They find out that Daren was swept up in the first wave but survived by holding on to the elevator shaft on top of the hotel. Kyle stands up for himself and tells Daren that he’d be stupid for not fearing a tsunami. BeeBee says she witnessed everything, and Kyle threatens to tell everyone that Daren pushed BeeBee out of the way to save himself from the fire. Daren is stunned by the siblings and backs down. Kyle feels like he “had taken a giant step on the road” to solving his problems with Daren (140). Kyle surprises himself and BeeBee when he offers for Daren to stand in line with them.

Half an hour later, Pansy the dog finds her owner Norm. Kyle and BeeBee discover that Norm survived the second wave, but Josie was swept away and died. They also learn that the cruise their parents were on survived and was docked up the coast. An hour later, they are reunited with their parents.

The family immediately drives to Portland, Oregon and secures plane tickets to fly back to Kansas. Kyle’s parents offer him a raise in his allowance for being responsible during the tsunami. A few weeks later, Kyle starts a new school year in seventh grade and is given the assignment to write about his summer vacation. He and Daren joke together about writing about the tsunami and their terrible experiences.