Four

The next day, Hilo's newspaper, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, did not mention the evacuation at the botanical gardens. Neither did the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Or any of the other island newspapers. There was no report in the New York Times.

None of the local newscasts brought up what had happened at the park the day before. There was no chatter about it on talk-radio stations, which were obsessed with Hawai‘i's tourism being down for the first quarter of the year.

There were some mentions on social media, but not many, nothing viral, perhaps because the crowds had been relatively sparse at the Hilo Botanical Gardens on that particular Monday. Some Twitter posts described a small herbicide fire that had been successfully contained by the rapid response, though a few people did mention that they had seen a helicopter land on the grounds when they were leaving.

None of this was surprising. This was Hilo. This was laid-back Hawai‘i, despite the fact that everyone here lived in the shadows of the volcanoes, this menacing constant in their lives, no one going very long without their eyes being drawn once again to Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

The park remained closed for two days.

When it reopened, it was as if nothing had ever happened.