You can take the Airtrain to Jamaica, it should not take too long. I did double check the train schedule and found that the train is at 12:28pm from Jamaica to Valley Stream and if you miss that one there is a 1:28am to Valley Stream with a Transfer to Malverne for wednesday 10/22/08.
you can double check http://mta.info and double check the schedule as well.
Hope this helps
You can take the Airtrain to