Penniless Hearts

by Eve Gaal

  “What?” It felt like those times when the client held the pen above the contract, poised to sign, but still questioned the details of the proposal. Goose bumps sprang out on her arms as she realized she might actually be able to help these two fulfill their destiny. True love, she sighed, thinking about how illusive it had been in her life. She stood up and yanked on John's arm so he'd stand.

  “Wait, Tina, wait,” he moaned, pushing her away and staying seated. A stabbing pain robbed him of a smile. “I'll wait here, while you go get Carl.”

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Alevina's family lived near a sugar cane plantation near Waiamea Canyon. Lush gardens hid the shack-like house from the winding muddy road. He parked his mini SUV next to two or three other cars and pointed Penny to the front door while he brought cases of beer and soft drinks in from his trunk. Rain still drizzled through the whispering palm branches and balmy tropical breezes calmly lifted the yellow curtains in the retro living room. She walked through the house to the landscaped backyard, where a giant party with island music, food and hula dancers filled the night on a decorated lanai.

  Taking a deep breath, she felt like she had just stumbled into some kind of parallel universe, where Eden still existed exposing a magical backyard, full of tiki torches, flowers and bright apparel. A baby goat or lamb nuzzled against her leg, dogs yapped, giggling toddlers chased each other and a large woman named Happy slowly gyrated to a melancholy, musical story about Pele, the goddess of fire. A lavish spread complete with a roasted pig, pineapples, macadamia nuts, guavas, shrimp, mangoes, coconut, candied ginger, bananas, decorated bowls of salads and the obligatory bowl of poi were making Penny drool. The smells were outrageous and she was starved.

  Alevina brought her a Mai-Tai and told her to slip into the muumuu his wife made for visiting guests. “She wants everyone to feel comfortable and at home,” he said. “You are now in our Calabash.”

  “What?” Penny couldn't hear him over the washboard bass player and strumming ukuleles.

  “Our Calabash, it means a common bowl where all your friends and family unite and share in the joy and happiness at a gathering, like a united and colorful bowl of fruit. The more varied the fruit, the better the Calabash. I think it's from the Portuguese.” He could tell she still didn't hear him so he shouted, “You're family now.”

  “Sure,” she said holding up her Mai Tai in a toast. She easily slipped the bright yellow tent-like dress over her head and sat down to watch the musicians play authentic island music. After her second or maybe third drink, she joined the others in a fast moving conga line. This was going to be fun, she thought looking around at all the smiling, happy faces.

  Later, Alevina sang a solo about the state fish and laughed with the others when he asked his sons to join in on the chorus. It had a catchy tune, and Penny found herself humming along. “Hummu-hummu….”

  When she finally realized how late it had become, she went to ask Happy if she could use their phone. Tina's boyfriend had given her his card on the plane. She looked through her bag. What was his name? Pulling the card out made her sigh with relief, but after dialing the number and listening to it ring and ring, she settled on the idea of leaving a message. “Darin, this is Penny. You met me on the airplane today. I work with Tina and you said if I needed anything I should give you a call.” She thought for a second about where she was and how to explain what she wanted. “Oh well…I guess I'll call you tomorrow and maybe you'll be able to help me. I'm…kind of lost here in Kauai…near a big huge canyon, but I'm with a very cool family.” She hiccupped into the phone. “Oh my goodness, I lost my ATM card and my credit card is maxed out–” She wanted to continue, but a beeping noise in her ear told her the message had ended. Outside, she laid down on a chaise lounge and looked up at the stars in the sky. Delicious smelling smoke filled the yard and the children were starting to disappear and go to bed. Soft music still swirled around her and a few minutes later she was asleep, dreaming about being stranded on a deserted island with John.

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  It took Carl a long time to drag the heavy trash canister out to the curb. He walked back into the house cursing and muttering under his breath. Inside, he crossed through the dark laundry room and almost tripped on some dirty towels that didn't fit into the overflowing hamper.

  Opening and closing cupboards, he tried locating a replacement bulb for the one that burned out yesterday, but gave up when his stomach growled for dinner. In the kitchen, there were pretty sticky-notes in various colors indicating where to find his next meal. Arrays of colorful plastic containers were filled to the brim with yummy delicacies, stacked on top of each other, frozen and inedible in the freezer. Carl didn't like cursing. He stared at the cute little frozen meals sitting like soldiers in solitary confinement and he thought of his naval commander on the U.S.S. Barry. The Captain had run a tight ship, and any officer caught using nasty language suffered the consequences. Ever since, Carl thought only the weakest men resorted to foul language. Looking around, he said, “Bullshit,” before slamming the freezer door. He wasn't weak, goddarnit—just hungry.

  Slowly, he wandered over to the couch with a bowl of nuts and thought about his wide-eyed adorable daughter. The house seemed so empty without her running around in her worn-out pink slippers. She took out the trash, she replaced all the light bulbs and she fed him decent meals. Her complaining seemed so minimal and almost all of it had to do with work, getting up early or ironing. Groaning, he sat down and wondered where he would be without her. He shuddered at the thought of some distant, cold retirement community where everyone played shuffleboard and pretended they were family. His family consisted of Penny, but where in heaven's name did she go?

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Birds of Paradise, plumeria, orange colored African tulip trees, lavender jacarandas, pink orchids, yellow hibiscus and long stemmed deep red anthuriums surrounded Penny while she slept. Someone had put green banana leaves over her to protect her from the light misting rain. A little goat chewed on the leaves or maybe the edge of her muumuu, while it whined like a child waiting to be changed. The sound woke her, but the after effects of the Mai Tai's made getting up difficult. Waiting for the fog to clear from her hazy mind, she stretched and inhaled the divine scent of the natural paradise around her. The sound of someone approaching made her sit up.

  “Wow,” she said, pushing the leaves aside and rubbing her eyes. “You Hawaiians sure know how to party.”

  A grinning Alevina sat down next to her at an outdoor table. “Aloha, Miss Penny, you don't do so bad yourself.” A small tail-wagging dog dashed up behind him, and appeared to nip at his flip-flops. Alevina picked up the lap dog and said, “Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere.” He looked over at Penny and said, “She tugs at my flip-flops when she thinks I'm leaving.”

  Penny yawned, and looked down at the yellow muumuu. “Aloha, to you too,” she finally said. “Do you have any coffee?”

  “Coffee? Definitely. Happy, my wife makes great Kona coffee, he said, setting the little dog on the ground. “I'll go grab you a cup.” He stood up and started for the house.

  “No, it's cool, please sit.” Penny said emphatically, swinging her legs over the side of the chaise lounge. He sat back down, because he heard his wife yell from the kitchen. A small pool of standing water had collected on one of the banana leaves and when Penny moved, the water splashed onto the furry little dog. “Oh, I'm sorry, she looked up, scanned the horizon and picked up the dog. “ I need to get going pretty soon anyway.” Taking a deep breath, she inhaled the tropical scent around her. “You sure are cute,” she said to the scruffy little dog, poking into the yellow folds of the muumuu and sniffing the air. “What do you smell, little one? I smell something sweet, like jasmine flowers, and maybe guavas.” When she saw Happy coming from the house with two steaming mugs of coffee, she set the little dog down. “Looking into the distance, a smok
e cloud hovered over the hills. “ Wonder what that is?” Penny asked, pointing towards the ocean.

  Happy handed her the mug of steaming black liquid, adding another aroma to her senses. “Hi Happy, whoops, I mean Aloha.” First, she inhaled, and then she took a small sip and stared back at the horizon.

  Happy smiled and replied, “Kalikimaka.” Then she went over to Alevina, handed him another cup of coffee, shooing the dog away from where she wanted to sit. “That over there?” Happy pointed at the smoke in the air, “That's the goddess of fire–Pele.”

  “Goddess?” Penny laughed, “Anyone who makes coffee like this is the goddess. This is awesome.” She took another sip and after a long delicious moment savoring the coffee she said, “Tell me about Pele.” The coffee was wonderful and she took another drink, “Wait, I know, I bet Pele roasted these beans, am I right?” Giggling, she closed her eyes, enjoying the divine aroma and taste of the Kona brew.

  “Kind of,” Alevina answered. “Pele is the Kilauea volcano near Hilo. When she's mad, she roasts almost everything. “Come here Lulu” he said to the dog before it stepped into a deep and messy looking puddle.

  “Hilo is on the Big Island of Hawaii isn't it?” Penny looked into the distance and saw black smoke merging with small cumulus clouds overhead. “Isn't that far?”

  Alevina looked knowingly at Happy,” Usually you can't see anything over there, but this must have been a big eruption.”

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “Oh my God.” Darin screamed, bending over the luscious Miliani from the strip club. An absolute vixen, she knew how to please a man. Collapsing into the dancer's arms he gasped, “You are good doll, real good.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, the bed started shaking, the lamp next to the bed almost fell on the ground and the whole condominium trembled like a broken washing machine. Immediately, he pulled his head up from her luscious breasts to look out the window. “What was that?”

  “I'm good at what I do, remember?” A smile on her face indicated she wanted to continue where they had left off. “Don't get up, I can stay. No extra charge.”

  Darin got up, quickly pulling on his grey slacks. “Come on Miliani, you know that was some earthquake or something. Didn't you feel it?” Stepping towards the balcony, he tried looking out into the dark but all he saw were boats flickering in the harbor. When his cell phone rang, Miliani decided she too would get up and get ready to leave. He pulled the phone out of his breast pocket and sat on the edge of the bed staring through the closed patio door.

  “Hey, Hon, it's me.”

  “Tina?” Darin asked, still staring into the night and watching Miliani pull on her panties in the reflection of the glass door.

  “My flight's a bit delayed. I also heard about some volcanic ash clouding up the sky or something,” Tina replied.

  “It's rumbling all right. I just felt it,” Darin said gruffly. He turned towards Miliani who was buckling a strap on a high-heeled sandal. Turning back to the window, Darin offered a suggestion in his most caring sounding tone, “You might want to stay the night in Oahu.”

  “Okay, great, I wanted you to know I didn't think I'd make it tonight.” Tina could sense that Darin was tired due to his long day interviewing the managerial candidates. After all, he flew out early from California. Poor darling, she thought, no wonder he was a bit short with her. He had so much on his plate these days and now she wouldn't be there to comfort him. With his busy schedule, she wasn't surprised he wanted to go to sleep.

  When Miliani stood up, Darin quickly removed his pants. “See you tomorrow then, okay?” He had to hurry, “Goodnight Tina.” Before reaching over to Miliani, he thought he'd quickly listen to his voice mail. A strange message from the girl he met on the plane. He did tell her to call if she needed anything. Maybe tomorrow–right now he was busy, very busy and not even a giant volcano could get him to stop what he was doing. Turning off his cell, he kicked off his pants and turned to finish what he had started. “So Miss Hawaii,” he said, grabbing the giggling girl and throwing her back on the bed, “where were we?”

  * * *

  Chapter Thirty

  Dan and his wife Arlene were trying to enjoy a late dinner in the lobby of the Princeville Resort restaurant. Ravishing in a green strapless dress, Arlene had a pink lacy shawl draped across her shoulders, and a giant red hibiscus flower tucked behind her left ear.

  “Hon,” Arlene finally said after sitting quietly for ten minutes. “You're not eating very much and you don't want to talk. Are you okay?”

  “I'm fine, Arlene.” Dan muttered.

  “Your steak is getting cold dear.” Arlene knew her husband was usually the life of the party. She also knew his personal reason for becoming a pilot, had something to do with needing space. Never wanting to put him in a corner or make him feel trapped, she felt that pilots loved the freedom of flying because they wanted to get out and away from their routine lives. Something however, seemed to be eating at her husband, she thought, while chattering about the resort and the complimentary spa treatment she wanted to find out about the next day. “It's so romantic here. I'm so glad I came. Wouldn't it have been horrible not being together on Christmas?” When he didn't answer she sighed and changed the subject, “I forgot to bring sunscreen though and I thought we could walk over to the lobby shop after dinner?” Still silent, she watched him picking at his food. “Are you glad I came?” she finally asked, setting down her knife.

  “Of course,” he said, but he could feel tension creeping into his tone as he looked down onto his plate, trying to avoid her eyes. If only he could be like the peppercorns he casually swept under the kale garnish. Finally looking up, he tried smiling, but inside he felt like the biggest scumbag in the whole universe regarding Penny. He wanted to apologize or something and he didn't know what to do. Turning away from Arlene's gaze, he started scanning the dining room and saw a petite redhead having dinner with a very young man in the corner of the restaurant. Staring at her hair, the unfamiliar clothes, he wondered who the young man was. The cool looking, hippy-like dude was probably her boyfriend, here to rescue her. Painfully processing and rationalizing his agonizing thoughts, he figured she must have coaxed her boyfriend into joining her. Feeling slightly redeemed for leaving Penny in the dust, Dan's conscience felt amazingly lighter. If the boyfriend came to rescue her then grace had intervened and resolved everything. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his water glass and took a sip. Shouldn't he feel better? His throat felt dry like the Mojave Desert and his head throbbed near his frontal lobe. Maybe he needed to apologize, he thought, glancing up at Arlene who was nervously pulling on the ends of her pink shawl. Should he offer Penny money? Guilt was making his mind race around like a pinball. Deep in thought, Arlene cut into the swirling, aching dizziness with a simple question that felt like she had thrown her steak knife into his heart.

  “Do you know her?” Arlene looked at the woman across the room and wondered why Dan seemed so preoccupied with the sight of her. She saw short red hair, a designer dress, adorable sandals and a hunky young stud sitting with her. Though they only saw her back, Arlene thought the woman must be a 'cougar' or a golf widow out for a little action on the islands.

  Coughing and clearing his throat, Dan replied, “Maybe I saw her on a flight. I do see a lot of people,” he said trying not to sound defensive.

  “Of course,” his wife said, aggressively spearing her vegetables.

  Trying not to stare, Dan kept making surreptitious glances towards the couple in the corner. He wondered why the young man wore frayed cutoffs to such a fancy restaurant. Long, light brown, braided hair, hung in a ponytail down his back. Maybe he was a surfer. Penny lived in California after all, why couldn't she be dating a surfer?

  The waiter came to clear the table and asked for their dessert selection. Arlene said she would love to share the macadamia nut pie with Dan, who nodded and agreed to share. While waiting for the pie, Arlene got up and went to the ladies room.
Dan thought it would be the perfect time for him to get up and go apologize. Figuring on offering her a return flight, he hastily rushed across the massive dining room. It seemed like the least he could do. Focusing ahead, like a pilot on the horizon, he made a beeline for the couple in the corner. Two tables over, however, a full-skirted tablecloth brought Dan down onto the paisley-patterned carpet. Glancing around and obviously embarrassed, he stood up and brushed himself off before returning to his meal.

  Slowly, Arlene approached their table. Seeing him fall made her sympathetic at first, but he still had some explaining to do. Smiling on the inside, she hid behind a poker face, waiting to play her hand. Besides, she didn't want to hurt that fragile ego that seemed to be gnawing over something ever since he first saw her in their room. Sitting down, Arlene placed her cloth napkin back on her lap and said, “I don't care if you go talk to whoever she is. I saw you fall on your ass trying to see her.” Looking at her husband's handsome face, she started wondering about things she had never questioned before. Trying to be brave she continued with, “Go ahead, I'm your wife and I can handle it.” Remaining poised, she studied his eyes, knowing that whatever stupid thing he had done, might be something he would later regret.

  The waiter brought the dessert and the silence became thicker than the custard in the tart. Dan warily looked up at his wife, where a gray cloud had settled over his hazel eyes. “It's nothing Arlene, leave me alone,” he said, sounding like a ridiculous teenager talking to his mother.