by Eve Gaal
Removing the hibiscus flower from her hair, Arlene looked around the room before loudly exclaiming, “I'll leave you alone if you want. I'll just go back home where I belong and leave you here with her.” Arlene stood up, and placed her napkin next to her plate. “Merry Christmas, asshole.”
The odd couple Dan had been ogling all evening strolled past their table. The ponytailed man held her arm and gently maneuvered her past all the other guests and the fluffed out tablecloths. Arlene's unflinching, pointing finger, caused Dan to blush, as he watched a redheaded matron walk by with her son.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-One
“Hello Penny, glad you called back,” Darin said, sitting at his desk. “What's up? You need a ride or something?” Focusing his eyes on the muted television screen on the other side of his spacious office, he tried to listen, while he shuffled messages and retied his shoelaces.
“I'm having a great time, just kind of lost.” Penny knew that whatever she said would get back to Tina and eventually others at the paper.
“Lost?” Darin wondered what she really needed, because he liked her and knew her talent created an important part of his success in California. His mind began racing like a greyhound hunting a rabbit. Penny's creativity had been responsible for all of Tina's success. All those damn plaques hanging on the walls of his house. He wanted to help Penny–but first he'd try to find out what went so enormously wrong with her vacation that she needed his assistance. No one gets lost in Hawaii; for god's sake, it's an island. Times like this, made him wish he could just disappear from the bullshit.
This chick must be powerful if she actually caused Tina to walk out of her job at The Globe, he thought. Something wasn't adding up, he told himself, as mysterious questions gnawed on his temples like an invisible, tight fitting hat. Swiping his hand through his hair, he kept on thinking about Penny leaving, Tina quitting, and this ominous call for his services. Instead of trying to analyze the bizarre circumstances, he figured he should just focus on his needs. He needed more advertising for the New Year campaign, and while Tina knew a whole bunch about advertising, she certainly didn't know how to draw. Penny's illustrations were the cream of the crop. They had put him on the map in California and now she could prove to be a huge asset in Hawaii. In fact, he wanted to redesign his logo anyway. “What have you been doing?” he asked feigning interest, and trying to sound as friendly as possible.
“Just sightseeing I guess,” Penny didn't know what to say, but she needed to get off The Garden Island to catch a flight home. “I'm checking out all of Kauai, it's really cool.” Lulu began to bark while pulling at her flip-flops with her sharp, tiny teeth.
A small chuckle escaped Darin. “Are you lost or sightseeing? I'm confused.” The television news was reporting a giant volcanic eruption near Hilo. Ash had fallen all over his car lot and employees were getting all excited and nervous over something he knew happened quite frequently. Loud voices kept interrupting his thoughts and still, the graphic artist wasn't telling him what she actually wanted from him.
“Both,” she replied, “I'm without wheels right now and I just need to get to the airport. I lost my ATM card for starters, but I already mentioned that on my previous message and for some reason my credit card is maxed out.”
Darin's other lines were on fire and he needed to think fast and figure out a way to help the stranded cherub. “Tell you what I'll do,” he said, nervously watching the blinking lights. “Since you're into sightseeing I'll send you up with my friend Mac who can get you to the airport in no time at all.”
“Up?” Penny squeaked.
“Sure, Mac's a helicopter pilot who does island tours and he can show you all the picturesque places where they filmed parts of Jurassic Park and Fantasy Island. After that, he can bring you here and I'll set up an office for you. You can become my in-house advertising agency. What do you think?”
Oh boy, why did she think this was going to be easy? In no position to argue, she stood in Happy's living room, watching the yellow curtains dance in the morning breeze while recognizing the awful fact that she had called the wrong person. Darin waited for her answer while Lulu yapped in the background. Finally, Penny gulped and pretended to laugh before saying, “No—ah–thanks for the generous offer Darin, but I'm just on vacation and I like working at the Globe.”
Silently, he appraised her value and wondered if a cheap intern from UH could replace all her creativity. “Sure, I understand, but if you ever get tired of the daily grind I'm here for you.” Still unsure of how to help, he started listening to the whining sales people outside his office complain about ashes. He had offered her a cherry job handling all the advertising, for all his stores and she flat out refused him. Little bitch, he said to himself, she deserves being lost. Grabbing the remote, he flicked off the television and shifted around in his chair so he could answer another line. Darin heard Penny clearing her throat to get his attention.
“Darin?” Still needing help, her options seemed limited, “Do you mind sending your friend over to Waiamea Canyon road so I can go on that tour?”
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Two
Overflowing garbage cans were sending sulfurous odors up to her narrow aquiline nose. Tina walked up the crumbling driveway and started banging on the door of the old house. Sounds from a television floated through the soft taupe colored curtains. “Hello,” she yelled while persistently knocking on the door. “I know it's late, but I need you to open the door. I'm here to tell you something.” Still knocking, she kicked the screen door, until it almost fell off the hinges. Pulling the screen open, she slammed her fists against the tiny stained glass window. “Open up Carl,” she screamed repeatedly until a silhouette moved behind the curtains.
With all the negative karma raging around at the paper, she needed to get Carl and John over to Hawaii as soon as possible. Her horoscope had repeatedly warned her, about doing something good this year. Putting off the inevitable–here she was, trying to communicate with an old man who wouldn't even bother coming to the door. The year had come and gone–and she had to do something morally constructive before the end of this year, before the sands of time slipped from her grasp–come on Carl.
The intensity inside her grew and it crossed her mind to go around to the back entrance, when she finally heard Carl's voice asking, “Who is it?”
“It's Tina, I work with Penny. Can you open the door?”
“She's not here,” Carl responded, rubbing his eyes and squinting through the window. Flipping on the light switch near the door, he heard her shooing away the moths fluttering around the bulb.
“I know that, but could you please open the door?” she whined, knowing that somehow she'd get him to come along. She always got her way with men, because no man, of any age could resist a towering, confident woman who knew what she wanted. In her mind, everything that mattered in life boiled down to salesmanship. Even doctors had to sell customers on new procedures promising longer lives. Once she explained all the benefits and features, she typically closed the deal, by asking for what she wanted. Carl was actually fortunate she didn't come prepared for battle with one of her giant contracts and her Mont Blanc pen. Normally she'd slide the pen in front of her client and while smiling her megawatt smile, she'd wait like a jaguar above unsuspecting prey. Patient, unrelenting and making a killing in massive commissions, her skill kept her nails manicured, her hair coifed and her lingerie drawer overflowing with French lace panties.
Cursing his aging eyesight, Carl thought his eyes were deceiving him. A towheaded vision of magnificence, with wild curls artistically distributed above an incredible body stood outside his door, jumping up and down as if she had to pee. Palms together, in a prayer-like stance, she shouted, “Carl, please open the door. Please.” Once again, he tried figuring out if he had ever seen her before, but nothing was registering in the caverns of his mind. Slowly he undid the lock, to peek out the narrow gap.
“What do you want?” He a
sked in the kindest voice he could come up with, considering it was after dark.
Shoving the door open, Tina practically knocked Carl onto the parquet floor. “We have to hurry, Carl. John's at the airport and Penny is in some sort of trouble.” Crossing into his hallway, she spoke with an unnerving amount of familiarity, while opening and closing the coat closet to search for something.
“She'll turn up, she always does.” Carl sighed, watching her poke her head in another closet. “She's not in the closet, lady.” A man of routine, Carl didn't like some flamboyant spirit running around his house, bossing him around and shouting orders about going somewhere. Following her into the other room he asked, “Who are you again?”
“I work with Penny,” she said, her voice muffled by the clothes hanging in his closet. “I'm just looking for your luggage, so we can pack.” Breathing heavily, she held up one of his shirts and said, “John is going to propose to Penny, and he wants you to join him. Do you like this shirt?”
“Look lady, he doesn't need me for a proposal and besides, her young man is in the hospital. I took him there myself.” Carl turned around to go back towards the television. He decided to sit down and let this oddball tell him her bizarre plans. Thinking she had followed him into the living room, Carl said, “Come over here and sit down so you can tell me what's going on.” He pointed at the couch, but Tina didn't hear him or see him. She had started packing his best clothes, shoes and swim trunks into a small suitcase. Five minutes later, he looked towards the bedroom. What was her name? Is it Tina? “Tina,” he said aloud.
“I'm coming Carl,” she shouted, reentering the living room with his packed suitcase. Moving his half-eaten bowl of nuts and a couple paperbacks aside, she sat down on the coffee table across from him, and started her sales pitch.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Three
Dan had a miserable time finding a connecting flight to Honolulu. His original plan centered on getting home to Pittsburgh in time for dinner. Arlene had to forgive him.
All the scheduled flights already had pilots and if he wanted to get out of Honolulu, he would have to get the same passenger treatment offered everyone else.
As a passenger on the small plane heading for Oahu, he looked around waiting for someone to sit down next to him. He needed someone smart to talk to so he could unload his guilt and testify about his innocence. When no one came, he imagined himself in a trial where he could declare that nothing serious had happened in front of a judge and jury. Granted, he had reached for the jar of honey, but reaching for and obtaining were two different things. Right, your honor? Closing his eyes, his fantasy envisioned the judge calling Penny to the witness stand. As she held up a hand to take the oath, his eyes lingered on Penny's cute little curves. He had been so close….
When the plane jolted him back to reality, he was at home with Arlene. He started thinking about how much fun they'd have making up. Maybe he'd take his wife to Tahiti, or shopping in Rome. He'd buy her daffodils. She loved daffodils and perfume. The thought of flowers and perfume drifted him back to the jar of honey. Penny's shape, her laugh. Damn–was it absolutely impossible for him to be monogamous? The emptiness of the seat next to him made him cold and uncomfortable. Captain Dan Losegg could go anywhere with anyone and he didn't owe anyone any explanations. Looking out the window of the small commuter plane, he noticed black smoke drifting by the window.
Seconds later, he recognized the voice coming through the speakers. One of his friends said, “This is your Captain speaking,” but the voice seemed more ominous, like that judge he was dreaming about or maybe it was God reminding him of his sins. “Your flight to Honolulu International has been diverted due to volcanic ash filling the air near the airport. We will be flying to Dillingham Airfield and re-routing passengers by bus back to Honolulu.” Dan sat back and buckled his seat belt. The old saying was apparently true, “Paybacks are indeed hell.”
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Four
There are certain levels of insanity, Carl decided on his way to the airport, but not being a psychologist, he wouldn't know where to categorize Tina. The second she pulled into the B lot at the airport and parked the Toyota, Carl unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and swung his legs out onto the safety of the awaiting asphalt. “Do you always drive like that young lady?” he asked, looking up at her and feeling like he had just traveled through space with some strange alien creature who now popped open the trunk to retrieve their suitcases.
“What do you mean?” she asked, “I got you here didn't I?” she said, putting her purse over her shoulder.
Never very good at understanding women, he ought to be glad his heart didn't stop on the way to the airport. Trying to rationalize her behavior so he could sympathize, he concluded that maybe some deep-rooted psychological scars were causing a secretly deep-rooted death wish or something. The way she ran two stop signs, floored the accelerator on the freeway and cut off the semi-truck on the exit, caused his knees to shake, and his heart to pound, even while standing on terra firma. “Can I help you with that?” he asked, trying to catch his breath.
“Nope, I've got it.” Slamming the trunk closed, she rolled her suitcase towards the terminal where John would be waiting. After checking their luggage, she ran back to Carl. “I left him around here…” she mumbled to no one in particular. Walking around the waiting area, she finally decided to check at the boarding-pass entry gate. Pointing to a plastic airport chair, her voice nervous and authoritative, “I'll be right back, Carl,” she said, “Why don't you sit right here?”
Carl yawned. Must be hormonal, he decided, watching Tina getting more and more anxious. He knew his smart little angel had ten times the brains of this frizzy haired nut-job and furthermore, Penny didn't need everyone chasing her down like a fox in a hound race, no matter where she went. No, he didn't need to worry about his daughter, but right now, he did need to worry about John, and this chaotic whirlwind named Tina.
When she finally came back, she appeared to be a bit calmer, because security told her John had been pre-boarded, due to his injuries. “He's fine, Carl, they board wheelchair passengers and those with special circumstances first. Come on, I think they'll take us next.”
*
What Tina didn't know however, was that there were two flights to Hawaii that evening and John left on the first one. Noticing his blood soaked bandages, airport security had given him two choices: either walk over to the airport medical center or board the flight. Hardly coherent, John got onto the first plane to Hawaii and watched the ground disappear, before falling into a deep sleep over the Pacific Ocean.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Five
Running to the helicopter, Penny threw her small bag up into the cockpit and lifted herself into the seat. What a noisy contraption she thought, listening to a radio blasting airport signals while loud rotating blades sliced through the wet weather above. Whackity, whackity, whackity….
“You Penny?” The pilot asked. He had headphones in both ears and didn't look very interested in communicating. Looking carefully at his instrument panel, he slowly ascended above the sugar cane and over buttes, plateaus and the colorful vistas of the incredible Waiamea Canyon. A scar on his right arm, dirty blonde hair and a five o'clock shadow gave him a scary rugged look he hid under a hat and mirrored sunglasses.
“Yeah, are you Mac?” She shouted, swallowing a lump in her throat as they rose higher into the sky. Calming herself, she imagined herself sitting on the back of a giant dragonfly, searching for the lost sunken city of Atlantis. Poseidon's palace was carved into mountains of red and black stone….
Tapping his finger on a nameplate above the dashboard altimeter, Mac pointed to his license number and name etched into a small plaque. Swooping over golf courses, flowering trees and high-rise resorts near the shore, he finally turned on a microphone and said, “Penny, Darin told me to buzz you over to Lihue where you can grab a flight to Hilo.” Now he was pointing southeast, fa
r into the horizon where black smoke rose and intermingled with the cumulous clouds in the sky. “That big volcano blew again–all night in fact.”
“Was it a bigger eruption than usual?” Penny asked scanning the sky and making an audible swallowing sound she hoped Mac didn't hear. Lihue? Hilo? It was hard keeping track of all the Hawaiian names.
“I'm not sure, Miss, but I heard some reports saying the ground trembled and the smoke is affecting all the flights going in and out of Oahu.” Pointing to a waterfall, he continued saying something about a Hollywood movie shooting opening scenes in Kauai. He also said, “I've got a ticket for you when we land.”
It was scary at first but the whole experience of being in a helicopter above Kauai enthralled her senses. He flew all over the island showing her various scenic highlights. No wonder birds like flying around she thought, they see everything.
“We're safe way over here, right?” She asked, wondering if she was asking too many questions. Tour operators loved questions, she told herself, as she began to relax in the cockpit. Then again, he had that serious looking scar and maybe he was more than just a tour operator.
Soaring over the waves and out above the open ocean, Mac answered, “Depends on what you believe.”
“What do you mean?” This vacation made her question all her beliefs, on almost every level.
“Well, it's a long story, but generally if you listen to the National Geological surveyors, we are safe over here in Kauai. However, if you listen to Hawaiian folklore and the legends involving meles and chants recited by the islanders, you will learn that this area is the home of the restless goddess Pele. When her toes start tapping, I guess everyone has to watch out.” He smiled when he said the last part, almost as if he thought it seemed funny that modern day Hawaiians still believed such fantastical tales.