“What are you gonna do? How long you plan on staying here?”
“Long as I can. Malia bought my ticket. I think she’s kind of in love with me.”
“I think she’s in love with whoever.”
“Probably. What are you gonna do?”
“Try to stay as long as I can also. Find a job. Apply for food stamps right away. Try to get a sponsor. I wanna surf in contests. Just surf every day. You think you can get her to chip in on a place with me and we will all share it? Or you wanna keep living in that commune?”
“Let’s get a place.”
A group of Large Hawaiian locals had gathered for the sunset at the parking lot where we were waiting for Gunther. He came sliding into the lot and they all took notice at the big German tourist that probably needed a beating for kicking up the dust in their beautiful sunset. I knew it was time to go quick so we threw the boards in and took off. On the way back I thought how nice it is when a plan works out. Gonna find an apartment, get a job, make a life.
9
“You all right Braddah?”
I looked over at some big Moke who was watching me cough my lungs out after smoking a roach I found while I was walking across the parking lot of the Rock n Roll Clinic to go surf. It was about 6:00 A.M. and this became my morning ritual, scavenging roaches in the parking lot on my way to surf. I had learned enough already to keep to myself. No unnecessary conversation with anyone. It can lead to trouble. Hawaii can be vicious. I absolutely came here with innocence. It takes a few times of actually giving the money and waiting all night for the guy to come back with your concert tickets, or your bag of kind bud or whatever, and he doesn’t show and you feel exactly like that cartoon character who’s head turns into a lollipop with the word SUCKER on it before it sinks in. Some people just aint no good. It takes actually really getting ripped off before you lose the trust gene. Once you lose the trust gene it isn’t coming back.
I had rented an apartment with Chris and Malia at the Kapiolani apartments. Since Chris had no Money he slept on the couch and Malia and me each got a room. That didn’t last too long and Chris went back to the mainland after a couple of months. Malia got a job and had her own friends so I didn’t see her much. She wasn’t really giving me the time of day any way. I tried to get it once or twice but she wasn’t having it. She was hella cute and had guys with shit going on trying to get at her. I had three surfboards, a skateboard and not a lot else. I was buying some weed, Buddha sticks from Thailand and re selling them to the tourists at night skating around Honolulu. I saw my first Hookers there. I didn’t even know why this beautiful girl was standing next to these other beautiful girls there all made up when it was as hot as can be.
“Hi.” I said as I came to a screeching halt on my skateboard trying to impress her with my skating abilities.
“Hi yourself.” She said with a smile.
“What’s your name?” I was amazed, not many girls gave me the time of day.
“Sheena. What’s yours?”
“David.”
“What are you doing David. You want to go on a date? Would you like a little company?” She said and came a little closer. She was really cute. I was in shock. She was probably a couple of years older than me, but not much.
“Yeah that sounds good. I mean we could go to the beach or something.” I still had no clue.
“How much money do you have David?” She said as she reached down and gave my crotch a little rub with her hand and a smile. All of a sudden it dawned on me like a lightning bolt.
“You’re a hooker?” I asked.
All the other girls laughed and Sheena turned and left. I kept skating in and out of the tourists in Honolulu on the sidewalk. That’s what I did when I wasn’t surfing. Got stoned and skated.
I was skating around and this really beautiful young Hawaiian girl was standing with a couple of friends. I skated up.
“Hi.”
“Aloha.” The really cute one said. She was gorgeous to be exact. Light brown skin, long black hair, skinny, just like me.
“What’s your name?”
“Nature. What’s yours?”
“David. Wanna smoke a joint?”
“Sure. This is my sister Alicia. Come on.”
We went into the girls bathroom and smoked a joint. All three of us were in the stall and it was getting kind of smoky.
“Wanna make out?” Nature asked Me. ”With both of us.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. We got into a kissing and groping frenzy all three of us. After about three minutes there was a loud knock on the stall.
“WHO SMOKING IN DEAH?” The security guard was outside. Nature opened the stall door and she walked out then Alicia walked out then I came flying out on my skateboard, He tried to grab me but I slipped out of his grasp. I skated down the block and waited for a minute. Nature came walking up.
“That was close.” She said with a smile. Man she was gorgeous.
“Wanna go to my house I don’t live far away.”
“I can’t.” She said. “My brothers are already on the way to come get me.”
“Brothers?”
“Yeah. I have five brothers. I’m the only girl. Three are coming to get me. We live over Makaha side.”
It was like somebody dropped a bomb. Makaha, five brothers, and I was already in love. She held out a piece of paper.
“Here is my address and My Mom’s number. Don’t call past eight.” She held out a picture of her. It was one of those wallet school pics. “Here is a picture of me so you don’t forget about me.” She held out a pen and paper.
“Write down your address and number.”
“I don’t have a number. But I can write down my address.”
“O K Hurry up my brothers are going to be here any minute. I flipped my skateboard over and used it as a desk and wrote my address. I stood up and handed it to her. She read it then looked at me.
“Talk to you soon David.” She gave me a kiss and turned around and skipped back I watched her go until I saw a beat down old pick up truck with three big Hawaiian dudes Looking at me with stink eye. I slammed my skateboard down and took off.
Didn’t get a lot of sleep that night. Thinking about Beautiful Nature, and her Five Brothers on Makaha side. Oh Boy.
Nature sent me a letter with no stamp using my address as the return address. I thought that was pretty clever. I took the bus out to Makaha to visit her. The brothers all gave me stink eye at first, but then they loosened up. They had a skateboard ramp set up and I skated on that most of the day. One of the brothers got me some real good weed then made sure I smoked almost all of it with them. They let me know in plain English that they didn’t like Haolie’s, white guys, main landers or anyone who is not from there or trying to get at their sister. Nature was really cute but I didn’t make the trip to Makaha again. I was thinking about the North Shore.
10
The days turned into weeks then turned into months of the same. I met a cool Rastafarian Jamaican guy named Clive that would front me Buddha Thai sticks to sell to the tourists. Life was good. Waking up early to go surf. Coming back to eat, smoke, skate around Honolulu selling weed that I got from the Clive. Then out to surf again. I was usually so tired at the end of the day it wouldn’t matter what was on T.V. I would pass out by about eight o’clock wake up and do it all over again.
The only bathroom in the apartment was through Malia’s room, which was a pain in the ass each morning when I had to take a piss. She would have to let me in whether she had an over night guest or not, I paid half the rent. I always went in and out as fast as I could anyway, I wanted to get in the water before the sun came up. I got in a couple of surf contests, didn’t do so hot, the competition was fierce. Surfing against kids who ad grown up here surfing every day in perfect waves was tough. These guys were also riding Island boards, not Florida boards made for smaller waves. I was still having the time of my life though. I learned early on, the worst day chasing your dreams is better tha
n the best day doing anything else.
I was walking through Waikiki after yet another fantastic Surf session. I had been through the entire summer season on the South shore. The South Shore is called Town and the waves break best in the summer. The North Sore of Oahu is called Country because it is exactly that, Country. Waikiki is buildings sidewalks Hookers and night clubs. The North Shore is pick up trucks, Hawaiian red necks and big waves. The home of the biggest most powerful and famous waves in the world. Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Rocky Point, Log Cabins, Velzyland. I had been looking at pictures of these surf breaks my whole life. I was already thinking about how was I going to make the move there. I never really met anyone when I was in Honolulu. I spent most of my time surfing or hustling the tourists. I could talk like a Hawaiian guy within a month. After growing up in Miami hearing all kinds of languages and dialects and imitating them it was easy. That was always the trip for me in travelling. Not just travel there, but become one of the locals.
“Where’d you get that board?” Some blonde guy walked up to me.
“DCB made it for me.” I held the board over so he could that t was signed to me under the fiberglass. He leaned over to read it.
“To DL don’t break your neck. DCB. Yep he made this for you. I know DCB.”
“Cool. My name is David.”
“You look like a Hippie with that hair. I’m Cooper. Wanna smoke?”
“Sure.” So we went off to smoke. This was Geoff Copper. He was about 23 when I met him, about six years older than me. He was buck ass wild. He smoke Cocaine, smoked Heroin when he could get it, did mushrooms on the weekend and smoked tons of weed all day long. He is from Cooper city Florida, about twenty minutes from where I grew up. When he was fifteen and just a regular wave starved kid from Florida one of his rich uncles died and left him a bunch of money. And a generous allowance every two weeks, and bonuses when he turns 18, 21 and 25. So what would any red blooded fifteen year old surfer do with all that money? Drop out of school and move to Hawaii post haste. It was now eight years later. He grew up with all the surf stars, Buttons, Michael Ho, Mark Liddel. He did drugs and partied like a mad man with his friend Robert who’s dad owned a pig farm in Haleiwa. The two of them were more than a handful, nothing and no one was safe. Robert was related to one of the most powerful families around who just about ran the Island. So to say these two Psychos were connected would be an understatement. They were out of control. One other thing, Copper could surf. He could surf Pipeline at forty feet. He became my big wave guru. No matter how hard we partied at night, we were up every morning before the dawn and paddling out at sunbreak to catch the morning glass.
11
I spent the rest of the summer hanging out with Cooper. We both had a bond from being from Florida. He knew a bunch of the same people that I knew.
It was an insane summer. Hanging out with Surf stars Buttons and Mark who were Cooper’s buddies all the time. Taking a boat out in the dark of dawn to surf the sunrise at Kewalo Basin also known as Point Panics because of all the sharks, then hanging out in Waikiki selling weed to the tourists, then an afternoon surf. It was an awesome way for a kid to spend his summer.
By the time it was over we had stolen so many mopeds from the moped rentals and had enough run ins that it was time to move to the North Shore. Time to go Country. This is what Cooper was doing since he was fifteen. I could see this is what I wanted to do. Cooper had an inheritance, and he did a good job of running out of that the first week partying harder than anyone I had ever met. He would then start borrowing all over town and get credit with every drug dealer around. By the time his check got there it was almost already gone. Me, I had to make shit happen, which wasn’t hard in Waikiki. I had a good weed connection and the tourists looking for weed was non stop. Country is a little quieter. I really had to make things happen.
Cooper rented a house on Mamao street three houses off Kam Highway on the North Shore of Oahu. The beach right by our house, a three minute walk, is called Backyards. They call it Pipeline training ground. That’s where I surfed the most. To the right was a little cove called Freddy land, after that was Velzyland, and insane right. On the left was Sunset Beach, one of the most famous breaks in the world. Most of the big name surfers were there on any given day.
A normal day consisted of waking at the dawn, surfing most of the day, then scavenging or scamming for food or weed. I really had to use my wits just to keep eating and smoking. If you are clever like I was you would figure out where all kinds of food grows on trees. There’s food all over just got to look.
I had a little money saved up when I first moved to the North Shore. I bought my first car there. A 1965 Volvo. I bought it from Jackie Dunn. He was in the Pipeline underground. He was in the crew of people that could really surf that break huge but never really got famous doing it. It was a rusted out Volvo that had been on the north shore for years that I got for fifty dollars. It had a kamikaze red ball and the words Surf Nazi painted on the back of the trunk. It had a stick shift and it was a bitch to learn. The North Shore is not the place to learn to drive a stick. I was stalling the car everywhere, at every light.
One time I stalled at a light and three cars back was a truck full of mokes in it. Mokes are like Hawaiian red necks. They are usually huge. I stalled and the two cars behind me hit each other, not too hard, but then the moke hit them. The Moke driver who was about twenty five and at least four hundred pounds got out and started waddling his way over to me. I was turning the key in the ignition and the car was not starting, jus turning over.
“Wow. He’s a big boy.” Cooper said totally amused. Everything amused Cooper.
“IMA GONNA SMASH UP YOU FACE LIKEA PIECE A HAMBURGER.” The moke said as he was walking up, which wasn’t easy for him. He was huge and he had to get past the two cars in front of him and not get hit by oncoming traffic. He was hitting the cars with his hand.
“This is gonna be good.” Cooper sat back to watch.
“You’re a lot of help.” I said, trying to get the car started. Cars were honking.
“It’s Big Marvin, remember him? He beat the shit out of the fire department last summer for putting out a house he set fire to. He is gonna crush you. Get the car started, like no kidding.” Cooper said.
“I’m trying.” I looked in the rear view and Marvin was less than ten feet away. I was turning the key in the ignition and the car was just turning over.
“Don’t give it any gas. Just turn the key. Wait till it grabs. I looked in the rear view Marvin had three more feet to waddle and he would be at my window. I turned the key, the engine tried for a second then started.
“Don’t flood it. Ease it into first and let the clutch out easy.” Marvin reached my window and lifted his giant hand to smash me. The Volva took off just as Marvin was swinging down. He smashed out my back window as we took off.
“COOPA! GONNA GET YOU COOPA! YOU AND DAT HIPPIE! YOU GOTTEM ONE BEEF NOW COOPA!”
“Great. Now we got Big Marvin after us.” Cooper said. He wasn’t too happy about this. Big Marvin was in the Hui. That’s like the mob on the North shore. They all wore black surf trunks. Some people called them the black shorts. They definitely ran the island and you didn’t want to mess with them. It took Cooper weeks to patch that up and get Big Marvin off our ass.
The days started to run into another on the North Shore. It was absolutely quiet. It was late summer going into fall. The waves weren’t too big yet so I was surfing ever day backyards or Velzyland. Cooper was the ultimate party animal and always had been. He was famous for getting loaded and wrecking cars. He was friends with all the surf star and all the drug heads. With his best friend Robert who’s dad owned the pig farm in Haleiwa they spent every day surfing then getting loaded. And I mean getting really loaded. This was about 1978 so for Cooper to be freebasing cocaine and smoking it in joints like it was nothing, I would say he was a pioneer of that shit. I never liked these joints too much so I stayed away. I liked psychedelics, mushrooms, acid,
mescaline, so we tripped a lot.
There was a cow field up the block from Velzyland and for a while we were having mushroom juice parties every three days. The house was a real party house, as most houses were on the North Shore. It doesn’t matter how big and gnarly the waves were, when were tripping, the waves weren’t as critical, it was more fun, not life and death. We would get high and walk down to the Pipeline sometimes when it was big and watch the Pros surf it.
I had a room, Joey Muck had a room, Cooper and his girl had a room and he kept renting the last room to a revolving door of girls that could put up with him for just about a month before they ran out of there. It didn’t matter to me though. He was my big wave guru. For me whatever he did was cool, he rode Pipeline at 40 feet. Truthfully, Cooper could rip in any size surf.
One day we were sitting in the living room waiting for the swell to come up. When there are no waves there was not a lot to do. Except try to get high, skateboard around, which wasn’t the best because the roads sucked on the North shore. I looked out the window and some guy was walking up the walk. He had real long hair and he was looking down as he walked, so we couldn’t get a good look at him.
“Someone’s here.”
There was a loud knock on the door.
“You expecting anyone?” I asked Cooper, he looked at me like I was crazy. We didn’t get too many visitors. Whoever it was knocked again louder. Cooper was always worried about bill collectors and people he had ripped off, there were so many people, he was always waiting to show up, so he went to the back of the house.
I opened the door and standing there was my previous big wave guru Clyde from California.
“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“I got your info from John. You called him two weeks ago. Cooper is real easy to find, everyone knows him. The South Shore is breaking about twenty five feet. Closing out everywhere. I have been staying in a house on a break called China Wall. It’s holding the waves good. It’s a great left breaking for over a mile.”
Becoming A Son Page 4