Mele Kalikimaka Mr Walker

by Robert G. Barrett

  Inside was a kind of boutique shopping mall with an open-air bar in the middle and various restaurants, clothes shops and other stores radiating from it. There was a fair crowd drinking at the bar or walking around. Les noticed a glitzy disco called ‘Cadillacs’ as Mitzi motioned for them to take the strand going left.

  The Green Giraffe was double-fronted smoked glass and had a small area roped off out the front with red velvet where you entered. It was all neon and chrome with naturally a mural of two green giraffes on the windows, a neon sign above saying ‘Green Giraffe’ and had a kind of upmarket feel about it, as did the entire mall. Outside was a knot of punters hoping to get past two huge doormen in dark suits. One of the doormen saw Mitzi approaching and motioned her past the waiting punters. She said something to the doorman, who smiled at Les then ushered them straight through the door.

  Inside was dark and smoky yet nicely air-conditioned with mirrors round the walls and a circular bar in the middle surrounded by plenty of plush seating. It was done out in mainly green, blue and black that reflected more shiny chrome. Down one level, left of the bar, was a dancefloor about half full, a DJ pumping out the usual house music, with more stools, tables, et cetera, and a drink rail running round the wall. The place would have fitted more than a hundred comfortably and was about two-thirds full. Mitzi motioned for Les to follow her and as they walked down past the dancefloor he noticed the punters were a mixture of Asian Hawaiians, blacks and whites, all very well dressed, a bit shifty looking and not too young. Seated or standing in the corner, left of the dancefloor, were about ten Asian girls who all looked up as Mitzi entered. There were smiles all round mixed with a bit of hugging and gushing from half of them. They noticed Les and Mitzi introduced him around. Between the noise from the music and the mild confusion, most of the names went in one ear and out the other with Les. But he remembered some of them had western names like Cheryl, Jocelyn and Nevada. Some of the others were called Kop and Liu or Bobi. A waitress appeared and Mitzi ordered a Stinger for herself, and Les decided on a bottle of Millers for the time being. The drinks came promptly and when they did Mitzi excused herself for a moment while she talked about something with some of the girls. While she was talking Les discreetly checked them out.

  They were all well dressed in a variety of coloured tops, good jewellery, short dresses and tight designer jeans or stretch pants. They were mostly attractive, but two were absolute stunners with blonded hair and figures like Mitzi’s, only better. The rest had jet black hair, either bobbed or long, and good figures — two were a little taller than the others and one of the taller ones had an exceptionally muscly backside and thighs, which were emphasised even more by a pair of black stretch pants. They seemed like a happy enough lot, moving around to the music while they sipped their drinks. Mitzi must have told her friends about her day with Les and what happened earlier because they kept sneaking glances at him and smiling or laughing and the next thing Les knew he had another beer in his hand and he was one of the chaps. After that, a jolly good night was had by all.

  Norton finished his beer, had a Margarita, then switched to bourbon and unleaded. He went to put his hand in his pocket, but Mitzi was evidently running up a tab so he didn’t have to bother. If my friends could see me now, Norton smiled to himself. Sucking up free booze and surrounded by glamours. Does it get any better than this? Some of the girls were interested in Australia and asked Les what it was like and as modestly and unparochially as he could, Les told them everything they’d heard was true and it was the best country in the world. A couple more girls joined them and some blokes the girls seemed to know drifted over and had a dance or two. But no mugs hit on them or tried to hang around. The DJ pulled an old disco favourite out of his date. ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ by Queen and Mitzi looked up at Les.

  ‘Feel like a dance?’ she said.

  Les smiled back at her. ‘Mitzi, I thought you’d never ask.’

  Most of the punters on the dancefloor were into the usual disco ducking they’d seen on MTV, waving their hands all over the place, shuffling their feet at a hundred miles an hour then spinning around in circles now and again. Les thought he’d go for a bit of Ciroc. When he’d taken DD out of a night back in Sydney, the girl who worked for her and came down with her generally tagged along as well. She was a Kiwi who’d won a couple of Ciroc contests back in New Zealand. DD was into it and for a joke they got Les going as well. You didn’t have to be Fred Astaire. It was just a mixture of rock ’n’ roll, dirty dancing and a bit of ballroom thrown in as well. But it was heaps of fun, and Les was half drunk and in Hawaii for a good time, not a long time.

  Mitzi was light on her feet and Les had half an idea what he was doing. He’d spin her around, she’d bend over backwards then slide up and down his chest as they’d give it a bit of Patrick Swayze one minute, a bit of Bill Haley the next and all pretty much in time to the repetitious house music beat. Mitzi was rapt. Even the other dancers seemed to be getting a kick out of watching the big, lumpy Australian and the lovely little Korean having a good time. After three songs they went back to the others and Les decided he felt like a beer. One of Mitzi’s girlfriends asked Les for a dance, so Norton obliged her and another one. That was fun too. The girls were all stunners and they loved flashing their knickers or shaking their boobs and it was a hoot for Les squeezing their ribs and giving their tight little bums a bit of a pat as he’d bend them over. Then Liu, the one in the black tights with the big behind, came over.

  ‘Come and dance with me,’ she said.

  ‘Sure, mate. Why not?’ said Les, putting down his drink.

  Liu kept giving off strange vibes and up close she had these wild eyes that were very rounded for an Asian woman and which seemed to burn deeply with an odd, almost sexual, intensity. Not only that, going by her behind, Les expected her to be a bit soft. But she was firm all over and her backside was as solid as rock. She was also exceptionally light on her feet and when Les spun her back she did two full-on splits then slid back up as if it was nothing. Christ! I don’t think I’ll be trying that tonight, thought Norton. Unless I want to fly back to Australia on two seats. But Les also thought he wouldn’t have minded getting into Liu’s pants. There was something about her and with a body as hard yet supple as that you could bet she’d go off like a race riot in LA.

  They rejoined the team and another girl asked Les for a dance. But by now Norton figured out they were half pie using him for a chance to show off on the dancefloor, so he politely brushed the idea. Besides, he came with Mitzi and he wanted to stick with her. However, if things didn’t work out so good Les was thinking of coming back to the Green Giraffe and seeing if ‘Liu Liu’ was back in town.

  ‘So what do some of your girlfriends do, Mitzi?’ asked Norton, over another Bourbon and unleaded.

  ‘Oh.’ Mitzi sipped another stinger and nodded towards the girls. ‘Those three there work for Andrea.’ Mitzi smiled. ‘They’re hostesses. Nevada and Bobi are models.’

  ‘What about the one I was dancing with that did the splits?’

  ‘Liu.’ Mitzi smiled again. ‘Liu’s a bit of a funny one. She works for Andrea too, as a driver. She wanted to be a hostess, even had an operation to get her eyes rounded, but Andrea put her on as a driver. Andrea thinks she’d make a good Wahu.’

  ‘Fair dinkum?’ Les couldn’t quite believe it.

  Mitzi smiled. ‘When she was young she was a geisha girl back in Tokyo. She was also a champion figure skater.’

  ‘Ah. No wonder she’s so…’

  Les was about to finish when he noticed all the girls, including Mitzi, seemed to be looking towards the bar. Les turned around to see what had caught their eye. Walking along the side of the dancefloor towards them was a young Asian man flanked by two Hawaiians who could have almost worn Monroe’s shirts without too much hanging over. The Asian was good-looking and perfectly groomed, wearing an immaculate, dark blue, double-breasted suit with a grey silk tie. The two men with him wore suits wit
h sports shirts and one had his black hair back in a ponytail. The girls all greeted him with a kind of nervous laugh and he bowed his head politely to each one. But although his manners were impeccable and he appeared to ooze charm, whoever the bloke was he had an air of sinisterness about him you could just about cut with a knife.

  Mitzi didn’t appear to join in the nervous laughter. She addressed whoever he was by his name, then spoke to him for a short time while the two obvious heavies let their eyes wander impassively around the club, giving Norton a couple of once up and downs as they did. Les stayed where he was, sipped his drink and minded his own business. After he’d finished talking to Mitzi the young Asian man bowed his head again and shook her hand, had a brief conversation with some of the other girls then moved across to Liu. He was half smiling as he spoke to her although Liu appeared very serious and nodded several times during the conversation like she was being obedient. The young bloke smiled, patted her on the shoulder then bowed again. He nodded what appeared to be a signal to the two heavies to say he’d finished his business here then waved his hand almost imperceptibly to a waitress who happened to be hovering nearby. He said something to her, the waitress nodded her head and hurried towards the bar. The young man turned to a couple of girls and said something that made them laugh politely. A moment or two later the waitress returned with three bottles of Moet in ice buckets, along with a number of tall champagne glasses, which she placed on one of the tables. Blue suit dropped a small bundle of hundred dollar bills on the waitress’s tray, smiled at the girls again, said something else to Mitzi, then, with the two heavies flanking him, left as menacingly as he’d entered. The girls all looked at each other for a moment after he’d gone, then started helping themselves to the shampoo. Les stuck to his bourbon while Mitzi poured herself a glass, seemingly just to be in the swing of things with the others.

  ‘Who was that?’ asked Les, nodding towards the champagne chilling in the ice buckets. ‘The Great Gatsby?’

  ‘Nagoaka,’ replied Mitzi. ‘One of Takushi’s sons.’

  ‘Yeah. What’s he like?’

  Mitzi nodded slowly. ‘He’s all right. Under the circumstances.’

  ‘He looked like he was trying to put a bit of work on big Liu baby. Is that his girl?’

  ‘Liu runs a few errands and things for him now and again.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Nagoaka and Andrea get on all right. Under the circumstances.’

  Les was going to say something, but changed his mind. The whole thing was starting to get like a B-grade movie. Japanese Godfathers, lesbian geisha girls, serial killers, cops, madams, hookers. Yeah, reflected Les, taking another sip of bourbon, I’m back in America and back in the bloody movies. Oh well, it doesn’t mean I can’t have a good time.

  Les and Mitzi danced and drank some more. He had another dance with Nevada and a couple more with Liu to keep her happy. One of the girls ordered some pulped strawberries and Les even had three or four glasses of champagne topped with strawberry, which didn’t go down too bad at all. After a while Mitzi suggested it might be an idea if they got going; his eyes starting to wobble a bit, Les agreed. There were smiles and goodbyes all round then Les and Mitzi went outside where one of the doormen got them a taxi and they headed back to the hotel.

  The ride back to the hotel was a bit on the quiet side and Mitzi seemed a little reserved, just staring out the window as if she had something on her mind. Les didn’t actually expect her to start crawling all over him, but she somehow seemed slightly more inscrutable than usual. Maybe the arrival of young Nagoaka on the scene put some sort of bee in her bonnet. Maybe she’s drunk. She had enough stingers in there to kill a box jellyfish. But with her it’s hard to tell anything. Les blinked out of his window. I know I’m drunk, no matter what. It had been a good night and they seemed to have got on famously and there was still a chance he might see her before he left on Saturday.

  ‘Well, I had a top time back there, Mitzi,’ he smiled at her. ‘Thanks for taking me along.’

  ‘I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Les,’ Mitzi smiled back. ‘I did too.’

  ‘Yeah. It’s been a pretty good day all round.’ Les gazed out the window towards the sky, where a full moon was drifting lazily amongst the stars. ‘And a ripper of a night.’

  ‘Good.’

  It was fairly quiet when they got back to the hotel. Mitzi paid the taxi driver and they caught a lift straight to Norton’s room, where he switched on the lights in the bedroom. Les couldn’t be bothered rummaging around sorting out tapes so he put the radio on and got the Angels singing ‘My Boyfriend’s Back’. Bugger it, that’ll do, he thought. After the last ten house music tracks, one after the other, anything would have sounded good. Mitzi used the bathroom then took her shoes off and put them in her overnight bag. Les thought that wasn’t a bad idea and did the same. Again he apologised that he didn’t have any coffee, the best he could muster up was either more Bacardi or a beer. Or if she wanted to get going that was okay. Mitzi said she might have a beer before she left. Les thought that wasn’t a bad idea either and opened two bottles of Millers. He handed Mitzi one and they sat down at the table facing each other. As he leaned back, the chair cut straight into some of the bruises around his back, making him wince as if someone had just kicked him there again. Now that he’d cooled down some of the souvenirs he’d received in the lift were starting to hurt.

  ‘Oh bugger this, Mitzi,’ he said gingerly. ‘My bloody back’s killing me. I’m gonna prop myself up on the bed with my feet up. Stay there.’ Les went across to the bed, got all the pillows and stacked them against the wall, then lay back against them. ‘Ohh yeah,’ he sighed. ‘That’s a bit bloody better.’ He raised his beer to Mitzi watching from the table and took a sip. ‘Well, Seoul sister, here’s to university days. May all your riots be little ones.’

  Mitzi raised her bottle also. ‘Dok Chae Tado,’ she smiled.

  Les took another sip of beer then shook his head. ‘Dunno about the dictatorship, but I’m half smashed.’ Norton took another sip of beer and closed his eyes with comfort as the pillows seemed to soak up the aches in his back. Some other golden oldie oozed across the room from the radio then Mitzi came over and sat on the edge of the bed.

  ‘Is your back really hurting?’ she asked.

  ‘Is my back hurting?’ echoed Les. ‘Are you fair din-kum? You try jumping into a lift and punching it out with four horrible mugs and see how your back feels. I reckon you snuck a couple into me with that knuckle duster.’ Les affected a wince. ‘And all because some drunk called you a dingbat. Buggered if I know.’

  An odd smile seemed to flicker briefly in Mitzi’s eyes. ‘Very well. Take your T-shirt off and I’ll give you a rub.’

  Norton shook his head. ‘No thank you, it’s quite all right. I’ll just sit here and ache.’

  Mitzi continued to stare at Norton for a moment or two. ‘Just how sore is your back?’ she said.

  Les stared back at Mitzi then smiled. ‘Sore,’ he said. ‘But not that sore.’ Les looked into Mitzi’s eyes for a moment then drew her towards him. If it was okay for Andrea’s accountant to kiss him earlier, then surely it was all right for him to do the same.

  If Mitzi had beautiful lips before, now they felt even better. Soft, moist, and tantalisingly sweet. Les placed his hands gently on her ribs and she held him under the elbows. Les was watching her, trying to see what kind of reaction he was getting, but he couldn’t figure out what was going on in those beautiful brown eyes. They just seemed to smoulder beneath the lids like tiny dots of amber fire. Les flicked his tongue over Mitzi’s lips and around the corners of her mouth. Hers came back a second or two later and the hairs on Norton’s neck stood on end. The kissing got hotter and more intense. Les closed his eyes and enjoyed every second of it as whatever music was coming from the little radio seemed to fill the room.

  Les slipped his hand under the back of Mitzi’s top about the same time as the rest of her tongue slid into his mouth. The
top came off about the same time as Norton’s T-shirt. Les kissed her lips and neck, Mitzi wrapped her arms around his neck and slipped her tongue in Norton’s ear, sending a shiver up his spine. Next thing Mr Wobbly was primed and ready to go, almost kicking the fly out of Norton’s jeans. He slipped her bra off and began gently massaging her breasts; they were like two beautiful firm mangoes, the nipples between his fingers softer than two tiny pink raspberries. Les kissed her breasts and nipples and rubbed the back of Mitzi’s neck with one hand while he worked her shorts off with his other. She was wearing frilly black knickers that matched her bra. Norton’s eyes spun around in his head and they were still spinning when he had his jeans off a second or two later.

  Mitzi’s ted sat there like some juicy, tender peach. Les ran his hand over it and it was that soft you’d have thought baby silkworms had just spun it. Les couldn’t help himself, he had to start stroking it. Mitzi writhed around the bed making quiet, moaning sounds. Les kissed her some more and kept stroking away, feeling her ted swelling under his hands. He kissed Mitzi’s lips, her neck, her nipples then slipped her knickers off and as she spread her legs ran his tongue down her stomach and in between her legs. It was pure heaven. Les licked and sucked and kissed away. Next thing Mitzi had his head in a grip of iron. Les went for it, shaking his mouth from side to side, feeling the juice and more swelling beneath his tongue. Mitzi gave a little scream, started pushing herself against Norton’s face, then spread her legs almost across the bed, howled again and let it all go.