6:25 A.M., Saturday, June 20, 2015

Honolulu, HI

Paula Akron awoke to growing noise and brightness. She found herself inside some sort of weird woody cave. When she saw a little girl in one of her own sundresses lying next to her she suddenly remembered what was going on.

“Hey Paul, I mean Lucy,” she whispered. “Wake up. It’s morning.”

The boy’s eyes focused slowly as he sat up.

“You almost look like a boy,” he mumbled. “Hey!”

With memory came full wakefulness. And, unfortunately, full posture, as Paul sat up straight and smacked his head into part of the overhanging tree.

“Ow, ow, ow,” the boy in the dress muttered. The shirtless girl managed not to laugh as she tucked her hair up under her borrowed cap.

First thing was a need to use the bathroom, and as there was a bathroom nearby they quickly put their shoes on and made their way to it. Right around from that was an outdoor café. The prices were a bit high (tourist area) but all they needed were a couple of Cokes and the food they had brought with them. At the outdoor beach café ‘Bruce’ didn’t even have to put the shirt on, which pleased Paula to no end. Topless, in front of all these people!

They decided to return to the tree and make further plans. The basic plan wasn’t that different than what had been left in the fake notes back at CPS: they would make their way to the forest and live off of fruit and nuts, occasionally going into town and dumpster diving for whatever else they needed. It’s just that they would do that right here on Oahu instead of trying to sneak aboard an airplane and living in the jungles of the Big Island or, if the adults noticed the code ... Now, Paula had come up with an improvement.

“I like that idea,” Paul said as he took another sip of water. It had been his idea to fill the Coke bottles from the drinking fountain, but Paula’s new idea was genius. Instead of dealing with regular dumpsters, they would scavenge the garbage cans of some rich person, the idea being that a rich guy probably throws away enough perfectly good food for two kids to live off of. Between that and fruit trees they need never go hungry.

They were up in the branches of the banyan now, and several kids and a couple of adults had waved to them as they walked by. They had smiled and waved back, Paula hardly giving a thought to the fact that every single one of these people could see her bare chest. So quickly does one adjust to new situations. She did have to remind Paul a couple of times to keep his legs together.

“Hey look, it’s a couple of monkeys escaped from the zoo!”

This comment came from a big kid, not quite a teenager but Paul figured almost. There were several kids about the same age with him. At first both nine-year-olds looked around, hoping to see monkeys gone wild before they realized that the dumb oaf meant them.

“Nah,” another child suggested. “It’s Jack and Jill sittin’ in a tree.”

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” added another in a yellow dress.

Paul and Paula rolled their eyes.

“You got the names wrong,” Paula told them.

“And the spelling,” added Paul.

“Oh yeah?” the obvious bully snorted, his hands on his hips. “Well why don’t you geniuses enlighten us!”

The two nine-year-olds looked at each other and grinned.

“Bruce and Lucy sittin’ in a tree,” they chanted together, “F-U-C-K-I-N-G!”

The gang of older kids looked shocked. They had of course heard the word before; most of them used it. But to hear a couple of younger kids claiming to actually DO it was more than they were prepared for.

“First comes love,” ‘Bruce’ continued.

“Then comes sex,” ‘Lucy’ added.

“Then comes those special pills you’re gonna have to start taking as soon as you get your period,” ‘Bruce’ finished.

With that ‘Bruce and Lucy’ began making out, with full-on French kissing and a tight embrace. The gang of older kids moved on, their leader muttering something about kids who were too young for that. Paul and Paula laughed so hard they were in danger of falling out of the tree.

“That’s the first time we’ve ever done that in front of anybody!” Paula exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, her exposed nipples stiff and tingling.

“Yeah, that was fun,” Paul agreed. “But I think we shouldn’t do that where people can see us. We should try not to be noticed. But as soon as we get someplace without any people...” He winked at his lover.

They knew that the rich people lived either in the mountains or on the beach. After a bit of discussion, they decided to head into the foothills. That’s where the forest was anyway. If they found nothing to their liking there, they would use the advantage of height to scan the coast for big houses and big plots of land.

It can actually be difficult at times to see the mountains through all the trees and buildings of the city and its parks, but one can always go to an intersection and find them. In this case, even that wasn’t necessary; they knew where the beach was, so the mountains were in the opposite direction, and in this direction they walked.

And walked and walked and walked. They were both active children, riding bikes and walking and climbing on monkey bars and such, swimming and climbing trees and, beginning earlier this month, making love. They didn’t tire as easily as more sedentary children might, but at the same time they weren’t used to walking for an hour or more at a time, and uphill at that. They stopped to rest a couple of times, for they weren’t in any hurry. They considered catching the bus again, but what would they say to the driver: “Hey, do you go to where the rich people live?” That would arouse suspicions, and that had to be avoided at all costs.

At the edge of his estate in the foothills of the Ko’olau Mountains, on the island of Oahu, overlooking the city of Honolulu and the Pacific Ocean, Ted Michaels and his friend Lori Johnson looked over the damage to the fence and shrubbery. It was just past ten in the morning.

The woman shook her head, platinum and purple hair blowing in the breeze.

“I guess next time you’ll make sure you included brakes?” she teased.

“The brakes were fine,” the older man insisted. “It was the patch of moist earth that did it.”

The brakes had indeed worked fine, but Ted Michaels knew they could be better. If need be, was there any reason the wheels of his electric motorcycle couldn’t spin backwards? Maybe this was why Tesla Motors wasn’t making electric motorcycles? He hoped they kept right on not making them; rich man that he was, he wasn’t as rich as Elon Musk, who could outspend him a hundred to one and never miss it, nor did he have Musk’s expertise. No, Ted Michaels depended on the people he hired and, when he was really lucky, on his friends for expertise.

Ted looked up and down the damaged section.

“It’s nothing that can’t be fixed,” he sighed. “I guess for the next few weeks we just have to keep our clothes on when we’re outside.”

“Bummer,” Lori mumbled, tugging at her halter.

“You know,” Ted grinned at her, “you and your sister have been dying your hair weird colors since you were seventeen years old.”

“Since we were fifteen,” she corrected.

“Well, I didn’t know you and your sister then,” the older man conceded.

Lori continued the thought. “You know, next week will be the twelfth anniversary of the first time we did it. We should do something special.”

“Like maybe shave your heads and paint your scalps green?” Ted chuckled.

The twenty-seven year old woman looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Um,” Ted added, “that was a joke you know.”

It is in the nature of human beings, young and old, to think they know a shorter way than the obvious path. Paula Akron and Paul Macon were not exceptions. Turning left on Kuhio Avenue had seemed such a good idea, but as they continued walking past hotels, restaurants, and a couple of ABC stores, they began to wonder. They seemed to be paralleling the mountains rather than approaching them.

Eventually the kids found themselves in front of Hawaii by Night, which was attached to a video store. The sign identified the establishment as a gentlemen’s club, and Paula offered to put her shirt on, go in and buy a couple of Gatorades. She rather liked the idea of disguising herself as a boy and getting into some ‘no girls allowed’ club.

Of course, she didn’t get all the way through the doorway before a young woman gently shoved her right back out.

“Sorry,” the woman told the little girl, “Nobody under eighteen allowed in a strip club.”

Paula’s eyes grew huge. “A strip club!?”

“Yes, little girl, a strip club. And if you don’t know what that means go home and ask your daddy. Just maybe not...”

“I know what a strip club is,” Paula interrupted. “I just didn’t know that a gentlemen’s club is the same thing as a strip club. I thought it was just some ‘no girls allowed’ place.”

The pretty Asian woman chuckled. “Oh, we have girls here; we’re just all dancers is all.”

Paula’s eyes grew, if possible, even larger.

“Are you a stripper?!”

Wei was not only a stripper, but one of the more popular ones at this club. She had no shame in what she did, but she knew that many people looked on her job with distaste, even disgust. She wasn’t going to lie to this child, but she knew she was lying to herself as she tried to believe it wouldn’t hurt when this kid inevitably sneered as if looking at some slimy worm.

“Yes, I’m a stripper.”

The child burst into a gigantic grin. “That is SO COOL!”

Wei was struck speechless. She just watched as the little girl took her T-shirt off and greeted another little girl in a dress. Only now Wei realized that the little girl she’d been talking to must be a little boy.

“Hey P ... Lucy,” the shirtless child announced, “a gentlemen’s club is a strip club, and this beautiful girl is a stripper!”

Wei watched as Lucy got the same awestruck expression as the shirtless child.

“Really?” Lucy almost shouted. “Wow, I wish I was eighteen so I could watch you dance. I bet you’re really good.”

Wei’s mouth opened and closed, but still no sound came out.

“Hey, what’s your name?” the shirtless child asked, thrusting out a hand. “I’m, uh, Bruce, and this is my, er, girlfriend, Lucy.”

“My, my name is Wei,” the dancer replied as she took Bruce’s hand and shook it. “Hey, I’m, uh, sorry I thought you were a girl, Bruce. It, ah, it’s the long hair.”

“Oh, that’s OK,” Bruce said, giving a totally feminine flip of hair. “Lots of people make that mistake.”

Now Lucy put out a hand, and Wei shook that hand too. Lucy had a good grip for such a young girl; probably a tomboy.

“It’s good to meet you, Wei,” Lucy stated with all the formality a tomboy (or actual boy) of nine or ten years of age could be expected to have. “Hey, can you tell us the best way to get into the mountains? We, um, we wanna see Honolulu from above.”

Wei pointed in the direction the kids had just come. “Head that way ‘till you get to Kapahulu,” she told them, “then turn mauka and just keep going.” As she continued giving directions she could see both kids moving their lips, memorizing.

“That’ll take you up to where the rich folks live,” she concluded. “That’s why they live up there: those million dollar views.”

Lucy and Bruce looked at each other with huge grins.

“Million dollar views are exactly what we’re looking for!” Bruce exclaimed. “Thanks, Wei. We gotta go now, but you have a good day. Bye-bye!”

And with that the two kids turned around and walked towards their chosen destination. Wei thought that Bruce still sounded like a girl. Poor boy must get teased a lot. She could just hear one of them saying that they should come back in nine years; it would be a good date. She stood and watched them go for longer than she should have, considering she had work to do. When she did return to work, it was with a light heart. It was probably hoping too much to expect the next generation to respect what she did, but hey, at least two of them did.