Chapter 6: Ocean Awaits

“GAWD haole! You are SO white it’s hurting my eyes. But we’re gonna take you fishing in the surf tonight.”

I was feeling really bad because my friend from college probably thought I was an ass, and I was. I should have been more sensitive. She was probably a rich girl without much raw life experience. When she saw what a dirty job I had and acting like I was having fun, well. But I was having fun.

So I was buffing out a Cadillac convertible with a metal flake finish and it was looking really nice so I washed it to get all the compound off and then put a finish wax on.

In the sun reflecting off the front line cars it was really showing off the deepness of the paint.

A guy walked up who I knew was a friend of Wally’s and he complimented me on the job. “Thanks.”

“You really ought to think about doing some detailing for the wealthy guys. They pay top dollar for a good job like you did on this Cadillac. Not everybody knows how to do it like this.”

I explained I was in college and didn’t have much extra time to spare and ... He interrupted, “I’m talking about making some really GOOD money. Think about it. You have to be careful you don’t burn the paint but really. It’s fun and feels really satisfying to do work on those high end cars.”

“Wow!” And of course the idea scared me. Most things did scare me at first.

I didn’t know anything about being in business and later a guy who knew the business told me I’d have to have insurance because if I screwed up a really expensive car, like a top import, I could get sued. But as I was standing there staring at nothing and thinking about it somebody pushed me from behind and I jumped. The laughter following sounded like somebody I knew and it was Siza. “What are you doing haole?”

I explained about the guy who was just talking to me about doing detail on expensive cars on my own. “I can tell you all about being in business anytime but right now I want you to go over to the beach with me and take a swim. You need it. You act like your down or something. I want some company. Let’s go. The ocean is calling you.”

Although I didn’t understand the attachment locals had with the ocean I knew Siza well enough now she wouldn’t take “No” for an answer. So I put away some of my work stuff, took off my T-shirt and quickly dropped my pants. I figured she would stop short when she saw me do that quickly but I’d been wearing trunks for underwear just for this occasion so she couldn’t make me go skinny dipping over across the road in front of Dave’s lot.

“What the hell haole. You’re pretty funny aren’t you. But GAWD! You are SO white it’s hurting my eyes. We’re gonna take you fishing in the surf tonight, skinny dipping, shining bright, so we can use your glowing lure for night fishing in the breakers. Lem’me see that spinner bait. hee, hee. Maybe we can catch a groper. No, I mean GROUPER.”

She grabbed the top of my trunks and started pulling them down right there in front of the shed while there were some customers looking at a car. “No, Siza. Don’t!” I begged. She laughed, “You ARE SUCH a WEENER and I’ll bet you’re a virgin!! How old did you say you were? Your butt is even whiter than the rest of you!”

“Okay, okay, let’s go. I gotta get back to work here before I go home.” I whispered hoarsely and that just made her tease me all the more. I wasn’t going to win with her outgoing character.

I put my flip flops back on as she slowly took off her top and dropped her shorts while wiggling her body sexy. I think she was teasing me back. I could only hope she was decent in front of the customers and she had a bikini on.

She grabbed my hand and took off jogging as I spun around and kept up. We ran through the space between Iseka’s quonset hut and Dave’s office never slowing down. Dodging through cars in Dave’s front line I could hear him yelling from behind his desk but didn’t know what he said. And Siza didn’t wait for the cross walk light to change. We were across and on the sand regardless headed for the water without stopping.

She kept dragging me along all the way into the water and struggling to waist deep. I wasn’t much of a swimmer, honestly, and I hadn’t been swimming since I arrived in the islands. I was from the cold wet Pacific Northwest and I hadn’t done much of any swimming since I was a little kid. I had to work all the time. A wave hit us and suddenly I was neck deep and floating heading back to shore and didn’t realize she was on my shoulders so quickly.

The next moment I was in shallow water with a body on top of me as I staggered to keep upright and fell over. It was like she was screaming for joy and I panicked. The sand was hard and the next thing another wave was all over us, me spitting sand and choking. “Isn’t this fun!,” she yelled. I crawled up the beach on all fours and just stopped for a long moment. All of this had happened so fast.

She was suddenly on me like a horse back rider with her arms around my neck and she was whispering in my ear, “You ARE such a virgin.” That preceded being tickled mercilessly. And I was ticklish. She was definitely making a real fool of me in front of all the people at the beach. I was thinking I could have stayed at work and I hoped I wasn’t getting sun burned.

Like a miracle my glasses were still on. Because I was being dragged into the water on the run I didn’t even think about them and they were my only pair.

That was the only relief I owned at the moment as I had been rolled over by my wonderful new friend crazy lady and she sat on my chest with a thud. “Ooof!”

“He’s such a virgin!,” she was yelling to other people around on the beach. “Siza!”

“C’mon, I gotta get you back in the water to wash the sand off of you,” and she offered me a hand to help me up. She was really strong for a person her size.

“Don’t look so sad,” she said as we stood in the surf and she rubbed her hands all over me. “You gotta know I’m not used to this. Give me a little time,” I begged. “Yeah, and you BETTER get some color in your skin. You look like an amoeba. I want your buns brown you virgin. I don’t have tan lines in case you’re interested. You’re in Hawaii haole.”

I didn’t know what to think with this dizzying rush but I bet my face got bright red to put some color in my skin. Suddenly she pulled down my trunks in back, exposed me to the others and made a big deal about all the glare. “OW! I forgot my sun glasses. They should fine you for being too white you poor haole!”

We went back to the car lot through Dave’s lot and he was laughing as he stood on the porch of his office. “I’m surprised you didn’t just drown him Siza!”

“No way. He’s a virgin! I’m gonna take him night fishing and use his lure to attract groper fish. I already told him he’s going skinny dipping with me!”

Dave roared laughing, such a big tall guy up on the porch and that seemed to magnify his presence. “Virgin ... yeah!” It was hopeless. It was like they really all knew I was one. I wasn’t going to lie but I didn’t want them to actually ask me about that directly.

Back at the car lot I was going to finish a car and then go home. I thanked Siza for being my friend like I owed her that because I was being politically correct.

I could take some of her teasing but I didn’t want it to go over the top. Now I knew she wasn’t afraid of anything, doing anything. She was cute and I figured she knew she could get away with murder using her mouth. I wanted to keep her friendship but frankly she was dangerous plus she had the protection of her giant brothers.

Wally came over to the shed laughing after Siza had gone back to the farmers market. “She plays for the other team you know.”

“HUH?”

“She’s a lesbian or didn’t you figure that out yet?” I was used to women who were rather tough by my experiences at Ken’s Texaco station. And those women were my friends, would look out for me but they also liked to tease. But Siza? She was too cute.

“Well, okay, that’s okay,” I said. And I simply went back to work, wet trunks on and all. I refused to think about what Wally said. Siza was crazy but also someone I was really liking. Somehow I felt more comfortable about her thinking maybe she just liked to have fun and wasn’t interested in doing something naughty to me. “Whew!”

“What did you say?,” Wally interrupted. “No, nothing ... nothing. I was just thinking about, uhm, work.”