Chapter Ten - Makawao Madness

Rudy awoke to the sun pouring through the open balcony doors. His dreams had been filled with Raven, as they had every night since they’d met.

He sliced some fresh pineapple and took the phone out onto the balcony. From nine stories up you can see for miles and he watched the spout from a whale in the distance. He stepped to the telescope for a closer look and was awe-struck at the great beast.

It was hard to imagine that a week and a half ago he’d been hiking in the Utah desert with not a clue as to how his life was about to change. He stretched out on the lounge chair feeling like he hadn’t a care in the world and enjoyed the sun, the pineapple, the salty air and the view. Any day that started like this was going to be a good one.

In a while he got his nerve up and dialed Raven’s number. She answered on the second ring.

“Rudy!” she sounded genuinely pleased to hear from him. “I was just wondering how things turned out with Charlie and the duplex.”

“Yeah, well} Rudy laughed, “it’s a long story. Right now I’m on Maui, in Charlie’s condo. He says that he’ll make me a deal on the duplex if you sell him the piece he’s been after.”

Raven laughed. “I planned on letting him have it all along; I just have to bust his balls a little first. Rule number one, they always want what they can’t have.”

“In that case, I hope you know that you can’t have me.” He felt silly for saying it even before the words had left his mouth.

“We’ll just see. I generally get what I want.” He had little doubt about that.

“Did he tell you what he does with most of the pieces he buys?” Raven asked.

“You said he resells them.”

“Not to just anyone. He sells them to Leonardo Azeri. Azeri is infatuated with my work but I won’t have anything to do with him so he pays through the nose to get them from Charlie.”

“Who’s Leonardo Azeri? Rudy asked.

“A drug lord, I guess you’d call him. We have a little bit of a history, Leonard and I. He’s said to be the biggest importer of cocaine into the islands and now he’s dabbling in Heroin. He funnels the stuff from South America, through Hawaii, to the mainland. Very bad guy.”

It didn’t occur to Rudy to ask why she knew so much about Leonardo Azeri or just what kind of history they had.

“I can’t imagine Charlie having anything to do with a guy like that. Last night he was carrying on about old-money jerks and how they stick powder up their noses and needles in their arms because they never learned how to work… or something like that.”

“Did he give you the ’I know an opportunity when I see one speech’?” Raven asked.

“Well…yeah.” Rudy replied, “How did you know?”

“The thing about Charlie is, he lives in a fantasy world. He has tons of money and plays his life away and he only sees what he chooses to. That’s one of the luxuries that money affords you, I guess. Leonardo is a very charming man if you don’t think about what he does for a living. Charlie says that he gets a bum rap, that he’s just an eccentric millionaire with an air of mystery about him so people conjure up wild stories. As far as Charlie’s concerned Azeri is just a rancher who has done very well for himself.”

“A rancher?”

“Yeah, he lives on a huge ranch on Molokai, away from prying eyes.”

“Wow. Shucks, ma’am, I’m just a poor country boy out in the world for the first time. I don’t know nuttin ‘bout no drug dealers.” Rudy said in his best Jed Clampett.

Raven laughed. “You’ve been over there with Charlie too long. You’re starting to sound like him.”

“Maybe you’d better just come over here and rescue me.” Rudy said. “Charlie says we can all go dancing and twist your arm together about that sculpture.”

“Is he with Jenny?”

“Yeah.”

“How that old coot landed her, I’ll never know. Despite hanging out with Charlie, she’s actually pretty cool.” She laughed. “I’ll tell you what, I need to take care of some business, and then I’ll get Nevermore and head out. Meet me at the pier in Lahaina around three, OK?”

“What’s a Nevermore?” He asked.

“My boat.”

“Well okay then, it’s a date.”

“Rudy?”

“Yeah?”

“I wouldn’t pilot a boat across eighty two miles of ocean just to sell a piece to Charlie.”

She broke the connection before he could reply.

Maui no ka oi!


Raven was sitting on the deck of her Cabin Cruiser, sketch pad and charcoal pencil in hand, when Rudy pulled up in Charlie’s Porsche. She didn’t notice him and he watched her as he approached the boat. She was wearing denim shorts and a black bikini top, had on no makeup, and she looked completely ravishing.

He began to ascend the ladder onto the boat and Raven looked up and met him on deck with a big smile and a gentle hug. Rudy stood very still, arms around her bare midriff and her soft hair in his face, savoring the moment. Her fragrance was gentle and feminine and irresistible. They stood there for what seemed forever, neither wanting to let go.

Eventually, they headed down the ladder and climbed into the Porsche.

A gentle rain began to fall as they headed out of Lahaina, toward Makawao, in what the locals call the Up Country. The road twisted and turned as they worked their way up the Haleakala Highway. They rolled past the greenest pastures Rudy had ever seen. From time to time, as they wound their way up the mountain, the late afternoon sun broke out from behind a dark rain cloud in dramatic bright fractured beams even as the rain continued to fall.

Eventually they reached the board-walked, tin roofed little town of Makawao. Charlie and Jenny were waiting for them at Cicero’s, a little Italian restaurant and blues bar. They dined on Linguini in clam sauce with wine and laughing and joked the evening away.

“They say you’re only supposed to have red wine with red sauce,” Charlie said, “Just the kind of stupid crap Yankees say. I’m feeling crazy, mixing my colors, just try and stop me.”

“Just knowing that much is what passes for culture on the ‘Guff’ Coast.” Jenny teased.

“You’re outta control, Charlie.” Rudy laughed.

“Yeah, a regular madman.” Jenny said.

“Damn straight, I’m a madman. Once, I went to a 7-11 and bought a pencil, just for the hell of it, didn’t even need one. Thirty seven cents down the drain, just like that. I’m an outta control red necked Guff Coast madman and damned proud of it.”

It wasn’t really that funny except for the delivery. Charlie’s straight face and perfect deadpan had the table in stitches.

Around 9:30 an up and coming blues band from San Francisco climbed onstage and began getting ready for the first set.

“So, Raven, did Rudy tell you about our little deal?” Charlie asked.

“He said that you were still trying to get that piece from me.”

“Well, I’ve already offered you forty thousand for it, how much more is it going to take?”

“Fifty thousand. Hell, I got that much for the first piece I ever sold.”

“Well yeah, it’s a classic now.” Charlie retorted. “This is just one a yer reg-lar run a the mill Olssen knock off's.”

“Fine, I sell it to one a mah reg-lar run a the mill customers.” Raven mocked.

“Forty-Five.”

“Come on, Chuck Connors. The med rifleman can do better than that. Anyone who can pony up thirty-seven cents for a pencil he doesn’t even need, can surely part with a little more cash than that for an Olsson original.”

“Okay, Okay. Forty eight-five, but that’s as far as I go.”

Raven was quiet for a few minutes, then finally said, “Fifty thousand Charlie. Your scumbag friend will gladly pony up.”

Charlie faked surprise. “Why Raven, why would you think it’s for Leo? Just what is your problem with him, anyway?”

Raven turned serious. “See, I say scumbag and you know exactly who I’m talking about. I don’t need drug money, even when you launder it first. I know what you do with my work. I’ve been to your house many times and I’ve never seen any of my stuff there.”

“It’s a big house; there must be a few rooms that you’ve never been in.”

Raven was clearly unamused but before she could speak again, Charlie quickly added, “OK, Fifty grand. You are one tough cookie, Ms. Olsson.”

Everyone at the table knew he'd intended to meet her price all along. He just had to mess with her a little first. Charlie reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys and handed them to Rudy.

“Well, Rudy, seems like all I ever do is hand you my keys. Here, take these before I change my mind. Looks like you’ve got yourself an apartment.”

Before Rudy could reply, Charlie nodded in Raven’s direction. “That’s one stubborn gal you’ve got there. Are you sure you can handle her?”

“Nope.” Rudy answered honestly, “But I’m a sucker for a challenge.”

The band started with an energetic, full bodied version of Leroy Carr’s ‘Blues Before Sunrise’. Raven grabbed Rudy’s hand and pulled him onto the dance floor where they were the only couple dancing until Jenny and Charlie joined them a few minutes later. They stayed on the floor through the entire first set.

During the break, Raven and Rudy, dripping in perspiration, strolled along the old west boardwalks of Makawao. Unlike other old west looking Hawaiian towns, Makawao is not pretentious; it actually is a cattle town full of Hawaiian cowboys called paniolos.

Inside Cicero’s, the clientele easily outnumbered the population of the town and most of the patrons looked like they’d be more like they belonged in a Wyoming cowboy bar. Appropriate attire meant Wrangler jeans, huge belt buckles, cowboy hats, boots and cowboy shirts and always, a buck knife strapped to the belt.

These guys looked like some bad dudes, Rudy noted. This was not a place you’d want to find yourself in a bar fight. He doubted that any of them had ever punched any cattle and he was right. Mostly, they were cocaine cowboys involved in smuggling.

Maui no ka oi. He thought. Where else could you drive 45 minutes into the mountains and dance to a San Francisco blues band at an Italian Cowboy Bar with a bunch of Paniolo’s?

The band was back on stage so they went inside and hit the dance floor again. Jenny tried to drag Charlie back onto the floor but he was worn out so she joined Rudy and Raven and the three of them closed the place up.

As they left, Raven told Charlie that they’d leave his Porsche at the pier in Lahaina. Rudy had no idea what she had in mind but he’d done alright so far by rolling with the flow so he followed along without a word.