THE WALK


It is yet another gorgeous day here in Hawaii with our sixth consecutive day of great weather. The mornings are cool and crisp with a few clouds, then after noon more clouds begin to form, cooling it off from the hot mid-day sun.

Today Virginia invited me to go along with her on her morning walk. We leave our Windham Kona Resort, walk along Alii drive, turn right on Lanapule Rd. and walk up the hill on for one-half mile, and then follow Walua Rd. back to the ocean. The traffic’s not bad and the sights are great.

From the top of the hill we look out over the bay and can see all the boats in the harbor. Today there is another cruise ship. That means throngs of people on their mad search for the perfect nui-nui day. As we walked, Virginia told me of another walk she had taken earlier in the year. It wasn’t as grand, the sights weren’t as inspiring, in fact this particular walk was down-right scary; kapu!

She had been walking down a particularly isolated dirt road when she noticed a pick-up truck just ahead, parked alongside the road. Looking thru the back window she could make out the shadowy figure of a man sitting on the driver’s side. She was still a distance away, but she began to get an ominous, nervous feeling about the whole thing. The road was isolated and she considered turning around and retracing her steps, but that area was even more secluded. Her best choice was just to continue on track, but speed up her pace. If this guy was going to try something she was going to be prepared. What to do? She decided to make herself at least look like a threat. She took a deep breath, raised herself up to the full five-foot two-inch height of her feisty Italian frame and proceeded on. This guy was probably watching her every move through the rear view mirror. Just to intimidate she started to throw some karate punches. At about 50 feet from the pick-up she put forward her best karate block, followed by left-right, judo chop and then a swift forward kick aimed right to the groin area. With dust from her kicks hanging in the air she launched into her best power walk, a few more karate chops and she was almost up to the door of the truck. She strengthened her resolve and glared over into the open window as she passed. There in the front seat was an unshaven man, head thrown back on the seat with his mouth wide open snoring quite contently.

Oh well, you can never be too careful.