A few minutes later Margie came out to join him, sipping a cup of jasmine tea. She looked over the railing at the crowd below and pointed, “I like that one! The picket sign with your face covered in dead fish. That’s a good one,” she snorted.
“Well I’m glad one of us is amused,” Shane replied. “But I need to think of some way to get those loonies to leave us alone. Don’t they have anything better to do? What makes them think we won’t be environmentally responsible?”
“Because you NEVER are,” Margie reminded him. “Tanner International has zero credibility in that department. You’re reputation stinks. You know what you need?” she laughed. “A reputation make-over.”
“You know what Margie? As silly as that sounds, you might be onto something there.”
Shane’s mental wheels started spinning and they were spinning around Danielle again. He had woken up thinking about how fiery and sexy she still was and how incredibly great the sex was with her. Now his thoughts turned to her in a business sense. He wondered if he could turn his marketing director into a make-over director as well; someone who would be able to give him the credibility he was lacking. But as was becoming the usual, Margie interrupted him.
“If you don’t mind Shane, I’m going to go down there and mix in with the protesters. Someone needs to infiltrate them and get the inside scoop. I’ve got a lot of protest experience from the ‘60’s you know.” Margie headed for the door with excitement. “Oh this is going to be so much fun. I think I’ll go put on my tie-dyed t-shirt!”
A few minutes later Shane got the inevitable dreaded phone call from his father.
“Shane, goddammit! What the hell is going on over there? Environmental protesters? I’m watching it on the news right now. Do I need to remind you that NOT all free publicity is good publicity when it involves losing money? You better find a way to smooth things over with those islanders and fast. Why do I have the suspicion you’re spending all your time fucking hula girls? Do I have to come out there and do damage control?”
Shane was more than a little pissed at his father’s interference. It was bad enough he could hear and see the mob on the resort property below him, he didn’t need it pushed in his face from 2,000 miles away. And certainly the last thing he needed was to have his old man make a trip out there.
“Fuck could you please just let me handle it father?! I’m working on it as we speak so I don’t need you to tell me shit I already know. And I definitely do not need you here. I’ve got it under control.”
“Under control my ass! It looks more like a five-alarm fire to me. I just hope you know what you’re doing. You need to get those islanders to trust us Shane. You need to convince them we’re on their side so they’ll back off and stop opposing the company’s every move. We can’t have this constant interference while we’re trying to conduct normal operations and expand in the South Pacific.”
Shane tried to reason with his father to no avail.
“It takes time for outsiders to gain the local peoples’ trust here in Hawaii. You know that. It doesn’t just happen overnight. Non-Polynesians are still outsiders. That’s why Hawaiians call foreigners Haoles remember? So unless we have a Hawaiian bloodline that I don’t know about you’re going to have to be patient.”
“I don’t give a shit what they call us. I’m tired of waiting and I’m done fucking around with these goddamn eco-nuts. It’s high time the Tanner brand was as renowned in the Hawaiian Islands as it is worldwide. I don’t care what you have to say or do this time around to make that happen. Just get it done.”
“Will you please just back off and trust me to do the job you sent me here to do so that…..”
Shane was suddenly interrupted by his father’s frantic voice.
“Holy shit! If I didn’t know better I’d swear I just saw Marguarite Grummond on TV in the crowd of protesters!”
That was Shane’s cue to end the call; better to do it before his father positively identified his own crazy secretary.
“I gotta go. Good-bye father.”
Shane looked over the balcony railing to see if he could actually spot the kooky old hippie woman from his perch high above and sure enough he could. Margie stood out like a sore thumb; her fair freckled skin gleaming in the sea of Hawaiian faces was comical enough for him to laugh out loud, but then suddenly the sight of the pale faced “Haole” foreigner gave him a serious idea. Hawaiian bloodline? It was definitely unconventional and he wondered if it could actually work. Could something as simple as that be the solution to our business obstacle? Has the answer been there in front of our faces the whole time?
Thirteen
The following day was Saturday so after breakfast Dani decided to pop next door and pay a visit to her favorite neighbor, Auntie May. May lived all of her sixty years in the missionary style bungalow her father built and she knew practically everything there was to know about the island of Maui and its history. She had even given birth to all three of her sons in the house. Danielle loved listening to her stories and found her to be wise beyond her years. Visits with her neighbor always guaranteed two things: Auntie May’s sage advice and a big bowl of homemade macadamia nut ice cream. Dani had often thought that if she could pick anybody in the world to be her real aunt, it would be her – Matilda “May” Maunaloa.
As Dani approached the house, she was disappointed to see May hurrying out of her front door. Her neighbor was wearing a long traditional Hawaiian muumuu dress and carrying her ukulele which meant she was on her way to perform in one of her popular children’s hula shows.
“You look beautiful Auntie May but I guess I caught you at a bad time?”
The two women hugged each other warmly, as they did every time they met.
“You look lovely too dear, like always. I’m on my way over to Banyan Tree Park. Are you doing anything today? You can always join me and my little kuuipos if you’re not busy.”
May always referred to the little children as “kuuipos”, which was the Hawaiian word for sweethearts. She taught traditional hula dancing to the island kids and held free performances in the parks. Tourists loved it and were encouraged to join the students for an impromptu lesson on stage as part of the show. Danielle was an experienced hula dancer and loved helping Auntie May with the programs whenever she possibly could.
“Are you kidding? I would love nothing better. Can I meet you down there in about a half hour?”
“How wonderful dear. A half hour is fine. Don’t forget your grass skirt. You know mine sure won’t fit you!” May was referring to her big, beautiful plus-sized native Hawaiian figure. She let out a hearty laugh as she hopped into her ‘60’s era convertible Volkswagen and took off toward the town square.
Dani ran back to her own house and started gathering up everything she would need for the dance performance. She clipped some orchids from her backyard and started to fasten them in the hair behind her ear, when she heard her phone buzz with a new text. She saw that it was from Shane and was automatically unnerved by it. Shit what does he want?
I NEED TO SEE YOU TODAY ASAP. VERY IMPORTANT.