The tune passed through my mind over and over as I drove up Hana Highway. A quick stop at Fuku's; there I got beer from the case and at the counter asked Mary for the famous hot dog. She was the delightful local gal who always beamed a smile and called you by name. "Anything else, Charles?" "A pack of Camels and some rolling papers." As she bagged my purchase who walks in but Mick. Actually, he kinda shuffles about. His voice is round deep bass. "Hey man, how's the house?" "Really great, wanna see?" "Sure, be right over." I entered and this smile took over my face. I placed all but one beer in the frig, opened it, lit a smoke, and peered over the stove and through the wide opening to bar top. The high open beam ceiling, sky-lite atrium, tiled floors, I surveyed from the built in couch. This was my masterpiece. The full hipped, tongue and grove roof was unobstructed, as only partition walls of eight feet defined spaces. Sliding glass announced the jungled rear. One in the living room, the other in my master bedroom. Light filled the place. A minimalist bachelor, my clothes were arranged in the louvered closet, a futon lay on the bedroom floor, the kitchen had a few pots and pans and two barstools occupied the space. Mick drove up front and let himself in. "Cool"....rolled out of his mouth as he set foot within. "Grab a beer from the frig"...his slow moving frame rounded into the living room, where midway he stopped and gazed about. "Shit, this is great!" He placed himself down opposite me and pulled a doobie from his shorts' pocket, flicked his Bic, took a hit and passed it on to me. "Ya know man, you gotta have a house warming party." Together, at his prompting, I followed him to his place. It was the place I had ridden my horse to a few years back. I followed him into his two roomed domicile where he immediately turned on some jazz at extreme level. Out on the entry deck his voice boomed above the music towards the cliff structure across the flat acreage. A very tanned, almost skin and boned person walked bare footed in response to Mick's call. At the foot of the stairs he stopped and in servant like manner bowed. This guy was the elder brother of a TV personality. His entire family had musical credentials of superior standing. Here he was on Maui playing out some sort of something. He and Mick shared some words and after awhile of passing joints and drinking more, the three of us out to the carport structure placing all sorts of sound equipment and the Yamaha electric Baby Grand into our trucks. Darkness had already fallen as we moved all of it into my house..........it progressed early into the morning. After exacting placement of wires, speakers, mixing board and microphones, the piano man pounded out his first resounding chords.
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