LINGDOM

 Finding a rental on Oahu can be a daunting task. Tom was letting me stay at his place while I was looking for a place that my son Denim and I might share. I perused the Honolulu Advertiser most every day. On a Tuesday morning I found an ad under rentals that said, Two bedroom, two bath, $600 per month." That was a really cheap price. I dailed the number and it was busy. "Of course. Everyone and his uncle must be calling." On my third try a pleasant  sounding woman answered. "Hello." "Yes, I'm calling about your ad, Two bedroom." "Oh yes I've gotten a few calls already." "Oh I see. Is there any chance I might look at it." "Well the folks I have talked with are coming this afternoon." "Is it possible I might have a look now?" "I see no reason why not." I received directions from her and jumped in my car and headed there. "Pali exit"...that was the one. I had not driven this road before but the road on either side was a series of large, well appointed places. The Philippine embassy on my right. Next a sign saying "Queen Emma's Summer Palace". Over on the right a sign for "Oahu Country Club". This was quite the upscale part of town. I sure the right hand turn I was to take. I followed the instructions and passed one large place after another. Well manicured homes lined the streets. Gardeners were all over the place. This was really quite the ritzy neighborhood. "There's the road", right turn. "This is unreal." A sudden right again, the road was now the correct street. First on the left. I kind of did the double head shake thing. There on the embankment stood a structure so unlike any other I had passed.  All I saw was, peeling brown paint, rusty iron roof, a carport filled with piles of stuff and a jig saw puzzle of a house. The address was correct. I parked in front and walked the uneven cement stairs. "Hello Mrs. Ling!" I heard that voice I recognized from the phone. A woman stepped upon the porch and said, "Oh... are you Mr. Hansen?" "Yes Ma'am, that's me." "Good, The place is around back." I followed as we moved around another set of stairs and then stepped upon a makeshift boardwalk sort of thing. The ground moved steeply upward on my left, and another house stood twenty yards back, right against the forested mountain. "Oh my husband plans to do something about this entrance. That's him over there. Jimmy this is Mr. Hansen, I'm showing him the place." The man was standing a ways back looking up at the roof it seemed. He was wearing a worn out undershirt and his stomach hung heavily over baggy shorts. "Good." Mrs. Ling opened the door and we entered. "It's got two bedrooms and two baths...oh yes you know that." Well, it was the kitchen we had entered. There was no living room. Everything was just a little off square, but it did have two baths. "It's not much but all of our former tenants have liked it. And, we only take cash." It was not what I had expected but the price was really right. I could fix it up. "I've got the the money here in my pocket...I"ll take it." "Oh good, I'll call the others no sense they drive up here. You been in Hawaii long?" "Yes actually I have. I moved here from Maui. My son goes to UH and we are going to live here." Oh that is so nice." "There is no key, but no one bothers anything around here." I'll be going down stairs now." She walked into the hall and slid a pocket door open and walked down some stairs. "Oh, our place is down here on the left. Bye now." I looked more closely around and wondered if I'd made such a smart move. "Well, it's done." I walked out onto the rickety boardwalk and Mrs. Ling's husband waved and smiled. "So did you take it?" "Yes sir." "I'd better get to work then. There's a small leak up there on the roof." He pointed. "Yah got a minute? Could you lend me a hand?" "Sure." "I'm Jim." "I'm Charles." "Hey Charlie, I got some roofing out here around side the house. If you don't mind could you help me lean it up on the side here." I followed him through knee high grass near the edge of the house and we pulled a rather rusty length of roofing iron from a stack. He placed a wooden ladder up against the house and climbed up. He pulled as I lifted it upwards. "Got it!" He laid it over the old roofing and grabbed a hammer fro under an eave and pounded a few nails around the edges. He then brought out this dented five gallon bucket of Henry's and with a broken trowel slathered a heavy coat of the tar- like substance around the edges of the newly placed roofing. "Good as new!" "Thanks, Charlie. Work is never done when you own a house." He wiped the beads of sweat from his wrinkled brow and said, "Wanna little drink?" "Oh that's okay." "Ah come on, just one." "Fine, sure, why not." I followed him around the house and to the front porch. "Have a set." He went inside and then returned with a couple of glasses. "Nothin like a high ball after a hard days work. I built this place. My kids are grown so I told the Mrs., honey this place is way too big. I made it into the rentals. Got three. It pays our bills and we got some nice folks to talk with. Yeah I was a contractor and a teacher. My wife taught school too. Well here's to yah...lucky we live Hawaii." The sun was moving over downtown Honolulu. The view was quite nice. "I gotta get goin Jim." "OK Charley." 
 On my way back to Tom's I noticed piles of trash out along the street. Some of it seemed rather good. This was a high end area and these folks were getting rid of things that still had useful days. It occurred to me that indeed I could make use of some of it. Early the following morning I drove up and down those streets and filled my truck with just about everything needed to furnish our new abode. I even found a wide screen TV and an oven better then the one that was there. Mr. Ling gave me a hand carrying the prizes up around back. "You're my kind of guy, Charlie." "Likewise, Jimmy." "Just another shitty day in Paradise!" We laughed.