Joe Burke's Last Stand

of this immensity. Kauai is a hundred miles from Oahu, practically next door. The Aloha Airlines jet climbed and then descended into Lihue before Joe had time to

y planner in which she

first?"

Hard to explore on

aid. They rented a Toyota sed

eople from Honolulu have been known to fly over for lunch to cure their hangove

ffic light on the island, and it wasn't on a highway;

Mo said. "Too beautifu

ing a black sweatshirt, tan jeans, and running shoes. He had on his Filson bush jacket, Levis,

entucky Fried Chicken

?" he

es

heriff in L.A.; he quit after the Watts riots. He had a whistl

all

han I was. I could barely keep up with him. The good

ou free r

cutting grass and trimming trees. The owners treated him with great respect. I finally figured out wh

e of mountains. Narrow green valleys cut into the mountains, mysteriously shaded. There was a sens

t the lookout, above a three thousand foot drop and ten miles of rugged red and gold walls flecked with green. Mount

're playing tag," J

ch far below. "I almost like it better this way," Mo said, "when you can't see it all at once. Brrrrr!" They piled into the car and drove back down to the sunny fields on the leeward side. They passed through road cuts, hundreds o

l complex. "Five minutes, ten maybe," Mo said. "The client," she explained when she retu

aid. "Is there

hoes in one hand. Her pelvis tipped back; she shifted her weight stiffly from one leg to the other in an exaggerated prance that said, "You should be so lucky as to even loo

admired her breasts, high and shapely beneath a gray T-shirt. Steady, he said to himself, the woman b

ing. They were well a

, "The Tahiti Nui, do y

tauran

the porch." Mo looked at her watch. "Plenty o

irty," s

he early one." They drove over a stream that curved through sparkling

s, Hawaii is the most isolated land mass in the world. Kauai is the farthest out of the inhabited islands, and here we are at the end of the road. It stops right over there, can't make it aroun

icture of the road and one of an orange c

e that once-'Jer

"Joe Burke, at the end of the ro

from where

, right?" Joe nodded. "W

y. It was no big deal. There had been little festivals for years-'Soundouts,' we called them-music all night, sleep in a field.

er was on sabbatical. It was awful. My sister Beth was already in co

that piece for twelve noon. They asked everyone to open their windows and crank up the vol

watch again. "It'

the cat, and Mo drove them back to Lihue w

aid as they par

oe." Sh

call

edgment. Thanks for the warm

can't earn love. Love is free. Someone loves you or they don't . . . God knows why." She had been so sad and so earnest that he knew it was true. Shor

e around the corner. Or not. He wasn't all that sure he