V. THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

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WHEN YOU CARE ENOUGH TO GIVE WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD

IN WHICH OUR HEROES EXPERIENCE A BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL

Epiphanies May Come And Go, But Zircon Is For Ever

(Part Five; Part One is HERE.)

Holly did her best to spiff herself up. Who knows, Kris might have big money squirreled away. Anyway, she liked to look her best, whenever possible. Business was business. There was no make-up or perfume. All she had was her tacky little ho outfit, and what God had given her. But that was still pretty good, at her age. Even after two plus years on the street and on the crack pipe, she was a vision.

Hoilly fluffed up her hair, dried out from the cheap soap shampoo. She draped her little figure in the men's T-shirt she had somehow acquired, and pulled her shorty short shorts way up into her crotch. It was uncomfortable; women's fashions usually were. She wished she had high heels, instead of flip-flops. But this was Hawaii, so it would do.

Holly emerged from Kris's bedroom in a glow of teenaged beauty. She would have looked good in a burlap sack, complete with ashes. Kris was snoozing in his funky recliner, and missed her grand entrance. Holly shook him awake. "You still want to go out?"

"Mph. Sure. Let me just hit the head."

Kris stumbled off to the bathroom. Holly took advantage of his abscence to pop open a few of his many boxes, stacked around the living room/ dining room/ kitchen. Nothing but junk inside.

Kris came back, his hair freshly watered down. "Let's go."

They went downstairs and got in his Cadillac. He left the TAXI sign in the trunk. They pulled out of the car-port under the building and headed for Kapahulu Avenue. Kris hit the freeway, and headed for Iwilei.

"Where are we going?" Holly asked.

"K-Mart."

"Why not Walmart?"

"They're Fascists."

"Oh."

Kris realized his mistake as he approached the Vineyard off-ramp. He'd have to go through Chinatown, Crack Central, from which he'd rescued Holly only two days before. He passed the Vineyard cut-off and took the Houghtailing exit, racing past King Street and Dillingham, all the way to Nimitz Highway. He swung back around on the highway, and turned up Iwilei towards K-Mart. He made record time, and Holly was fiddling with the radio the whole way, so she hadn't noticed the run-around.

"Where are we?"

"By Dole Cannery."

"Oh. We passed Chinatown?"

"Not directly. Anyway, here we are."

"K-Mart! Kewl! I LOVE K-Mart!"

"Oh, good."

"Is that stupid?"

"No. It's perfect, since that's all I can afford."

"I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it. It's Christmas, remember?"

"Oh yeah! Christmas! Thanks, dude!"

They went into K-Mart and headed for the women's clothing department.

"How much can we spend?"

"Not much. A hundred? That's all I have in my checking account."

"Can I get some make-up and stuff?"

"If it's all less than a hundred dollars, total."

"Wow. You're strict. Just kiddin'. I'll keep it under a hundred. I really appreciate it."

Holly got a shopping cart and rolled it into the LADIES department, scooping up tiny undies as she went. She found jeans and blouses on sale, and two pairs of shoes, one sneakers, the other high heels. That was about sixty dollars. She hit the cosmetics aisle for some make-up, hairbrushes and combs, $20 worth.

They checked out and paid just under eighty dollars. Watching her delight at each trivial purchase was worth the small expenditure. A man could never derive such pleasure from the mere act of shopping, unless it was with a woman. And there's your basis of civilization.

"Hey, we still have twenty dollars left. Can I get some crack?"

"I'd really rather not. You've been clean for two days now. If you stay off it for another couple of days, maybe you won't need it any more."

"Just twenty?"

"You know if you go back down there, you'll never leave."

"Well. What difference does it make?"

"You could have a life. A good life. You could stop this sh*t."

"It's not that easy."

"You've already taken the first step."

"Unh-hunh. Eleven more to go. What are you, AA? NA? HoA? HAH!"

"Funny. No. I just like you and I care about you."

"You do? Why?"

"You remind me of somebody."

"Really? Who?"

"It's not important. Look, let's just get you some Christmas dinner, OK?"

"OK. I am really hungry, all of a sudden. Must have been the smell of pizza in K-Mart."

"You like Italian food?"

"Not really. Just pizza. And spaghetti. Is that Italian? Can we go to Sippies, instead? They have chili spaghetti, if you want. That's Italian."

"Really? Sippies?"

""Yeah. They have a good Christmas dinner every year."

"But it's not actually Christmas Day any more."

"Oh. Yeah. Right. I forgot. Well, it's still good, Sippies."

"Sippies it is."

"Can we go to the one on Vineyard?"

"In Chinatown? No. There's one right here."

"There is? Oh, yeah right, on Nimitz. OK. That's kewl. I forgot. Wow. You're like a Dad. Strict."

"Look, we don't have to do this of you don't want to."

"No, really, I want to. I'm hungry and I want to have Christmas dinner with you. You're been really nice. I want to have dinner with you at this Sippies right over here, OK?"

"OK."

"I have to pee."

"I'll drop you at the front door of Sippies, and go find a parking space."

"All right. Thanks, man. Whatever happens, I really like, like you." She kissed his cheek.

"Yeah. I like you too."

Holly got out and headed for the front door of the popular downscale local restaurant. She went in the front door, and then slipped out the side. Kris parked the car and got out and stretched. He looked up and saw a full moon, huge over the harbor. He howled at it, long and hard, unaware that Holly was gone.



[ PART SIX copyright 2008 Cosa Nostradamus.]
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