Kona Winds (2 page)

"Yes, you had a telephone call shortly after you left for work this afternoon. The woman said it was very important. Just a minute and I'll get it for you. I wrote it all down on the paper beside the telephone." The small form disappeared into the room lighted only by the television tube.

A telephone call that was important. Obviously it wasn't from her parents, since Mrs. Kelly had met both of her parents and taken calls from them. That left one possibility, the school. They wanted her to teach tomorrow. Julie leaned tiredly against the stairwell wall. If that were the case, she desperately needed some rest. It would ruin everything to arrive at the classroom in the morning groggy from lack of sleep.

"Here it is." Mrs. Kelly reappeared, waving a piece of paper in her hand.

"Thank you." Julie descended two steps to reach the paper in the outstretched hand. The light in the stairwell wasn't good. Neither was Mrs. Kelly's handwriting. She didn't attempt to decipher it there. "Good night, Mrs. Kelly."

"Good night." The door was closed and Humphrey Bogart was muffled into an unidentifiable voice.

In her room, Julie switched on the overhead light and bolted the door. Unbuttoning her coat, she read the note. A Mrs. Grayson wanted her to call first thing in the morning—the telephone number was written below the message. Julie couldn't remember any Mrs. Grayson with the school. It took her tired mind several seconds to place the name. It was the woman from the professional employment agency. Julie had signed up with them last summer in hopes that they would be able to obtain her a teaching post in a private all-girls school.

After all this time she had given up hope. Maybe they had finally arranged a job interview for her. Releasing a sigh, Julie draped her coat over the back of a chair. She hadn't the energy to get excited by the possibility. Tomorrow morning would be soon enough.

Sitting on the same chair that held her coat, she untied her shoes and slipped them off, curling her toes and rubbing her aching arches. Her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of her reflection in the wall mirror. Straggly wisps of hair had escaped from her schoolmarmish bun at the nape of her neck. Julie didn't attempt to smooth the strays into place. Instead she unpinned the coil and shook her straight hair free.

Its color was not exactly light brown, neither was it dark blond, but fell somewhere in between. The California sun had usually bleached it to an unusual and attractive shade of platinum gilded blond. Since she had moved east, it had become an indistinguishable color. Tan was the closest descriptive word Julie knew, but who had ever heard of tan hair? Straight and sleek, it framed her oval face from a center part, its indefinite color accenting the pale brown of her eyes.

At the moment, her eyes were too tired to inspect her reflection and take note of the quiet beauty of her features that blossomed into loveliness under the golden kiss of the sun. Sighing, she rose. The bed looked singularly inviting, more so than a soak in the tub, no matter how sore and tired her muscles were. Her movements were automatic as she undressed and got ready for bed.

The small apartment was sparsely furnished. A single bed and a chest of drawers joined a narrow drop leaf table with two chairs as furniture. Half of one wall was taken up by makeshift wooden cabinets, a tiny gas stove, and a small refrigerator. The starkness of the furnishings was alleviated by the colorful poppy-designed cloth covering the table and a coordinating reddish orange spread on the bed. Lemon and lime toss pillows mounded the bed.

An assortment of sunny posters and appliquéd cloth pictures brightened the sun-yellow walls; the woodwork was painted a pristine white. Even the enamel of the refrigerator and stove were decorated with magnetized ornaments, from butterflies to ladybirds, and bright pot holders. The entire room was a touch of sunny California in winter Massachusetts. But, as Julie piled the pillows onto the floor and swept back the bedspread, she didn't notice the cheerfulness of the room. Sleep was the only thing on her mind.

The next morning she used Mrs. Kelly's telephone to call Mrs. Grayson at the employment agency. Fully rested, she was intensely curious, but Mrs. Grayson seemed reluctant to satisfy her curiosity over the telephone.

"Do you have a job interview for me?" Julie asked the point-blank question after Mrs. Grayson had asked her to come to the private employment agency.

"I do have a job offer for you," the woman stated without any qualification. "I would like you to come in so we can discuss it."

"A job offer?" Julie repeated. It sounded too good to be true. "Teaching?"

"Yes, teaching," Mrs. Grayson assured her. "What time can you come to my office? Please try to make it as soon as possible."

"I'll leave now."

Julie splurged and called a taxi. She had been offered a job—teaching! Only now did she admit the fear she had been hiding—that she would be like so many college graduates who could not find a position in their chosen field. Not even the post as a substitute teacher had given her much encouragement for a future, permanent position.

By the time she had seated herself in Mrs. Grayson's office, she was so excited that she had difficulty retaining her composure. Her attempts to appear cool and calm were betrayed by the sparkling in her eyes.

"You were going to tell me about this job offer." She came straight to the point.

"Yes." Mrs. Grayson sifted through the papers on her desk and withdrew one halfway down a stack. "I received a telephone call yesterday afternoon from a Miss Harmon. She wants to hire you to tutor her niece. She has offered a—"

"Tutoring?" Julie repeated in disappointment. "I thought you said it was a teaching post."

"Tutoring is teaching," the woman reasoned. "Besides, I think you'll find this offer very attractive."

"Perhaps." But Julie felt misled. She couldn't summon much enthusiasm for it.

"You see, Miss Harmon and her niece live in Hawaii." A faint smile edged Mrs. Grayson's mouth at Julie's startled glance. "I thought that might get your attention."

"How did she know about me?" Dazed, Julie tried to recall whether or not Mrs. Grayson had actually said she had been requested for the job. She was certain she had.

"Do you remember the Rifkins? You tutored their daughter this past summer. You were highly recommended to Miss Harmon by them," was the explanation. "Now Miss Harmon is most anxious to engage you."

"But surely there's someone in Hawaii she could hire for her niece," Julie insisted.

"I'm certain there must be," Mrs. Grayson agreed. "I didn't inquire why Miss Harmon specifically wanted you, other than to learn about the recommendation she'd received from the Rifkins. I can only presume she's indulging in a whim of the wealthy. Importing a tutor from Boston is probably something of a status symbol that she's acquiring."

"I see." It sounded logical in an illogical way.

"Would you like to hear more of the particulars?"

"Yes, of course." She would be foolish not to.

"Miss Harmon's niece was injured in an automobile accident shortly before the Christmas holidays, as I understand. It's anticipated that her injuries and recovery are going to keep her out of school possibly for the balance of this school year. The girl is sixteen, a junior in high school, and most anxious to graduate next year with her classmates."

"So the position would be for roughly five months," said Julie, roughly calculating the length of the school year that remained.

"Miss Harmon has guaranteed six months' salary to persuade you to leave whatever teaching post you're now holding." Mrs. Grayson smiled with a slight hint of conspiracy, and named a salary figure that dazzled Julie. More and more, it was becoming an offer she couldn't refuse—not that she had contemplated refusal.

"You will live with Miss Harmon and her niece. Miss Harmon also wanted me to assure you that a nurse had been hired and you would not be required to do any sickroom care. Evenings and weekends you would be totally free to do as you please."

"It sounds too good to be true—a paid vacation in Hawaii in the dead of winter!" A faint laugh escaped Julie's throat as she shook her head in amazement. "Where do I sign? When do they want me?"

"Immediately."

"But my job—"

"Miss Harmon is paying a high price for your services as well as taking care of our agency's fee. Naturally she expects you to come when it's convenient for her. I have a first-class plane ticket for you here, paid for by Miss Harmon, with the reservation for the day after tomorrow. I'm to telephone her this afternoon to confirm that you've accepted her offer and will be on that plane."

"The day after tomorrow. That isn't much time," Julie murmured, thinking of all the washing and packing she had to do, not to mention informing the restaurant and school that she was quitting without notice.

"What's your answer?"

"What else can I say?" Her shoulders lifted in an expressive shrug. "Yes. Tell Miss Harmon, yes."

A few minutes later, she rose to leave, with the address of her new, if temporary, place of residence in Hawaii, an unpronounceable town on the island of Oahu. She still felt a bit dazed by her good fortune.

Mrs. Grayson rose to see her out. "Send us a postcard to let us know how you're getting along, Julie."

"I will," she promised.

"Aloha. I believe it means 'goodbye' and also 'good luck'."

"Thank you. Aloha," Julie returned the Hawaiian greeting and a smile curved the full width of her mouth.

Outside, she succeeded in flagging down a taxi for the ride back to her apartment. Bundled up in her winter parka, a wool scarf around her throat, she gazed out of the window at the bleak, gray skies and snow-packed streets. In two more days she would be looking at palm trees and sandy beaches. It seemed impossible.

Mrs. Kelly was at the door to meet her when she arrived. "Did you get the job?"

"Yes." Her head bobbed in an eager response. Julie pulled off her mittens; she was bursting with the news. "Mrs. Kelly, it's in Hawaii!"

The bright blue eyes widened expressively. "Hawaii!"

"Yes, can you believe it? I have to leave the day after tomorrow." The information was barely out when Julie realized, "That's hardly enough notice for you to find someone to rent my apartment, but I'll pay you a month's rent." All the things she had to do and all the arrangements she had to make began crowding into her mind. "I won't be able to take all my things in the apartment. I'll need a place to store them. Would you have room somewhere? It would probably be just a couple of boxes."

"Of course I have room. I have the whole downstairs," the landlady declared.

"I'll gladly pay you for keeping them," Julie assured her quickly.

"Gracious, no! I've always dreamed of going to Hawaii. If you'd send me some postcards and maybe some little souvenir, that would be payment enough. Remember Dorothy Lamour in her sarong, dancing the hula?" Mrs. Kelly waved her arms out to the side and attempted to make her hips sway in the native dance.

"I'll send you dozens of postcards," Julie promised as she shrugged out of her heavy coat. "Oh, before I forget, I have the address where I'll be living so you can forward my mail to me."

"Let me write it down." The landlady took the slip of paper Julie had retrieved from her purse and walked into the living room. "Will you be moving to Hawaii permanently?"

"I don't know. I hadn't thought about it." Not until this moment. Perhaps if she succeeded in impressing this Miss Harmon with her competency as a teacher, the woman would recommend her for a position in the local school system. Miss Harmon seemed to be a woman of apparent wealth, and probably influence.

"Since you have a job there, I would certainly live there for a while if I were you," Mrs. Kelly stated, bending over a pad and copying the address.

"The job is only temporary. I'm tutoring a young girl who's been injured in an automobile accident," Julie clarified her position.

"Oh, you're going to be a governess." The landlady straightened.

"Not exactly. The girl will be returning to school as soon as she's able. I'll be following the curriculum set by the school she regularly attends, so it isn't quite the same," Julie explained. "And since the job isn't permanent, I don't know if I'll be staying on there. It will depend on whether or not I can find another position."
 

"You're an intelligent and attractive young woman. I'm sure you'll find something." Mrs. Kelly returned the original slip of paper with the address on it to Julie.

"I hope so. But right now, I have to start getting organized. I have to call the school and Joe at the restaurant."

"Don't forget to call your parents."

"Yes, I'll do that tonight when both of them will be home. Don't let me forget, Mrs. Kelly," she added.

"I won't," the woman promised.

"I'll need some boxes for all my dishes and linen." Julie began listing the things she had to do. "I'll have to pack my clothes and put away all my heavy winter things—I won't be needing them in Hawaii. Heavens, I have clothes to wash!" A whole basketful, she remembered.

"You bring your dirty clothes downstairs to me. I'll wash them for you," Mrs. Kelly offered.

"Would you? You are a darling, Mrs. Kelly. I'm going to miss you." Julie gave the diminutive female a quick hug. "I'll bring the clothes down right now."