Our Window on the World

       More Letters From Paradise

        Our Window on the World

      Our window on the world is our lanai. You could also call it a balcony,or a porch. Same thing, but here it is a lanai. Ours is much like a small room in size, and contains an Indian- built Mango wood chest, table with four chairs, and a lounge. From here we have a view of not only the sea, but also Diamond Head, Koko Head, the Ala Wai Canal, and the military parade ground of Fort DeRussy. Directly in front of us are three condos, and one of the Hilton Hawaiian Village towers. Below are a Japanese restaurant, a seedy-looking hostel/hotel, and up the street a tattoo parlor, and a small Italian restaurant.

      Our window to the world recently showed us the body of a woman in a dumpster, in front of the hostel/hotel. Tonto had seen a yellow tape being put up across the driveway. Looking through binoculars, Tonto saw the body of a woman with long hair, and an arm with a gold bracelet. She called me and we watched as the whole crime scene unfolded. Finger prints, and photographs. Wrapping the body in plastic, and taking it away.This all took several hours.The event written in the paper told us her name, age and that her death was due to suffocation. Television news showed a picture of her. Good-looking, age 53. Her death was first listed as un-attended, but later changed to homocide. The man charged with her murder, has a long criminal record. The story told is that he wanted sex with her, and she refused. A review of the security camera shows him carrying her body to the dumpster. He will be put away for a long time. No one deserved to be thrown into a dumpster.

      Today as I sit here writing this, the area below is filled with trucks, vans, and people. This is because a scene from the t.v. show "Hawaii Five -O," is being filmed directly below us. Behind the Japanese restaurant is a bar called the "Hide Away." Good name for a rough place. Bikers, and all sorts of unsavory types inhabit the place. 

     Where else could you live where a murder takes place, and a t.v. show is filmed? 

Well, it is clouding up and will bring us some rain. That's our window on the world.

           Aloha

           Grant