Madame Pele's Curse

Madame Pele’s Curse

 

Written by Sandy Hockenbery

Copyrightã2009

 

It was an unusually rainy & cold day for early summer, in the small Midwestern town of Sterling Heights, Illinois--quite a contrast from the sunny and warm weather of last month.

 

“I guess the rainy season is coming early this year” thinking as I pulled up to the small family-owned Travel Agency I managed.  Opening my umbrella, keys in hand, I ran to the front porch quickly, avoiding the downpour of rain that was headed my way.  I was stopped suddenly by something huddled in the corner at the top of the steps.  As I squinted through the raindrops it appeared to be an old man, dripping wet, shaking and holding a package tight to his chest.

I walked up the steps cautiously toward him.  As he lifted his head I saw 

it was not an old man at all, but a young man, his eyes sunken in with large dark circles, sporting a two-day-old growth of  beard and a terrified look on his face.   

 

I barely recognized him!  “Mr. Giorgio, is that you?”

 

“May I please come in, Sandy?”  Joe Giorgio asked politely, his voice shaking.  “I need to talk to someone and I need help.”

 

I escorted him into the office.  Sitting him down with a hot cup of coffee to warm him, I waited patiently for him to speak.

 

“Thank you so much.  I have to tell someone my story…”  Joe said as he slowly reached for the hot beverage, hands shaking, and tears streaming down his face.

 

ONE MONTH EARLIER……

 

It was a bright and sunny spring day in April when Joseph Giorgio and his fiancée, Donna Demarche, walked into the Travel Agency Donna chatting and laughing; Joe rolling his eyes, bored at her excitement and looking anxious to get on with business.

 

“Oh, Sandy, we are so-o-o excited about our honeymoon trip to Hawaii, Donna said as she bounced over to my desk. She was a stunning blonde with big blue eyes and a perfect model figure, yet she had a small town innocence about her and was as excited as a child on Christmas morning.

 

“I’ve never been out of Illinois, and I’ve never seen the ocean, and I’ve

never seen a volcano, and I’ve never….  She chatted on excitingly.

 

“All right, all right, Donna, enough! Stop already with all your chatter! We have a lot to do today”, Joe rudely interrupted her.

 

Joseph Giorgio was a tall and handsome man.  He considered himself very lucky in life.  Born into one of the most prominent families in Sterling Heights, Joe had everything he wanted--looks, money, and now the most beautiful girl in town.  He had a unique position in town too, his father was the Mayor, and in a small town that meant he could do and have whatever he wanted.  No one could tell Joe Giorgio “No”--a fact that he took full advantage of.  When Joe wanted something, he just took it, no questions asked and never in a pleasant way. 

 

“Our tickets are ready, right?  Everything better be in order.  We are in a

hurry! You know, big lavish weddings like ours take a lot of work and we still have a lot to do before Saturday!” he bragged. 

 

“Joe, be nice. Sandy really worked very hard getting us set up for everything we desired and needed for our trip”, Donna softly pleaded to him.

 

“Yes, everything is ready and I think you will find in good order just as you deman.. I mean asked.”  I tried to put a big smile on my face as I handed over the tickets to Joe.

Joe checked over the package, as I expected he would, making sure everything was to his satisfaction.  “Hey, what’s this?”  He pointed to the overnight camping trip at the volcano.

 

“That is the tour your wife requested,” I replied.

 

“Yes--I know that! Geez blondes are so dumb just like my wife.” referring to our similar hair color.  “But what is this?” he pointed to the small warning label on the front:

 

              WARNING:  Do not remove any lava rocks from the

                  Volcanic fields.----STRICTLY PROHIBITED!

 

“It’s just a local custom.  The Hawaiians believe that Madame Pele will get very angry if you steal any of her rocks, they are like children to her,” I explained

 

“Well’ he laughed “that’s stupid!  Hawaii is in the US of A, right?  And I am a US of A citizen, right?  I will do whatever I want in the US of A”, Joe replied angrily.

 

I tried to explain it is just something they have to put on the tickets a local law but I was quickly cut-off and ordered as only “Joe Giorgio” could order, to stop talking.

 

Donna, always being the constant mediator once again tried to settle him, it seemed her lot in life while they were dating and now as his wife-to-be, the calm one who kept Joe happy and handled.

 

“Please Joe, it’s just a local custom.”  Donna once again pleaded with him and calmed him down.  “Thank you so much for all your work, Sandy.  We  really appreciate it.”

 

“Hey, it’s her job, you don’t have to thank her”, Joe rudely cutting her off.

 

Ignoring Joe and looking straight at Donna I put on the most sincere smile I could,  “You are welcome, sweetie, have a wonderful time in Hawaii.” as I thought to myself, “and good luck with that arrogant jerk!”

Walking into their beautiful suite on the top floor of the Hawaiian Hilton, their “Welcome” leis still hanging around their necks, Donna never felt happier.  She flopped herself down on the bed and looked at the printed

itinerary, anxious to see what was planned for the evening and the agenda for the next day.

 

“Oh, Joe, we are spending tomorrow night camping out at the Volcanic Park.  We are going to see real live, flowing lava from a real, live volcano!”

 

“Oh, great, I spent thousands of dollars to go sleep on dirt ” he said, looking over her shoulders at the itinerary.  “Well, at least we can watch some cute hula girls tonight. I’m going to go down to the bar and have a drink while you get dressed. So go put on something real sexy, wouldn‘t want those dancing girls to look better than you now would ya?” as he put on an egotistic grin and gave her a slap across her bottom. 

 

Donna, as usual, complied with Joe’s wishes, unpacked her suitcase and looked for the best and most alluring outfit she could find.

 

“oh, Joe!” she said out loud to the empty room “I didn’t think I had to worry about you looking at other women after we were married!” as she sat herself on the bed the excitement she had earlier was all but gone.  

The next morning, Joe and Donna were picked up outside the hotel, along with three other couples for the long bus ride to the Volcanic Park Campground.  The tour guide, dressed in his colorful Hawaiian shirt, made jokes about every interesting sight on their route keeping the small crowd of newlyweds laughing and happy.

 

However, as they approached the Park, the guide seemed to change his jovial attitude and became a bit more serious. 

 

“Before we go in, I want to make sure we go over some simple park rules.  Like at other campsites, we expect our visitors to keep the park clean and respect any of the natural terrain.  But most important, and I cannot stress this enough, please, please, do not pick up any of the lava rocks and take them home with you.   It is very serious and is strictly prohibited.”

Joe was sitting in his seat smirking impatiently, when he noticed the concerned look on the guide’s face and a slight black tint in his eyes growing ever wider as he stressed this one, most important rule.

 

“Hey, buddy, all right…we got it already!”, Joe yelled up to the front.

 

“Jesus, I am so tired of hearing about those stupid rocks!, Joe said loudly, causing Donna a feeling of embarrassment.  “Joe, hush!”

 

Quickly jumping in and putting the happy mood back, the guide went back to his fun self, “ok, well, have fun everyone.  You are in for a real treat.  We should have a full moon tonight, the lava will be flowing, and believe me, you are in for an amazing experience!”

 

There was a full moon as promised, shining down on the majestic black mountain and lighting up the reddish, gold mouth of the volcano at the top.  As beautiful as the night was, the young couples hardly noticed.  They were busy hustling and bustling about, finding good spots to put up their tents and preparing their private campsites.

 

“Hey, everyone”, someone by the base of the mountain shouted.  “It’s starting.  The volcano is erupting and lava is starting to come down the side.”  The couples were easily distracted by the announcement, dropped what they were doing, gathered their blankets and rushed to the fenced-in edge of the mountain, finding perfect spots to sit down and watch the show.

 

“Oh, Joe, sit down here,” Donna said as she laid out the blanket and prepared a comfortable spot for them.

 

The volcano was slowly oozing out the red-hot liquid, dropping the hot lava down the side of the mountain, mesmerizing Donna, giving her a soothing, calming feeling.  “Oh, Joe, it is so beautiful!  Hawaii is the best place in the world.  I wish we could just stay and live here forever!”

 

Donna felt so happy and for the first time in her life she felt a glimpse of living somewhere else, being someone else and having a different life.

 

Unfortunately, her mood was quickly broken at the sound of Joe’s voice she suddenly was back to feeling like the small town girl, Joe Giorgio’s wife again.

 

“I don’t think so.” he said in a loud voice asserting his authority enough to let her know who was boss.  “Too many rules and customs for my taste,”

 

Still trying to defend her position, “but Joe it is so beautiful here it doesn’t hurt to dream of living somewhere else”

 

Joe replied back to her, “yeah in YOUR dreams, not mine”.  Then spotting a black rock stuck to the side of the blanket. Joe had a thought and under his breath he murmured,

 

 

“Hmm, but I am Joseph Giorgio and I can have whatever I want”, as he reached over and grabbed the rock.

 

“Joe, put that down!  You remember the warnings!”, Donna said nervously.

 

“Ooh, I am so scared.”  Joe stood up and looked straight at the top of the volcano defying anyone, even mother nature to stop him from taking anything he wanted.

 

There was a slight rumble and suddenly, directly in front of Joe, a gust of wind came at him, swept past and caught the blanket he was standing on throwing him off balance.  Slowly, the blanket was carried off with the wind, up and over the fence, catching a spark from the hot liquid below “pfft” the blanket went up into flames and scattered ashes across the sky.

 

 “Oh, Joe, our blanket”, yelled Donna, but she no sooner said it when there was a much louder crack in the sky as it lit up with thunder.  The rumbling became increasingly louder and the lava grew redder, pouring out violently from the crust of the volcano.

 

“Okay, everyone, back to the campsite.  Looks like we lost our nice evening and that lava is flowing faster than is safe right now.” The tour guide announced looking up at the mountain nervously as he rounded up and escorted his guests safely back to their campsites.

 

  

The next morning Donna was busily packing up their belongings, preparing to leave the campground while Joe was sitting down, comfortably having a cup of coffee. “Can you give me a hand here, Joe?”  As she looked over in his direction, Donna noticed him playing catch with a small rock.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Aw, just playing with my little souvenir”, he responded with a grin on his face, tossing the lava rock high up in the air and retrieving it in his palm.

 

“You took that anyway, even though you were warned!”  Then, suddenly a very frightened look came across Donna’s face.  “Even after…after…last night’s…last night’s…you know, the storm and the wind…and…..”

“And what?  And nothing! I’m not afraid of some mountain behind a fence”.  He had the usual arrogant look on his face.  “Listen, baby, I do what I want and I take what I want.  No one tells me what to do…Not you and not some crazy custom!  I am taking home my souvenir, and you shut up about it!  You got it?”, he yelled in a threatening manner.

 

Donna couldn’t figure out what happened or where it came from, maybe it was the fresh air and space, the feeling of freedom or the sudden realization that the world was much bigger than just Sterling Heights and and maybe she was much bigger than just the wife of Joe Georgio.  She was surprised herself that she found a courage and freedom she never knew she had, and mustered up a surprising response, “No! That is wrong and you are wrong!”

 

At first Joe was surprised but then he clenched his fists in anger at Donna’s defiance. As he lifted his fist and put it close to her face Donna had a shocking thought “my God, he never got violent with me. Is he capable of that?”  Then unexpectedly Joe heard a strength from Donna that he never could have imagined. 

 

“Don’t you dare!  Just because I am your wife you don’t own me” she confidently told him looking directly into his eyes.  

 

Joe stunned looked into Donna’s familiar green eyes, but, for a moment he saw a different set of eyes-- black eyes. No longer the familiar beautiful and kind green eyes but black, black as the lava rock he held in his hand. Joe shook it off as just a reflection from the black lava field they were standing on.  This crazy island was playing tricks on him and he just wanted to go home now and once again in control of  his wife.

 

“alright enough out of you, just pack up our stuff, I need to get another cup of coffee” he said, as he started to walk away he was startled by a most unlikely response.

 

“NO!” Donna shouted at him as the black color in her eyes slowly overshadowed her usual bright green and took over completely.

 

Joe stood frozen and for the first time in their relationship let her continue with no interruption.

 

“Joe, that is it!  I have had it!  You are not the man I thought I was going to marry.  You are mean and selfish.  I don’t want you any more!” she continued as she pointed her finger directly in his face, her black eyes staring at him.

 

“I am done! I am going to stay here in Hawaii, get a job and start a new life!” and without one ounce of emotion in her face or hesitation, Donna picked up her bags and started walking away, stopped suddenly, then turned around slowly, smiling coyly with her eyes back to the natural sparkling green Joe knew and loved.  Donna with confidence stated  “Guess you can’t have everything you want Joe Giorgio! I am divorcing you. Your family has no jurisdication here, Good-bye, Joe”

 

But before she walked away she felt compelled to give him one more message “oh and Joe, good luck, I think you might need it”. 

 

Joe no longer was looking into the adoring green eyes he took such advantage of he was staring at only black….black as the volcanic rock Joe held in the palm of his hand.

 

As Joe put cuffed his hands around his now half full cup of coffee he looked up with tears streaming down his cheeks.

 

“And that was it, I never saw Donna again.  But… but that was only the beginning of the end”, Joe said as his tears plopped into the liquid in the cup and splashed back up onto his face.

 

I thought at first he got what he deserved, but then as he told me the string of events that occurred next, my compassion for him slowly grew.

 

Joe went on to tell me he arrived back in Illinois to a very different scene.  His luck was going from bad to worse.  He barely had time to unpack when he was given the news that his father was in jail, indicted for fraud.  The family bank accounts and assets were frozen, including everything Joe owned. 

 

The stress on his mother was too much and she was lying ill in a hospital bed at Sterling Heights General.  Joe left his house and ran to her side, but he was with his mother for less than an hour when he received a phone call from the fire department.  “Sorry, Joe there was a freak electrical fire at your house.  I am afraid everything has been destroyed”, Chief Spagnoni gave him the bad news.  “Hope your mother gets better...give her my best.”

 

It was at that moment that Joe realized he had no beautiful wife, no money, no place to live, and his family was in shame.  Reaching into his pocket, Joe pulled out the black rock and stared at it.

 

Then handed it over to me his hands shaking.

 

 

“Please can you help me?  I must get this rock back to the lava field I took it from.”  Joe was pleading and sobbing uncontrollably.

 

“well ah, ok…” I said hestitantly, still in shock at the story I was just told.

 

“Let me try calling the Hawaiian Visitors Bureau, maybe they can help.” I said as I looked up the number on my Rolodex and began dialing.

 

 “Aloha! This is the Hawaiian Visitor’s Bureau.  May I help you?” the cheerful young lady’s voice came through the phone.

 

“Good morning.  I have something I am trying to handle.   It may be a bit

Unusual……” and I asked her about returning the lava rock.

 

Without any hesitation at all, the young lady said, “Oh, we get about a dozen phone calls a week about this.  Let me transfer you to that department” and with a click, then a ring, an older man answered, “Aloha! Volcanic Park Department.  May I help you?”                                   

 

“Hello. Yes, this might be an unusual request, but I need some help returning something.  Uh, you see, I have this rock that my client picked up at the park while he was on his honeymoon”… the old man quickly interrupted before I had time to get the full story out, like it was an old story told many times and he knew what the ending would be --“Oh, yes… here is what you do.  Take the rock and wrap it securely in a piece of cloth, and then place it in a box and send it to this address,” and continuing in a very matter-of-fact, this happens every day manner, he recited the full address and instructions.  “Oh, and one more thing you must include.  It is very important and don’t forget it.  Are you writing this down?” 

  

“Oh, yes, I have everthing you told me…Go on,” I responded politely.

 

“Ok. Well, this is important.  Included must be a one page, handwritten, heartfelt apology.  Sign it with “Respectfully yours,” and a full name,”

he told me slowly.

 

 

 

I looked at Joe, sitting in front of me--a broken man. 

 

“I don’t think that will be a problem at this point.  Thank you for your help.  We will send it overnight delivery.”

                     

“You’re welcome.  And tell your client everything will be ok now, I promise.”

 

Joe didn’t question any of the instructions and carried them out immediately, making sure the post office gave him confirmation of safe delivery.

 

I never heard from Joe again, there was a rumor he moved up to Alaska and now lives on a fishing boat.

 

I did see a picture and a news article on the front page of the Sterling Heights Times.

Headline “MAYOR GIORGIO FOUND INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES, REINSTATED TO OFFICE”

 

underneath the picture of Joe’s father, mother and two brothers, smiling and shaking hands with the attorney.

 

EPILOGUE

 

The old gray jeep pulled up to the edge of the field, its tires picking up the black tar from the ground below.  An old Hawiian man, with a friendly smile on his face, opened the door and stepped out.  He started singing an old island folk song as he walked around to the rear of the jeep.

 

“Aloha, means we welcome you.  It means more than words can say…”  he sang opening the trunk and grabbing the large sack holding twelve individually wrapped packages.

 

“Aloha means good luck to you, goodnight at the close of the day.” He was continuing his happy song when he stopped and noticed he could only hear the echo of his own voice in the large field tonight.  The park was calm and quiet…seemed it always was, lately on Monday nights.

 

He was taking the packages out of the sack and continuing to sing his tune--“For it’s just like a love song with a haunting, sweet refrain, bringing you joy, bringing you pain,” …and then the quiet was broken by a loud rumble.  Looking up he saw the start of hot, bubbling lava spurting from the mouth of the volcano.  It was not flowing down the mountain as usual and as gravity intended, but instead was flying high upwards and continuing to climb into the sky.

 

Slowly from the cone of the volcano, the lava and smoke were beginning to form a figure.  Amid a soft, grey-smoked outline, with a sparkling red-gold background, a beautiful young woman appeared.  She had fiery red hair and big eyes as black as the lava rocks below.

 

Quite unaffected by all the noise and the beautiful woman’s dramatic entrance, the old man calmly looked up.  “Good evening.  I have brought back some of your children,” he said as he opened each of the twelve packages and took out the contents--lava rocks of various shapes and sizes, gently placing each rock on the field, one by one, next to each other.

 

 “Also, here are your tokens of respect”, he said as he bent over and laid out the twelve letters on the ground.  He stood up and watched the letters, one by one, burst into flames as the ashes were carried away by the wind.

 

Looking up, the old man gave the young woman a smile, a slight bow of his head, and a wave of his hand.

 

“Good night, Madam Pele.  I will see you next Monday.”  he walked away, singing the end of his song--

 

 “Aloha means farewell to you, until we meet again..”

 

 

 

                                   The End