Dark Price of Paradise

In The Late Hours

Teuila noticed the late hour and decided to stop by Sefina's for the night, since she could make it there before nightfall. Aside from the three hours it had taken Paul and Jill to talk things out. They had spent another hour and a half with Teuila talking about profits she helped them make and praising her for helping them. Teuila patiently waited for the couple to pack up and depart the market while she went to Sefina's house satisfied she had helped the couple work out their problems.

Mitch, Tommy, and Mike were working on their third bottle of rum. Mike had been nursing his own glass, letting the two men get drunk. They proved to be mean drunks. After having to break up a fight between them and nearly getting attacked by both men in the process, Mike had convinced them that Teuila deserved to be put in her place.

"Yeah, just because her Father was King, what makes her think she is so much better than us." Tommy said, the meaner of the two men. "She's been too high and mighty. Maybe us skilled laborers need to put her in her place."

Mitch had a better idea. "We attack her and we get in trouble. Lets go do Daisy. She's nothing but a whore. People will think she deserved it."

As the two men stumbled off through the door of the carpentry shop that they worked in, Mike gathered up the two empty bottles of rum. The third the men had taken with them. Mike had arranged with one of his loyal constituents to lie about his whereabouts. The fisherman would testify that Mike was drinking with him that night and nowhere near the carpentry shop.

Daisy had worked late. Talking with Kim the night nurse, who was now making a special effort to befriend Daisy. Daisy didn't know if it was because Daisy was friends with Teuila that the night nurse was interested in her. Daisy liked talking someone who was basically from the same culture as she was, and could talk about the same general things in Chinese.

Mitch and Tommy were too drunk to wait for Daisy to come out of the clinic. Kim was not an islander. The Clinic was also near enough to the docks that Kim felt it was prudent to lock the clinic doors. When Tommy found the door locked he smashed open the window. Ignoring the screams of the two women in the waiting area.

As Tommy fumbled for the lock, Kim and Daisy fled to the examination room behind the office and locked the door. In the infirmary the patients heard the breaking window and screams from the women. Of the patients, there were four women, six men. All six of the men were capable of getting on their feet. Most of them were suffering from typhoid brought on by bad hygiene.

They staggered towards the infirmary door while the other men broke into the clinic. Tommy had seen the women go into the clinic. The sick men who tried to interfere with Mitch and Tommy were too weak to take on two strong laborers in their twenties.

As Tommy and Mitch simply pushed through the sick men who tried to stop them, Kim took two scalpels out of a drawer and handed one to Daisy.

"Be careful, they are sharp." Kim told her as she took a vial of hydrogen peroxide out of a cabinet.

Kim opened the vial and waited as she heard one of the men begin to kick the door of the examination room. She threw the vial into Tommy's eyes as he came through the door. He turned, running right into Mitch who had come in behind Tommy, clutching his eyes and screaming. Kim threw the vial itself at Mitch's face. Too preoccupied and drunk to duck the glass vial shattered as it hit Mitch's forehead sending broken glass and the remaining hydrogen peroxide into Mitch's eyes.

At this point the other men piled onto the two laborers. Forcing them from the clinic. As soon as the blinded men were forced back out into the street Kim called the police.

By the time the constables got to the clinic both Mitch and Tommy were gone. They had taken off towards the ocean. Tommy had been able to see enough to guide Mitch to the beach. Once there both men washed the peroxide out of their eyes with seawater, which burned nearly as much as the peroxide had. Tommy's sight improved. Mitch complained that he still couldn't see very well.

They worked their way along the beach to the docks. There were tramp freighters that did trade with island natives. Both men had no trouble finding a freighter who accepted them as crew. Both men had started out as fishermen. Which helped them get aboard. The doctor wasn't the best, but he helped clean up their vision. Mitch would be still partially blind in one eye for the rest of his life, but Tommy eventually could see clearly again.

Mike Hatta had his own plans. He had planned to rape Teuila and blame it on the two men. Mike used a bandana to mask his face. He found Teuila's house unlocked and walked in. Surprising Nash who had laid down on Teuila's bed to wait for her. Nash was bigger and stronger, he charged Mike and tackled him. Mike stabbed Nash with a knife he had brought to intimidate Teuila into doing what he wanted.

Knowing that he was out matched, Mike ran out onto the patio and jumped over the railing onto the beach. He ran off into the night. Nash held his had tight over his arm where Mike had slashed him. It was a deep gash that would need stitches.

Nash had arrived at the clinic in a police Jeep. He had learned that they were heading there because of a disturbance. So, he rode along. Once he arrived Kim stitched him up and told how Tommy and Mitch had attacked the clinic. Presumably to get at Daisy. Daisy was still upset. Kim had insisted that Daisy stay at the clinic infirmary until the two men were caught.