The perfume of love (rain-bi)

chapter 24

the first part of the drive to Haleakala was by way of a coast road where the sea rolled in close to the highway.

"if you'd care to use my shoulder as a pillow and go back to sleep for a while, go ahead" murmured dong won, as the big car sped along the empty road at the edge of the moonlit ocean.

"thanks, but I'm not sleepy now" jenna murmured back.

his offer had caused jihoon to turn and glance at the occupants of the back seat. he was sitting with his body turned sideways and his left arm stretched along the back of the bench seat. if joanne were to lean her head back, her silky, swingy long bob would flow over his forearm.

jenna could smell her scent. it pervaded the car, not overpoweringly but like the faint, tantalising aroma of honeysuckle drifting through an open window on a warm summer night.

lee yong said, "I read in today's Maui News that the first humpback whale of the season has been sighted." he took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at joanne.

"A herd which is astimated to be between six hundred and a thousand strong comes to Hawaii every year. they arrive about November and stay until June. they give birth to their calves here. later in the summer they reappear in Alaskan waters to feed on the huge fields of plankton up there." yong continued.

"shall we see any of them?" she asked, addressing her question to jihoon.

"we might be lucky. i doubt it."

jihoon said.

"when i went shopping in Lahaina yesturday, i was concerned to see how much modern scrimshaw and ivory jewellery is on sale there. I'm sure many people don't realise that when they buy anything new which is made of ivory they're supporting the hunting down of an endangered species." joanne said.

jihoon said dryly, "you have no scruples, i notice about wearing gold jewllery. doesn't it concern you that a human being had to spend hours underground, in unpleasant conditions, to mine the ore from which your gold was extracted?"

perhaps it was the first time he had shown his sardonic side to joanne. jenna couldn't see her face, but she sensed that the American woman was startled and momentarily at a loss.

her recovery was quick. turning her head to look up at him, she said pleasantly, "if there were a widespread trend against wearing things made of gold, what other work could the gold miners turn to? yes, mining is uncivilised. but it's better than starvation."

dong won gave jenna a nudge and, when she glanced at him, winked. clearly he shared her feeling that the Mrs Walters the skipper had met his match.

presently the route to the volcano turned inland across a wide stretch of flat land separating the mountains behind Lahaina from another mountainous area which she took to be the slopes of Haleakala.

As the three infront went on talking, she picked up scraps of information about joanne's life. like lee yong, she was divorced. if she received alimony, she supplemented it by working in California as a realtor.

this, jenna gathered, was the American equivalent of an estate agent. it sounded as if the houses which joanne sold were in the luxury category. one of her clients had been joon's cousin Norma, with whom she had become friendly and by whom she had been invited to come on the cruise.

"but i can't stay with you as long as Norma can, unfortunately," she told the two men.

"being a working woman i have to get back to my job and hope I'll be able to visit Sydney some other time."