Kona Winds Read Free

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."
    With