Aloha!

One of things I’ve always loved the absolute most about living in Maui is the feeling of safety. I feel no need to stride purposely through a parking lot, keys in hand, ready to jump in my car to avoid being raped, robbed, or murdered…as I always felt in California.

Maui has been different. It just hasn’t had the big-city problems. Until now. There are two women missing, both of them having disappeared in the last month. There are posters plastered everywhere that say “Have you seen Charlie Scott?” This woman, “Charlie” was five months pregnant. They have found her burned-out truck and her faithful dog, but no Charlie. She was last seen on the way to meet her ex-boyfriend, the father of her child. The ex-boyfriends of both missing women are “persons of interest.” (This makes me feel somewhat better, just so we don’t have to yet utter those dreaded two words–“serial killer.”)

This stuff just doesn’t happen here. But now, everyone is beginning to wonder. My niece, Alyssa, who has been living with us for a few months, is suddenly on high alert as she walks home from the bus stop after work. She scoffs now at me telling her how safe Maui was when she moved here. She doesn’t think it’s so safe. There are two missing women.

One thing about an island this size– it’s very hard to run or hide. All they have to do is close the airport, or check the docks. Our friend Mike, who is a heavy equipment operator and owns a lot of big machinery, had his backhoe stolen from a job site at one point. First of all, how is someone going to get a backhoe off the island without arousing suspicion? So, Mike figured it had to still be on the island. He chartered a helicopter, flew over the island, and Bingo! there it was sitting in someone’s yard.

But they have done the whole search by air/search by land grid-pattern for these two women, and have turned up nothing. To me, there’s a very good possible explanation they are overlooking in this story.

We are surrounded by a vast ocean. All it takes is a good chunk of concrete, and anybody would be gone.

I pray for the families of these two women. I also pray that the halcyon days of safety in Maui are not over forever.

A hui hou! Mahalo for reading along. If you’d like to stay in the loop, please click the “Follow” button in the bottom right corner of the Homepage.

Aloha, Jamaica