Romance at the Mall

The job at Liberty House was a lot of fun and very easy.  We designed and put displays of merchandise together in a way that encouraged the customer to buy.   We dressed mannequins, hung signs, smoked dope and made bongs in the back room workshop. Chuck liked to do the high fashion displays but he made me do the women’s lingerie displays because he didn’t really care for girls’ underwear and I had limited experience but was an apt learner. He was such a prude.

While working in the different departments I got to know a slightly older married woman named Dorothy Litara Yokomoto who was the manager of the women’s clothing department.  Everyone called her Doty.  She was 27 years old and very petite and quite pretty.  There was a little spark between us and I asked her to go out into the mall for lunch.  Soon thereafter it was nearly every day.  After lunch we would take a walk and spend time talking.  Talking let to kissing.

Over time I learned that she was very unhappy in her relationship with her husband and that her mother was Queen of the island of American Samoa, and her father was a white businessman from San Jose’ California. That made her a Samoan princess.  How cool was that for a good ole boy from Missouri?  Of course I had no conception of how small that little island in the south Pacific was or that it was only a big deal to you if you were Samoan.  

Now the dark side…

Sketch of Doty and Kirk 1974

Doty's husband was a Japanese guy named Sid.  He was a flight attendant for United Airlines who also imported and exported heroin; transporting it from overseas in his luggage, which was never inspected back in those days.  Doty had been addicted to heroin for a short time but had kicked cold turkey when she found out she was having a child.  She had been off heroin for more than 4 years. Now she had a good paying job at the store and was on the cusp of leaving her husband.  It seemed I became the catalyst she needed when we started our affair.

She always had a stash of the best pot or hash. We used to drive all over the island in her little Mercedes 250 SL listening to tunes and doin' doobie.  She introduced me to some of her local friends and I learned a lot about the Hawaiian-Asian American culture.  We hung out in town with Dane and Suzie Sasaki, a Japanese couple.  Dane made his living selling small amounts of drugs to his many local friends.  He didn’t sell in volume and he didn’t sell heroin or coke because it was too risky, but he did branch off from pot to speed and acid.  Strange as it sounds, in my mind at the time these were just really good people.

Doty left Sid while he was on a trip and moved in with a friend, leaving her daughter behind with Sid’s mother.  She knew that Sid would hunt her down if she took the child. I didn’t know this was happening and only found out when it was done.

After the separation began somehow Sid found out about our relationship and one day at the store I heard he was looking for me.  Doty told me that sometimes Sid carried a gun and that he might be on his way to Liberty House to confront me. She told me to leave right away.  I let Chuck know what was happening and he agreed that I should leave. 

A short time later Sid arrived at the store and found Chuck up on a ladder doing a display.  He shook the ladder and asked Chuck if he was me.  Of course Chuck said no and that I wasn’t working that day.  He told Chuck that I better watch out and threatened to kill me.  I believe he might have had he caught up with me that day.

Luckily I avoided the problem that day and the relationship continued, though I had to watch my back for a while.  At the time I thought it was worth it, but I was young and stupid and indestructible.  I think that being with the Military Police, even if in name only, might have saved me from further conflict with him.  In his business he didn’t want any undue attention from any kind of law enforcement.  And Doty may have made him realize the marriage was over.