Crazy man! That dude is crazy! Hair in dreds, a mass of bleached blond rats’ nests. Sitting on a short stool, naked, balls and junk dangling down almost touching the ground. He is focused on pinching the leaves off of his marijuana crop while the butt of a joint hangs out of his mouth.
One day we come home to a dead rabbit staked out in the front yard. On the stove – a stewing mass of blood and flesh- it’s the rabbit. Pupule has trapped it and given it a death sentence for eating his crop. We can thankfully only imagine the poor screaming beast as it’s getting its throat slit. Pupule offers us some of his rabbit stew, but we all decline in disgust.
Pupule is living in a tent in Jo’s backyard. He has constructed a green house for his weed crop and has a large organic vegetable garden. He has developed a grey water system to deal with three babies worth of laundry. He believes that by using bio-degradable laundry detergent and passing the grey water from the laundry and the kitchen sink, and passing it through a series of tubes and holding barrels, he can re-use the waste water to irrigate the extensive garden he has growing on their quarter acre.
Jo is with a new man now – a steadfast blue collar, non-drama seeking straight arrow who loves Jo, her three kids – each by a separate man. He tolerates Pupule because Jo needs him too.
Pupule meets Jo when she is already knocked up by some other forgettable character. He is smitten by her curvaceous belly, her wonderfully large breasts, and her long unkempt brown hair. She is a true Hippie Mama making veggie tacos on Friday nights for whoever shows up with a six pack or a couple of joints to share. She is funny and warm and everyone of both sexes wants to bask in her golden aura.
She mixes three kinds of beans together in a large pot along with garlic, thyme, cumin, red chilies, onion, coriander, sage, paprika, pepper, sea salt, and a little oil. She boils the mixture for two or three hours, but the garbanzo beans never do get soft. She takes this as a plus since their harness will provide the texture to the mashed beans which she uses as a meat substitute in the tacos.
She fries the shells to the desired shape and crispness in hot oil and sets them aside. She makes a vegetarian Spanish rice dish with short grain brown rice, garlic, chopped onions, and chopped fresh tomatoes. There is a chopped salad with fresh greens, onions, cabbage, and grated carrots. Fresh salsa has also been prepared. There are bowls of grated cheese, green onions, guacamole, and various bottled hot sauces.
None of the plates, bowls, forks, spoons, or cups match. But the table is clean and orderly and there is a mixed bouquet of fresh flowers in a chipped blue stoneware pitcher in the center of the table on a white lace doily.
“Help yourself, People,” Jo calls out as she fills each golden shell with a portion of the thick bean mixture. Just then Pupule pops in through the slider – naked as usual, wild eyed, stoned, dirt crusted hands and feet – holding a colander of freshly harvested garden morsels including a few leaves of marijuana which he says will add a little spice to the salad. He places the colander, lady bug and a small slug included, on the table.
No one can avoid noticing his dangling junk which is quite large and attractively displayed in a nest of sun bleached pubic hair. Puli realizes his social faux pas and hurriedly slips on a pair of loose cotton shorts which really leave nothing to the imagination, especially since we have all just seen everything he has to offer.
He keeps adjusting himself too much for polite company. Still, the social effort has been made and everyone is familiar with his odd habits anyway. There is a lot of joking, smoking, talking… someone gets out a guitar… more eating, smoking, joking, talking, singing….
Note: Pupule means crazy in Hawaiian. You can call him Puli or Pupu or PP… anyway you slice it the dude is crazy!
(First published 7/7/11)
