My Friend the Rapist

I lived a mile away from work. Every day I was able to stroll along a footpath that followed a beautiful stretch of white sand beachfront. The beach was public and maintained by the U.S. National Parks Service so it was well kept and catered to locals rather than the tourist crowds that tended to inhabit the beach clubs and big hotels.

I lived on a hilltop overlooking the Red Hook community. The little town supported the ferry landing and a large marina filled with sailboats and other small sea craft. I bunked in a duplex with Sonny Tanksley and Rick Parker; Sonny was the bartender and Rick a waiter at The Fish Market Restaurant where I was the chef. Our duplex neighbor was Louie Scuitto, a.k.a. 'Louie the Rapist.'

Louie had been tried and retried for rape & sexual assault three times, same victim three trials. Each time the trial ended with a hung jury but the victim and the local prosecutor would not drop the case, so Louie could look forward to another court appearance each and every year. Louie was guilty as sin but rape was a hard sell in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The locals had odd ideas about sexual assault, scantily clad and enticing tourist girls were frowned upon, they even had a law on the books about males walking around shirtless and it was the locals that made up a jury. So Louie endured the legal fees and the dubious reputation to remain a free man in this second rate paradise.

I liked Louie, he was jolly and bald, about ten years older than I, a native New Yorker and just a lot of fun to be around. Louie sold fish for the'Fishery' in downtown Charlotte Amalie, so I got to deal with him at work as well as at home. He was dating one of the part-time waitresses from The Fish Market. She was a cross-eyed beauty from Wisconsin, during the day she was a reporter for the Daily News, so she knew all about Louie's history but dated him just the same. Trisha was blonde and milk white and looked totally out of place in the tropics but her looks got the attention of the locals and she was a very effective newsperson.

Trisha lived just down the block and we started to hang out together when she had a day off. I worked 7 days a week but had mornings to myself, except on the one day a week we did the dessert baking at the restaurant. Trish loved the water but had to stay out of the sun. I found a strip of beach under a bluff just a half mile from the neighborhood. The beach and the little bay was in the shade until after noon. We started swimming together at least two mornings a week. At first we were chaste and wore swimming suits but the abandoned little beach soon gave way to nature. Trish had a lovely body, blonde all over with a fine long fuzz that covered her entire lower torso and arms. I loved to hold her in the ocean and feel the fuzz undulate against my skin. We became lovers both on land and sea. We bobbed about the secluded lagoon in an intimate embrace for hours on end.

I did not intend to steal Louie's girl, I never do. Attraction, approximation, youth and nudity all conspired against the jolly rapist. She gave him the bad news and I moved from the duplex down the street into Trisha's bed.

About a month later Trish started getting sick, she was exhausted all the time, had bouts of dizziness and fainted dead away on a few occasions. She had to quit the waitress job and was able to work at the paper only on a short shift. A doctor and his wife were regular customers at The Fish Market, I talked the doc into seeing her. She was diagnosed a diabetic and her mother wanted her home in Wisconsin so she could take care of her. I tried to convince her that I and the old island doctor could bring her around but she listened to Mom. Since she was leaving I decided to heed the cue and head back to the mainland myself. The restaurant was being sold and even though the new owners promised me the chef's job I took it all as an omen and bought a ticket to ride.

I called Trisha throughout the summer and paid attention as her health improved. I spent the warm months wandering around the Ozark mountains, working the crafts circuit and helping a friend build an Octagonal home. In the early fall I took a job as the chef of a brand new fine dining establishment in Kansas City. Trish wanted me to move to Madison, WI and I thought it crazy to head north in autumn. She said she wasn't well enough yet to leave home. Our love faded from distance and lack of contact and I lost myself in the crazy restaurant life.

I missed working with fresh seafood but threw myself into the task of learning about and producing something called nouveau cuisine. In the late 70's this cuisine was new to Kansas City but fading throughout the world. It was rumored that butter was sneaking back into sauces and not every liquid needed to be reduced to a bitter glace. I played with sauces for a couple of years but retreated to a simpler and more straightforward way of cooking in the 80's while most of the culinary world went wild with fusion nonsense, strange combinations and architectural presentations.

My favorite method of cooking is '˜a la planche,' cooking directly on a hot grill using only good olive oil and salt as seasoning.

I had an uncomfortable introduction to olive oil. My college girlfriend tried to reproduce a favored dish for my approval and mucked it up. She fried badly breaded eggplant in tepid olive oil. The breading broke away and the oil soaked the spongy vegetable. The end product tasted like fibrous pulp soaked through with bitter tasting grease. I'd never tasted anything so offensive. She was a terrible cook but a wonderful lover, I forgave her often.

Now I love this flavorful oil. Ever taste an egg lightly sauted in a fine extra virgin oil? I've worked with Italian and Greek chefs that drank the stuff. I prefer a lighter hand. I love to infuse a fine oil with a hint of flavor and sprits it on grilled items or saute medallions of pork, beef or chicken in a scant amount of herb infused oil.

Put a half cup of lemon peel into a pint jar then fill it with a good quality olive oil. Let it sit for a week in a warm space, then strain the oil into a spray bottle. Clean your grill then spray it with the oil and rub with a paper towel. When the grill is seasoned and heated directly over the coals spray a fish body or generous filet with the oil and place it over the heat. Grill for a few minutes per side, until the skin cracks or the flesh begins to become flaky. Spray again before serving with wedges of lemon and lime.