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My Kind of Town

by Don Chapman

Saturday, July 7, 2001


Saved by a
cucumber sandwich

>> Kahala Oriental Mandarin

The cucumber sandwiches arrived just in time to stop Lt. Col. Chuck Ryan from saying something really stupid. This wasn't the first time Ryan had ever been rescued -- once from a hilltop by a chopper back in Vietnam, another from a river in the jungles of Colombia by a teammate -- but this was the first time he'd been saved by a cucumber sandwich. It's arrival kept him from blurting "I know we just met a few hours ago, and I'm old enough to be your father, and I can never tell you what I do every day at work, but I want to love and protect you forever, so Fawn Nakamura will you please marry me?"

"Cucumber sandwiches," Fawn said, regarding the dainty, crustless sandwiches on the delicate white china, quite pleased with this new experience at the Veranda. "It sounds so English."

"Quite," Ryan said in his best Brit accent. He'd been stationed there in the early days. But then he was more into pints and pub fare than tea and cucumber sandwiches. "Perhaps later, we might go to the cricket match?"

The Brit accent made her giggle. "That's quite good."

"My daughter lives there, married one of the locals. They're about to make me a grandfather."

"How old is your daughter?"

"Twenty-three." And Fawn was only 27.

She seemed to read his mind. "I'll be 28 next month."

"Any plans?"

"Nothing special. Probably the usual, dinner with my sister Shauny and Lily."

"If I may be so honest, it's hard to imagine such a beautiful, intelligent virtuous young woman is still single."

"Oh, I've had opportunities. There have been two young men who were as attracted to me as I was to them, one in college, one a couple of years ago I met at church. But ..."

"But they weren't willing to wait until the wedding night."

"To make two short stories even shorter, yes."

"Idiots." Ryan shook his head. Wisdom is certainly not wasted on the young. Or at least not on young males.

Fawn tilted her head. The way he said "Idiots" was at first funny, but the earnestness with which he said it -- as if he valued her virginity as much as she did -- warmed her heart.

"Yes," she said, affecting a Brit accent. "Idiots. I quite agree."

Ever the gentleman, he laughed softly. And Fawn felt more than warm inside. She felt a growing sense of comfort. She liked being with Chuck Ryan. The evening was still young and already she was thinking about being with him again soon.




Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com



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