My Kind of Town
Pondering in her heart
>> Makiki
Fawn Nakamura was so excited she wanted to tell somebody about the wonderful evening she'd spent getting to know Chuck Ryan over tea and cucumber sandwiches at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental, and later strolling in the light of a full moon on the beach. It would have been natural to call her twin sister Shauny or their best friend Lily Ah Sun. The three had shared secrets since they were kids growing up in Kailua. Fawn wanted to tell them that she had met her future husband, and who cares if he's 51 and a widower and Fawn is 27 and still a virgin.But looking out at the city lights from her Victoria Street condo, this feeling was too wonderful. Fawn wanted to keep this feeling all to herself. And so, at least for now, Fawn did what Mary had done centuries ago, according to the Bible -- Fawn pondered these feelings in her heart.
>> Downtown
Van Truong felt she was still being punished for her baby daughter Hong's death on the filthy leaky boat that carried them away from Vietnam. Van had been heart-broken, and it was bad enough losing a daughter, but then her husband left her soon after they reached America. That was so many years ago, and Van was still single. And she was so tired of being lonely. That's why, despite her initial protests when her friend Nikki suggested Van sign up for an online dating service, Van had just sent off her personal ad from her home computer at the Executive Center.That done, she started checking the ads for guys. So many men, it was hard to believe there were that many men looking for women. Van's first choice was a haole, a journalist, a few years older than Van, but he had a nice smile and kind eyes. His ad said that he had everything he needed in life to be happy except one thing, true love. Maybe, Van thought, as she started to reply to his ad, they could find it together.
>> Pearl City
Sheila Fernandez had just come from shopping at Pearlridge and she knew something was wrong the moment she opened the front door."Oh my God!" she cried, dropping her packages, rushing to the bookcase where she kept photographs of her children and grandchildren and of course her late husband Joseph. The framed photos were gone, every one of them! Sheila quickly checked the rest of the house, and found nothing else missing. But the kitchen door had been pried open.
Whoever had broken in stole the one thing she could never replace. Who could have done such a heartless thing? And why?
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