My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center Busted, big-time
"You'll have to leave," Lily Ah Sun said flatly. "When he wakes up I'll tell him you stopped by."
"Sure," said the woman who had just walked into Quinn's room with the poofy hair, mega makeup, tons of Hawaiian heirloom bracelets on each wrist and a clingy V-neck sweater that was losing cleavage by the second. "I, uh, didn't know he had a girlfriend. Sorry, eh?"
He didn't have a girlfriend, Lily thought as the hoochie mama left, until he met me today. Lily leaned down, her lips an inch from Quinn's, spoke softly: "You have a girlfriend, Quinn. It's me, and I don't care if I'm your cousin or not. I love you."
And again she kissed his lips, softly, just letting their lips touch. "What the hell?!" Another voice, a man's voice, from behind her. "Who are you?!"
Lily turned around, blushed as she'd never blushed before in her 27 years. She was just a little girl the last time she'd seen this man, but she recognized him in an instant -- and knew that she'd just gotten busted, big-time.
"Oh, hi, Uncle Mits." Her father's brother. The uncle she hadn't seen in 21 years, since the brothers Ah Sun mysteriously quit speaking.
She saw puzzlement on his face, and then it hit him. "Lily?"
"Yes." And then it was her turn to be baffled because instead of her Auntie Flo coming through the door a step behind Mits Ah Sun, it was some little Asian girl younger than Lily.
"Oh, Lily, this is Wanphen. Wanphen, this is my niece, Lily."
The girl touched her fingertips in front of her nose as if praying and bowed from the waist. "Hello." Southeastern Asia accent.
"What a surprise to see you," Mits said, clearly surprised and uncomfortable.
"Yes, what a surprise," Lily said, noting the big diamond ring that Wanphen wore on her left hand. "I was just leaving."
"Do you know what happened to Quinn?" Mits said.
Of course she did. It had all happened because of her. "Long story short, he was at my house. Some guy had broken in earlier and was trying to rape my maid, and Quinn stopped him." She paused. "He was off-duty."
Mits frowned. Quinn being off-duty confirmed his worst suspicions -- Lily and Quinn were together for personal reasons.
Lily paused at the door. "By the way, my brother Lance is also here. In the ICU. Your brother is with him."
"You have brother?" Wanphen said, her shock apparent as Lily closed the door behind her.
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