My Kind of Town
>> Ala Moana Beach Park Double-barrel trouble
Wearing shades and a Dodgers cap pulled down low, Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka whipped the mo-ped into the Magic Island parking area, jumped off the little bike. Standing close to the last monkeypod tree between the lot and the beach, Donovan quickly looked around. His girlfriend, Dr. Laurie Tang, always parked her white Mercedes convertible on the beach road when she came to swim. No sign of her. Donovan didn't know what kind of car HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes drove, or which direction he'd be coming from. But he'd recognize that big Portagee in a heartbeat.
Donovan took off the backpack he wore, squatted, very carefully lifted a mask and snorkel from the backpack. The snorkel was over a foot long, what they called a "shotgun." Boy, was that the truth. You couldn't tell by looking, but it was double-barreled.
He removed his shirt, cap and shades, stuffed them in the backpack, and lay them on a towel on the sand. Holding the mask, Donovan jogged the 30 yards down to the water. The key to his plan was being the first one in the water. So far, so good.
>> Royal Hawaiian Hotel
Maybe she was being presumptuous, Lily Ah Sun thought, still lying in bed. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. But she didn't really think so. She had felt her cousin Quinn's passion, and it was as strong as her own for him. There was that one kiss -- well, one kiss that lasted over a minute -- at Maunalua Bay last night. And then later at her home they were in the garden, and Quinn had sighed "Oh, Lily," as if surrendering the last of his will power, and his fingers were lifting her chin, and their lips were inches apart, and she too was surrendering, when they heard Rosalita screaming from inside the house.
No, Lily was not being presumptuous. She was not jumping to conclusions. Their feelings were mutual. And that's why, when Quinn was released from the hospital, he would come home to stay with her. He'd need a nurse, after all, during his rehab from the gunshot to the thigh. But everything had happened so fast yesterday when the cousins were reunited after 21 years apart. So many things Lily didn't know, such as where Quinn lived. Did he still live at home with Uncle Mits in Pearl City? That could be a problem, given the longstanding feud between Mits and Lily's father, and the chilly treatment she'd received from Mits when she visited Quinn in his room at Queen's late last night. But too bad. Quinn was coming home with 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