My Kind of Town
Male sniffing ritual
>> Queen's Medical Center
The way Lily Ah Sun's brother Laird hit it off with their long-lost cousin Quinn - once they'd gotten past the genetically mandated ritual of initial male sniffing for superiority - was amazing. They got along so well, it was almost enough to make Lily jealous. She wanted Quinn all to herself. But Lily reminded herself how wonderful it was to see the male Ah Sun cousins talking. And to hear them talking - voices resonating with that harmony unique to families - was music to her ears. This was how families ought to be.
What Laird, who was about to graduate with a masters from Stanford Business, and Quinn, the motorcycle cop who was here with a gunshot wound to the thigh, found in those first moments of checking each other out and measuring themselves against the other - and it was reinforced as they pored over photocopies of old newspaper clippings about the Ah Sun clan - was that each respected the other.
Physically, they were different yet so much alike. Quinn, at 6-foot-3, was taller by a couple of inches and even through his hospital gown it was obvious he pumped tons of heavy metal.
Need a couch carried upstairs? Call Quinn Ah Sun. Lily could see him as one of the king's warriors in old Hawaii. Laird was a runner and tennis player, lean and lithe. The term boundless energy was invented for him. Lily imagined him as one of the king's messengers.
But in their facial features the cousins looked as much alike as their fathers. They shared the same strong chin, high cheekbones and thick black hair. Their eyes, nose, mouth and ears had clearly been arranged by the same genetic landscaper. They were Ah Suns.
So was Lily, but she resembled her brother much less than he resembled their cousin. Lily's nose was not so broad, her hair finer, her lips fuller, her eyes hazel not brown. But she carried the Ah Sun name.
Who knew, when the Holy Roller tossed the DNA dice, what was going to come up? Lily had never thought about it much, but now, seeing and hearing Lance and Laird together, she supposed that she merely favored her mother's side.
"I just got an idea for sorting out the mystery of Bobo Ah Sun," Quinn was saying when Lily's thoughts came back to earth. "There's somebody I think might be able to help."
"We've already talked to our parents and they're not saying anything," Lily reminded him.
"No, Lil, we've talked to your parents and my father."
"Oh my gosh! Your mother! How is Auntie Flo?"
"No idea. Haven't seen her in years. Guess I would've heard if she died though, right?"
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com