My Kind of Town
The Honolulu Soap Co.:
The Sunday Digest>> Keeaumoku Street
Lily has to see it for herself, and gets there just in time to watch the mangled remains of Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop Kamaka's yellow Town Car getting winched onto the back of a tow truck.On the car radio, KINE's Noe Tanigawa reports: "Police have just confirmed that Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka was not in his car when it went over the Keeaumoku Overpass. The lone occupant was a single female who remains unidentified at this time. She suffered multiple injuries, including a broken arm. Police have also confirmed that drug paraphernalia was found inside the car and that the young woman was stark naked when the car crashed. There is no word on the senator's whereabouts."
>> Honolulu Soap Co.
The phone rings barely 30 seconds after the radio report about the Board of Water discovering that a Waimanalo well is contaminated. The phone goes quiet, rings again. The code Sheets Ah Sun and his brother Mits use when they need to speak. A code made necessary when they concocted a family feud 21 years ago."What the hell's going on?" says Sheets. "You heard, eh? Got me. News didn't say where in Waimanalo."
"Can you check?"
"Of course I can, but I won't. Why call attention? Somebody going wonder why a Pearl City cop is interested in an illegal dump site in Waimanalo. Sheets, I telling you, same thing true now like then. If somebody going find something, they going find it. Nothing you can do."
>> Portlock
After her husband died when a ferry sank between Zamboanga and Cebu, Rosalita Resurreccion went to work as Lily's maid and cook, and for the past year has lived with her 6-year-old daughter Elizabeth in the cottage behind Lily's home.The phone in the cottage rings, Rosalita answers, and hears a familiar accent. Her husband's cousin, Muhammed Resurreccion.
"Oh my goodness!"
Muhammed had a Muslim mother, Catholic father. Their marital religious wars eventually led his father to stab his mother to death, a crime for which her Muslim brothers tortured and killed Muhammed's father -- after breaking him out of jail! Now Muhammed is coming to Hawaii for a visit.
It would be nice to see Muhammed again, the very cousin who arranged for her work visa. Rosalita wonders on which side of the Catholic-Muslim divide Muhammed stands, but is too shy and polite to ask.
>> Kapiolani Boulevard
Just seeing her cousin Quinn on his HPD motorcycle going the other direction makes Lily Ah Sun swoon.But she felt it before she knew they were related, when he'd pulled her over for speeding. And every signal she gets from him says that maybe the feeling is mutual.
At the moment he must be on serious police business, judging from the way he accelerates away. And she can't help feeling disappointed that he sees her and just disappears again.
>> State Capitol Grounds
Posted at the edge of the Capitol grounds across from Hotel Street to keep the peace at the hate crimes bill rally, HPD Officer Quinn Ah Sun has never before seen two men kiss. The odd couple, a young local guy and older haole, break their lip lock and continue toward the rally with thousands of others chanting "Just say no to hate!"That's when Skinhead appears. "F--- you, queers!"
Quinn starts moving in that direction.
"I hate you! And what're you gonna do? Nothing, because you're a bunch of little flower boys!"
Lance Ah Sun pulls closer to Greg.
"God, that's disgusting!"
Skinhead lunges and throws a punch at Lance. But Lance is a ballet dancer and nimbly sidesteps the attack. But Lance does not see the curb and trips, then stumbles on someone's foot and falls backward, Greg reaching out to catch him in vain. And even above the cacophony of chanting and shouting, Greg hears the sound of a human skull meeting the corner of a concrete curb, like a pumpkin getting squashed.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com