My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center Fingerprints
Unlike Dr. Laurie Tang's previous patient, the young woman who came to the ER unconscious without ID and thus was known only as 46-525909, this young man was carrying a wallet when he was admitted. He was unconscious, from severe trauma to the head. But ER social worker Lin Matsuo found a driver's license in the wallet. As difficult as the medical team's work was, Lin's was tougher. She had to contact the family and break the bad news.
Patient Lance Ah Sun had quit breathing moments ago. And as Dr. Laurie Tang's exquisitely nimble fingers worked to save the young man on the table, a computer at HPD headquarters was matching the thumb print she had given the last time she renewed her license with prints found in the Town Car of Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka, which had crashed off the Keeaumoku overpass, the lone occupant being 46-525909.
HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes would be paying Dr. Tang a visit.
>> Honolulu Iron Works
While Shauny and Lily used the restroom, Lt. Col. Chuck Ryan and Fawn waited in the lobby.
"I'm sorry, those two were such a handful, I didn't get a chance to ask about you," Ryan said.
"Yes, that's exactly the right word, they can be a handful," Fawn said, shaking her head. "The most important thing to know about me is that I'm a Christian. Not the kind to talk about it too much. I just try to live my life in a Christian way."
"How refreshing."
"And you?"
"I'm not a very good Christian, I'm afraid. But I'm on the team."
"That's the main thing."
Ryan reached into his shirt pocket, withdrew a business card. "Here, this is me."
Chuck Ryan --International Investments and Head-Hunting -- Baltimore. More or less.
"How interesting."
"Do you have a card?"
Fawn opened her bag, handed him a card. Fawn Nakamoto -- Office Manager -- Full Faith Gospel Fellowship.
There was a moment of awkwardness. The older man, the younger woman, the chasm of the years -- uncharted territory for both of them. Want riding with uncertainty. Fawn heard the girls coming, stuck out her hand. "Well, nice to meet you."
Ryan took her hand and shook it a heartbeat longer than socially required. "May I call you?"
Her reply was the beatific smile of an angel and the blessed words: "Please do."
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com