My Kind of Town
The Honolulu Soap Co.:
Sunday digest>>Portlock
After just walking through the front door, Mickey heads straight to the kitchen, opens the fridge. He is disappointed to not see even one beer.Serious beverage-wise, just a corked bottle of white wine, nearly full.
Mickey is not exactly a Chardonnay guy. But hey, when in Portlock do what the Portlockians do.
These big homes usually have a master bedroom -- he's broken into enough of them -- and sure enough, he finds the master bedroom at the end of the hall. A very feminine one.
In the laundry room between the kitchen and the garage, Rosalita Resurreccion pulls a load of sheets and pillow slips from the washer and heads for the line in back. Miss Lily likes her sheets to be naturally dried and fresh-smelling. "It's one of the best things about living in Hawaii," she says. Having come from the Philippines, Rosalita can think of many things about living in Hawaii better than fresh-smelling sheets. But Miss Lily is the boss, and Rosalita will have these sheets freshly dried and on Miss Lily's bed before she comes home.
>>Honolulu Iron Works
"Tough day," Lt. Col. Chuck Ryan says, sympathetic."Tell me," Lily Ah Sun says, and takes a sip of her sixth glass of white Merlot. "My father crushes my dreams, tells me I'm not worthy of running the company, which instead he's turning over to my fresh-out-of-school baby brother. And I meet the man of my dreams but he turns out to be my damn cousin."
"Oh, Lily, you can't be in love with your cousin!" her friend Fawn says. "I know I can't," Lily replies unconvincingly. "I don't want have kids that look like salamanders or something."
"But still yet..." says Shauny, Fawn's twin.
"But still yet..." Lily agrees.
That's when her phone rings.
"H'lo?... Hi! Quinn, my gosh!" Lily kind of giggles and whimpers at the same time. "Quinn, I got drunk and I can't drive. I need a ride home ... You would? Oh thank you!"
>> Queen's Medical Center
Patient Lance Ah Sun has quit breathing moments ago. And as Dr. Laurie Tang works to save the young man on the table, a computer at HPD headquarters is matching the thumb print she gave the last time she renewed her license with prints found in the Town Car of Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka, which crashed off the Keeaumoku Overpass.HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes would be paying Dr. Tang a visit.
>> State Capitol
Grace Ah Sun is not really psychic. But she has what some people call "powers." Heavy mana, from her Hawaiian side. And she is trying to sort out her growing sense of impending darkness and danger when the private line rings."Oh, hi, dear." Her husband, Sheets, calling from the Honolulu Soap Co. "No, no word on Donovan at all."
Her husband is a man of few words, and today he has fewer. "Mm. OK. See you at home." And he's gone.
Grace hears something -- she doesn't know what -- in his voice that troubled her. How could she know it's his sudden and reasonable fear that the dark secret of their marriage is in danger of coming out.
>>Honolulu Iron Works
While Shauny and Lily use the restroom, Lt. Col. Chuck Ryan and Fawn Matsumoto wait in the lobby. And share a moment of awkwardness. The older man, the younger woman, the chasm of the years. Uncharted territory for both of them. Want sharing a ride with fear. Fawn hears the girls coming, sticks out her hand. "Well, nice to meet you."Ryan shakes her hand a heartbeat longer than socially required. "May I call you?"
Her reply is the beatific smile of an angel and the blessed words: "Please do."
They're waiting outside for Lily Ah Sun's ride, she being too drunk to drive home to Hawaii Kai, when a white Dodge truck pulls up. A big local guy waves from the cab.
Lily can't hide her smile. " This is my long-lost cousin Quinn! These are my best friends Shauny and Fawn and our new friend Chuck."
"Hi," he says, stepping down from the cab, "everybody." The hunk weightlifter cop as shy local boy.
Lily steps off the curb and staggers. "Whoa, Lily, you weren't kidding," he says, catching her in his arms. "How much you had to drink?"
"I forget," she says, heart now racing.
He opens the passenger door for her. The seat she's supposed to get into is at her chest level. "How'm I s'posed to get up there?"
"There's a step. Put your foot right there..." He places his hands on her waist, one on each side, and his big, strong hands nearly encircle her waist. "OK, and 1-2-3..." And Lily feels herself floating off the ground, gently lifted up and into the cab. And his touch goes straight to a place that hasn't been touched in too long.
>> Tomorrow: Remember Pearl harbor
Don Chapman is the editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily, with
a synopsis on Sunday.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com