My Kind of Town
Freedom of speech
>> Waterfront Plaza
This was one of the oddest stories Star-Bulletin writer Cruz MacKenzie encountered. Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka, had not been heard from in three days. Neither his secretary at the Capitol, Grace Ah Sun, and his sister, DeeDee Matsuda-Jones of Mililani, had heard from him. The senator even missed the last two days of the legislative session -- thus not being there to defend the unions' position. Not a good thing, unions being his biggest known contributors.Then today his car crashed off the Keeaumoku Overpass, it's lone occupant being a young woman, loaded on ice and stark naked.
MacKenzie called sources at strip clubs and hostess bars that the senator was known to prefer. (He and MacKenzie had similar tastes in one area at least.) MacKenzie asked an airline friend to check passenger manifests to Vegas, a favorite recreation spot of the senator. He was turning up only air. The phone rang.
"MacKenzie." He listened. "Mm." Listened some more, scribbled notes.
"Mm-hm." Took a deep breath. "You're sure he's there now?... OK, thanks. Oh, and give me your number."
MacKenzie hung up, had to laugh. You could do all the digging in the world, triple-cross-checking. You could get inside people's heads and get them to open their souls. You could write like Hemingway. But the best that journalism offers just happened to him. A real person called with a real news tip. You could say MacKenzie just got lucky. And MacKenzie wouldn't disagree. He also thought that at such moments, when freedom of speech is so clearly alive and well, the world got lucky. He had the coolest job.
>> Kailua
Sheets should have gone for a walk at the beach. It always relaxed him. God knows he needed some calming, after the news today about a Board of Water Supply well in Waima nalo being contaminated by a nearby but previously unknown illegal chemical dump site.There was one thing he could do to get his mind off what they might find in that dump site. He could start packing for his son Laird's graduation from Stanford Business. It would be the culmination of Sheets' dream for his son, and Sheets' greatest moment as a father. They wouldn't leave for another couple of days, but by planning what he'd wear in California, he would be starting the excitement, the joy, the satisfaction early. No matter what they find in Waimanalo, they couldn't take this away from him.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com