My Kind of Town
>> Waterfront Plaza Go, Johnny, go
Star-Bulletin writer Cruz MacKenzie put down the phone, rubbed his hands together. If the UH student who just called was right, Cruz was about to find the long-lost Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka. He needed a shooter, dialed the photo desk, got a summer intern.
"Where's Johnny B?" Johnny B. Goo, extreme photographer and the world's only known Chinese Chuck Berry impersonator, recently featured on the "Hawaiian Moving Co."
"Why?"
Cruz played stories so close to the vest, he didn't like to even tell the editors what he was working on, much less some kid. He competed with colleagues, and had been at war with the Morning Communists long before the HNA split. "A story."
"Johnny B's out enterprising. Call his cell."
He answered on the third ring.
"Johnny B, hey, Cruz. You wanna be on Page One tomorrow?"
"What makes you think these darling children who are burying their mother in sand at Magic Island aren't cute enough for One?"
"OK. Tough to beat. But I got a story. THE story."
"I'm there."
Cruz gave him the address and the scoop. Johnny B was one guy he trusted with a story. Plus for this assignment Cruz needed a photographer who was light on his feet. Johnny B. Goo could Duck Walk.
>> Kailua
Sheets Ah Sun was staring into his closet, trying to concentrate on packing for his son Laird's graduation from Stanford Business, but coming back again and again to that night in Waimanalo 21 years ago. The night that could come to light because of the discovery of an illegal chemical dump site.
>> Portlock
From the kitchen doorway, Mickey could see the Filipino woman checking laundry outside. Heart racing, the intruder started moving in her direction.
But then she turned and walked toward the house. Mickey ducked back into the kitchen and instinctively reached for the .22 he always carried in his right pocket. But he was wearing only a towel. On the counter he saw a big wooden block with half a dozen knife handles sticking out. He grabbed the biggest one. Gleaming, sharp, serated. You could skin a boar with this blade.
The Filipino woman pulled open the sliding screen door and stepped inside.
Mickey took a deep breath.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com