My Kind of Town
>> Portlock What's taking so long
"What's taking Auntie Lily so long?" Elizabeth said. "She said she'd be home in 5 minutes with Popsicles, but that was 15 minutes ago."
"Maybe she had to stop to get them," said her mother, Rosalita Resurreccion.
"No, she said she had them already."
"I'm sure she'll be here soon. That's why I have to get those sheets off the line and onto Miss Lily's bed."
>> Mickey was tempted to grab the jewelry now. But he also wanted everything to look normal when the babe in the teal Beamer he'd followed for two days came home. He wanted to be a total surprise.
Reclining on the unmade bed, Mickey took another swallow from the bottle of red wine he'd found earlier in the kitchen. Something called Opus One -- 1991. Whatever. He wasn't a wine guy, but this stuff wasn't bad. He took a hit on the ice pipe, put it back in his left pocket. Another gulp of wine. Patted the .22 in his right pocket. Living the high life.
>> Maunalua Bay
They walked hand in hand in the light of a crescent moon that glittered the sea, Lily Ah Sun gripping her cousin Quinn's hand so she wouldn't stumble. He was rescuing her after she'd spent the afternoon getting wasted with her friend Shauny because her father had shot down her proposal to reorganize the family company, the Honolulu Soap Co., now that he was talking about retirement. Instead, he was going to name her younger brother Laird president -- on the day he graduated. So she did what she never did, got schnockered.
What a day, a motorcycle cop pulling her over for speeding. And in the sparkling of an eye, as the cop took her license, they shared a moment that lingered, a silent gaze that spoke of wanting and dreaming and at last fulfillment. And then he looked at her license and said her name, shocked. The cop turned out to be her long-lost cousin Quinn. Today was the first time they'd spoken in 21 years, since they were six. Talk about good news, bad news.
"Thank you, Quinn. You saved me today."
He squeezed her hand. "Any time."
What happened next began innocently. Lily stubbed her shoe on a rock, stumbled. Quinn gripped her hand tighter while at the time leaping in front of her, blocking her fall, her chest lunging into his, his strong arms suddenly around her, holding her. Her hands suddenly on his hips, pulling him to her, breathing his name into his muscular chest.
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