My Kind of Town
The Honolulu Soap Co.:
Sunday digest>>Pali Highway - town-bound
Driving to the Queen's ER in silence, Sheets keeps the Cadillac's gas pedal as close to the floor as he dares. Grace prays that Lance, her baby, is alright. They hadn't told her anything on the phone. Sheets wondered what his youngest son had gotten himself into, praying it did not interfere with his eldest son Laird's graduation from Stanford Business in just two days.
>>Portlock
"Where is Auntie Lily, Mama?" Elizabeth asks.Her mother, Rosalita Resurreccion, is getting concerned. Miss Lily said she'd be home in 5 minutes, almost 20 minutes ago.
"I'm sure she'll be home any minute with your Popsicles. That's why i have to get those sheets off the line and onto her bed."
Reclining on the unmade bed, Mickey takes another gulp from the bottle of red wine he'd found in the kitchen. He loves the anticipation, thinking about the look on the face of the woman he'd been trailing for two days when she comes home and finds him in her bedroom. And when he says her name, Lily, that should get a response.
>>Maunalua Bay
Quinn Ah Sun turns the key and his big Dodge truck's engine rumbles. "I'm sorry, Lily.""Oh, Quinn, don't be. It was wonderful, and I'm just as much to blame as you." And it was just one kiss. OK, and there was some groping. But technically the first cousins shared just one kiss. "And it was just one kiss."
"Yeah," he says, shifting the truck into reverse. Just one kiss.
>>Makiki Heights
"You sure you don't want a seat?" Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka says, taking another swallow from his eighth Bud of the day."Quite sure," HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes says, writing in his note pad. "And when was the last time you saw Serena Kawainui?"
"Uh, it was ... last night, I guess. ... We had dinner, had some drinks. And then we went to bed." In fact, he'd passed out. Donovan doesn't mention that they fought because Serena had just found out she was pregnant and wanted to keep the baby. A very quiet abortion was the only solution. Ex-strippers are not exactly First Lady material.
"Is it possible she might have taken your car?"
"She doesn't know how to drive."
That explains the accident.
"Detective Gomes, am I being investigated for anything?"
"I take it, Senator," Gomes says, surveying the living room, spotting the evidence on a corner table, "that you have not seen a newspaper or any TV news today."
Uh-oh, the Democrats' best hope in 2002 thinks.
>>Kahala Oriental Mandarin
The cucumber sandwiches arrive in time to stop Lt. Col. Chuck Ryan from blurting "I know we just met a few hours ago, and I'm old enough to be your father, and I can never tell you what I do every day at work, but I want to love and protect you forever, so Fawn Nakamura will you please marry me?""Cucumber sandwiches," Fawn says, regarding the dainty sandwiches, pleased with this new experience at the Veranda. "It sounds so English."
"Quite," Ryan says in his best Brit accent.
The accent makes her giggle. "That's quite good."
"My daughter lives there, married one of the locals."
"How old is your daughter?"
"Twenty-three." And Fawn is only 27.
She seems to read his mind. "I'll be 28 next month."
"If I may be so honest, it's hard to imagine such a beautiful, intelligent virtuous young woman is still single."
"Oh, I've had opportunities. ... But ..."
"But they weren't willing to wait until the wedding night. Idiots." Ryan shakes his head.
The way he said "Idiots" is at first kind of funny, but the earnestness with which he said it warms Fawn's heart.
"Yes," she says, affecting a Brit accent. "Idiots. I quite agree." Already she's thinking about being with him again sometime soon.
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