My Kind of Town
>> Ala Moana Beach Park Unseen force
After so many years of fishing, Jimmy Ahuna had begun to think like a fish. OK, so fish don't think. They sense. Jimmy had fish sense. He was sitting on the mauka end of the seawall above the channel that leads from the open sea to the protected water inside the reef, waiting to see what the ghost sub that glided past earlier this morning would do. It was the same WWII-vintage Japanese mini-sub Jimmy had seen recently at Queen's Beach. And suddenly Jimmy sensed something about to happen. But it took a moment for his brain to translate the message: Somewhere inside the reef, the submerged sub's engine was vibrating.
>> The time was now to fulfill his mission, 57 years after it began. Shinjo Eiki still didn't know how his mission would be fulfilled, how he would begin to atone for the sins of his older half-brother Tojo, but he felt a pull, a longing. He started the engine of his one-man submarine, felt it moving forward. It was his last conscious act. As he died, Shinjo saw a vision of Ho'ola -- goddess of life, the rescuer, the saver, the preserver -- at the helm.
>> With only his mask and snorkel above the water, Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka moved in for the kill. Just 20 yards away now, HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes was thrashing around in waist-deep water, trying to swim. The moment Gomes came up for air, Donovan would blow into his shotgun snorkel. He was so close now, he couldn't miss with the last poison dart in the snorkel turned blow gun. And he couldn't dare miss, because Gomes would ruin everything, not only his relationship with Dr. Laurie Tang, but also Donovan's gubernatorial dreams.
Donovan tilted his head slightly toward Gomes, breathing steadily through his nose, waiting for Gomes to stand up.
>> Dr. Laurie Tang was pushing now, the final 50-yard sprint to the beach at the end of her swim. Laurie felt so strong it was like she was swimming on top of the water, as if she was being pushed along by an unseen force.
And she was.
>> A lesser man would have given up, but Sherlock Gomes was not a lesser man. He was determined to learn to swim, even if it killed him. But he'd have to do it another time. Dr. Laurie Tang would be back from her swim any moment, and he didn't want to look like a drowning idiot when she showed up. That's no way to go into an interview. And she looked so good in that high-hipped, electric blue swimsuit, he wanted to look his best.
Gomes began to stand up on the sandy bottom.
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