My Kind of Town
>> Kailua The scenic route
Neither Sheets Ah Sun nor his wife Grace had slept much last night. She assumed that Sheets was restless for the same reason she was -- their youngest son Lance lay in a coma at Queen's after falling and hitting his head during the hate crimes rally. Which probably confirmed what they'd privately suspected for years --Lance was gay. That was of far less concern to Grace than her son's health, although she suspected the gay thing was weighing heavily on her husband of 28 years. Sheets gave her no clues to what was really churning his mind.
This morning, before they returned to their grim vigil at Lance's bedside, Sheets said he had a couple of business things to take care of and then he'd meet her at the hospital.
The difference between men and women, right there. With her baby lying near death, work was very low on Grace's priority pole. Of course the legislature was not in session and her boss Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka had left a message that he was going to Portland. So Grace had called the senator's PR guy, Machiavelli Wong, and told him he was in charge for a few days. Machiavelli always thought he was in charge. Now he really was.
The reasons Sheets couldn't sleep last night came down to the radio report he'd heard yesterday about a previously unknown illegal chemical dump site contaminating a new Board of Water Supply well in Waimanalo. That's why Sheets was driving to town via Waimanalo. He had to see for himself if this was the illegal chemical dump site he knew from 27 years ago.
>> Queen's Medical Center
Charge Nurse Van Truong was her usual quick and competent self as Dr. Laurie Tang put a cast on another kid who fell and broke his wrist while wearing those ridiculous shoes with wheels in the soles. Why did parents buy their kids an invitation to the ER as a present? One of the world's great mysteries.
Today so was Van Truong. Dr. Laurie had worked in the ER with Van long enough to know her moods. This morning Van was looking, well, different. Dr. Laurie couldn't put a finger on it -- like Van didn't get enough sleep but it was the best thing that ever happened to her.
Or maybe Laurie was just looking at the world in a different way since meeting HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes this morning. So different that she invited him to her condo for dinner tonight.
And then Laurie remembered.
"So how'd it go with that on-line match-making service last night?"
Van's eyes glazed over, a grin spread across her face. "So many men," she said, clearly amazed, "going crazy for me."
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