My Kind of Town
Via Waimanalo
>>Kailua
The reason Sheets Ah Sun couldn't sleep last night came down to the radio report he'd heard 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 if this was the same site he visited 27 years ago.
Taking the scenic route was good for another reason. He was in no hurry to get to Queen's and possibly run into -- or worse, be forced to see -- his brother Mits. Officially, the brothers Ah Sun and their families had not spoken in 27 years, since that night in Waimanalo.
Things started to get dicey last night at the hospital. His daughter Lily had somehow run into her cousin Quinn, Mits' son. And somehow Quinn had gotten shot at Lily's home last night. And then Lily went to Quinn's room at Queen's and ran into Mits and his new wife. And afterwards, in the room where her brother Lance lay in a coma, she angrily demanded to know why Sheets and his brother had split the family apart.
It all went back to that night in Waimanalo, but it had to stay between Sheets and Mits. They'd kept the secret for 27 years. That's why Sheets couldn't sleep last night. And that's why he was driving to town via Waimanalo.
>>Two-way phone call
They were so close, friends practically forever, that the identical but very different twins Fawn and Shauny Nakamura called Lily Ah Sun "the third twin."
So when Fawn, moments after admonishing Lily about the inherent sin in having a romantic relationship with her first cousin Quinn, suddenly decided she was late for something and clicked off their three-way call, Shauny and Lily both knew she was upset. Even her parting "Love ya" was tight and terse.
"She can't help it," Lily said.
"No, it's her stupid religion!" Shauny said. She nearly always spoke in exclamation points. "I hope Chuck Ryan knows what he's getting himself into with her!" She stifled a laugh. "Well, you know what I mean."
They both knew that Chuck Ryan was not getting into anything until he married Fawn. She'd vowed to remain a virgin until her wedding night.
"Hey!" Shauny said, "you and Quinn have my blessing! And like I said, the Koran says it's OK for first cousins to marry, and Islam is a perfectly fine religion!"
"I'd have felt better about it before Sept. 11." But neither Koran blessing nor Fawn's rebuke could change Lily's feeling for Quinn. When she visited him at the hospital later, he was going to get a kiss.
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