My Kind of Town
>>Queen's Medical Center The Honolulu Soap Co.:
Sunday digestLily Ah Sun was looking for her misplaced car in the parking garage when she saw her father's Cadillac. And inside were her father and his brother Mits, talking and hugging, her father sobbing, ending 21 years of silence between the men. It had taken two terrible events that landed each of their sons in the hospital to bring them together.
Through her own tears of joy, Lily saw the brothers disentangle, and a moment later the men exit the car. She ducked. Lily would give the brothers this moment in private.
Hey, over there! Down the ramp Lily saw her teal BMW! She'd just wait for the brothers to depart. Lily heard one door close, then the other. Lily ducked lower.
"Remember what I said." Uncle Mits' voice was a gruff whisper. "Pull yourself together or you'll blow everything."
"I know, I know." Her father. Lily heard him take a deep breath. "I can do it. Eh, and thanks for coming to see Lance."
"Sure. And I know Quinn would like to see you."
"So you know why he's here?" Sheets said.
"He told me about him and Lily."
"That's still not a good idea, them being together."
"Agreed. But I have an idea in that regard."
It's too late, Lily wanted to scream, but held her tongue as the brothers walked away.
A moment ago Lily was happy that the brothers were talking again. But now she was angry. Because while her father and her uncle were talking, they still wanted to keep Lily and Quinn apart. How dare they?!
Lily would take her anger to the State Library. She and Quinn still did not have an explanation for what caused their fathers' rift 21 years ago. And Quinn had asked her to do some leg work, since he was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the thigh, and check newspaper archives for mentions of their fathers.
>> Makiki Heights
At first, Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka just pulled the pillow that would normally have been occupied by Serena over his head. But the damn phone kept ringing. Hadn't he bought an answering machine for Serena?!
He was wide awake by the time Serena's voice kicked in - on about the 24th ring.
"Good morning, senator!"
The deep voice froze Donovan. It was one of only two people in the world who would know to call him here, neither of which he really wanted to hear from at the moment. Or ever. Serena being the other.
"Sherlock Gomes calling. Just wanted to let you know I'm on my way to pick up your ticket. Remember to pack a sweater, it can get chilly in Portland this time of year. I'll see you tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. Call me at this number to confirm."
The senator did not bother writing the number down. Gomes would not be able to be here tomorrow morning. Gomes wouldn't know until it was too late, but Donovan was going to see him before the morning.
>> Queen's Medical Center
HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes stepped into an elevator, caught the faint but familiar aroma of eucalyptus, ginger and sea brine. Had Ho'ola been here too? Well, that would make sense. Or at least that would make as much sense as a goddess - who stood about 6 foot 4, walked around in glorious brown nakedness and had appeared when Gomes opened the hatch of a WWII-vintage Japanese mini-submarine at Ala Moana Beach park -- could ever make to the logical Gomes.
Hopefully, Ho'ola was on her way to visit Serena Kawainui, who had crashed Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka's car off the Keeaumoku Overpass and would require plastic surgery.
Exiting through the ER lobby, Gomes was tempted to go back and visit Dr. Laurie Tang. Dinner at her condo tonight still seemed so far away, and he felt an urge to see her. But he didn't want to come on too strong. Not yet. Technically, she was still the senaror's girlfriend. But that was going to change if Gomes had anything to do with it.
"Eh, Mits!" he called.
Sgt. Mits Ah Sun was just attaching a blue light to the roof of his shiny black Mustang.
"Eh, Sherlock, good to see you!" Mits said warmly, shaking Gomes' hand. He nodded toward the car parked in the other lot reserved for police officers. "I knew you was here."
Gomes' classic Barracuda, was infamous in the department. "What brings you over here?" Gomes said.
"My son," Mits said with two distinct tones of voice that Gomes recognized in an instant - the tough cop who was pissed off that a fellow officer had been injured, the father whose worst fear had nearly come true.
"Quinn?! My God, what happened?"
"Took a .22 slug in the thigh last night. Lost a lot of blood, but they say he'll be back on that bike of his soon enough."
"Glad to hear that, at least," Gomes said. "What we need on the road is more solo bike guys and get rid of those stupid vans. We're all in trouble when you get minimum-wagers armed with cameras and computers doing police work."
"I'm with you," Mits said. "Hey, I'm already late for duty. Good to see you again."
"Give my regards to Quinn."
Gomes had to smile as the Mustang's engine rumbled to life. Maybe one day when he was Mits Ah Sun's age he'd get a hot new car. But for now, Gomes couldn't imagine anything cooler than this cherry 'Cuda 6-banger with real Naugahyde seat covers and 8-track stereo.
>> State Library
It had been years since Lily Ah Sun was here. So long, in fact, that it hit her how small everything seemed now. In all of her previous memories, everything was so big, the stacks of books like enormous towers built of paper and ink and words, arguably the greatest combination of three elements ever created.
Lily caught herself. Well, no, actually. Moments ago at Queen's she experienced the greatest combination of three elements - eucalyptus, ginger and sea brine - the scent of Ho'ola, goddess of life. It was a scent that Lily would attempt to recreate when she got back to work. She'd been out of the office for 24 hours now, nearly a world record for her, and she really didn't believe that Ola Essences could function without her there. Suzee Mountain was a great assistant, but Ola was Lily's baby. Unfortunately, she would have to be out of the office for at least the rest of today. Because Lily's personal life had erupted.
It had also been so long since Lily had been here that she decided to get a new library card. In doing so, librarian Marion Lee discovered that Lily had a late fine, from February 1986, "Sweet Valley Twins: Three's Not A Crowd." With late charges and interest, the librarian said, the total amount due was $19,783.62.
Lily gulped. "Would it help if I returned the book?" She knew exactly where it was - on the bookshelf in her old room at her parents' home in Kailua. "I guess I forgot it was a library book."
A deal made with the stern but sympathetic librarian - who mentioned that she recognized Lily from yesterday's Star-Bulletin business story about Ola products going into Macy's stores nationally, meaning she knew very well how to get ahold of Lily if the book was not returned ASAP - Lily headed for the newspaper archives, hoping to unlock the secret of why her father and her cousin Quinn's father had quit speaking 21 years ago.
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