My Kind of Town
>> State Library A familiar look
Armed with her notes from going through the years 1974, 1975 and 1981 of the golden-brown volumes of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Advertiser index, Lily Ah Sun checked out the appropriate rolls of microfilm and slid the first into the viewer.
Scrolling through the film to find the first reference to the Ah Sun family -- and hopefully to find clues to why her father and Uncle Mits quit speaking 21 years ago -- Lily quickly saw that this process was going to be more time-consuming than the indices, and glanced at her watch. Uh-oh, time was flying and now she needed to be at her Hawaii Kai home to meet with the interior designer in 30 minutes. Lily would just have to come back later.
But then a story about her father appeared on the screen. It was a business brief in the Star-Bulletin that appeared on April 17, 1974, announcing that former Royal Hawaiian Hotel waiter Shitsuro Ah Sun, better known as Sheets, was starting his own business, the Honolulu Soap Co. The story reported that he had already signed up Sheraton hotels to provide their guest soap in distinctively printed wrappers. The Advertiser had a similar story a day later.
Lily quickly located the only other Ah Sun reference in the year 1974, for the mysterious Clarence Ah Sun. It was an item in Dave Donnelly's July 4 column, saying that entertainer Clarence "Bobo" Ah Sun, who had recently filled in for Gilbert "Zulu" Kauhi at the Kahala Hilton when Zulu was taken ill while filling in for the vacationing Danny Kaleikini, postcarded from Acapulco, saying Bobo was performing aboard a cruise ship and wanted to send his aloha to his ohana back home. The column included a little thumbnail-size head shot photo of the smiling Clarence, and it sent a chill through Lily. He didn't look anything like her father or her uncle, with more Hawaiian features than either of them, but he had a familiar look in a way Lily couldn't explain.
Lily glanced at her watch. Criminy! She had to be in Hawaii Kai in 15 minutes. But no way she was leaving the library yet. The mystery of Bobo had her hooked. Lily reached for her cell phone, called home. Her maid Rosalita Resurreccion would have to let the designer in and convey a message of regret that Lily couldn't be there in person, as well as Lily's desire to have a more masculine look to her bedroom. That would be appropriate because when he got out of the hospital, her cousin Quinn was coming home with her. Even if some people might think a relationship with your first cousin was not at all appropriate.
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