My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center Worst fears
Sheets Ah Sun was determined to put his best face forward, no matter how false it might be. Because his brother Mits was right: Sheets could blow their 21-year-old secret if he didn't pull himself together. He had to forget what he saw in Waimanalo this morning, where a score of guys in space suits and back-hoes were digging up a previously secret -- and highly illegal -- chemical dump site. And he had to pray that they didn't find the evidence that could implicate the brothers, starting with Mits.
But what Sheets really had to do was focus on the good news, which was that his eldest son Laird was about to graduate from Stanford Business. And when that happened, Sheets was going to name Laird president of the family-owned Honolulu Soap Co. Lily didn't like it but, dammit, it was Sheets' company. He could do what he thought best. And besides, Laird and Lily were, well, cut from different cloth.
Speaking of Lily: Mits was right about another thing: No good could come of Lily and her cousin Quinn getting together. Especially if they kept asking questions about why the brothers quit speaking 21 years ago.
Pushing open the door to the room where his son Lance lay in coma, Sheets saw tears rolling down his wife Grace's cheeks. It seemed she'd been crying for two solid days now. But this time she was smiling and crying. "Daddy, look! Lance is waking up!"
Sure enough, his youngest son's eyes were flickering open, and he was making indecipherable sounds.
Now Sheets just had to deal with the confirmation that his worst fear -- at least his worst fear until today -- had come true: Lance was gay. But at least his son was gay and alive.
Sheets hugged Grace, felt her tears on his cheek.
"Our baby is coming back," she said.
That's when Sheets' cell phone rang. It was Mits.
"Remember I told you I had a plan?"
To keep Lily and Quinn apart. "Yeah."
"It is happening even as we speak."
"Good. How?"
"Let's just say that I've introduced some competition for Lily. Woman in the department who has a major crush on Quinn is visiting him right now, checking on him for me. Otherwise, you OK?"
"Better. It looks like Lance is coming around."
"I'm counting on you."
"You can."
"I mean it, Sheets. The first one they going come looking for is me."
Actually, it all depended on which piece of evidence they found first.
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