My Kind of Town
>> Kalanianaole Highway The toughest question
Of all the great moral dilemmas that haunt humankind -- good and evil, right and wrong, paper or plastic -- none is more dilemmatical than this: To love or leave?
Lily Ah Sun didn't think she had any choice. After finding her cousin Quinn in his bed at Queen's kissing and being fondled by a female colleague from HPD, who Quinn last night acknowledged "had the hots" for him, Lily was in full leave mode.
But now, driving home, love was reviving and she was having second thoughts. Maybe she should have stayed and fought for her man. Maybe she was giving up too early on their love. Maybe the woman was all over him before he knew what was happening. Yeah right, the 6-foot-3 cop who lifted weights being overpowered by a middle-aged hoochie mama. That's realistic.
And maybe this was Uncle Mits' plan, the one she had overheard him telling her father about. At the time Lily didn't believe there was anything that could keep her and Quinn apart, not after 21 years separation. But if this was Uncle Mits' work, then her father was right, that side of the Ah Sun clan cannot be trusted. Yes, she was leaving.
But then the memory of how her heart flipped for Quinn the moment she saw him came back, and of how safe and content she felt in his arms, of how the dreams of a lifetime seemed to come true with him. Her heart, with encouragement from various other organs, was arguing to stay and love.
But no, in the end, no matter how disgusting Gwen Roselobitch was, no matter how conniving Uncle Mits was, it was Quinn who fell to temptation and betrayed her love and her trust. He was just another guy -- all libido, no soul.
>> PanAm Building
"You could have played a little harder to get," HPD Sherlock Gomes teased his sister Donna. "Or did Yang really hook you when he said 'Donna and Donovan -- has a nice ring to it, don't you think?'"
She gave him a sisterly punch in the arm. "It was easy because I know where the senator is going to be next week, which means he won't be able to escort me to the East-West Center gala as Mr. Yang proposed. But sure, to be honest, I'm flattered that he'd consider me First Lady material."
"Yeah, well, it is not going to happen," Gomes said. "Our Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka got busted for ice last night, he's an addict, plus he cheats on his girlfriend and ..."
"Hey, relax, nothing's going to happen. Can't a hard-working girl just enjoy a rare moment of flattery?"
"Not much harm in that," Gomes said.
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