My Kind of Town
The parent company
>> H-1, Ewa-boundThank God for work, Lily Ah Sun thought, accelerating her teal BMW as Kalanianaole Highway turned into the H-1. Through times of personal turmoil -- meaning men, usually -- work was her saving grace. At work, Lily was in control. In the rest of her life, well, life was in control.
But don't take her wrong. On most days Lily loved life. That's why she named her company Ola Essences, because life was the essence of the company and its products. From the start, Lily wanted to create perfumes and cosmetics that came from real plants and flowers, products that were full of life, not petroleum- or animal-based chemical gunk. And with a friend who was majoring in chemical biology, they'd found a way to remove the very essence of a plant, preserve its nutrients and its power, and bottle it up. Face creams that came straight from real cucumber and papaya and aloe, a pineapple astringent, perfumes that were practically fresh-squeezed from ginger and gardenia and roses. Phyto- cosmetics. And the world loved them. Neiman's, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, even Harrod's were carrying products from Ola Essences. Which was now outperforming the parent company, her father's Honolulu Soap Co.
Lily needed to get back to work, not just for her mental health, but also because she'd been out of the office for 24 hours now. Ola was her life. And Ola needed her. And both of them needed to be free of her father and the parent company. Boy, was that the right term.
But it wouldn't remain so for long.
>> Queen's Medical Center
After Quinn Ah Sun's father left to go visit Quinn's long-lost cousin Lance, who was also hospitalized here, all Quinn could think about was the crumpled up piece of paper in the wastebasket across the room. What did it mean, the photocopy of a Star-Bulletin Police Blotter item from 1981 about the disappearance of "popular entertainer Clarence 'Bobo' Ah Sun"? How did it get into his room? It must have something to do with his cousin Lily going from kissing him to saying he could go to hell. And why did his father wad up the paper and toss it in the wastebasket, and then so obviously lie when Quinn asked about the mysterious Bobo?
When your father lies to you and your cousin abandons you, as your mother had 15 years ago, there isn't much left in the way of family to turn to. Quinn was already turning his attention toward Nina Ramones, the world's greatest nurse. He heard a knock on the door and hoped it was her, returning with her healing presence.
Instead, his Auntie Grace walked in -- the first time he'd seen her since he was 6.
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