My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center The greatest feeling
This wasn't quite the same as sitting astride his big BMW boomer with the wind in his face, but HPD Officer Quinn Ah Sun was exhilarated to finally be out of his hospital bed.
"I never knew a wheelchair could be so much fun," he said over his shoulder. Not that he'd ever want to be in one of these things very long. But after being cooped up in his room, he was grateful to take a spin in anything. "The fun's just starting, my dear," Nina Ramones said, pushing the chair into an elevator, punching the button for Pediatrics.
She wondered if guys have ticking clocks too. No harm in giving Quinn a quick tour -- and a subtle message. The off-duty nurse was newly divorced and already tired of sleeping alone, and old enough to worry she'd be alone forever. And never be a mother, because Nina was not the type to have a baby on her own.
When the doors slid open, they faced a young couple, obviously checking out, the husband holding an infant in a blue blanket and so absorbed in the moment he didn't recognize an old friend.
"Eh, Stevie!" Quinn exclaimed as NIna wheeled him out. Quinn and Steve Kawamoto had been HPD recruits together. "Congratulations, brother!"
They chatted a bit, catching up, Steve expressing concern for Quinn, but glad to hear he was doing OK, and introducing his wife Stacy and first born Kobe.
"You did good," Quinn said as the Kawamotos boarded the elevator.
"This is the greatest," the new dad said. "The greatest feeling ever."
The doors closed. "He's the last guy I thought would want to have kids," Quinn said.
Nina couldn't have asked for a better endorsement of her desires.
>> Arizona Memorial
Navy intelligence officer Lt. Martin Luther Washington was noting the color of tickets that park rangers were giving to people arriving at the Visitor Center. And it seemed to him that they'd given out an awful lot of green tickets. The worst thing that could happen now would be for Muhammed Resurreccion, the suspected Muslim terrorist in line directly ahead of Marty, and the three females accompanying him to get the last green tickets and Muhammed to notice Marty receiving the first red ticket or whatever. That would ruin everything.
With only 10 people between him and the ranger, Marty was about to bail, feign an emergency trip to the lua. He wanted to low-key it all the way, but if he had to he could speak privately with a ranger, flash his badge, get a green ticket. Two people later, the ranger started handing out yellow tickets. Whew. Now where was his boss, Chuck Ryan?
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