My Kind of Town
>> Arizona Memorial -- Theater 2 Fear of foolish
Is there any stronger force in the universe than the fear of looking foolish? It prevents males from asking females to dance, kids from trying out for a team, grownups from speaking up in meetings and representatives of the United States government from appearing insensitive.
Seated two rows behind Muhammed Resurreccion as the film wound down, Commander Chuck Ryan was fighting the fear of looking foolish. What if he accosted Muhammed and the three females with him, flashed a badge, demanded to see the flower bouquet they carried? Ryan saw a Page One headline: "Navy Intelligence Officer Harasses Filipino Family on Pilgrimage." The subhead: "Victims say Commander Chuck Ryan accused the family of four -- including a 6-year-old girl -- of being terrorists."
And the story's lead: "Claiming he thought a bouquet of flowers to be placed at the Arizona Memorial's wall of heroes was a terrorist bomb, a Navy intelligence offer broke the first rule of his craft at Pearl Harbor yesterday -- breaking cover."
Bye-bye, career. But there were more important things. Besides, if he got sacked, he could settle down with Fawn Nakamura. Assuming he got through today. It all depended on whether he was guessing right or wrong about those flowers.
>> State Capitol
What a crazy business this is, Machiavelli Wang thought as he unlocked Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka's office door. The senator, out of favor on account of his going AWOL during the last three days of the session and a stripper crashing his car off the Keeaumoku Overpass, was again among the Democrats' frontrunners in the race for governor after the mayor announced his withdrawal.
The office phone rang as the door closed behind him. Machiavelli reached to answer. Probably one of the political reporters looking for deep background. Machiavelli was happy to oblige. Deep Background was his middle name. Well, names.
But this wasn't a media call. It was a money call.
"Hey, Mike, good to hear from you." In fact, it wasn't good to hear from Mike Malarkey, it was inevitable. The developer had invested heavily in the senator. Like that Saudi prince and War Emblem. "I sure did hear the news. Just the way we planned it."
"So where the hell is he?" The half-million-dollar question.
"A bit under the weather."
"Put some makeup on him if you have to, but get him in front of a camera! Things are happening fast. Donovan has to be the rallying force!"
"Absolutely." If Machiavelli could just find the senator.
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