My Kind of Town
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and counselThe former president's invitation could have been construed by some women as an indecent proposal. But Grace Ah Sun was taking it as a compliment. It was nothing new for men of power to seek her company and counsel. Before she was the senator's executive secretary, Grace had been secretary and administrative assistant and various other titles to powerful men and women, from estate trustees to judges to council members, all starting as a young woman straight out of Kamehameha with a Big Five VP. Working with government, business and labor leaders was just part of the job.
This was certainly not the first proposition she'd ever received. Grace was a stately woman of Hawaiian-Chinese ancestry, and despite three children and 53 years she had kept a figure that made men half her age sneak wishful glances. Not to mention the occasional hint. She was never interested, no matter how handsome or charming the hinter. She managed to work the phrase "Oh, my husband said..." into enough conversations that the rest of the world knew she was a married woman who intended to stay that way.
She was also a powerful woman in her own right. The only way you got to see the senator was through Grace the Gatekeeper (a job now entrusted to the jailkeeper). Descended from ali'i, she had a regal manner and was not awed by power or its trappings. And she was not shy about expressing her opinions. But even with the big issues, she spoke in human terms, with a purposeful anecdote about family or friends. It wasn't until after she mentioned how much her neighbors who had three teen-age drivers were paying for their auto insurance that the senator decided to support insurance reform. Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka was among the many leaders, including even Sen. Dan Inouye, who had adjusted law and policy because of her down-to-earth wisdom. It also helped that she remembered the names of their children, and asked after them.
But this was not the president of the Aiea Neighborhood Board or even the director of the Bureau of Conveyances on the line. This was the recent LOTGNOE --Leader of the Greatest Nation on Earth.
"I'd be honored to have dinner with you, Mr. President," she said.
"See you tonight."
And then, hanging up, Grace felt foolish. Why would this great man want her, at her age? If he wanted someone close to his age, he was still married, wasn't he? Yes, and Grace was being silly. This presidential invitation did not intimate any more than dinner. Did it?
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com