My Kind of Town
That magical word
>> Above Waialua
The six armed men who had rescued a guy who looked like, but was not, Isaac Kunia from the clutches of the police were discussing what to do with him, not too discreetly.
"Use him for fertilizer," said the one whom the captive thought of as Backseat Right -- that's where he'd ridden after they'd plucked him from the overturned HPD van.
While Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka liked the idea of being one with a pakalolo patch, that wasn't how he envisioned it.
"Eh," he said with his best vote-for-me smile, "I'm on your side."
"Watchu mean?" said the one he thought of as Shotgun -- who seemed to be the loudest voice in this bunch, but otherwise had no authority.
"You saw me getting busted there on the news, right? You know why? Drugs, brah! We're on the same team!" The senator paused for effect, made eye contact with his rescuers/captors. "Eh, where'd that pipe go?"
The Driver, who now carried a shotgun, jumped up, fetched the ice pipe. This group, Donovan saw, was awash without a leader. And he was born to lead. A quick puff later and he was ready for some oratory.
"So I know what you braddahs are up to out here. And I like it. I like it a lot. You got your pakalolo operation inside, hydroponic, out of sight, very hi-tech. And you got your crystal meth lab in the back. You braddahs are big."
A murmuring arose, this guy knew too much, they'd all been compromised. Actually, the term The Driver used was "Brah, we stay all bus' up."
"No mo' choice," Backseat Right chimed in. "Make die dead already."
"I know, I know," the senator continued, smooth as a politician's pocket.
"If I know everything you're up to, why not kill me? Because there's a better idea, and that's why I'm pointing out to you what I know. Like I said, I'm on your side." Also, he had zero other options in life.
His captors exchanged eh-brah-makes-sense-to-me looks.
"Also, I noticed your political posters and fliers. Politics is what I do."
"Isaac was the one into politics," Shotgun said.
His options were none, the senator had to take a chance. "Your brother Isaac Kunia, he's going to be under very heavy guard now, OK? He will not be coming back here. I'm not saying I'm Isaac Kunia, but I think I could be a good partner for this ohana."
Oh, that magical word. We all want to belong to something. And just like that Sen. Donovan Matsuda-Yee-Dela Cruz-Bishop-Kamaka became the leader of their drugs-to-pay-for-politics ohana. His dream job.
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