My Kind of Town
My Kind of Town
>> Queen's Medical Center That was Bobo
Lily Ah Sun sat on her cousin Quinn's bed, the phone resting between their ears, their bodies pressed together from cheek to thigh, as his mother told them what she remembered about the mysterious Clarence "Bobo" Ah Sun. Lily felt her heart racing.
"He was a singer, you know," Flo said.
"I found a bunch of references to him in the newspapers," Lily said, rather too breathlessly. "Especially the columns."
"That was Bobo -- a frequent schmoozer down at the Columbia Inn Roundtable."
"Speaking of the papers," Lily said. "I just got back from doing some research at the State Library. Quinn, the last time they mentioned Bobo was that postcard, saying he wasn't dead."
"I remember that," Flo Kajiyama Ah Sun said, and in her Las Vegas condo felt a chill. "That was when ..."
She cut herself off before she said too much. It was great that the kids were doing some family research, but they could over-do it.
There were things Flo knew about Bobo, others she just suspected very strongly. But what good would it do to tell those things to Quinn and Lily?
Besides, Flo was supposed to be heading out the door in about three minutes. Part of her success as a professional gambler for the past 16 years was that she combined astrology, feng shui and her time of the month in choosing when and where to gamble. Tonight, everything pointed to a profitable visit to the MGM Grand.
(OK, Flo's success also had something to do with her ability to count cards and a secret system she'd devised over the years for the slots.)
" 'That was when' what?" Quinn said, not letting her thought drop. And then: "Hey, Mom, we've got these photocopies of stories about Bobo from that time."
He reached for the stack of papers on the bedside table. "Help me out here. An item in Donnelly's column, 21 years ago in June, Bobo's back in town, performing aboard a cruise ship that docked here."
"I remember that. Go on, dear. What else do you have?"
"And then a week later, a Police Beat item, Dad reported his police Smith & Wesson .38 stolen out of his trunk while he was having some pau hana pupus at the Pearl City Tavern."
"I was there that night."
"And then a month later, another Police Beat item, a missing persons report filed for Clarence 'Bobo' Ah Sun."
"Mm-hm."
"And then two months later, Donnelly's column quotes that postcard from Bobo in Miami saying he was fine. And then nothing."
"Of course not. But I have to go to work now, dear. I'll call you later."
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