My Kind of Town
My Kind of Town
>> Marco Polo What it means
Lily Ah Sun was waiting in the lobby for the elevator to take her up to meet Tony Martinez when her cell phone rang. She grabbed it, thinking it might be news about her father after his heart attack.
"Lily, do you realize what this lab report means?!" It was her cousin Quinn, and he was excited.
Meaning the DNA test that showed Lily and her brother Laird were in fact half-siblings with different fathers. Up to now, all Lily could think about was who her real father could be and how the mystery of Bobo Ah Sun might be involved.
"You left so fast after we heard about your dad ..."
"Oh my God! This means ..."
"It means I can't call you cousin any more."
"Oh Quinn ..." Lily was in such a state of bamboozlement, the elevator came and went without her.
"It means our kids probably won't have webbed feet."
He did say the most romantic things. But it worked. Lily was ready to start practicing the making of babies ASAP.
"And when we get married, you won't have to change your name!"
"Is that a proposal?"
"An invitation to a proposal. You can't propose over the phone. Against the law. Just hurry back when you're finished there."
"The answer is yes." Another elevator opened and Lily entered, making kissing sounds into her phone.
>> 4th Avenue
HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes wasn't above the law. But he did bring a certain judiciousness, a certain humanity to it. And so instead of slapping the cuffs on the Family Photo Burglar (who identified herself as Kate) and hauling her off to jail, Gomes made three phone calls, then asked Kate to help him load the dozens of framed family photos into the back of his '71 Barracuda.
"These children have to go back to their homes," Gomes said kindly. "And you need to tell their parents how much you love these children."
Kate said OK, and first they visited the widow Sheila Fernandez in Pearl City, then the Toyamas in Aina Haina, and finally the elderly Yims, Gomes' neighbors on 16th Avenue. In each case they returned stolen family photos, Gomes explained that Kate meant no harm and Kate nodded and blurted, "I love these people."
"You have no family?" Mrs. Yim said. Kate shook her head, and Mrs. Yim said "Neither do we."
Which Gomes, of course, knew. And he let them believe it was their idea for Kate to live in one of the Yims' extra bedrooms. The elderly Yims -- one of their children lived in Dallas, the other was deceased -- would have some help. And Kate would have a family.
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