My Kind of Town
My Kind of Town
The way to go
>> Around Oahu
The power had just gone out at the Honolulu Soap Co., shutting down the production line, and Lily Ah Sun was reaching for her cell to make a call about an emergency generator when it rang.
"Hey, Lil! Me!"
Shauny Nakamura always spoke in exclamation points. "Hey, Shauny. What just happened out there? I heard a boom and then the lights went off and shut us down."
"I just heard on Perry and Price! The Kailua dump erupted!"
"No way!"
"Yeah, but that's not why I called! Remember Victor?!"
"The older guy you met on the Internet?"
"Yeah, well, after two months I'm finally meeting him! Today!"
"Where?"
"For lunch, at Turtle Bay! He's picking me up at 11!"
"You're driving out there with him? Shauny, are you nuts?"
"It's a chance to talk! Get better acquainted! I trust him! Or I wouldn't be meeting him at all!"
"You have my number in your cell. Anything goes wrong, he starts to get goofy on you, speed-dial me. By the way, what's Victor's last name?"
"I think he's kinda famous! Or rich! He said if I knew his name, it might influence my thinking, and he wants a woman to like him because of who he really is! Isn't that sweet?!"
"Be careful, please."
At the Rockin' Pikake Ranch above Kahuku, Lono Oka'aina's seven horses were calming down after the blast got them all skittered up.
Funny thing, though, the truck carrying the exotic species that the hunt club would be releasing onto his property was just pulling up when the blast happened, and Lono heard no animal grunts or growls, no heavy feet shuffling about. Or maybe they had the animals sedated for the trip.
The driver and whoever else might be in the cab remained there, hidden behind mirrored windows. Even though the truck was early and Lono wasn't due to be off the property for another 20 minutes, it was time to go.
He wasn't supposed to know anything that happened here. His bags were packed for two weeks away from home and loaded in the Durango. He headed out, knowing he wouldn't be going far.
In upper Nuuanu, Meg Choy Primitivo gazed into the deep end of the swimming pool, thinking about jumping in and ending it all. Another island girl who couldn't swim. But then she remembered, her husband Victor was listening to the morning news earlier and she heard there were big waves on the North Shore.
Now that was the way to go! She pulled on her favorite swimsuit, black, and matching pareau, packed a sentimental, stolen Mauna Kea towel and out-of-habit sunscreen. She wasn't going to drown with a sunburn and risk getting skin cancer.
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