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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
Staying with who?
>>Kona
There simply is no discreet way to walk around a crowded hotel pool trying to find someone without looking like an unabashed lecher. Wandering between loungers at the Kona Surf, Cruz MacKenzie had to check each barely clad body, which meant a lot of prolonged staring at half-naked strangers, many of whom looked like the offspring of the Pillsbury Dough Girl and the Michelin Man.
No sign of Jasmine anywhere, not in the pool or beside it. But Cruz couldn't help staring at two prone female okole in G-string bikinis. Well, at the taut little okoles they only vaguely covered. The girls' tiny tops lay untied at their sides.
"Mm," he said, he thought to himself, and slowed his pace.
One of the young women looked up at the sound.
"Cruz!"
"Uh, oh, wow, Jasmine."
"Meet Holly, she flies with me. Holly, this is Cruz." Holly looked up and smiled.
"Uncle Cruz," Cruz said, beginning to think Jasmine needed reminding of their relationship. Or was it he that needed reminding?
Jasmine reached for her bikini top, but the strap slipped as she sat up, exposing her. Fumbling for the strap, she stood, looked into Cruz's eyes, kissed his cheek a little too moistly and a little too long for family, hanai or otherwise. He felt a warm breast pressed against his arm. Jasmine finally got the top fastened. Not that it held many secrets. The suit was three Easter Seals and string, and translucent yellow.
Cruz looked way out to sea and to himself chanted: "Niece. This is your niece. Biggie Kanaka's daughter. Your niece. Calm down. Niece niece niece."
But to Jasmine he said: "What a surprise! I thought you were going to send the laptop over by cab."
"SInce I'm staying here too, I decided to deliver it in person."
"How did you get into my room, if you don't mind my asking?"
"I told them I was staying with you," she said with a wink. "Plus, I knew the bell captain from Kamehameha days."
"Mm. Clever. Which room are you in?"
"I told you, yours! Holly is meeting a pilot later -- he's playing golf now. And there isn't a room in Kona because of the IBM convention. The town is sold out, and so is everything else all the way out to Mauna Kea."
"W-w-wait a minute. Your father, he... Listen, Jasmine, I mean... I don't think it's such a good idea..."
She giggled. "You can't kick me out. I mean, put me on the street? Daddy would never forgive you for that, Cruz."
Uncle Cruz, he thought. But he didn't say it.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com
