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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
Party with Buddha
>> Honolulu
"Hey, Jey," the lama's older brother Joe Kharma said from the truck's back seat, "you are now a true Undercover Brother!"
"So where do we go from here?" said the second Lama Jey Tsong Khapa, the 18-year-old part-Hawaiian reincarnate of one of the most beloved buddhas in Tibetan history, looking out at the passing lights of his hometown.
"The last place Te-Wu would think to look for you," replied Kamasami Khan, turning his red Ram 1500 from King onto Pensacola, "even if they had any idea you're not in a limo heading back to your hotel room in Waikiki."
Soon they were parking across from Pipeline Cafe.
"Whoa, that's amazing, that parking space just opened up!" Joe said. "I've never parked so close before!"
Khan opened his door, and they heard the pulsing reggae rhythm of Natural Vibrations from inside the club.
"Are you sure about the need for a disguise?" the lama said, tapping his toes to the beat. To get past the Chinese secret police at the Blaisdell, they'd dressed him in a blond surfer boy wig topped with a Quiksilver cap, and a black Kailua Boys T-shirt, baggy jeans and Nike T-Macs.
"May I remind you of the 10th Panchen Lama?"
He was the top lama left in Tibet after the Dalai Lama escaped in 1959. But increasingly he parted ways with the Chinese occupiers. On Jan. 23, 1989, he made very anti-Chinese remarks, standing up for Tibetan rights. On Jan. 28, five days later, he died suddenly of unknown causes. Te-Wu was suspected of poisoning him.
"Te-Wu have not changed their ways," Khan said. "And the Chinese fear you more than Panchen and Dalai Lamas combined."
There was a line at the door -- it was Ladies Night -- but the doorman waved the trio through. "Amazing," Joe said. "That never happens. And that guy didn't even card you!"
Good thing. The lama was just 18 and didn't have a drivers license.
Inside, with lights flashing and loud music pulsing, beautiful young women in tight pants, short skirts, bare midriffs and overflowing cleavages seductively bootied about the dance floor with handsome young men.
"I don't think," the young lama said, "I'm in the Himalayas anymore."
It was the first time Khan had laughed all day. "You got that right, your ..."
He caught himself. Calling him by the proper honorific, your holiness, would be a dead giveaway. "Mind if I call you Jey too?"
The lama, of course, understood. That's what Buddhas do. "That would be best for now."
"Over there!" Joe said. A waitress waved from a corner table that suddenly opened up. "Hey, Jey, it's awesome partying with a Buddha!"
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
