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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
The Dalai Liar
>> Honolulu
Bodhicita Guzman may have set a world record that morning for going from afterglow to later, dude. She and Fon Du, her lover of six months, had just made ecstatic love in the master bedroom of the Kahala estate he shared with other employees of the Bank of Lhasa's Honolulu branch when he turned on the KHON morning news. Kirk Matthews was reporting that a local lama was returning to Honolulu, and before she could say he was the brother of her friend Joe Kharma, Fon Du swore, jumped up and said it was time to go to work.
News of the lama's return moved through the house quickly. Fon Du and his colleagues were obviously agitated -- in machine-gun Chinese she heard "lama" -- and the return of the part-Hawaiian lama was the reason. But why? They were just bankers. Chinese bankers with the Bank of Lhasa, of course, but still...
He drove her to an early class at UH, and on the way Perry and Price were talking about the return of the lama, who was born Frankie Kharma and lived in Liliha until he announced at the age of 2 that he was the first reincarnation of the venerable Lama Jey Tsong Khapa. Now, 16 years later, he was returning, and Perry and Price were giving away tickets to an event at the Blaisdell where he would appear with the Dalai Lama.
"Dalai Lama!" Fon Du growled, swore, changed channels.
Bodhicita had never seen him so angry. Or so unattractive. The veneer of romance and physical desire were suddenly stripped away, and the basic fact that she'd ignored for six months of living well now lay bare. He was Chinese and a VP for the Bank of Lhasa, and though he said the bank was independent of the Communist Chinese government, somehow he was part of the Chinese repression of Tibetan Buddhists. From Tibetan friends like Kamasami Khan, she knew all about the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the persecution of its people. But she played dumb, and sympathetic.
"Many people honor the Dalai Lama," she said, reaching out, gently patting his knee. "What bothers you about him, babe?"
"They should call him the Dalai Liar!" he said, practically spitting the words. "Tibet has always been a part of China, always! All we have ever asked was loyalty to the motherland. But the Dalai Lama and his clique are intent on dividing the Chinese union. They consort with the American CIA, and with India. This is dangerous, because any invasion of China would come from India through Tibet. We can never allow this to happen. And for the bank, his lies about China are bad for business."
When he dropped her off at UH, she kissed him on the cheek. "Don't worry, babe. Love you."
Then she headed for a pay phone.
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Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com