MOCK CHEW'S
Boy sat across the table from me, working on his cold ginger chicken and fried rice. He alternately drank a cup of hot tea and a chilled glass of soda with ice in it, I don't judge, but it was a strange habit if you ask me. The place belonged to the late Samson Mock Chew, who died of a massive heart attack in the storage room. An exorcism also took place here to release the restaurant of the ghosts of the Four sisters who were killed in a kidnapping scheme gone wrong.
Individually and coincidentally, they were buried in the four corners of an empty lot that would eventually become Mock Chew's restaurant. The table next to us was occupied by four young men in suits and ties who were also enjoying their lunch but keeping a close eye on Boy at the same time.
"You know you got eyes on you, right?" I nodded over to the table next to us.
Without lifting his head Boy replied, "They're with me; they're my bodyguards."
I couldn't believe what I had just heard, "The Rizal brothers are your bodyguards?"
"You know them?" Boy asked quite innocently.
"Yeah," I replied only so I could educate Boy on a couple of things. "I had a contract on Kauai a couple of years back; it was the Rizal's territory, so I went to show them my respect and gave them a taste-off of my contract." I leaned in as close as I could to Boy and said, "How did you get these guys to be your bodyguard?"
"My Aunty Rita found them, she saw them in action and decided that they were the perfect bodyguards for me, considering how my office has surfaced on HPD's radar, my aunt thinks that I need protection." Boy confirmed. "They're all exorcists of some kind."
"They're more than that," I assured him. "You remember that story about the Chinese restaurant on Kaua'i, where the owner's boyfriend was found beaten half to death?"
"Yes," Boy replied. "I remember that."
"That was those guys," I said as I gestured my head in the direction of the Rizals.
"I know," Boy took a sip of his hot tea and then his cold soda and continued eating.
"You know?" I asked. "You know what you're dealing with?"
"Yes," Boy knew I wasn't going to let this go, so he put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with his napkin and said, "The Rizal brothers lost their parents when they were young, I lost my parents when I was young too, so I'm helping them, and in turn, they help me." Before I could say anything more, Boy put up his hand and stopped me. "You and I and these boys, we're all killers, and it doesn't matter how we try to paint it and dress it up and give it nobility, we are killers. You with your Kel Tec P11 9mm and I with my prayers and conjuring; we're all the same, and this is the life we chose, and I don't pretend that it isn't. I know what I am culturally and morally, can you say the same for yourself?"
There was a silence that passed between us, but that allowed me to work on my abalone soup and Peking duck with plum sauce. Just then, a woman came by with a dim sum cart and began to offer Boy a different variety of dim sum, Boy as well as myself, looked over the delicacies. Boy reached out to grab one, and before we knew it, the Rizal brothers had the woman surrounded. Junior grabbed one of the steamed buns and put some duck in it and handed it to the woman to eat, "Chile ta!" He told her, "Eat it!" When she refused, Oscar grabbed the steamed bun with duck and shoved it in her mouth and wouldn't let her spit it out. The woman dropped dead in three seconds.
"It's dinner time, Boss, they don't serve dim sum here during dinner. That's how we figured something was wrong." The brothers took the woman's body to the storage room in the back, and that's where they also found the current owners bound and gagged; it had been a setup all along.
"What happens now?" I asked the boss of what can only be called a curse mafia.
"The Edmond Poli contract," he began, but I cut him off.
"That thing again?" I was irritated at having to hear that name dragged up.
"Yes, that thing," Boy continued, "lay low for the time being and don't take any more contracts until you hear from me that things are clear, do you understand?"
I rolled my eyes and nodded, "I understand."
Boy had the oldest Rizal brother pay the bill once he got back, he then turned to me and handed me a large envelope, "for living expenses."
"I got money," I assured him, but he insisted that I take the cash.
"You need real money, for now, blood money is fixed money, and it can always be traced back to the source, don't forget that," On top of him almost being poisoned to death, he was lecturing me. "You leave out the back door, and we'll go out through the front, I call you tomorrow."
In a short time, I was rolling out of the parking lot onto 11th avenue when I caught a glimpse of Boy's Imperial Crown passing through the intersection ahead of me. Jose drove while Oscar was in the passenger seat, in the back sat Boy. He looked uncomfortable, I would be nervous too if someone else drove my fully restored 1966 beauty. Right behind them was Manny and Junior driving the 1970 Cadillac Deville, those brothers ran tight security with Boy, and they made sure that every move was covered.
….……..
Detective Mike Takata jumped up out of bed in a cold sweat, his wife woke up and sat next to him and asked him what was wrong? How could he tell her that the world was going to end and that leading the charge would be Boy Napualawa accompanied by four Filipino Hawaiian brothers? Even I wouldn't believe it.
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