March 2, 2006
“Just ask for Tomai’s”

On the advice our local friend Naoki, Kim, Sarah, and I continued our search for a pig. We drove north to the town of Kahalu‘u, and, following Naoki’s directions, searched for the “the pig farm behind the high school.” We could find neither. Finding only an elementary school, and ignoring Sarah’s suggestion that we stop at the local fire department, (“they’ll know where all the pigs are!”), we instead plunged further into Kahalu‘u hoping to magically stumble across a bunch of pigs. After realizing that it was more likely we would magically stumble across a crystal-meth lab, we decided to ask to ask for directions. We were encouraged by the following conversation with a young woman we saw in her driveway:

Me: Excuse me, can you tell me where the high school is?

Women: High School? Ohh, we don’t have a high school.

Me: Oh. Do you happen to know where we can find a pig farm?

Woman: Pig farm? Ohh, noo, I don’t know where there is a pig farm. What are you looking for?

Me: A friend told us that we could find a luau pig at the pig farm behind the high school.

Woman: Ohh. Noo. I don’t know where that is.

Kim: He said there was a place called Tomai’s.

Woman: Oh? Tomai’s? Oh yeahyeah, that’s a pig farm behind the elementary school! I didn’t know you meant Tomai’s! Go down that road, and turn left at the fire department!

Through Sarah’s “I told you so’s”, we were off.

Arriving at Tomai’s, however, we were met with disappointment. Mr. Tomai was out of 100 lb pigs.