June 8, 2006

Reefer Madness

The last thing my husband and I did before leaving the island for most of the summer was have dinner with two people we were going to see while we were gone. Pete is a member of the elusive “east coast office” of my husbands company, and when on the same coast they like to get together to talk business. We met Pete and his wife Shawna at a restaurant at the newly renovated Turtle Bay Hilton Hotel. After unanimously agreeing that the Double Bone-In Pork Chop with the Bing Cherry Reduction was the best item on the menu, we sipped our cocktails and listened as Shawna told us of her trips to Holland. Shawna loves Amsterdam. Turns out, Shawna loves Amsterdam so much that she travels there five or six times a year. It’s the only place in the world where she can truly relax. As she talked on about the virtues of not only the city but of the Best Western where she stays when she is there, I began to wonder just how relaxed she was at the moment. My question was answered when, after dinner, they invited us to join them for a nightcap in their room. After pouring drinks, Shawna left the room for a moment and came back with a gigantic bong. “Um” she said, packing pot in the bowl, “would anyone like to, you know, smoke a bowl?” We politely declined, but encouraged Shawna not to let that stop her. She didn’t.

I feel compelled to point out that Shawna and Pete had arrived on Oahu at 7am that morning and that Shawna had never been here before. Which means that in fewer than twelve hours Shawna had gone to a completely strange place and figured out how to score. I also, perhaps somewhat redundantly, feel obliged to highlight that this was a business meeting.

I am so naïve.