On our first day in Kauai I took a fancy to a small piece of driftwood washed up on the beach. I picked it up and proclaimed, “I’m taking this.” Trudy scowled.
The next day, I woke up sick. I had a headache. I had a neck ache. I was nauseous and didn’t want to get out of bed. I’m just saying … that’s what happened the next morning.
That evening we went to The Smith Family Garden Luau where a man sitting across from us told a story. It seems he had a friend who had come to Hawaii once and taken a small piece of lava as a souvenir. Knowing nothing of my driftwood, this man explained how his friend’s luck turned bad when he got home.
“He lost his job,” the man said, “and his family left him, and he’s in jail.”
For the next four days, Trudy grumbled regularly about my driftwood and said I needed to put it back which I pointedly did not do.
So on the morning of our last day on Kauai, as I was taking a shower, the fair and industrious Trudy announced that she was taking my driftwood back to the beach.
And as far as I know, my first day at my new job is still on for tomorrow.