MOM II

She moved to Oregon for retirement. The neighbor told her he had won the lottery and would she and her husband like to go to Hawaii with him? They flew there today, the geriatric lottery winners heading toward Mark Twain's first San Francisco Chronicle assignment. I bought his letters from Hawaii at the Mauna Loa National Park gift shop when I visited years ago. I had a friend, a guy named Cowboy Dave because he always wore a cowboy hat--even when he was snorkeling--who similarly made his way to Hawaii under unique and beneficent circumstances. Perhaps that is the draw of the islands. The Polynesians won the ocean current lottery when they landed there then lost when the ministers brought small pox or chicken pox or one of those awful festering diseases.

Mom is in a limo cruising the tropics, a far cry from Charlesroi.