Islamic Jews Just Can't Get Ahead in Berkeley: Part Four

So it was a night in Denver. I've always enjoyed grocery shopping in the middle of the night because the night culture is so interesting. It used to be a dream of mine to make a documentary about all those who shop at 3 am...find out who they are, what they do, and why they shop so such hours. The middle of the night at an airport is a different think, there is a sense of frustration and desperation in everyone; people frustrated at not being home, missing meetings, and the thought of sleeping on Herman miller. In aimlessly walking around i ran into a man who had sat near me on the flight. He was on hunt for some food and asked me to join, since I had nothing else to do and was hungry I went along. I also figured that someone to talk to would be nice. We wandered to the only open bar/restaurant in the place...Mesa Verde or something. I got chicken, he got buffalo. Yes, buffalo.

It turns out he leads a much more interesting life than I. He was a law student from California who used to be a contractor (i think). He was also a Jew, and his name was Avi. I learned that he was travelling across the country with a friend and his wife. The plan was that his wife fly home from Chicago while he and his friend drive back. Somewhere along the journey the two friends had a falling out and his friend stranded him in Chicago with a note that he had bought a plane ticket for Avi. Avi, being a proud man descended from Abraham refused to take the blood ticket and bought his own. (He was also skeptical that the ticket even existed.) That is how he ended up on our doomed flight to Denver.

A note on his wife: She is Islamic from Iran which according to him makes it very hard for them to travel in the middle east. When going to Islamic countries they don't like him entering, such as Egypt, he was held in customs for a few days (i think that was how long). When going to Israel and Jewish nations they are skeptical of her. Also, he met this woman while on a scuba diving trip in Fiji when she got caught in a current and he saved her life. When I asked if he uses this as bargaining rights in arguments he said absolutely, but it's beginning to wear thin.

After dinner we went to make sure our luggage had in fact been transferred (more on this next post) and then made our way back to the mesa to have a drink or two before we tried to sleep. I learned that he had six cars that he worked on or owned, and these were not clunker cars, maybe Jews really are all rich. I'm not racist, i promise...that was a joke. Or was it? Well, the most interesting story was perhaps his visit to a whore house in Mexico.

It was on another scuba trip and the instructor and he were the only single one's, the instructor could get to be a little much and all the others on the trip gave Avi $20 each to take him to a whore house to "settle him down" (it's for each to assume how he became "a little much"). They got into a cab, he said he had just the thing (hold your hand as an "L" when reading that wielands) and drove to town. Avi began to get nervous when the cabbie drove through town and out into the night. Ten minutes past town and he knew a mugging and desertion were eminent. However, the cab driver proved to be honest and dropped them off at "Pink". The instructor picked his girl and took the cab back to the hotel, although i have a feeling it was a motel. Avi was not forced to waste a few hours at Pink, being forced to turn down numerous Mexican girls with not too numerous teeth. He eventually found a new cab back to the hotel and drank by himself on the beach waiting for the room to be not so vulgarly occupied. When the whore came out, she offered him a go 'round. No thanks, honored though... He kept the money though, so at least he was paid for the experience. That is the end of my story regarding Avi.

I found a semi-dark, quiet place to sleep. It was looking out the windows of the terminal, in front of me was the main hall of Denver airport, the Glowing pseudo-mountain range of fabric and light. For a second I thought this might not be so bad. Then I woke up 40 minutes later sore and freezing. I slept on and off for a few hours and walked to a place farther from the windows, upstairs. I slept better...which is not say very much at all. I woke up early, got a cup of coffee and a double espresso, and waited once again.

When I boarded the plane, i was asked by the flight attendant to play uncle for a few hours for two kids traveling alone; sure, I mean the kids looked sweet.

End of Part Four.