The Sting

One of my favorite movies with Paul Newman and Robert Redford is ‘The Sting”. It’s about an elaborate hoax to take someone’s money.  The efforts that go in to this scheme are cunning and slick. It takes more than a simple conversation to take the mark. It takes several people’s coordination and planning.  I think my host family set me up.

In looking back, there were all sorts of clues. For example, for the last three days, in different conversations, they have been asking me if I like fruit. Sure, I like fruit. I just don’t eat it all the time all day.  They don’t either, so the question kind of struck me funny.

Yesterday afternoon, they showed me all of the different fruit trees on their property. And they have them all; Apples, lemons, kiwi, persimmons, oranges, grapes, cherry, etc. Pretty awesome, huh? But they kept wanting me to eat (try) all of them.  Hmm…

Then I was called down to a great delicious lunch. There is a traditional dish that reminds me of pinto beans called Lobio and as a side we had this mushroom, oinion, pepper salad. It was wickedly good. But two odd things occurred. One the host dad took out the moonshine and we had two shots with lunch. That is very rare. We don’t even have vodka during supras, usually. Then the second and more alarming thing (in hindsight) was the two women of the house, grandma and mother sat at the table and didn’t object. They just watched us coolly. Their homemade devil juice is nothing to laugh at. This stuff is potent. It screams all the way down, and when you think its down, it reminds you its there by shooting through all your veins.

I should have known that the combination of vodka shots and beans was a bad idea, but the host dad was doing it… so it couldn’t have been that bad, right?

Fast forward to 3 in the morning. Let’s just say that I’m so glad I brought my own stash of American toilet paper. Their diabolical plan of cleansing me out worked… a little too well. All today, I’ve been holed up in my room. Grandma was uber concerned and started throwing all sorts of drugs my way. The host dad brought me lunch in bed and tea and pealed and sliced apples later (and the tea was sweeten just how I like it). I’m just now starting to get better, I think. I was super dehydrated today it the point where it ached to move. But then again, it might just be the drugs masking the pain.

Well played…. well played.