December 15, 2004:

Braided gray hair crowed with a headband of Polynesian flowers.

Nerves and energy. Up and down to the bar, self-medicating with the only available sedation. A nervous flyer.

Beside her a patient but put-upon teenage girl separated by the aisle from her family. Half-Hawaiian, half-haole, lovely, brown hair with blonde highlights, sparkling eyes. Turns laughing privately to her father, twirls her finger around her ear, saying in mime, "This chick is bonkers."