Sharing Mana'o
I shared a moment with a genie today. Maybe you've seen him, the handsome young local boy in the gold turban and harem pants, dancing on the sidewalk in front of the cash-for-gold store on Main Street. Usually I'm driving by and can't afford a good look, but today I was stopped behind several cars at the Main and Market intersection, directly in front of the Maui Gold Genie. That's what it said on the sign he held in both hands. He seemed to be having so much fun, bopping and bouncing to the music in his earbuds. I was charmed. When our eyes met and he realized I'd been watching him, he grinned even wider and let out a good-natured laugh. It made me laugh too, and want to pull over, jump out and join him for a dance or two.
So far, Gold Genie is my favorite human billboard, more animated than the sign-twirling Statue of Liberty on Wakea Avenue, and certainly happier than the poor guy wearing the mattress on Hana Highway. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Mattress Man in awhile. I guess his box springs wore out. I wonder if he knew what he was in for when he got the job. I can just imagine that conversation. "I thought you said I'd be ON a mattress all day!