“What’s up, Wolfe,” Charlie said, as I took a chair at his table.
“I’m running a little late today,” I told him. “That line at the bank took me the better part of half an hour.”
We were sitting on the deck at the Holiday Hotel. We meet there every Wednesday to get away from everyone else. I drink my coffee, Charlie drinks his beer and we discuss how things would work if we were in charge of the world.
“It sure is a beautiful view here,” I said, looking out at the boats on the water and the palm trees.
“The view is getting better all the time,” Charlie said.
He said that because a good looking tourist lady in a bikini had seated herself at the table next to us. She sipped her margarita while she relaxed and gazed out towards the reef.
“Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”
She suddenly sneezed three times in a row.
“Salud,” Charlie called out.
She smiled at him as she wiped her nose with a Kleenex and then went back to her drink.
“Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”
“God bless you,” I said. “Are you OK?”
“I’m just wonderful,” she said, with a huge smile.
Suddenly she was seized with a twenty second bout of sneezing..
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Charlie asked.
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said. “I have this condition where every time I sneeze it feels like someone is making mad, passionate love to me.”
“Are you taking anything for it?” I asked.
“I certainly am,” she said. “Black pepper.”