the rubins meet the rowans

["Mark Rubin" <RUBIN@humnet.ucla.edu>]

i have an amusing story about my parents' visit to hawaii.

as they always do before leaving on vacation, my parents asked me if 
i would like them to bring me back anything from hawaii.  
immediately, i told them to get me whatever cool sumo stuff they 
could find, and especially any akebono t-shirts.  my dad is the 
obsessive gift buying sort: if you request something, he'll do 
practically anything to find it for you.  so when they hit oahu and 
had trouble finding a sumo store, he was determined to spend the rest 
of one of his precious vacation days seeking out sumo gifts.  they 
bounced around the island following contradictory directions issued 
from friendly natives.  they found one store in the afternoon that 
had a variety of cheap quality sumo items, but no t-shirts: they were 
sold out.  slowly, they began to hear of a shop owned by akebono's 
mom, but no one was sure of its location.  the rest of the day's 
search eventually led to an information bureau woman who did not know 
where the store was, but who, after much cajolling, was willing to 
call up a woman who, as she put it, knew everything about the island. 
from THIS woman, my dad got akebono's mom's home phone number.  so 
that evening in the hotel room, my father and mrs. rowan had a nice 
conversation, where he explained to her his son's passion for sumo 
and their day's tireless search.  mrs. rowan was quite kind and 
offered to open her store's doors exclusively to my parents the next 
morning, saturday, even though she was normally closed that day.

at 10:00 my parents watched as an extremely large woman climbed out 
of here minivan (or truck--i can't remember) and came over to greet 
them.  she opened the store, and my mom, who knows absolutely nothing 
at all about sumo except for the few brief tidbits i mentioned to her 
when requesting the gifts, struck up a conversation.  she asked 
in a concerned tone, "so, how's your son's knee?", and the two 
chatted about akebono's recovery.  mrs. rowan lamented that she could 
not print up her own t-shirts with akebono's face on them, as the 
sumo association owned the rights to such things.  my mom 
commiserated.  mrs. rowan offered my mom the only t-shirt she had 
left with a picture of the big man on it (it's some sort of painting 
of him), explaining that it's probably the last one on the island for 
sale.  my mom, a bit later, with me explicitly in mind, looked 
akebono's mom straight in the eye and said, "you must be so proud"; 
akebono's mom took up the invitation to gush a bit about her son.  my 
mom said that moment was especially enjoyable, in large part because 
she knew how happy i'd be that they had shared that moment.  before 
they left, my parents were given, for free, a poster from the '94 (or 
is it '93?) hawaiian tour, depicting the three hawaiian wrestlers, 
with akebono's signature across his likeness's chest: a possession i 
proudly hang in my apartment.

all in all, my parents dilegence met with extreme success, and they, 
mrs. rowan, and i are very happy about the whole encounter.  since 
then, i've come across the address of the store in an issue of _sumo 
digest_.  i don't have it with me, but i could post it, or no doubt, 
someone else can.

mark rubin