What is Going on Here?

I think I may have been drugged. Maybe it is the poppy residue wafting through the air that has affected me, kind of like a British cow being attacked by Hoof and Mouth. Anyway, something’s not right.

We went out to dinner Thursday night, which is my ‘Friday.’ As far as entertainment goes, having dinner in Kabul is about as good as it gets. Or so I thought.

We went out to a little German restaurant—cleverly named ‘The German Restaurant.’ It is operated by this (are you ready?) German couple who serve schnitzel and such. Since I can’t make it to Schweitzer Fest this year in Tell City, it seemed to meet my needs for an opportunity to drink some beer and explain it as a ‘cultural’ undertaking.

So I have some delightful bratwurst, munch on some German fries, and we are about to call it a night when suddenly the lights dim, and something happens that I may have seen, or may have hallucinated. I don't know which. I think I saw the German woman manager light the tips of baton and flames emerge. The music started. And then and there, in the middle of a country at war where women wear burqas and the Taliban threaten everyone, we are dazzled with a baton twirling display filled with fire and smoke--a combination of an old Miss America pageant and the Marshall County 4-H Fair. This goes on for about 5 minutes, the flames peter out, Fraulein takes a bow, and just as suddenly as it came, it went.

That’s how I remember it, but I must emphasize that I may have been dreaming or hallucinating. Or it may have been real. In Afghanistan during the summer of 2007, there is little difference anyway.