hey baby, want a sweet fruit from a palm tree?

[redsage]

Thursday afternoon, I wandered into the kitchen at the youth hostel in Budapest. A guy I had never spoken to before grinned at me, and asked in mysteriously-accented English, "would you like a date?"

I was taken aback. A number of rather ineloquent responses came to mind, but I was trying to figure out a polite way to turn down such an invitation.

Thankfully I hadn't said anything embarrassing when he gestured at a bowl on the table. A bowl of dates.

I had two.