One Night in Pohnpei

In September of 1999, I attended a Public Defender Conference in Kolonia, Pohnpei. One night, something happened which a great many people think is too strange to be believed. But it is not too strange to have actually happened. I awoke in my bed to discover that a young woman had climbed in next to me. She wasn’t wearing a stitch.

When I politely inquired what she was doing there, she told me, “You are so nice.” I thought, “Gee, I’m always glad to make a good impression.” She told me that I was especially nice in comparison with the young men who were coming on to her and telling her that she would “get sick,” if she didn’t let them have their way with her.

I was surprised to put it mildly. When I was younger, I tried all kinds of lines on women, but had never even considered that one. While it was nice snuggling with her for a moment or two, I did consider, a) I didn’t know how old she was (though she was definitely past puberty) and b) it would probably be hard for her to produce a notarized copy of her birth certificate and c) the law library would definitely be closed at that hour, so I didn’t know what the age of consent was and d) I did not have any type of birth control and I didn’t like the idea of possibly having a lifelong reminder of my trip to Micronesia.

It wasn’t until later that I realized I could have been vulnerable to a nasty scam, but, in retrospect, that was not her intention. I snuggled her a bit, smooched her and I very politely sent her on her way. Along with everything else, I didn’t want a woman scorned on my hands.

If I’d been ten or twenty years younger, I might have jumped at the chance. In the ten years since that time, I have wondered why more women can’t take such a cooperative tone towards me.