I was enjoying a Saturday afternoon in the lounge of a very nice hotel in Jakarta. The singer - a lovely Philippino lady - was working, professionally, through her repertoire. Having been in the hotel for about 4 months, by then, we knew Anna quite well and were very fond of her.
She knew we were there. She'd acknowledged us a few times and taken a couple of breaks when she had come over for a chat.
Kevin, my oriental colleague, was munching his way through a salad. For some reason Indonesians love chillies. They're a listed commodity on their stock exchange. They eat them by the bowlful. They put them in their salads. Kevin found one and popped it in. A tiny one. Sometimes it seems the smaller a chilli is, the hotter it is ...
He started to go red. The redness started at his throat and progressively climbed higher until it reached his eyes. By now he was coughing and having serious problems. It looked like a scene from a cartoon. Anna glanced over. She saw Kevin - and totally cracked up. She just couldn't continue. Anna took a break for about 30 minutes while she recomposed herself. Kevin was fed a lot of yoghurt. He was ok but, oddly, he never ate the tiny chillies again.
