The idea was conceived in Date by Date Productions Honolulu office: I would be a pineapple for the annual Hallowbaloo event. Marysol styled me in her yellow fringed dress and plush pineapple toy. We later added a green fountain of ribbons, green glasses and green Locals. I would be the embodiment of aloha, the sweet fruit that millions of tourists are attracted to. Pineapple is everywhere in Hawaii, from slippahs to aloha shirts to drinks. Once, I had mai tais with the Officer in a Waikiki old-fashioned tiki bar served in whole pineapples. At the Dole Plantation with the Officer, we learned how to properly cut it, and use its skin as serving trays. We rode the choo-choo train exploring the pineapple fields and their Oahu history with pineapple in our hands. On Lanaii, the Officer and I overlooked fields that once, and no longer, were completely covered with pineapple growth. The Officer loves Li Hing powder, which we learned to sprinkle on the cut fruit.
In front of the Hawaii State Art Museum at Hallowbaloo, with music from the main stage intermingling with the noise of food trucks and street performers, illuminated by the flickering lights I was the pineapple who met DxDp crew, that night Lara Croft and the sock monkey. They expected to see the Officer with me but he was not there: the three of us turned our faces and saw a galloping unicorn headed in our direction. The pineapple cozied to the magical unicorn, enamored by its playfulness and sweetness. The air pulsated with mischief, as the pineapple told the sock monkey and his Lara Croft that later on the unicorn will feast on its juice with Li Hing powder. Lara Croft’s beloved childhood memories include Li Hing, and she would smile in delight at the comment for days after. In the meantime, the unicorn and the pineapple feasted on mole tacos in the revelry of the downtown Honolulu street.
Soon the three DxDp musketeers and the unicorn D’Artagnan headed to the DxDp Honolulu office where Lara Croft and the unicorn discussed wood etchings and plates of travel and the sock monkey took beautiful pictures of all. Lara Croft offered the pineapple and the unicorn the wine of her love for their love. As the sock monkey took pictures of the pair on the lanai overlooking Honolulu skyline, the pineapple bloomed in sweetness and soon the magical unicorn transformed into a man kissing a woman, but that story would continue some other time because they returned to the aloha magic at Aloha tower overlooking the docks, spreading the date by date stories of personal narratives. The music carried the four late into the night, and lastly the unicorn and the pineapple rode the magical trolley for one more delightful stop of the night in Chinatown of abandon.
Halloween is now behind us but the unicorn and the pineapple keep emerging in DxDp custom painted aloha shirts, in the collaborative paintings on wood, and in the photographic series. An interactive installation is planned in the near future, bringing many contributors under the banner of the pineapple and the unicorn. As for me, my sweetness is now within me and my unicorn is once again the Officer, but not any less magical in his ability to transport me to realms of castles and dreams that come true. The night that we met as aloha magic though, illuminated by so many other stories of transformation and play, will remain an especially sweet island moment in our fairy tale.
