Holding the Bag

Whistler, British Columbia.

Club Intrawest Resort.

A midsummer night's mid.

A passerby would have noticed the circle of teenagers in the lounge. It was clearly a mixed group containing several sets of friends who decided to hang out together on this particular night. To whit:

• Adam and I, longtime partners in crime and programming pals who'd come up to Whistler for a few days. Both somewhat shy, we'd come down to the lobby to do some hacking on the resort's wireless connection. (Perfectly legal, of course.)



• Ben and Kevin, two British Columbia natives who, judging from the looks of things, were following the pretty girls around. Ah yes, and that brings us to



• Kelsey and Becky, the pretty girls from Seattle. Underage.

There was talk of Harry Potter and Myspace. There was Balderdash (who knew teenagers still played that game?) and mild random flirting (dear mother of cheese, when will they stop playing that game?). Generally respectable modern teenage behavior.

A pack of teenage guys wandered in from one of the many hallways. Loud, profane, obviously drunk, and determined to feel up the girls.

The girls don't object. I wondered if they felt beautiful. They certainly were, in spite of all the make-up.

To be continued...