wmn By Teri Hein Illustration by Fay Jones H Drue life Story Ebout love, war and business. Social consciousness, humanity and political responsibility are fading voices on the horizon as warehouses fill up with unroasted coffee, green bananas or rock-hard pineapples. It’s not too long before they get drunk on the cheap power they yield over employees lives and their “host country” simply because of the magic telex which mainlines them into the commodity markets of the world. Reinhard’s father owned several companies, and the family would have aristocratic title to an estate in Poland if history hadn’t intervened. But Reinhard had not followed the straight path. His fascination with exotic drugs from an early age had finally left him crowbarred out of art school in his late 20s with no apparent marketable skills, and he landed in Central America as yet another European businessman. .. only without the schooling, the attitude and the cheap taste for mediocre power. Once there Reinhard not only learned the business but found himself liking it. He actually was quite popular with some of the growers, who tuned into his naturally gregarious personality and appreciated his lack of arrogance. He and I together were an odd couple. I was a school teacher and worried about poor people and volunteered in an orphanage. I could also liberally sample his drug potClinton St. Quarterly 19
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