By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie woke up at 5:30 the next morning. Refreshed from eleven hours of sleep, he was ready to get on with the day ahead. He stepped into the shower, but immediately jumped out. Charlie was reacting to the large, white, pear-shaped shower head, which was at the end of a long pipe that came out of the wall and extended to a spot above the middle of the stall to deliver water from its flat round bottom. What worried him and had him backing away from the water was the two electrical wires that ran from the wall along the pipe to the shower head.
For as long as he could remember, he had always known that water and electricity didn’t mix. Yet here they mixed, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. A banging came from outside, so he pulled the window curtain back and saw Eric stacking tin that he was going to install on the roof later.
Opening the door, Charlie hollered, “Eric, can you come here for a moment?”
Eric put down a piece of tin and walked over to Charlie’s room. “Good morning, what can I help you with?”
Charlie, standing with a towel around his waist, cleared his throat and tried to smile. “It’s the shower. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Eric laughed and headed toward the bathroom. “It’s very safe. No case has ever been reported where anyone was killed using one of these. Instead of a hot water heater, the water is heated in the head. You adjust the temp by how much cold water you turn on.”
He turned the one lone handle in the middle of the wall and within a few seconds warm water was pouring out. “There you go.” He turned and headed out the door. “Enjoy your shower.”
The door closed behind him and Charlie stepped into the water, still waiting for the shock. To his surprise, it worked very well and he never ran out of hot water.
He decided to dress in jeans. He had wanted to wear shorts but one look in the mirror made him realize he was so white it blinded even him. And he was going to see a mob boss; long pants might be more acceptable. Rufino and Edgar were having a cup of coffee and a jelly roll by the time Charlie got to the lobby. “Good morning. It looks like everybody got up early today.”
Edgar took the roll out of his mouth and mumbled, “We thought it would be a good idea if we went over a few things before you see Mr. Tai.” He washed the bite of roll down with some coffee and continued, “The main thing to remember is that he only answers to the name, Mr. Tai. When you address him – and I hope like hell that never happens – it is always, ‘Yes sir, Mr. Tai.’ He thinks of himself as the head of Taiwan in Costa Rica. The smallest disrespect will get the three of us killed, so please let us do the talking.”
“That’s fine with me, I have no idea what we’re doing in the first place.” Charlie was pouring a cup of coffee just as a taxi pulled up.
Charlie set his coffee aside and joined them getting into the cab for the short ride to the upper end of the peninsula. One side of Puntarenas faces out toward the Gulf of Nicoya, which in fact looks more like a bay than a Gulf; the other side is along a narrow body of water between the mainland and the peninsula. The fishing fleet and small tourist boats call this narrow body home. At its opening is the ferry terminal. On the Nicoya side, it’s nice hotels and restaurants; on the inward side, it’s poor housing and warehouses – somewhere not to be after dark.
The cab put them out at a gate, which had an armed guard. The buildings were all brick and painted white with red roofs. There were three in all. Given the way the neighborhood looked, Charlie was somewhat surprised at how fresh and new everything was. One of the larger buildings had two loading docks, with a truck backed up to one of them. He couldn’t tell if they were loading or unloading. The other large building looked like a processing plant, while the small building in the middle had to be the main office.
After getting past the guard they walked the hundred or so feet to the office door. Inside it looked like an office in the States. The first thing that hit Charlie was the A/C. The young Tica at the reception desk asked them to have a seat and offered them something to drink. They took a seat but declined the drink. They had not spoken since leaving the taxi. For one thing, Charlie didn’t know what to say; he was afraid of saying something wrong and pissing off Rufino, who was already uptight without Charlie further annoying him.
The phone buzzed and the girl answered it. She stood up and waved for them to follow her. “Here we go,” Edgar whispered.
They walked down a long hall, past a number of doors. At the end was a tall wooden door, which the girl knocked on before showing them in. Then the door closed behind them and Charlie followed Rufino and Edgar forward toward a desk commanded by a very thin, short man with graying hair.
Rufino slapped his hands together prayer-like and bowed. Charlie and Edgar did the same. Rufino, in a low voice said, “Thank you so much for seeing us, Mr. Tai.”
“I am a busy man. What do you want?”
“We’re looking to buy a boat and go finning. We would like to do it under the great flag of Taiwan, if that would please you.”
“My protection does not come cheap. In your case, it will cost you even more because the first time you did not come to me.”
Charlie could see the sweat beginning to cover Rufino’s back, even in the cool air from the A/C. Charlie thought, What have I got myself into?
“It was very foolish of me,” Rufino mumbled, “and I have paid a heavy price already.”
Mr. Tai dismissed Rufino with a wave of his hand. “My price is twenty percent.”
“But Mr. Tai, it has always been ten percent. That is twice as much as anyone else pays.”
“Then you must take twice as many sharks to make it up. However, if you think you can do better without my protection, go ahead.”
“No, no, we will make it work. Thank you, Mr. Tai.”
The thin Taiwanese handed Rufino a piece of paper. “Here is a boat that is for sale. The owner is dead so you should get a good price on it.”
Rufino took the paper. “Thank you, Mr. Tai. You have been so kind.”
Mr. Tai waved his arm at them as a way of dismissing them all and said, “Once you have the boat, come back and my people will put one of our radios in it and give you the flag.”
They backed out the door, with Edgar last, closing it behind them. As the door closed, Charlie took his first breath of air since entering Tai’s office. They smiled at the Tica and exited into the hot sun, walking a lot faster going out than they had coming in. Charlie spoke first, “I don’t want to meet that man ever again.”
Edgar joined in, “This is my second time in his office, and he still scares the shit out of me.”
They stepped past the guard and flagged a taxi as it turned the corner. Rufino said what the others felt, “I need a drink.”
The three got out at the corner café up the street from their hotel and ordered three beers with rum backers. Rufino was on his phone trying to get a good price on a ride to check out the boat.
“Edgar, what did Mr. Tai mean when he said it was going to cost us twenty percent because Rufino hadn’t come to him the first time?”
Edgar threw back his shot of rum and waved for another one. “Rufino and I had another boat – the one we told you had sunk. Well, it didn’t go down like we said. We talked with Mr. Tai, but Rufino decided he didn’t want to pay the ten percent. It was a hard lesson to learn, but the fact is, you don’t go finning unless Mr. Tai gets his cut.”
Charlie finished his rum and chased it with a swig of beer. “This guy is worse than the mafia. Can’t you go to somebody for help?”
Edgar laughed. “Hell, he owns everybody, from the cop on the street to the president of the damn country.”
Rufino’s phone rang and he stepped away. When he returned, he told Edgar, “We need to get a change of clothing. I have a cab coming to pick us up in thirty minutes.”
Charlie picked up his beer. “There isn’t any reason for me to go, is there? Hell, I don’t know shit about boats.”
“No, I guess not,” Rufino growled, “but we’ll be back tomorrow and you better have your money, in case we buy this boat.”
Charlie said nothing as he watched them walk away. He had until sometime tomorrow to come up with a way to get out of the mess he found himself in. He finished the beer and was leaving the café when the taxi with Edgar and Rufino drove past him. They waved and he waved.
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
No comments:
Post a Comment