Chapter 37

The following morning the phone in their room rang at 6:00 am. It was George. He had a few last minute details to go over with Harold. Harold took the call in the bathroom and used the facilities as he spoke. "What noise George? Oh, that is the surf, I have the window open to the porch." They were all minor questions but Harold was rarely away for a day, so they were not quite sure what to do. Emily was fast asleep when he returned to the room. Harold, put on a pair of boxer shorts, a pair of white tennis shorts, a tee shirt and a sandals. Opening a small carry on, he removed a black valise with a lap top computer. He went over to the phone and unplugged the incoming wire. After plugging the lap top into the phone line, he ran the Email software. He downloaded George's report from his electronic mail box and then replaced the phone wire into the room phone. He saved the file to disk and turned off the computer. With his key and computer in hand he walked down to the lobby. After purchasing a newspaper, he walked over to the concierge's desk to ask directions to the business reception area. The concierge directed him to a small room with several computers, a fax machine, a Xerox machine, and a number of pay phones. Harold took a disk from the lap top and put it in one of the computers. He sent the file to the printer and collected it from the print bin. Harold read the report George had just sent as he wandered through the lobby towards the coffee shop. Harold loved hard copy.

The coffee shop was really a very nice little restaurant on the edge of the central lagoon/pool/tropical rain forest complex. Harold walked along the edge of the carp pond toward the small moon bridge and read his print out. As he turned toward the moon bridge he missed and walked into the carp pond. It was only mid calf deep so he just kept on walking. The carp were the only ones who noticed. He sat down at a small table and read through the last few pages of the fax. It was a series of check lists on the last details of the launch. Tests that had been performed, tests that were due, every detail had been worked through ten committees and this was just the preliminary final countdown check list. Harold made a few notes in pen on the print out. The pen did not write well on the wet paper and when he went to the next line the ink smudged on his hands. When he finished checking the list, he wiped his now ink darkened hands on his white shorts leaving black stains. He folded the print out carefully and then stuffed it in his pocket. He opened the paper to check the news. A waiter arrived, noted the puddle on the floor from Harold's dripping sandals and feet and hurried off to get a bus boy with a mop. He then returned to take Harold's order. "Orange juice and dry wheat toast with jam. Please."

"Coffee?" The waiter looked at Harold.

"No, thank you." Harold looked up from his paper.

"Are you sure?" The waiter looked surprised.

"Yes, thank you." Harold turned back to his paper.

"Decaf?" The waiter probed the no.

"No, thank you." Harold's voice emphasized the no.

"Very well." He walked off muttering to himself.

The news was a collection of sports, results of the local hula competition, tide tables and the surf report. On the fourth page there were a few AP news wire reports. He read the comics and his food arrived.

At the table next to him there was a Japanese tour group, complete with pocket camera, video camera, and a small sign with removable white plastic letters in English and Japanese characters describing the tour group they were on. They were carefully placing the sign at their feet and having other members of their tour take pictures of them eating breakfast. Each member of the tour took turns sitting at the table. Finally they all took individual tables. Their English was a little better than the average American's Japanese. The waiters had no understanding at all of what the Japanese tourists wanted. After a few minutes of animated gestures and unintelligible words, the two words Japanese and menu seemed to come out simultaneously. The hotel may have had every convenience in the world but they did not yet have Japanese menus. After a few more minutes of shouting, every language is more easily understood if you speak loudly, clearly, and slowly, the waiter heard two more words he recognized: fish and rice. He turned and went away. The tourists looked pleased but surprised that the waiter had not bowed respectfully. A few minutes later a plate with rice, fish, and some soy sauce arrived. It looked a tad bit like sushi but they seemed to be pleased. It took another five minutes of discussion to get two glasses of water and two cups of coffee. The Japanese tourists tried very hard, the waiter just didn't seem motivated. He just stood there in front of a bamboo plant and paper screen decorating the restaurant and looked dumbfounded.

The Japanese couple then noticed Harold. They pointed at Harold, said a number of things that sounded like a cross between "Ah, Tah, Hah, Hah, and the aspiration of saliva, and then the words TV, and Venus. Harold tried not to notice but they called over the other members of the tour group. Soon Harold was standing with twenty Japanese tourists posing for a photo. The little plastic sign was in front, and each took a turn with his own camera. After about twenty photos, they all bowed respectively, and said something like "Arigato Gisaimas MacAnish San." Harold sat back down at his table but each continued to point, speak to one another, and say "Tah, saliva aspiration sound, Venus, San.

Harold finished his paper and his breakfast. A light wind blew up and two sections of the paper blew off the table and into the carp pond. Harold jumped up and walked over to the edge. He leaned over quite far but was unable to retrieve the paper. He looked around for a long pole or something to retrieve it but was not rewarded. Leaning across the pond and grabbing a coconut palm trunk on the other side of the pond, Harold spun around with one foot on either bank of the pond. He leaned back, flailed his arms in large circular motions to recover his balance. Finally, he did right himself. He then stepped carefully into the carp pond, waded over to the paper, which had begun to sink, and fished it out. The bell boy who had earlier mopped up his first mess turned, shook his head, and returned with the mop. Harold dropped the now soggy paper on the table, picked up his computer, and walked up to the maitre d'. He paid with plastic and returned to his room. The newspaper continued to drip from the small table onto the floor.

When he returned to the room, Emily was still asleep. He pulled the crumpled, wet, smudged printout from his pocket, flattened it out on the table, and ironed it with his hand further smudging it. He then turned on the computer, and typed out a response to each question in detail complete with careful comments. Then he added four new items to the check list. Harold was very meticulous in his work. When he was done he saved the file to disk, went over to the phone, unplugged the incoming line, plugged it into the computer and sent his reply to George's electronic mail. He closed the computer, stripped naked, and got back into bed with Emily. He snuggled behind her quite contentedly and fell asleep.

Chapter 38

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