Kelly with her chair, and was surprised when the waiter quickly moved in to assist Marlyn, too. She politely thanked him, and he and the hostess both thanked us.
When we got close to the door, Marlyn told me 'The waiters here know that they should help women with their chairs, but seldom do. But when you helped Kelly, he was ashamed not to do it for me, too. When they see the tip you gave him, perhaps it will help them remember to do it again next time.'
We ran the gauntlet back to the hotel, and Marlyn again took station on the opposite side of Kelly so that we formed something of a shield for her. My size and broken Tagalog told most that I wasn't to be trifled with; they didn't even bother with Marlyn. Again in the hotel lobby, I asked Marlyn if she would like to have a drink – alcohol, coke, or coffee, her choice – with us before she left. She thought it over a moment, and agreed. We went into the bar and I ordered a beer, which Kelly duplicated. Marlyn selected coffee, and the three of us settled into the booth the waiter had shown us to.
When we'd gotten our drinks, I asked Marlyn 'How soon could Marilyn start going to school again?'
The subject surprised her a bit, but she readily answered 'The day after the orphanage got the money for it.'
Kelly asked 'How much would they want to start?'
'Only the first month.'
Kelly went on to ask 'How soon could you get it to them?'
'If I called to let them know, I could telegraph it to them and it would be there in one day only.'
Kelly looked at me, and then excused herself – I knew that she was going to go up to the room to get some money, and took the opportunity to discuss a few things with Marlyn.
'I would like to thank you for helping to watch out for Kelly, by walking on the other side of her from me.'
To my surprise, Marlyn blushed slightly, and answered 'She is too pretty and too young to let anything happen to her.'
'When we get to the places we're going, will you be with me during the meetings?' I asked.
'Oh, no, that won't be necessary. All of the people you will be seeing are fluent in English.'
'There is something that I would like to ask you to do, then, while I am busy during the day, if you would.'
Marlyn looked at me curiously, and answered 'I would be happy to, if I can.'
'Actually, it is a couple of things, but one of them will be easy, I think.'
She nodded for me to continue, and I said 'First, if you can, I would like to meet the American managers of any companies in the area we visit. I think they can tell me things that only another American would think important. The second one is if you would keep Kelly company – show her different places, go shopping with her, and like that.'
Marlyn smiled, and said 'Yes, I think the second one would be easy. The first one, I will try. I don't know if a Filipina could get you an appointment, though – they might think that I am only trying to get someone else into their office.'
'I suppose that's true. I'll give you some of my business cards; if you tell them why I'm there, and who I'm visiting, that should help convince them that it really is another American that wants to see them.'
'Yes, I think that would do it. Is there anything else?'
'Only that I am interested to know anything that you can tell me about the different places we're going, and the people that I meet. I have had a very good business relationship with my client for a very long time, and I want to do the best job I can for them, and not send them to a bad place.'
About then, Kelly made her reappearance with an envelope in her hand.
She sat down with us again, and discretely slid it over to Marlyn, telling her 'There is $200 inside. That should cover the cost of the telegraph and the telephone call, plus what Marilyn will need. If you need more, don't be afraid to tell me, or Dan, and we'll see that you get it.'
Marlyn sat there in stunned silence for nearly a minute before we saw her eyes start to tear up. Kelly quickly reached out to take her hand, asking 'What? What's the matter?'
Marlyn took a deep breath, and told her 'This.' – gesturing at the envelope – 'You are so kind to me, even after the way I talked to you in the restaurant. She is my only family, and I feel so bad that I cannot help her more, and now I can because you are so kind.' as tears started down her face.
Kelly quickly squeezed her hand, and said 'Its okay, Marlyn. We're doing it because we want to help her.'
'But you are still so kind to me, and to her, I don't know how I can thank you.'
'You don't have to thank us. When she is able to leave the orphanage with an education, that will be all the thanks we need.' I told her.
She looked at both of us gratefully, and carefully put the envelope in her purse. When she looked up at us again, she was sniffling a bit, and Kelly quickly handed her a couple of paper napkins. Marlyn thanked her, and started dabbing at her eyes, but not making much progress. Kelly slid from the booth, and took her by the hand, saying 'I think you need some time in the ladies room'. Marlyn slowly nodded, and made her way to stand next to Kelly. With a look to me, Kelly led the way toward the sign that indicated where the ladies room was.
Several minutes later, I saw as they made their way back to the booth; Marlyn once again looked like the composed professional she'd first appeared, while I could see that Kelly had shed a few tears of her own.
When they'd sat down again, I asked Marlyn 'I saw on the schedule that we were supposed to leave for Davao tomorrow morning at nine o'clock.
Would you like us to leave later, or even the next day?'
She hastened to assure me 'Oh, no, we don't need to do that. I can send them the money tonight, and call them tomorrow morning before we leave.'
Kelly told her 'Marlyn, please, please don't hesitate to tell us if there's anything we can do to help.'
Marlyn quickly told her 'Oh, no, everything will be fine, really. It isn't a problem.'
'Hindi malaking bagay?' (No big thing) I asked, teasing.
'Oh, no', she smiled.
Kelly looked at me, and I told her 'We have a little drive tomorrow, a few hours, to get to Tacloban. Spend the night there, and another easy drive to Davao. Of course, the driving is always easier when it's somebody else doing it!' making both of them laugh.
A few minutes later, Kelly yawned, and I suggested that we'd better get some rest – that we still hadn't really caught up on our time zones.
Marlyn seconded my opinion, and Kelly readily agreed. We all stood up, and I told Marlyn 'If you want, you are welcome to join us for breakfast tomorrow. If you will be busy, though, we'll understand. I thought we would be in the restaurant here in the hotel about 7:30.' She said she'd try, but couldn't promise. I said that I understood, and she wished us both a good evening before heading for the lobby of the hotel. Kelly and I followed her as far as the elevators, and then made our way to our room. Both of us were again feeling the effects of the flight, so neither of us felt frisky enough to try any repeats of our earlier performance. I left a wakeup call, and Kelly again set that damn alarm clock. Sure that we'd wake up in time, the two of us made our way to bed, spooning as we fell asleep.
The next morning, the wakeup call from the front desk was enough to get me up and moving. I tried to get Kelly up, but she protested that it was still too early. With a wicked smile on my face, I set the damn alarm clock on the nightstand next to her before heading in to take a shower.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, I heard it go off, accompanied by Kelly's muffled curse before she shut it off. A minute or so after that, she dragged herself into the bathroom; and after unloading the beer she'd had the night before, joined me in the shower. We had a fine time waking each other up with lots of soap and plenty of slippery fun.
Before we'd left, I'd shown Kelly a few things about packing a suitcase, so it didn't take us much to get ready for the trip. We made it to the restaurant in the hotel a few minutes before 7:30, and didn't have any trouble getting seated. We waited a little bit, but didn't see any sign of Marlyn, so we both went ahead and ordered breakfast – the waitress was used to American tourists, and had brought coffee on her first stop at the table.
We were just finishing our meal when we saw Marlyn at the entrance to the restaurant. The waitress saw her, and directed her to where we were seated. She joined us in a cup of coffee as the three of us discussed the day ahead. I remembered something, and told Kelly 'While we're on the road, do yourself a favor, and just watch the scenery. If you watch Bhoy driving, you'll just get nervous.'
