Marilyn cheered up a bit at that, and went over to hold Marlyn's hand as the two of them went into the orphanage. At the door, Marilyn turned to wave to us; Kelly and I both waved back, and from the corner of my eye, I could see Bhoy give her a little wave, as well.
When they were gone, Kelly turned to me and asked 'What was that about her not being here much longer?'
I answered 'Wait until Marlyn gets back; I expect she'll have the same question.'
Several minutes later, we saw Marlyn reappear with tears on her face.
Kelly quickly went to her, and the two of them hugged as they tried to console each other. When we were in the van, and on the way to my last business destination, Marlyn turned in her seat to ask me essentially the same question Kelly had.
I explained to her (and Kelly, who'd given me a dirty look) 'I had an idea last night. I don't know yet if it's going to work, but if it does, Marilyn won't be in there but for a couple of months, or maybe a little longer.'
Both of them immediately demanded to know what I was up to, and I just told them 'I'm not going to say anything about it until I can check into it more. I think what I have in mind will work, but I'm just not
Kelly turned to Marlyn, who was about to protest, and told her 'Don't bother trying to argue with him, or find out what he's up to. You could probably torture him, and not get anything more than he's already said.
But you can trust him, whatever it is that he's up to.'
Marlyn gave me her own dirty look, but turned back around in her seat.
Kelly just watched me for a while, but when I didn't seem to notice, started her by then traditional picture- taking as we made our way to Laoag, my last stop.
Laoag pretty much had their act together, but as I looked around, it didn't look like their infrastructure was ready to handle the factory my client had said they wanted to build. It looked to me like the addition of the factory would put too much of a strain on the different systems – water, electrical, transportation, and so on. Still, I went to all the places I was supposed to, to make sure that they had every opportunity to show me they were ready.
Three days later, the majority of the job complete, we all headed back to Manila. Kelly and I got re-registered at the hotel we'd stayed in the first night, while Marlyn went back to her own home – visibly relieved that all the traveling was over.
I had to spend nearly another week in Manila, meeting with a number of government officials and visiting several of the lawyers that I'd been referred to. While I was busy with all of that, Marlyn and Bhoy showed Kelly the city – even taking her out to see the island the American forces had tried to hold out on at the beginning of World War II.
Still, there finally came the time when all my work was done – it was time for Kelly and I to head home. I called my client to tell them when I was leaving, and that it would be a couple of days after I got back before I'd have a report ready for them. They understood, and thanked me for being so thorough. The next call was to Paul, to let him know when we'd be arriving at the airport. He happily assured us that he'd be there – and cautioned us that he wouldn't be alone. I told him that I'd expected as much, making him laugh before we ended the conversation.
The last night before Kelly and I were to leave, Marlyn agreed to join us for supper. Bhoy even made himself available to drive us around if we wanted. Kelly and I decided that wasn't necessary, but thanked him for his offer, via Marlyn. I offered to shake his hand before he left us, and slipped him a couple of $100 bills to show my appreciation for all his help and patience. When he got to the van, and had a chance to see how much I'd tipped him, he turned to give me a salute and smile – both of which I returned – before driving off.
We went to the Filipino restaurant that we'd visited our first night in Manila. This time, though, Kelly didn't really need Marlyn and me to run interference for her. Both of us watched in amusement as she demonstrated that she was quite capable of telling folks 'Hindi (No)!
Ako gumawa hindi magkulang sino man (I don't want any)!'
The restaurant was busy again (still), and we were directed to the bar to wait. As we were sipping our drinks, I asked Marlyn 'When you took us to the hotel from the airport, we went by the garbage dump and a poor neighborhood. I know that there is at least one other way out of the airport that wouldn't go by those places. So why did you have Bhoy take us that way?'
Marlyn blushed a bit, and got very quiet before telling me 'I am sorry for that, now. I did not know you then, and I thought that I had to show you how poor our country is. I thought that if you saw it for yourself, you would know how much the factory means; and that maybe it would make you a little more generous to my people.'
Kelly and I both nodded in response – we could both easily imagine doing something similar in her position.
With the question asked and answered, we spent the rest of the wait simply chatting with each other. Marlyn was curious to know just exactly what it was that I did for my clients, so Kelly and I explained it to her. She understood quickly enough, and seemed mildly impressed that I could do that kind of work. She was equally impressed when she learned that Kelly had graduated with not one, but two college degrees – and was going to start on an advanced degree before long.
The next morning, Kelly and I got to sleep in, for a change – our flight wasn't until early afternoon, and both of us wanted to make sure we had plenty of rest beforehand.
When we got to the lobby, Marlyn was waiting patiently for us. Kelly went over to talk to her for a moment before snagging a bellhop to bring down our luggage while I got us out of debt. Happily, our luggage was the only thing we'd have to worry about. Every couple of days during the trip, Marlyn would take Kelly to a post office and the two of them would mail Kelly's purchases to our home – even sending the stuff airmail was cheaper than paying the airline's overweight luggage fees; never mind the hassle of additional stuff to carry around.
We got to the airport in plenty of time – this time bypassing the dump and poor neighborhoods. We got checked in for our flight easily enough, and after paying the departure taxes, airport taxes, and tax taxes, were ready to head for the gate. Marlyn, and even Bhoy, had stayed handy during all of this, so Kelly and I had a chance to wish them goodbye.
Bhoy surprised me by sticking his hand out to shake with me; Marlyn dared let me give her a small – but chaste! – hug. Kelly and Marlyn hugged easily, and Bhoy stood still to let Kelly give him a kiss on the cheek and a happy 'Salamat po!'. Kelly and Marlyn both were leaking around the eyes a little when we parted company.
When we were finally in our seats and waiting our turn to take off, Kelly told me 'I'm going to miss this place, and them. But it's nice to be going home, too.'
I agreed with her as we felt the plane accelerate down the runway.
Part 3
The flight home wasn't much different than the flight over – the stewardesses were just as cute (and helpful and friendly), the food as good, and we spent longer trapped in the little box at 40,000 feet – playing 'catch up' with the stopovers we were scheduled for as the planet below moved them away from us.
Still, we finally made it home – customs in L.A. hadn't been as bad as I'd been afraid it would, and the taxes and duties on the little bit of stuff we'd brought with us (mostly the silver from Baguio) wasn't too outrageous.
When Kelly and I finally got clear of the jet way, we found not just Paul, but Jan, Sandra, Robyn, and Susan were waiting for us with a big 'Welcome Home!' banner. Kelly and I hugged and kissed all the girls, Kelly kissed Paul after I shook hands with him. Kelly and the girls started all trying to talk at once; Paul and I just chatted about the trip and what all had happened while I was gone as we made our way down to the baggage area in hope of reclaiming our luggage. For a change of pace, the airline decided that the passengers and their luggage should arrive at the same place at the same time, so it wasn't too long before the bunch of us could load up Paul's minivan. I rode shotgun so Paul and I could talk while Kelly regaled the others with stories of all the things we'd done, and all the places we'd been.
After we'd gotten away from the airport, Paul pulled into a convenience store; Robyn went in to get drinks for all of us, knowing that Kelly and I would be a little dehydrated from the flight. Kelly and I both thanked her; she just gave both of us the Goober look (as if to say 'You are*such* a Goober!'). The rest of the ride, Paul and I listened to
