client – your boss! – pick out a company to build the factory. You won't be dealing with the contracts and like that; your job will be to find out what companies do good work so Bill Emerson – he owns the company – can decide who is his best choice. After you get to the U.S., you'll be working hard to not only learn what they do and how they do it, but why – so you can explain it to the workers that you will help pick out. Bill knows that he's going to have to train a lot of people to do the kind of work he needs. Again, you won't be making technical decisions; you'll be there to help figure out what applicants are there just for the money, and which ones are there to work. You'll be helping Bill and his people in dealing with local officials. You'll be helping deal with all the news people that want to know about the new factory. You'll be helping deal with any people that decide that they don't want a factory near where they live. This is your country and your people – Bill is going to expect you to offer advice and suggestions, and just generally be there to help in dealing with anything Filipino.'
Once again, she looked doubtful, and I told her 'Really, I don't think you're going to have any problems. You worked in an emergency room, right?'
She nodded, and I went on 'Then you can do it. In the emergency room, you sometimes had to tell the younger doctors things when they were going to do something wrong, right?'
She smiled, and I continued 'And you had to deal with the younger nurses that didn't know as much, teaching them? And I'll bet you were even involved in hiring a few nurses, too.' – she nodded – 'Then you can do this. It's not in an emergency room, but you'll be doing the same things. Bill is the new resident, and your job will be to watch out for him while he's learning.'
That put it in terms she could relate to, and she smiled her acceptance and understanding.
'Tomorrow morning, I'll give you the papers that you need to fill out and sign.', I told her, shortly before she got up to come around a give me a hug and whispered 'Thank you, Dan!' – with no concern about who was watching.
Once she was seated across from me again, I told her 'I need to go up and get freshened up and rested, myself. Would you go with us to dinner?' She happily agreed before the two of us stood up to leave.
Later, when everyone was gathered in the hotel lobby, we discussed our dinner options. The guy that had taken the in-flight language lessons was up for Filipino food. A couple more were willing, but cautious. The fourth wanted to go out for American food. The lawyers didn't seem to care, either way. I was happy to see that all of them had paid attention to my earlier warnings: none was wearing a watch, and I could see the bulges of their wallets in their front pockets. With tag team lectures from Marlyn and me, the eight of us headed out for Filipino food – a different place than Marlyn had taken Kelly and me. The specialty of this place was lumpia – kind of like a small burrito, only in a*much* thinner and crispier wrapping, with a sweet-and-sour sauce. All of them seemed to think it was pretty darn good – particularly when washed down with fresh San Miguel beer.
By the time we got back to the hotel, the full bellies and liquid refreshment had everyone ready for some sleep – none of us was quite recovered from the trip.
Knowing what we were there for, Marlyn had planned things in such a way as to give us plenty of time to recover from the flight. It wasn't until late the next morning that we got loaded into the van and made our way to Dagupan. As with Kelly, none of them could resist the temptation to watch Bhoy drive – until they realized that there wasn't a darn thing they could do about it, and settled on watching the countryside along the way.
After we'd gotten checked into our hotel in Dagupan, all but the lawyers wanted to go out and do a little exploring. With admonitions from me to be careful and pay attention to Bhoy, they left. The lawyers opted to prepare for the next day in their rooms, which left Marlyn and I free.
She surprised me by offering to take me to dinner, and I accepted. She led us a few blocks away to where there was a small hole-in-the-wall looking place. Inside, it turned out to be a bright, cheery place; clean and small, with a friendly staff. We were quickly shown a seat, and Marlyn told me 'This is a place that Bhoy recommended. He says they serve the best steak in the Philippines here.'
Marlyn and I chose to follow Bhoy's lead, and ordered the steak, with French fries and cold San Miguel (me) and Coke (Marlyn). Our conversation was quiet and pleasant as we enjoyed our meal. I couldn't say that it was the best steak in the Philippines, but it was certainly the best I'd had in quite a while – I remembered several places I knew of that could take lessons from them.
When we'd finished our dessert, I told Marlyn 'Once the lawyers get started tomorrow, I'd like to show the rest of them around a little bit.
The first place I'd like to go is the orphanage, if we can. There's something I have to do there.'
Marlyn looked at me curiously, but said that she and Bhoy would be happy to take us.
Back at the hotel, I managed to get a phone connection to the U.S. and had a nice talk with Kelly, who assured me that she missed me already. I answered that she couldn't miss me as much as I did her, and brought her up to date on how things were going – including Marlyn's acceptance of the job. Kelly was delighted to hear it, and seconded my offer to pay Marilyn's fare. When the conversation finally ended, I settled myself in with the couple of Cokes I'd bought from the sari-sari and the book I'd brought along – most definitely a poor second choice to having Kelly with me.
The next morning, Bhoy got the lawyers to their Filipino counterparts – a meeting that none of the rest of us wanted any part of. When he got back, we piled into the van for our side trip to San Fernando.
At the orphanage, Marlyn and Marilyn showed the others around while I paid a visit to the office. When they saw me, every female in the place started crying again, and wanted to hug me. When I asked if Father Villanueva was available, one of the secretaries told me that he'd be there in just a couple minutes – then got on the phone to call him. It wasn't five minutes later that he arrived, welcoming me and thanking me profusely.
I explained to him about my talk with Bishop Ferguson – they were all awed that I not only personally knew a Bishop, but could arrange a meeting with one – and that they would be getting additional support from the diocese. I also told them about my conversation with Bill, and how he was going to take care of transporting the donations. They were thrilled at the good news – but when I handed Father Villanueva the money Bill had sent along, it stunned them into total silence: I'd brought the money in cash, knowing that dealing with checks and such was a major aggravation in the Philippines – particularly when the funds were drawn on an American bank that didn't have a presence in the Philippines, never mind locally.
Even Father Villanueva could only sit there, looking like a fish as his jaw worked up and down without any sound coming out.
When he finally got his wits about him, Father Villanueva made the Sign of the Cross over me, and started saying a prayer for me in Tagalog.
That woke the others up, and they could only watch in awe.
When he was finished, Father Villanueva assured me that the money would be wisely spent; I told him I was sure it would. He went on to ask me if there was anything they could do to show their thanks and appreciation. I gave him Bill's address, and told them that if they wanted to send him a letter, I was sure he would be happy to receive it.
I was assured that the letter would go out that very day – the manager would personally take it to the post office.
When I got back to where the others were, Marilyn had been laying in wait for me: Marlyn had told her about the job, and she didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around me to give me a hug, and pull me down for a kiss on the cheek. I was pleased to see that the orphanage had done as they said they would: the children responsible enough to take care of them were dressed in the new clothes Kelly had bought; and all of them were playing with some of the toys that we'd given them. In a different part of the orphanage, where the sponsored children were able to go to school, I saw that all of them had paper and pencils to use; and that the books we'd bought were proudly displayed on new bookshelves that someone had built. The woman teaching them saw me, and came over to thank me for my generosity; I assured her that it had been my pleasure.
Back outside the orphanage, I asked the guys what they thought of the place. One – Jack Sanders – allowed that it was better than nothing.
Another – Gus Williams – thought that it was dirty and had smelled bad.
A third – Ted Grady – wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help. The fourth – Mike King – agreed with Jack. Then I told them that what they saw was the results of my previous visit, plus the two thousand dollar donation I'd wired. They looked surprised, and I went on to tell them that I'd just given the ten thousand dollars Bill had sent along to the priest that oversaw that orphanage and three others. Ted Grady looked pleased at the news of Bills donation. Jack and Mike didn't seem to care, either way. I heard Gus mutter to himself that there
