| 3.4-5 My Second Day in Puerto Rico Thursday Morning until Friday Morning March 21st - 22nd, 1991 |
So, I called Rosy in Seattle, my good friend who I called earlier today to order the
flowers to send to Carlos’ family. Rosy answers the phone and I ask her how her
attempt to send flowers to Puerto Rico went. She said it didn't go well at all. She
has never had such a problem. Nobody could send flowers to the address I gave
her, so the flowers were never sent. My great attempt was foiled. No wonder Carlos
never called me at Palmas del Mar. It now seemed to me that I would never meet up
with Carlos here in Puerto Rico.
I began to tell her of the events of the day; the meeting with Danny about installing a
cellular phone system on Dominica, the concert in La Jolla, and the forming of my
corporation. She was very positive and was ready to come to Puerto Rico in a
minute. She had me talk to her husband Greg. Greg and I talked a little about the
philosophy of the company. After a while he asked me to call him back so he and
Rosy could check their schedules to see when they could meet me. So we ended
the conversation and I hung up.
I walked downstairs and sat in the lobby foyer where an X-rate movie was playing on
the large screen T.V. The graveyard shift employees must have put it on. After a
while I headed back to the phone and called Rosy and Greg. They decided they
could meet me but they would rather meet in Miami for the weekend only because it
would be too difficult to get to Puerto Rico from Seattle. Miami would be much
easier. I agreed to this change. They would fly in Saturday morning and they would
stay until Sunday night. I would have to fly from San Juan on Saturday morning and
return Sunday night to continue my time in Puerto Rico. I told Greg I would have
Karen, my friend in Washington, D.C. who is a travel agent, arrange the flights for
both of us. I gave him her toll free phone number so he could find out tomorrow
what she set up for them.Greg and I talked some more about how the company
would be set up and how it would work. By three thirty a.m. Puerto Rican time (11:30
p.m. Seattle time) we ended our conversation. I had agreed to call Greg tomorrow
on his toll free number at his flower shop to talk with him some more.
A few minutes later I phoned my good friend Parjeet and his wife Surinder in San
Diego. Seattle and San Diego are in the same time zone. Like Rosy and Greg, they
are just regular hard working people, not like my highly educated, scientifically
logical friends. I knew that Surinder worked the late shift and she should be arriving
home around now. Indeed, Surinder answered the phone on the first ring. I told her
of my plans to form a company and that it would be a real successful company. I
explained to her how it would be set up and that I wished for her and Parjeet and
their 3 year old son Suri to fly to Miami on Saturday and meet with me, Rosy, and
Greg to discuss the venture and that I would bare the expenses. Surinder knew I
had the money and she could probably sense that I was serious. She agreed that
they would be able to come. I gave her the phone number of my travel agent friend
Karen in Washington, D.C. and told her I'd be calling Parjeet when he awoke in the
morning. That brought this phone call to a close.
It was now just after four a.m. and for not being a guest of the hotel the night staff
really treated me well. No one ever stopped me from using the phone and desk in
the mezzanine and no one ever bothered me or asked me to leave. Everybody was
nice and friendly. The friendliest of all of the employees however was the night
operator Maria. Every time that I needed to place a phone call I had to go through
her to reach the MCI system. Through the course of the night and early morning
she got to know me well. She also got a taste of the MCI system and the MCI
operators. We both were amazed when on several occasions we reached the same
MCI operator who would place my calls. She even made the remark that this whole
evening to her seemed 'weird'. My last call of the evening was to Maria and we
talked for a short while about the events of my day and the strange events of Buena
Vista. As it turned out, this was Maria’s first day of work and coincidentally she was
from Buena Vista herself and she knew some of the people who had signed my
book. Before ending my call to Maria I promised her I'd talk to her again.
By now I was ready to sleep through until the morning. I gathered my papers,
organizer, and CD player and headed down the stairs past the front desk. As I
passed the front desk I saw the friendly night manager standing there. So I decided
to stop and ask him again if he was sure he didn't have any bed for me to sleep in.
Once again he informed me nicely there was no place. He informed me that in the
morning I could check with some nearby Villas that would probably be available.
With that I headed on outside and sat under the palms near the lagoon attempting to
open a fallen coconut. With the approach of a storm offshore, the winds began to
whip up and I could see the plants inside the lobby swaying with each gust off of the
ocean.
As I sat outside I thought to myself, "Hey, this reminds me of what happened to
someone else a long, long time ago. This would be a great event to videotape.
Nobody back home will believe that I was turned away from a place to sleep for the
night. I have to video tape this one." So I head for the van to get my video camera,
sneaking quietly past the night guard's booth near the parking lot. I take the hand
held video camera out of its bag, turn it on, and I head into the lobby.
The friendly night manager is still standing at the front desk. I walk up to him with my
eye in front of the camera and I ask him again, "Do you have any place for me to
stay the night?"
Once again he kindly states, "I'm sorry but we're all full up for the night. There's
nowhere here for you to stay the night."
That was all I wanted to get on video. So I thanked him and I walked out of the lobby
with a big smiling grin. I got the manager on video telling me there’s no room for me
to stay the night. I sit down beside the lagoon and I rewind the camera to see how
the tape came out. I begin to play the tape and to my amazement there was
nothing. I apparently had not started the camera. So, I sat pondering, "Should I go
back in and do it again or should I just forget about it?" I was worried about
upsetting them enough the first time walking in there with a camera and asking the
question. This time I felt for sure that I would really get them upset. After a few
minutes though I decide I must re-tape the scene.
This time I made sure the video camera was taping before I walked into the lobby. I
walk into the lobby and I go directly to the front desk. I ask a bellboy behind the
desk for the manager. He asks me, "What do you want?" I tell him I want the
manager. He says, "The manager is busy, what do you want?"
So I say once again, "I want to know if you have a place for me to stay the night?"
His face gets very red and angered and he tells me "Get the fuck out of here. We've
already told you we have no place for you to stay." He points his finger at the
camera and says, "And get that fucking camera out of here before I break it. And
you get out of here before I call security and the police." I heeded his warnings and
left once again with a big smiling grin.
I walk on out outside and sit down beside the palms, checking behind me to make
sure that no one was looking where I went. I took out the camera and checked that I
really had filmed this event. I had.
World Turned Upside Down
by Billy Ocean
by Shukre Khuda
by Shukre Khuda