The Ark
Copyright © 2020 by VeryWellAged
Author's note: These chapters are NOT stand-alones...The story starts here.
Birthday thoughts...4
When you going to meet her?
Let’s just enjoy this dinner. I’ll figure that out after we get back to the room.
She is waiting for your message. It is cruel to make her wait, Ira.
This is the one you don’t think I’ll like. Why is it important that I contact her?
She not right for you, but that no reason for you to be bad.
My tablet is up in the room. I’ll do it when I get there.
You have your Nokia. Here is her number. I keep it on my phone, remember? Text her.
She is a combination of a steamroller and a battering ram. She will claim it’s all for my benefit, but still, I’m not happy with it, even if she is right… which she probably is.
OK, give me her number. I’ll tell her I’ll see her tomorrow, after 3PM, here at the hotel. That gives you time to leave and room service to clean up the room, in case she comes up to it.
Where will you take her?
Really? You think this is your business? Prin, knock it off.
Ira, I am just trying to help! If she is right for you, then I not want to have it be wrong because you not understand our culture. Please, where you go with her?
I was thinking about that mall we were at. What did you call it?
MoA1? That what you mean?
Yes, that’s it. We can walk around, talk, have a meal, all in a safe place. Then if she wants to come back to the room later, we can do that, but there’s no pressure.
Good! Ira, that’s a good plan. Thank you for telling me.
Huh, why do you think it’s a good plan?
Because she won’t come back to the room. You will see. Before your dinner is over with her tomorrow, you will decide. But you won’t have to tell her that. She will tell you she not think she right for you and leave from MoA to go back to her home.
So maybe I should bring her up to the room first.
Ha, you try and she be angry with you, call you bad names and make a scene in the hotel. Bad idea! Then we have to find a new hotel to stay in!
We?
Yes. She leave and you not seeing anyone else here, before you fly to Iloilo. So why not? Text her. Tell her the plan. If you tell her to meet you at the hotel, she will ask for somewhere else.
Fascinating! Here’s a test of her perception. Let’s see if Prin is right. I grab my phone, get the number from Prin and text the gal.
This is Ira. I can meet you at the Heritage Hotel at 3PM tomorrow.
I figure we will get an answer later and put the phone down on the table. In the meantime I can return to our dinner, which is pretty good.
Not five minutes later, I receive a text. Prin grabs it before I get to it, looks at the response and laughs before handing me the phone.
Can we meet somewhere else? A hotel is not proper!
Mall of Asia at Starbucks Coffee?
Yes good! See you then.
Prin smiles. There’s no reason to say anything. I can tell just by the nature of the response I got in the text that this gal will never make it. I just nod and return to the meal.
Back in the room, I’m just relaxing on the bed when Prin plops down beside me. She clearly has something in mind. I’m getting to recognize her moods.
OK, what is it?
How you know?
I know. So what is it?
Well, tomorrow night you alone, unless you allow me back. And then you not planning to fly for three more days. That is a mistake too. No need to wait. Better to see the next girl sooner.
OK. I agree and yes, if tomorrow’s meeting goes like we both think it will, yes I’m happy to have you here tomorrow night. But there is more you are thinking. What is it?
How you know?
Stop your silliness. What is it?
If Lorie is good, she will agree she not alone, you see?
I know that is what you want me to do. Assuming she is not super special and above everyone else, I see your point.
But how you know? That is a bad plan. We are all Filipinas. Either we are good for you or not. No one that special! And what if you think one is special and you wrong? Big mistake!
Yeh, I have considered that.
So, change your plan, na2.
OK, so I think you are right. So what? She will know she is not the only one or she is not at all. That is what you want and I see that is better than my plan. That way I don’t hurt as many gals. More gals get something, if not everything. But then I have to stay here. I wasn’t planning on that. But like you say, I’m retired … so if these gals give me a good life here, maybe it’s better than risking that one might, if I bring her to the States, not really be good. I get all that. Still, it requires that I be OK here and I’m not sure about that. But there’s something more. … Something you are thinking about. I’m not getting what it is.
Bring me with you to Iloilo3!
You’ll scare Lorie away! No, bad idea.
Ira, I stay in separate room. You meet Lorie and make sure you want to keep her. If you do and she agree she cannot be the only one then I meet her. Not before. It OK.
For the life of me, I try to find a hole in her argument. There isn’t one. Is she that fucking smart or am I just slow on the uptake on this culture crap?
OK, but that still assumes a number of things. That I can handle the culture here. If I can’t there’s no way I can stay. I don’t really know that tomorrow goes like we both think it will. I’m not giving up on the gal. There’s no sense in even meeting her unless I really try to see if it can work. And finally that there really is no gal who is that much better, though I think you are right on this last point.
You right, but I sure you will be OK here. You right about respecting the next Filipina.
If it does work, then for tomorrow night, at a minimum, you are not here. If it does work, we add you later, maybe the third day and not before.
OK. You right.
Good. Now I’m going to take another shower and unless you want to just sleep tonight, I suggest you not shower with me!
That gets giggles and a few kisses.
The shower is a quick one and Prin follows with her own shower after I’m done.
The lovemaking that follows is sweet and languid in pace. We know each other’s bodies now. We know what to expect and there’s no sense of concern or tension. We have, at least for the moment, become a couple who can work together. Prin has won some important arguments, but she has backed off when needed.
In most of the cases where she prevailed, I can chalk it up to my own errors in judgment and my failure to understand her world. The more I do so, and it has taken me a while to see how wrong I have been about things, the more I see how wrong my entire plan was.
That she, rather than tell me to fuck off for being such an idiot, has helped me make a better decision is all in her favor. The more I think about my marriage which ended so badly years ago, I can see that I might well have made a hash of the same thing again with my original plan.
I had taken the impression of what I thought I understood when I met my friend and his new wife at the café and tried to copy it. I didn’t have a real clue about the why of it and how it really came about. The offer of hooking me up with a friend was in a way to short circuit exactly what I’m learning right now. It should have set off a bell, telling me that I was missing an important piece of the puzzle.
It has taken Prin to get me to see that.
I have breakfast with Prin. An hour later she takes off. I have her cellphone number in my phone. We both have that promo, so I can contact her when needed and she can without penalty text me back. I decide to text the new gal and ask if she wants to move the time up to about one and we can have a lunch meal together if she likes.
I get a text back, almost immediately, agreeing. We will still meet at Starbucks before deciding where to grab a meal. That gives me some time to relax before going to MoA, but I won’t be cooling my heels for hours upon hours waiting on the meeting. It also gives me more time to see if I’m able to turn this next gal into a keeper. Just because it’s starting off on the wrong foot, doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.
And there’s the fact that it’ll salve my ego a bit if I can prove Prin wrong. It might be a good thing if I can take Prin down a peg in this whole business.
I know what this gal, Cincer, looks like and she has seen my photo, so I don’t think we will have any problems finding each other. I get to Starbucks a little bit early, a few minutes to one. Prin told me that here in the Philippines, everyone is always late. I take that as a bit of an exaggeration. But, I have been here for half an hour and have already drained my coffee.
So far, no sight of Cincer. If she doesn’t show or text by two, I’ll text her that it didn’t work out. Maybe that is shortsighted on my part, but if this isn’t important enough for her, then I might as well bag it now.
At one forty-five she walks in and is close to tears. It seems like there was a problem with the train and they said there would be no more trains for hours, so she took three jeepneys4. But that made it very slow. She moans that it took forever to get here. She wanted to text me but she was out of load on her phone. It’s another lesson. If she had been twenty minutes later, it would not have been because she was blowing me off.
Once again, I have failed to account for the culture. I smile, tell her it’s OK, and suggest I get her a drink before we figure out where to get a bite to eat.
She looks around a bit, settles down in a chair and accepts, but… They have food here. Maybe we just do this now? I not need much. That OK?
Sure. Why don’t you go up and look at what they have. Then come back, tell me what you want and I’ll order the food and drink.
That works out fine. She gets a sandwich type thing of ham and cheese on a croissant plus a Frappuccino. I get another brewed coffee and some type of wrap that looks safe and is possibly a bit more filling.
She seems like a bright gal. She works as a bookkeeper and was able to get the afternoon off. So she clearly didn’t have to quit her job to see me. Is that one of the things that told Prin this gal wouldn’t be a good fit?
Sir Ira, what is your plan?
Excuse me? My plan?
You say you will meet a number of girls? Why you do that? What is your intent? Your plan?
OK, so here’s another gal who isn’t anyone’s fool. Just as Prin, in her way, was figuring out what was going on, this gal is even more direct. She is not being rude. She is just getting right to the point.
If the assumption is that Asian women are subservient and obsequious, they must not have Filipinas in mind!
It’s a good question and a fair one to ask. I had one plan when I got here but realized it wasn’t a good one. I changed my mind and now there’s a new plan. I originally thought I would meet a number of you and figure out which one to be serious with and then bring her back to the USA and marry. But once I got here, I realized that many of you will be good and all I’ll be doing is hurting many of you to meet all and then choose only one. … Plus, what if I chose wrong? I was married once, many years ago. I thought that was the right girl to marry and I was very, very wrong.
I see, so what is your new plan?
I’m not sure that this will be my plan but decide to take it out for a test drive. I need to see how it plays. I’m retired. And I can sell what I have in the US and live here instead. No need to bring one gal back to the USA. And because of that, I can be with all those who I find good and are willing to be with me. I can make more than one girl happy. So, even if one or two say no, if others say yes, I have hurt fewer hearts. I want to be happy but I don’t want to hurt others just so I can get what I want.
Sir Ira, you know most girls, they will not agree to do this!
Maybe, but if only one does, then I haven’t hurt any more hearts than I would otherwise.
She looks at me, takes a bite of her sandwich, puts it down, takes a sip of the Frappuccino, puts it down, pats her lips with what they seem to call a napkin here, though it looks a lot like a tissue to me, puts it down, and smiles. You have already found that one. Am I right?
I bet you are a very good bookkeeper, aren’t you? My guess is that you don’t miss much.
I don’t miss anything. It’s why I keep my job. It is why I am not as poor as many Filipinas. … She knows you are meeting with me today?
Yes.
Another smile and another sip of Frappuccino. She looks at me as she picks up the sandwich and takes another bite. She doesn’t think I will agree. I can see that in your face. She takes another bite, masticates and swallows. Tell me, can you afford to live here and support us? I will still want to work, but I need to know what I will be getting into. What type of pension do you have?
You are considering saying yes?
Ira, you didn’t lie to me. You told me the truth. I like that. Maybe, you are not making promises you can’t keep. I like that. I don’t care about going to another country. I like mine. I am a proud Filipina. So, yes. Maybe. But, can you really do what you say? If I decide I really like you enough to be yours; and if I like the other girl; are you really able? She giggles. That a maybe and two ‘ifs.’ So, what is your financial situation?
I have three sources of income. My social security is just over $2,231 a month currently. There’s a cost of living adjustment so it goes up a little each year; a pension, which provides $3,712 a month; and a retirement account which provides an additional $1,890.00 a month for a total of ...
Seven thousand, eight hundred and thirty-three dollars or three hundred twenty-eight thousand nine hundred and eighty-six pesos. Ira! … That is a lot of money.
Fuck, I could never do that in my head like that. She is way too fucking fast for me.
Look I can live on that amount in the USA, so I figure there will not be a problem living on that here. Plus I own some things that I can sell.
What that?
My home should sell for over $440,000, there are some other parcels of land I guess I could sell. I’ve got two vehicles, a good bass boat, some firearms… stuff.
Your house… that is over twenty-four million pesos. OK, yes, financial, it all OK. So that not a problem. The question is, will I really like you and will I like your other girl.
Am I a business proposition to you?
Oh! No! I am sorry. Truly! But you not seeking a normal life with a wife. So there are other ways to understand this I think! Ira, I am not poor, so I not think ‘anything is better than nothing.’ You see? … But I like that you tell me the truth. You think your first plan is bad and you decide on a kinder plan to help more. I like this. You are kind to me even though I am late. I know foreigners not like it when we late. I learn that at work! I want to like you very much. But how I know? It will not be just you and me for a year or more getting to know each other, I think.
Yes. Very true.
OK, so how I know? I think, there is another Filipina who you already want. If not, this not be happening. That is what I think. So, will I like her? Even if I like you but not like her, then it not work, I think this.
You know I’ll take you to bed? There will be sex in this. It isn’t all being nice to each other.
Yes, of course. I know. If I like her, I am willing to be with you if you are a good man.
I don’t know if I’m a good man. I don’t know if what I’m doing would ever qualify as good. Only you can decide that for yourself. It seems like you want to meet the other gal before anything else happens. Do I understand you correctly?
Yes. Are you willing for me to talk to her? Truly?
I must be smiling.
Why you think this funny?
You, Cincer, are the one who guessed she thought you would refuse. What do you think will happen when you call her?
I get a genuine smile. One of shared understanding. Oh! I see. You think she will be surprised.
At the very least. Yes.
But I can’t call until I get a load. So maybe we do that next.
I will get you a load no matter what. I will take care of it, no matter if you like her or hate her, but here, let’s use my phone. That should confuse her even more.
That produces another warm smile.
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1 - Mall of Asia. The initials are pronounced as a word: mO-ah
2 - Tagalog for ‘now’
3 - Iloilo is the big city on Panay and where the airport is.
4 - A Philippine type of bus.
§ § §