The Ark

Author's note: These chapters are NOT stand-alones...The story starts here.

Birthday thoughts...5

Her name is Princess Mangalop. She is expecting me to call her to say you have decided to not join me and that she should come back to the room. But I told Prin that I would not even bother to meet you unless I hoped in my heart that you would say yes and if you did, I might not see her for three days. Now you know all there is to know before you speak with her.

My phone is on the table. I pick it up, open the contact and press the icon to call Prin’s phone before handing the phone to Cincer.

I hear the phone ringing and then, Ira? What happen? I right, yes?

There’s a smirk, not really a smile, on Cincer’s face as she launches into Tagalog. I have no idea what is being said, but it isn’t a brief discussion.

As the conference drags on I sip my coffee, eat my wrap and consider that no matter what happens, I’m OK. What’s the worst? That I lose both of these gals? OK, so I’m going to see Lorie. She doesn’t know what has happened here. It’ll be a fresh start and maybe, just maybe it might be wise to revert to the original plan.

Damn, this conversation is going on for a long time. I think I hear the word ‘pesos.’ I’m sure I hear ‘Iloilo.’ But everything else is word salad.

My coffee and wrap are long gone. I’m expecting to talk to Prin when the gals are done with their session, but no such thing happens. Cincer ends the call and hands me my phone and rises. Come, Ira, I need a load, you are going to buy me a dress and shoes, and then we will meet Prin at the hotel before we go out to dinner.

Sit down, Cincer. What has happened?

That stops her, and it’s a damned good thing it does. I like straightforward honesty, but I don’t need any bosses. I think Prin is learning this. Cincer may need a taste of it as well. She might well think she likes me, but I have to like her and I don’t like being bossed around. I suspect most men my age feel about the same way.

Yes, OK, sorry. I guess, I wrong.

That’s a good place to start. I don’t like being bossed around. I’m willing to do many things, but you can’t just tell me what to do. It’s all well and good that you decide you like me. But remember, I also have to like you.

If it’s possible to see the blood drain out of a Filipina’s face, well, I’m doing that now.

Yes, Sir Ira. I make a big mistake. Maybe I should call Prin and tell her that you have not agreed yet.

Yes, as I think there’s more that has been decided between the two of you, that might be a very good thing to do.

I pick up the phone, get the thing dialing again, hand it back to the gal and wait. The call is not brief, but not too long before, without hanging up, Cincer hands me the phone and says, She will talk to you, Sir.

I pick up the phone and say, OK, I’m here.

I sorry, Ira. Truly.

Yes, maybe you are, but this is not the first time, Prin. You can’t do this and expect me to be OK with you.

You will leave me for Cincer?

No, I will leave both of you and fly to Iloilo alone… if that is necessary. Is it?

No. It not. It not happen again. Ira, please get Cincer some nice things and come back to the hotel with her. We will talk more there. No other decisions. We talk, but you make the decisions. OK? Please?

Yeh, OK. I’ll let you know by text when we leave MoA.

OK. Good. I love you, Ira. And the line is dropped.

OK, so where can we get a load here?

We OK, na?

Yes, for now. Where can we get a load here?

I know. Come, OK?

I nod and get up.

She is going to get a thirty peso load. I interfere and get her one for three hundred pesos. She wants to argue.

Knock it off. It’s my money and I’m buying it, so it’s my decision, not yours. And here, enter this promo code in.

It not work with my SIM. Sorry.

Really? Huh. … OK, we are looking for shoes and a dress. I’m going to take you to where Prin and I went yesterday. Maybe we can find both a dress for you and a new one for Prin.

OK, so now Cincer is just looking at me, like ‘who the fuck are you, anyway?’ It’s not that I was against buying the girl a dress before. What I was opposed to is being ordered around. I’m the one with more jingle in the pocket. It’ll be me who calls the damned tune.

When we walk into the shop where I was before, the salesgirl recognizes me and I think recognizes that I’m with a new girl. She looks like she is unsure how to play it. So, I’ll detangle the mystery for her.

Good afternoon. We are here for two dresses. One for this lovely lady and one for my friend from the other day, if you can remember her size.

Yes, Sir! Of course! I remember. No problem. Are you the one to pick out the dresses?

No. Cincer, here, will pick out her dress. You will show Cincer the dress that my other friend bought before. Maybe knowing that, we can find a dress that might be a nice complement to what Cincer will wear tonight.

I see, Sir. OK, I will do that. Would you like to sit over there, while your friend selects her dress?

Yes, thank you.

And so it goes. Cincer finds a nice dress and the three of us select a new dress for Prin. She also buys bras and panties to go with the two outfits. I ask how she can know Prin’s bra size. All I get is a confused look in return.

Next stop is a shoe store where Prin bought her heels. I remember that Prin’s size is 5½ and show Cincer what we bought before. If Cincer thinks Prin can wear the same shoes with today’s dress then we don’t need another pair for her.

Cincer decides that both of them need shoes. Cincer wears a size 6. We leave the shop with complementary but different shoes for the two of them. As we leave the shop, I playfully remark that we are about to go to that very place she thought it was improper to enter before. Heavens forfend! We will be entering the hotel as a couple.

Cincer says not a word.

We are done at MoA and I text Prin that we will take a taxi back to the hotel.

I get a text back from Prin.

Busy now. Will be there before 7.

I’m OK with that and text back.

OK. Have a new dress and shoes for you tonight. Not sure what we do after dinner.

OK. I understand.

We get to the hotel a little before five. Cincer knows Prin will not arrive for close to two hours. I have no idea how to play this. Sure, we will be alone in the hotel room but I don’t think that is enough of a reason to have sex with her.

I didn’t have sex with Prin until the day after I met her. OK, that first night I was wiped out, but we were in bed together and nothing happened. This time, our clothing is still on and there’s no reason for me to remove mine.

When we get to the room, Cincer inspects the place, comments that it’ll be the poshest place she has ever stayed at and, in that way, is telling me what I need to hear. It may not happen now, but she does expect to slide under the sheets with me at some point.

All I say is that I agree it’s a nice room.

Ira? It OK if I take a shower? I get dirty riding the Jeepney to MoA. It nice to be clean before we go out.

Yes. That’s fine.

Cincer doesn’t use it as an excuse to undress in my presence. She will do that in the bathroom. I see no problem with her choice. She may not be throwing her body at me, but she is communicating that she expects to live with me in an intimate manner. I’m getting the message.

I have possible plans to fly to Iloilo tomorrow, but I think I’ll put that off for at least a day and see how this is working out. I’m in no rush; no rush to get back to the States where my house is not repaired yet; no rush to meet another gal; no rush to bed Cincer, though I’m pretty damned sure I will.

I don’t have a clue as to what happens with Prin tonight. Clearly, Cincer wants to meet Prin face to face, but where each of them sleeps tonight is totally undetermined. They don’t know and I surely don’t either.

The reason they can’t know, even if they have a preference, is that I have made it clear that they can’t decide for me. I guess I’ll figure it out later. I can’t require them to do what they don’t want to do, nor do I have any idea what I’ll be OK with later. In any case, it doesn’t matter right now. For now, I just don’t care. I’ll figure it out when the time comes.

Part of what does matter is exactly what Cincer wants to know. Will she and Prin get along well enough together to join me as equals in my life? It’s one thing to say, ‘all can join.’ It’s quite another as regards their compatibility with each other.

Both may well think the plan is fine but dislike each other. Then what? That’s a reality that Prin didn’t figure on and it had not crossed my mind until Cincer made it clear that she needed to resolve the matter.

The more I think about it, the more I doubt that the plan is as good as Prin has made it out to be. I suspect that I was far too fast to jump on the wagon, thinking it was even possible. This choosing companions is far more complicated even here in the Philippines. In the USA it would never happen. But here, Prin had me thinking it was. I feel like a simpleton… a schoolboy with a crush on all the girls, all at the same time.

As to Prin’s savvy, I’m thinking that she isn’t as savvy as I have been clueless. Cincer has shown herself to be a bit more savvy than is Prin, but that might also be a misread.

I suspect I’m still essentially clueless. I don’t know their language. I have seen precious little of their country. I have never ridden in one of these jeepneys. I’m staying in a hotel I gather they would never stay at on their own, as they could not afford it.

This cocoon I’m hanging out in is not their world, not their culture. Even the food at the breakfast buffet is different enough that Prin asked me what I was eating this morning.

Somehow, I’ll need to leave this cocoon and they will need to join me on some other middle ground. If I stay here, I’m not sure my style of living will be exactly what they are used to.

While Cincer is taking her shower, I peruse the real estate listings here around Manila and in other parts of the country. One thing is clear. It’s way far more expensive to live in and around Manila. If I’m to stay here, it’ll probably have to be outside the city region.

I wonder. How these two gals will handle not being here in the city?

Cincer exits the bathroom in just a towel. She shyly explains that she left the new clothing in the bag on the bed. I smile and tell her she looks pretty just as she is and tease her that maybe she should come with me to the restaurant just like this. She, being playful, asks, What I do if the towel falls off?

Smile, Cincer, just smile. I’m sure you look as lovely without the towel as you look with it.

Ha! How you know that? You not see me yet!

No, you are right. But I suspect I will soon enough. So when I do, I’ll tell you that I was correct in my assessment.

So! You think you will see me naked?

Do you think I won’t?

She gives me a long look and then drops the towel. Cincer’s form is every bit as good as I expected it would be. She is a very pretty gal.

See? I’m right! You are lovely without the towel and I’m a lucky man to call you mine.

Am I yours, Ira?

She has not picked up the towel.

Do you want to be?

I think, yes. Please be kind to me. It scary, I think. … Princess say we lucky to meet you. I think she afraid she lose you if it only one girl. That why she say there be more. If she right, then I stay too. Better that way. Better to be more if you really good. Many bad men, I think. Better one of more with a good man then the only one with bad one and truly married to him. There a Filipina here who I hear say, she wish her marriage have an expiration date!

She could always get a divorce. That’s the expiration date.

Ira, you not know? Divorce not legal here. Marriage here, it forever.

I didn’t know. So, in some ways safer to live together and not marry?

Yes. Many do this for a year or many more before true marriage. That way you know. Not all men good I think.

Well, now, am I a good man? I have no idea what being a good man, in her eyes, even means. And how could Prin or anyone else really know if I’m a good man in just the few hours I have been in this country?

Anyway, Cincer is still standing there naked as the day she came into this world. I guess it’s an invitation to take her. But it’s an invitation I’ll pass up.

Cincer, I truly find your body beautiful. But I want to kiss you and the first time I do that, I prefer that we both have our clothing on. There will come a time when we will both take our clothing off and make love. I very much look forward to touching you all over. But I don’t want to take you until you are really sure and not scared. That OK?

Clearly it is and it isn’t. She does not grab her clothing. What she does is run to my sitting figure, still quite unclothed, hug me, kiss me on the cheek, neck, forehead, eyes, nose and finally my lips, before saying, Thank you, so much. Yes, you are good! I know it. You are good. And then she just holds on to me tightly for a while, crying on my shoulder. I know she is crying as my shoulder is getting wet. My arms are holding bare skin, but there’s nothing sexual about it. I’m encircling her shoulders.

She is still hanging on to me when I finally say, Now, go put on your new clothing. I want to see you all done up!

I get a giggle, a nod, as I can feel the nod against my shoulder, before she rises, scoots to the bed, grabs the garment bag and runs into the bathroom.

Did I do right? I don’t have any idea what ‘right’ is. There are no guideposts for me. I’m winging it and hoping that I don’t mess up. But even if I do, I don’t think it’s critical. Like I surmised before. I can always start over fresh in Iloilo.

I’m doing the numbers on the cost of nice homes in various places here. Actually, Iloilo works so well within a budget based on the potential sale price on my place back in the States that I could buy two or three places, but the lots are just too small. Maybe the lots would be bigger out of town proper. I look at the prices for homes in Tigbauan and it’s far less expensive than Iloilo for nice places, but it really is rural. Hell, I could buy five homes and have money left over based on my budget. I’m OK with rural in the US, but I’m not so sure of it here.

I look at Leyte. I have two gals I was planning to see who live there. Once again, there’s no problem. I can afford it all. Of course, I don’t know the laws here and what I can and can’t do. But whatever it is, I’m sure there’s a way to do what I want.

Cincer exits the bathroom by peeking her head out and asking if I’m ready to see her.

She gets a smile and a nod.

Out she comes. She has fixed her hair a bit. Her outfit, dress and shoes look great on her. She sure is a good looking gal. I tell her that and she curtsies.

You like?

Didn’t I just say I like? Yes, I like!

You like the shoes?

Cincer, there’s nothing that I don’t like. I like you; I like your body; I like your hair; I like your dress; I like your legs; I like your shoes. Have I left anything out?

My heart?

That is a very good question. What I know of your heart, I like. But, just like you don’t really know if I truly am a good man, I really don’t know your heart well enough. We must both learn about the other. Do you not agree?

Yes. I like your answer. It’s true and honest. It’s good. We will both learn.

Come sit here and tell me about your dreams. Tell me about your family. Tell me about what your life has been like up to now. I want to learn. We have plenty of time. Remember, I’m a foreigner and know nothing about your world. So don’t skip over things. Don’t assume I know. I really don’t.

It’s hard to get her started but, once she does, there’s a lot to tell. For the better part of an hour, I listen. I ask a few questions but, mostly, I listen.

I have done this with Prin. While there are many differences in their two stories, there’s much that is the same. Life here is not easy for these gals. Marriage is clearly dangerous. There are annulments, but they are hard to get and expensive as all get-out. They are out of reach for most Filipinas and so, like she said, once married, always married.

Marriage here is intertwined with Catholicism. In the church, marriage is a holy sacrament. And so it is in Philippine Law. It’s a sacrament and not a contract. Once married, always married.

For that reason, marriage is not something that young girls want to run out and do. Shacking up? Yes, depending on the family, absolutely, yes. But marriage? Maybe after shacking up for a few years. You have to be sure!

Better to break the Catholic rule about sex outside of marriage and go to confession, than to be married and stuck.

So, if I’m to stay here, at least for a few years, it’s safer to not marry me, than to make a bad choice in any case!

See how much I didn’t know the culture?

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Birthday thoughts...6