by Randy Dutton
“Uh huh.” Her bobbing head against his cheek sent tousled hair cascading over his shoulder.
“Well, she never had a big travel budget, and thinks flying first class directly to Santiago is a real treat. Thankfully, her Spanish’s decent. Not as good as yours, but certainly better than mine. And she’s dying to go shopping with you.”
He felt her cheek swell into a smile.
With her free hand, she pinched the corner of the manila envelope and spilled its contents – online receipts for airline tickets, hotels, and a rental SUV.
His hand gently turned her chin so he could gaze into her eyes. “You already made reservations?”
She nodded impishly. “Wait until Mac sees how I shop.”
“Yeah.... Oh, and by the way, she wanted to tell you something they were forced to teach in class.” His smile went crooked.
“What could Mac possibly be teaching to an elementary class that’s relevant?”
His lip curled. “Today’s World Environment Day!”
Chapter 94
June 10, 1700 hours
Aubrey Hotel
Santiago, Chile
Pete followed the valet cart into the converted mansion. Located in Santiago’s cultural center of Bellavista, the Aubrey was a luxurious, 15-room boutique hotel built from a redesigned stately residence.
Rotating his head, he took in the architecture. The white stucco Spanish-style façade was trimmed with dark wood beams juxtaposed against an art deco and modern décor. “You certainly know how to pick beautiful hotels! So unrainforesty.... Is this a hint?”
“My tastes do run towards the Mediterranean style.” She steered Connor’s stroller toward the elevator.
“Large arches, tall windows, and individual balconies...yeah, I can see that.”
“Most importantly, it’s accentuated by bright sunlight!” She pretended to swoon. “Comfortably elegant.... And did you notice, there’s hardly any Fuzz drifting through the city?!”
“Maybe we should buy a second place.” He held the empty elevator’s door open as she entered.
She nodded. “Maybe we should.... Somewhere dry and warm...lots of sun.”
Arriving on the second floor, Pete yawned while holding the elevator door open. “Mac arrived eight hours ago. Think she’s in the hotel right now?”
“She’s got our schedule, so probably.”
“You don’t know my kid sister.” Pete opened their suite’s door. “She’s probably out window shopping, dodging through narrow artisan alleys—”
The adjoining room door suddenly flung open.
“Hi guys!” Mac was wearing a ruffled blouse, a mid-length flowered skirt, and a beaming smile.
Anna grinned. “Maybe I know her better than you think. Hi, Mac. Nice outfit.”
“Just got it at a little shop down the street. Here, let me give you a hand.” Mac pulled one of their large suitcases off the trolley into the larger suite. “We’re going to have fun shopping and exploring!”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, sis, but we’re exhausted,” Anna stifled a yawn.
Pete tipped the bellman. “Connor didn’t like jet travel as much as...someone thought he would.” Pete grinned.
Anna shrugged. “Dinner, then bed for this old married couple.... Tell you what. The restaurant downstairs, Pasta E Vino, has excellent ratings. I made a reservation before we left. I’ll meet you guys downstairs with Connor in 20 minutes. Dinner will not be a long affair. We’ll discuss the plan then.”
Mac’s excitement was evident – she had always wanted to be a spy, or at least privy to what spies did.
Chapter 95
June 11, 0800 hours
Santiago, Chile
Mac grimaced at the baskets’ contents. Olive-green working jackets and insulated black jumpsuits were folded among other nondescript items. Both women were pushing separate carts through Líder’s hardware section.
“Anna, when you said we’d go shopping, I kinda expected we’d buy something more chic.... This hypermarket’s like Walmart!”
“Don’t worry, chic will come.” Anna gave Mac a bemused smile, and then threw a roll of duct tape on top of some precision tools.
“We could have bought higher quality outdoor clothes in the US...cheaper too!” Mac persisted as they rolled through the sewing section.
Anna drew a deep breath and slowed to come abreast of Mac. “Please use your library voice, Teach,” Anna quietly joked, then held up a seam ripper. Her voice stayed low. “With high-end gear, we’d stand out. When we get back to the hotel, go through the clothes and remove the tags...please? Everything we’re getting is disposable.”
Mac grinned and whispered, “I get it now...spy clothes.”
Cocking her head to Anna’s full cart, she added in a soft voice, “But that doesn’t explain those.... Eight baby bottles? I mean, really. You’re going to be with Connor most of the time, right?” Mac’s eyes narrowed. “Or do you plan on me bottle-feeding him most of the trip?”
Anna’s eyes momentarily shifted upward in thought, then returned to Mac. “I don’t like to use the same container twice...for sanitation.... I enjoy breastfeeding, and I don’t mind the pump, I just want to ensure there’s no disruption. We’ll get some formula just in case.”
Her eyes narrowed. “In case of w-h-a-t?”
Anna turned to her sister-in-law and shrugged. “Relax. It’s a quirk of mine. I over-plan....” She suddenly propelled her cart forward. “Oh look, cellphones! We’ll need a few of them.”
By mid-afternoon, the ladies had returned to the hotel.
“My womenfolk returneth to our lair bearing the bounty of their gathering,” Pete jested at the fully laden women. “Let me help you with those.” He gave his bemused wife a quick kiss and picked up several large bags.
“I left some things in the SUV. How was Connor?” Anna picked up her son, sniffed, then smiled. “Good! Daddy did his job. Now it’s mine again.” She handed Mac a thumb drive and carried the hungry child into the bedroom.
“That’s right,” Pete said bemusedly while laying out tools, flashlights, umbrellas, floppy rain hats, heavy makeup, wigs, sunglasses, gloves, and other items. “This is the longest you’ve been away from him. His last bottle-feeding was a couple hours ago.”
“I didn’t realize spies bought so much disposable gear!” Mac exclaimed, while starting up the new laptop.
Pete chuckled. “She give you some assignments?”
“Uh huh. Get familiar with the new laptop and iPhones...load some software...rip out tags from clothes.” She held up a jacket for Pete to try on. “Make sure everything fits.”
“Did you have fun, Sis?” He slipped the jacket on.
Mac looked at the closed bedroom door and spoke softly. “After spending an ungodly amount of time picking up spy stuff, yeah, we finally got to model some fashions. She’s like a light switch...serious one moment, fun the next. When she lets loose, she’s a hoot.”
“Whereas, you’re a hoot 24/7.” His fist teasingly tapped her shoulder, then started putting food into the refrigerator. “Yes. Anna’s whimsical side can come on pretty abruptly. I’m glad you two get along. In her new life with me, she doesn’t socialize much.”
“What about your university extension staff.”
“She’s met them but stays fairly aloof.”
“I don’t get it. Didn’t she used to be a globetrotting socialite?”
“Yeah. Now she’s a hermit.”
Mac cocked her head. “Which is the act?”
He shrugged. “We may never find out.”
By early evening, they had packed the rental SUV. Thus began their thousand kilometers drive south on Highway 5, the main north-south route through Chile.
“So Mac, how do you like teaching?” Anna asked from the back seat while dissecting the first iPhone to disable its GPS chip.
Mac turned toward Anna from her front passenger seat. “I love working with the kids, but I can’t stand the government mandates.”
“What are they doing now?” Anna asked.
Mac’s eyes rolled as she grumbled, “You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try us,” Pete responded.
“Well...one of the new curriculum requirements is for 13-year-olds to write a suicide note.”
Anna’s eyes narrowed. “Seriously?!”
“Yeah. Each student was to imagine they just turned 18 and have decided to end their life. The decision is irrevocable. They are to explain the reasons for their act, to include all the disgust they feel for themselves, and to document certain events in their lives at the root of their despair.”
“Life as a burden, not a gift,” Anna grumbled, then held Connor tighter.
“Then they were to write their own obituary about their failings and crushed dreams, and how their families failed them.”
“That’s horrible!” Pete exclaimed.
“Oh, it gets worse. In science they have to fill out a checklist of all the species they may have harmed, and in math, calculate their carbon footprint and that of any children they may have.”
“Wow. So what happened?” Pete asked.
“I revised the assignment to describe their hopes and dreams and how they’d get there...no obit.”
“And then?” Anna asked cautiously.
Mac looked down. “I was suspended for a week.”
“Oh, Sis, I’m so sorry!” Pete touched her arm. “But I’m proud of you for doing the right thing.”
Anna’s jaw was set and her eyes narrow. With a conspiratorial tone, she said, “You know, if we identify the source of the policy, here’s what we can do—”
Pete cleared his throat.
Anna’s pursed her lips and shook her head. “Maybe we ought to let it go...for now.... I’m not surprised though...at the assignment, I mean.”
“You’re not?” Mac’s eyes widened.
“It’s the global depopulation effort. They’re promoting a culture of death. Discourage propagation, encourage distractions.”
“Ladies, let’s change the subject to something more uplifting. Mac, you told me over the phone this trip would give you an opportunity to research Chile. Now’s your chance to expound.”
Mac immediately shifted to teacher mode. She described Chile as a ribbon of land 4,300 kilometers long and averaging only 175 kilometers wide. Bordered to the east by the snow- covered Andes Mountains and to the west by the blue-green Pacific Ocean, it is as varied as any country could be. To the north, near the Peruvian border, is the world’s driest desert, the middle has a Mediterranean climate and their southern destination has a rainy, temperate climate. Always planning an escape route, Anna’s attention was piqued when Mac described various highway crossings through the Andes into Argentina – some closed by snow during this winter season.
Mac talked excitedly about the Chilean culture and of each of the 14 regions—plus the Metropolitan region—and their differences. She pointed out historical landmarks along the way and recounted some of the battles. The snowcapped mountain view to the east got Mac hopeful about the possibility the trip might include some skiing, and perhaps could include a drive down part of the famous Carretera Austral, the nearly impossible-to-build highway connecting parts of southern Chile with the middle.
Pete assured her that if everything went well, skiing was a definite possibility.
As the landscape became wetter and greener, Fuzz became more prevalent. Its tendrils clung to trees along the highway.
After lunch in a small café, rain, mixed with small Fuzz particles, started falling. As the wipers’ metronome beat measured time, small clusters accumulated under the wiper blades. The farther south they traveled, the denser the concentration became. Pete tried correlating rainfall with Fuzz accumulation. The result depressed him – it seemed exponential.
They stopped in Talca for the night. A quick dinner and sleep was what both Pete and Anna wanted. They vowed to get an early start the next morning.
Mac was too jazzed to wind down. She announced she wanted to see how the city had recovered from the devastating 8.8 earthquake in 2010.
Anna teasingly protested, “I swear I didn’t do it!”
Mac couldn’t quite understand why it took a full minute for Pete to stop laughing.
Chapter 96
June 12, 0800 hours
Talca, Chile
The next morning greeted them with deteriorating weather. After a quick breakfast, they were back on the road. The driving was slower because of truck traffic and the threat of near freezing rain, but Mac kept them entertained with more Chilean minutia and stories of her wanderings the night before.
As landmarks or cultural curiosities came into view, Mac would often beg or cajole Pete to pull over so she could record them.
At lunch she flicked through the photos, showing off some she claimed were National Geographic quality. “I can’t wait to show these to my kids!”
Pete thought of her pictures more as Kodak moments.
Anna spent most of the trip in the back seat with Connor. “Now I know how a cow feels,” she said at one point, joking about switching from the child to a breast pump. A second smaller cooler was reserved for the excess milk.
Rain fell harder as evening came. When the glow of a large city became evident, Mac announced, “We’re here...finally. This is Puerto Montt.”
“From this point south,” Mac lectured, “except for Tierra del Fuego, there’s hardly any population...all just a vast inland waterways of fiords, thick forests, marshes, glaciers, and thousands of coastal islands...oh, and the one road. I really hope we can drive part of the Carretera Austral!”
“The Southern Road...” Anna said ponderously. “I recall there are a few small airstrips along the route.”
“Well, until the road was completed in 2003, boats or airplanes were the only way to move.”
“Mac, how far is the ferry to Chiloe Island?” Pete asked.
“Another 60 klicks down the highway we just left.... Okay, big brother, drive straight towards the water on this boulevard, then turn left on Urmeneta Street.”
“If Sven was to get services and equipment, he’d locate fairly near here,” Anna speculated.
Minutes later, Mac pointed to an eight-story building. “There’s the Don Luis Hotel.”
A modern, four-star hotel with conference rooms and business services center was just ahead.
With a singsong voice, Mac added, “It’s got a sppaaaa! I could so use a Jacuzzi soak. How about you Anna? Up for some hot-tubbing?”
“Now that you mention it, yes, I think I am. Though I’m not sure I want to show my stretch marks in a bikini.”
“Babe, they hardly show anymore,” Pete reassured her as he pulled into the parking lot. “Besides, even if they did, you’ve got a killer body...no pun intended.”
“Mac, see why I married him?” Anna laughed. “He’s a terrible liar, but he makes me feel good. Could you see through him growing up?”
“All the time.” Mac giggled.
After they checked in, the women changed into two-piece suits. Mac had an adjoining room with a connecting door.
“I’ve got Connor. You hot babes go have some fun in the spa,” Pete said as he laid on the bed. Then, holding his son in the air, he started playing airplane, all the while making sputtering noises.
“That’s the real reason I married him,” Anna softly said to Mac as they strolled down the hallway in the hotel robes. “He’s completely selfless...and he pampers me.”
“He told you he’s a Boy Scout didn’t he? He’s always been the one looking out for us.” She wrinkled her nose, “And did my brother just call me a hot babe? Eewwww!”
Both started laughing.
An hour later Mac and Anna were back and ready for dinner. “Pete, you’re right, her stretch marks are hardly noticeable.”
He nodded and smiled. “I told you, Anna. The Vitamin E cream I rubbed on your stomach every night wasn’t just for my personal enjoyment. It worked.”
He put Connor into the front pouch carrier for dinner, then, with the two ladies entering from Mac’s room, gave them an admiring appraisal. Each lady wore a mid-calf length dress with long sleeves. Mac’s was mostly ochre, and Anna’s yellow and black. Pete’s index finger made a little circle. On cue the women twirled, forcing the skirts to flare out at the hem.
“So these are the dresses you bought in Santiago? I like them! They look vaguely Indian,” Pete commented. “I’m surprised though, Babe. The yellow clashes with your blond hair.”
“That, Darling, is why I bought this.” She turned away and extracted a long, jet black wig out of a suitcase and took a moment to put it on. Then, standing in front of the vanity, she penciled in darker eye brows and put on ruby red lipstick. She turned around. “Now does it work?”
His eyes narrowed at the need for subterfuge. “Yes, but...”
“It’s a precaution, Dear, just a precaution.”
He slowly nodded. “Okay.... Well, I love the knitted wool sweater you got me. It fits perfectly”—he chuckled—“and it forces me to wear more color, kinda like our honeymoon.”
“That’s on purpose. You dress rather drably, Honey.” She scrunched her nose. “All earth tones.”
“He’s always dressed boring,” Mac chimed in.
“Says the girl who wears sparkles and rhinestones!” he responded.
Half an hour later, the top-floor dining room was nearly full with conference participants. Pete’s entourage was taken to a window table with a view of every other table.
Pete touched the reserved sign. “More advanced planning?”
“But of course.” Anna smiled, then situated herself with the best view of arrivals, letting Mac see the harbor through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Pete, with a sleeping Connor strapped on his front, had a split view of both.
Their dinner conversation was light on substance, and fairly quiet. They didn’t want to draw attention, though the two women did receive admiring glances from some of the men.