Back in the hotel, they saw the same front-desk lady that had helped Danny that morning. Her nametag said Inez. She smiled when she saw him, and Danny waved to her. As they got back to his room, Danny was happy to see that his room had been thoroughly cleaned. He had been anticipating a disaster. Instead, it smelled like bleach. New sheets on the bed.
“You got lucky there, man. This place was horrific!” Lee chided. Danny walked down the stairs, and smiled broadly at Inez.
“Muchas gracias, Inez…for cleaning my room. Thank you.” She smiled back, and seemed to get the idea of what he was saying.
“Dañada, senor,” she said with a smile.
Back upstairs, Lee said, “You know, she’s probably not the one that cleaned it; they probably have a housekeeping staff for a place this size.” Danny didn’t care. He was grateful that they took care of his disgusting mess, no matter who did it.
Lee left Danny’s medicine on the nightstand: antibiotic, anti-diarrheal, anti-cramping. He said, “I’ll be back in about thirty minutes,” and was out the door. While he was gone, Danny opened his safe, and saw his passport, credit cards, and car keys. He shut the door, locked it again, and then lay down on the bed.
Lee was back quickly. He knocked then entered the unlocked room. He had three tall bottles of water with him. “I’m going to make sure you get lots of clean water...the doctor said you need to keep hydrating. I’ll check on you later. I gotta get back to my room for a while. Gotta call my kids and check up on things back home.” Children? There is so much I don’t know about this guy.
“Thanks again, my friend. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help and kindness. I owe you, man.”
“No worries. Rest, take your meds, and don’t take chances with any food, okay? I’ll show you the good places to eat later.”
Lee buzzed over to the door, fired finger pistols, then closed the door gently, and Danny was left alone with his thoughts.
So he has a family. I wonder why he hasn’t mentioned them before. Maybe he’s private about these things.
Danny thought of his own family. He wished he could talk to his father right now. He knew if he called Jim he would probably drive down. He watched TV, and saw part of a soccer match. When his watch said 5:30, he turned on his cellphone. No missed calls. That was good. He dialed Scott’s number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Linda. This is Danny.”
“Hi, Danny, how are you doing? Where are you?”
“I’m in Tijuana right now. How are you? Any labor pains yet?”
“A couple false pains…Braxton Hicks…but not the real thing yet. I’m ready to get this baby out of me already!”
“I’ll bet. Hey, is Scott around?”
“Yeah, he got home a few minutes ago. Let me get him.”
After a few seconds, “Danny?”
“Hey Scott. How are you man?”
“I’m good. Everything okay there? Checked on your house this morning. Everything’s fine. You okay?” Scott was talking fast.
“Yeah, good here. Well, better, anyway. I spent a couple nights in the hospital.”
“The Hell? What happened?”
“Had a bad case of Montezuma’s, I guess. Got dehydrated. I’m okay though.”
“Yeah? Two nights in the hospital? Sounds serious.”
“Well, I tried to tough it out before I called for help. Mistake, I guess.”
“Yeah. I’d say so. But you’re good now?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Feeling strong.”
“Great. Soooo…when you comin’ back, Danny?”
“Well, I’m gonna stay in TJ a couple more days. Then I’m going to drive down to Rosarito Beach. A few days there and then I’ll head back. Expect me back the weekend after this.”
“Great news, Danny.”
“Yeah, I have missed everybody, you know? When I was sick I really missed having family and friends around.”
“Well, then maybe it was a blessing in disguise.”
“Maybe. Okay, so I’m probably paying crazy rates for this call, so let me let you go.”
“Okay, Danny. Love you, man. We miss you.”
“Miss you guys too.”
“And hey, I hope you’ll be back for Linda’s delivery. I could use your support, you know? We’re only two weeks from her due date.”
“Yeah, tell her to hold on, okay?”
“Yeah! Ha ha. Okay, man, see you soon.”
“Bye.”
He felt better hearing Scott’s voice. He stretched out on the bed and drifted off to sleep thinking of his friends and family in Sacramento. He wasn’t sure why, but he was thinking about their last rafting trip down the American River. He thought it would be nice to go rafting when he got back.
XIII
He awoke when Lee knocked, turned the lock, and entered his room. Lee held his room keys. He had a plastic-wrapped package of 6 bottled waters. Dasani. He also had a lidded pot, which he held by a wire hangar. It smelled like soup.
“Morning Danny! I brought more water, in case you needed it. I know it’s corny to bring noodle soup when you’re sick, but honestly it’s the best thing for you.” He ladled the soup into a bowl and handed it to him.
Danny wasn’t surprised that the soup tasted delicious. He realized he was very hungry, and ate it quickly.
“Man, that really does taste good,” he said between large spoonfuls.
“My landlord made it. I told her about you this morning, and she immediately made the soup. Don’t worry, she’s very clean and tidy, and makes sure she boils her water when she cooks.”
“I believe you, and it tastes great.” He gladly accepted a second bowl.
Lee pulled up a chair next to the bed. “So hey, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I’m curious about you and why you’re here. You mentioned that your wife recently passed. What brought you to TJ?”
He honestly didn’t feel like talking about that, but he felt so indebted to Lee he owed him an explanation, at least in part. “My wife died of ovarian cancer,” he lied…I killed her! “and her loss really knocked me off balance,” because I murdered her! “so I thought I would head to Mexico…you see…we had…we had always loved Mexico. We honeymooned in Rosarito Beach, and I thought I would get down there…I just…I don’t know…” his voice trailed off.
“I totally understand, man. You want to relive some of your memories with her. An homage to her. I totally get that. It shows how much you loved her. So why TJ?”
“Well, I just wanted to get across the border. Thought I’d spend a couple days here before heading south.”
“When do you have to get back to work?”
“I don’t. I quit my job.”
“Oh, is this a one-way?”
“Well, not sure. One-way?”
“Yeah, you know…are you ‘leaving it all behind?’ Are you leaving your old life behind and traveling for a new one?”
“Well, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Not sure really.”
“That’s what I did. I haven’t been back to Ohio for years, except for a quick trip for my daughter’s wedding last year. Otherwise, I’m on the road.” He hadn’t thought about Lee’s age, but suddenly realized he must be in his late forties or more to have adult children. “So yeah, on the road. Going on five years now. When I got to TJ a few months ago, I was considering going back to Ohio to give it another go. But honestly I don’t know if I know how anymore. I know I can’t go back to the nine-to-five thing. I don’t have that in me anymore.”
“How do you live? How do you pay your bills?
“I don’t have any bills. Sold everything. I keep a few things here and there…with old friends, mostly…just photo albums and things I can’t part with. Otherwise, I don’t need much. Some clothes, a few personal items. It’s amazingly liberating when you get rid of everything.”
“You don’t have a car? How do you get around?”
“I ride buses or taxis mostly. When I was in Cambodia I bought a motorbike
and rode that all over.”
“Cambodia? Jesus!”
“What?”
“I can’t imagine living in Cambodia. What was that like?”
“Oh, Cambodia was amazing. The traffic could be insane in Phnom Penh, but out in the countryside it was very quiet. Very peaceful. I was hooked up with a great girl there. She took great care of me. We stayed on the beach at Kep for a few months. Easy living there.”
“Why did you leave?”
“It was time to go.”
“Time to go?”
“If you’re a one-way traveler, you’re not doing it to settle down and live somewhere else. You’re looking to keep moving. To keep seeing new things, new experiences, you know?”
“Seems hard to imagine,” he heard himself saying.
“Well, it’s not for everybody.”
“How do you buy food and things? How do you pay for your trips? Airline tickets?”
“Well, there are always ways to earn some scratch, but you also need to learn to live cheaply.”
“Like how? How do you get ‘scratch’ in a place like Cambodia?”
“Well, one thing I often do is teach English. Most countries have language centers that are always looking for native English speakers.”
“Teach English? I’ve never been a teacher. Guess I couldn't do that.”
“Neither had I. This isn’t like being a schoolteacher. They’re looking for native speakers to teach basic conversational English. Just being an American is enough, though there are courses you can take that make it easier. I’ve never taken one, but I know lots of expats who have done it.”
“Expats…one-way travelers?”
“Well, an expat is someone who lives outside their home country. Expatriate. Everywhere you go, you find expats. Americans…Brits…Aussies. They tend to cluster together. Sometimes their politics can be ridiculous, so I often avoid them. They tend to build up animosity towards each other. But sometimes you find a good group and they’re fun to hang around. Usually, they can point you to things that help you in a foreign country. Not all are one-way travelers. Some simply relocate to a new country they like, or they may have been one-wayers until they met a girl and settled down. Anyway, there are other things you can do if you don’t like teaching. I once edited an English language newspaper. That was in Romania.”
“Romania? Jesus! Dude, you’ve been all over.”
“I’m just getting started. Five years. Imagine what I’ll have seen in twenty or thirty years!”
“You really plan to stay abroad that long?”
“Yeah…why not?”
“Don’t you miss home?”
“I miss my kids, but they are spread around. My daughter married last year, and her husband got a job in Miami. My oldest son is in Maine, working at a military base, and my other son is in Montana. Where would I live? I’d have to travel to see them anyway. So being abroad really isn’t much different in that regard. But I do get homesick from time to time, so I sometimes think about going back. I figure I’ll just do what I want, and maybe there’ll come a time when I do return.”
Danny felt a chill up his spine. He felt an excitement. Living abroad? Never returning?
“Well,” Danny said, “I’m not sure I could do that. I have a house back in Sacramento.”
“How much do you owe on it?”
“It’s paid for.” Her death paid for it. “But, you know: electricity…gas…property tax.”
“Yeah, I hear you. But you can shut everything off, and then you just have property tax. Or rent it out. Anyway, I’m not trying to talk you into this. I get that it’s not for everybody. But if you wanted to do it, there would be a way; you’d just have to be willing to sort it out and take the leap.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely something to think about.”
“Anyway, I gotta go. I’ll come back tomorrow and see that you’re up and around. Try to keep moving, but don’t overdo it.”
“Thanks, Lee. See you tomorrow.”
A wink and finger pistols, then he was out the door. Danny didn’t sleep much that night. He considered Lee’s story. His life.
XIV
The sunroof of the CR-V was open, and the wind was blowing through his hair. The hot sun made him feel alive for the first time in a while.
“Do you know any songs we can sing?” Lee asked.
“I sing horribly! You don’t want to hear it. Besides, I kinda like hearing the wind and the road.”
“Cool. Just didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable. You know…”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. We tend to hate silence, don’t we?”
Danny pressed the accelerator a bit more, and they passed two semis on a slight hill. The desert scenery excited him. He felt he could drink it in through his eyes. Take in all that was around him. He was nowhere and everywhere. He was experiencing newness without a sense of what he was doing. He began to feel alive. Awake. He knew, though, that he would soon visit the old ghosts. He would soon open the tomb and drink the humors of the dead. He felt good, but he knew he was driving to a horizon with black clouds.
It didn’t take much convincing to get Lee to come with him. When Danny told him he wanted to stay at the Rosarita Beach Hotel and wanted Lee to come with him, Lee only asked, “When are we going?” When they met in the morning, they found that Danny’s CR-V had been broken into. Every loose article was gone. They had tried to take out the factory stereo, but had only succeeded in destroying it and much of the dash. They had tried to steal the spare tire, but the locking hub nuts had also foiled that. Danny knew he could probably never get the spare off, even if he had had the custom hub driver for the car.
Normally, finding his car in such a state would have sent the calm, professional Danny careening into the emotional guardrail. Not today. He felt he was on a mission. He knew he had to get moving. The car could wait. He felt energized. He felt scared of what he would find there. He knew he was going to find himself. He also knew he was going to find her. Her. He knew he wouldn’t like it when he did.
The drive from Tijuana to Rosarito Beach is short. They were there before lunch. They checked in. Lee didn’t have a credit card, so Danny put both rooms on his. “I did invite you, after all” he said. Lee thanked him graciously, and said he would pay the tab in cash when they checked out.
“I don’t want to be one of those friends, Danny,” Lee said with a big grin.
After moving their bags in, Danny took a quick shower, then donned a beach shirt and swim trunks. The room he had rented with Melissa was full, but this one was two doors down and felt exactly the same. He smiled when he was in the room. He felt her presence, and it felt warm. Comfortable. He might have even thought she was already at the beach waiting for him.
The warm golden sunshine sparkled on the water. Both men sat on the boardwalk. Danny ordered a large Mai Tai in a hollowed out pineapple. “Mel had loved these. I think she drank three.” As he drank, he felt the cool, sweet pink liquid and remembered her “Mmmmm” as she drank it. He stared at the pineapple. Lee watched him, not wanting to disrupt the moment, sipping a local beer. Danny looked away, and out to the beach with faraway eyes.
“The weather was just like this when we came. Sunny…a bit breezy…just perfect.”
“How long ago?”
“Four years. Four and some change. Hard to believe. We were just kids. It was a late honeymoon. We had both been working so hard, it was our first real vacation. We also had both worked hard through college. We skipped most parties, and we were living tight. We didn’t want to run up a huge debt we couldn’t ever pay off. Mel was so practical like that….” his voice trailed off.
Again Lee watched him. He saw his eyes glass over, but no tears spilled out.
“Anyway, when we got here, it was our first freedom. No work. We made a promise to not talk about work at all. ‘Not a word!’ she would caution me. Ha ha ha! We spent the first day on the beach, just running around. I got a nice sunburn, but Mel, she had this
beautiful brown tan. I can remember her skin looking so beautiful.”
Again, he looked out to the beach. He could see her. Lemon sundress. Skipping along the edge of the water. Skin browning. White smile. Eyes that sparkled with energy. Flaxen curls bouncing when she danced across the sand. On her toes. Free. He felt a lump in his throat, and looked down.
Lee felt he had to say something. “I know it’s early, but what do you plan to do now that she’s gone? What are your plans moving forward?”
“Plans? Don’t have any. I quit my job. I had no heart for it. Kaiser was soulless anyway. Mel had always told me I wasn’t happy there. She saw it better than I did. But plans? I really just wanted to come down here. I’m glad you came along. I don’t feel so lonely. You know?”
“Well, it’s my pleasure. Think nothing of it. Tell you what, drink that froo-froo drink of yours and let’s go down to the beach, yeah? I brought a couple cigars if you’d care to partake.”
“I might just. I might just. It would be nice to walk along the beach. I hope you don’t mind me reliving the trip I took with her. I know I’m kinda ‘half here.’”
“No worries at all, man. I expected it when I said yes. I’m just glad to see some life back in you. I think this trip is good for you. Relive a bit of your time with her, but also, perhaps, put it behind you.” He winced, thinking he might have said too much.
“Yeah, I think that’s it. That’s it. I had to come here to put it behind me. She and I had unfinished business, I think. Coming here will help me clear that out a bit. Maybe. Dunno. But being here seems to have lifted me a bit also. I feel that she’s here, and she’s wishing me well.”
“Of course she is, Danny. Think about it. I’m sure if she could talk to you right now, she would tell you to snap out of it and get busy living again. My father died when I was twenty. I was in a bad way for a few months after. My father was all I had had, as my mother died when I was a baby. My dad raised me by himself. He was my whole world.”
“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know that. I lost my dad also.”
“It was a long time ago. But after he died, I was beside myself…the way you have been these last weeks, I’ll bet. What finally got me out of that state was a call from his sister, my Aunt Maureen.”
The One Way (Changes Book 1) Page 7