Almost a Turkish Soap Opera

by Anne-Rae Vasquez

  Adel shakes his head. “No, no, no. We didn't do anything.”

  Kamil takes a deep breath. “So maybe what you say is true. Are you absolutely, positively sure that nothing happened after you were in her bed?”

  Adel bites his lip. He closes his eyes trying to recall if anything physical did happen.

  Finally, he says, “I am pretty sure... but... not positive.” He puts his head in his hands.

  Kamil lowers his voice. “You know you won't be able to get your annulment if you both consummated the marriage.”

  Adel’s face turns red. “And that's how Yonka figured out how to get what she wants. She doesn't want us to get an annulment. That bitch.”  He punches his leg in disgust.

  Chapter 31

  Whistler, British Columbia

  After what seemed the longest ride of Adel’s life, the bus finally arrives at the Whistler Lodge. Adel and Kamil quickly check in at the hotel counter and then proceed up to their suite.  Their classmate Zeid catches up to them announcing that he is the lucky student who will also be sharing their suite. When they enter, there is a large couch and a smaller couch and a chair in the living area. The check-in clerk had told them that there was a sofa bed in their suite.

  Zeid, being this was his first time away from his parents, excitedly asks, “Who's sleeping on the sofa bed?”

  Adel and Kamil give each other a look.

  Kamil smiles widely. “Since you asked for it first, it's all yours.” 

  Adel nods his head and brings his bag to one of the bedrooms. “Yes, yes, I agree. I won't fight over it.” 

     Kamil brings his bag to the other bedroom and waves good-bye to Zeid. 

  After a second, Zeid raises his eyebrow. “Hey, wait a minute....” He scratches his head. He realizes that he lost out on claiming a bedroom for himself. He shrugs. He is happy all the same. He puts his bag on the chair and starts taking out his things. 

  Kamil calls out. “Don’t forget, guys! We have to be in the lobby in one hour for lunch.”

    ***

  Lunch was buffet style at the hotel’s restaurant. Adel, Kamil and Zeid enjoyed piling the food onto their plates and going back for seconds. Once lunch is over, the first class activity begins. Nora and three other teachers lead the groups through the Whistler village.  Adel is walking with his head down, hands in his pockets. Kamil is walking close by but is chatting with Zeid and two other classmates.  Nora is walking with Ms. Myrtle and another teacher. She can see out of the corner of her eye that Adel is not his usual self.  She tries to catch his attention but with little luck. Kamil catches her eye and gives her a reassuring smile. She nods her head in acknowledgement.

  Later in the day, the teachers bring the students in groups of five to the gondola ride. The students are asked to describe the scenery as they ride up the mountain. Kamil is overwhelmed by the view of the mountain side, the trees and how high above the ground they were. Nora asks each student to describe what they see out the window. Zeid takes advantage of the opportunity to be the first to describe the view as this would surely impress Ms. Morgan.  After he finishes, Nora pats him on the arm and tells the other students to follow his lead. Zeid is pleased with himself.

  Adel looks out the window, his mind elsewhere. Kamil shakes his head and sighs. When it is his turn, Kamil blurts out, “Never have I seen such wondrous beauty and grandeur. This moment with you and I together here is remarkable and forever memorable.” The class giggles and Nora blushes.

  “Thank you for that wonderful and colourful description, Kamil.”

  She turns to Adel, “And Adel, how would you describe what you see outside the window?”

  Adel is still staring out the window. He is unaware that all the students are waiting for his response.

  Nora is losing her patience. “Mr. Emre, did you hear me?” 

  Adel looks up at her and then to the other students. Kamil tries to mouth to him what the question is.

  “It seems that you have something on your mind today,” Nora says. “But I need to remind you that this is a class activity and not just a free day.”

  Adel tries to smile but can't. He finally manages to say, “Yes, Ms. Morgan.” 

  Nora clears her throat. “I'll see you after lunch to discuss this further.” Adel nods his head. 

  “Let's continue, everyone.” Nora turns back to the other students and continues with the activity. 

  Kamil whispers to Adel, “Come on, don't let Yonka ruin the trip for all of us.” 

  Adel nods his head. “Okay, I'll try.” 

   * * *

  Later that evening, the class returns to the hotel and gathers in the lobby foyer. 

  A teacher, Ms. Suarez, prepares an announcement. “The rest of the day is free but we do ask that everyone please be down here at seven thirty a.m. sharp tomorrow so that we can have breakfast on time.  Skiing lessons are at twelve noon tomorrow so we don't want to be late for that.” 

  A few students clap and excitedly nod their heads when hearing the word skiing. 

  Nora walks close to Adel. “Can we talk now about your participation today ... or lack of?” 

  Adel looks at Nora. “Yes, Ms. Morgan.” 

  Nora says quietly, “Meet you at the Starbucks across the street.” 

  She walks out the front doors. Kamil looks over at Adel who gives him a nod. Before he can say anything, Adel walks through the doors after her.

  When Adel enters the Starbucks, he sees Nora at the counter ordering a coffee.  He walks to the end of the line.  She turns, sees him and motions for him to come up to the front.  He smiles and moves up beside her.

  “What would you like?” she asks.

  “My usual, Ms. Morgan.” 

  Nora smiles and turns to the cashier. “Tall, black.” 

  The cashier calls back to the worker. “One tall, black.” 

  Adel is pleased that she had remembered how he liked his coffee.

    They stand in silence waiting for their drinks. When they are ready, Adel and Nora decide to walk outside. 

  Nora starts the conversation. “I hope everything is okay. You seemed so distant today.” 

  Adel sighs. “Can we find somewhere warm? I think we need to sit and talk.”

  Nora says, “We can go back to the hotel. “

  Adel shakes his head. “Can't... Too many eyes.”

  “We can meet in my room.”

  Adel is shocked. He looks at her.

  Nora says, “Hey... just to talk… nothing like that. Don't get the wrong idea.”

  Adel turns to her. “I would never think that way. You know that.” He touches her hand. She smiles.

  She says, “Room 324.” He nods and walks ahead.

  ***

  When Adel enters his hotel room, Kamil, Zeid and two other classmates, Masahiro and Miguel, are playing poker.

  “Hey Adel,” Miguel says. “What take you so long, man? We deal you in next hand.”

  “Oh, hey guys,” Adel says.

  Masahiro comes up to him and attempts to give Adel a high five handshake as Kamil had taught him earlier but fails miserably. Everyone laughs, including Adel who is beginning to loosen up.

  Masahiro says, “Did Ms. Morgan kick you ass?  Haha.”

  Adel coughs in his hand. He replies, “Oh yeah... She's a tough teacher.”

  Kamil pulls back a chair for him to sit.

  Adel says, “Let me get changed first. I'll be back in a bit.”  They nod their heads and continue with their game.

  Zeid says, “Hurry up, roommate. I need to make my money back from you.”

  Kamil chuckles. 

  Adel goes into his room and shuts the door.  He dials Nora's cell phone.

  After a few rings, she answers. “Hello Adel.” 

  “Is it okay if I come by in an hour instead?  There is a poker party happening in my room.”

  Nora smiles. “I understa
nd. Sure. The other teachers called me to come down for a swim. If you feel like joining us after your game, I'll see you down there. If not, call me later.”

  Adel whispers, “Oh.. why you torture me like this?  I'll lose my shoes thinking of you in your swimming suit.” 

  Nora giggles. “You mean your underwear.” 

  Adel says, “Huh?” Nora says, “The proper idiom is lose my underwear.” 

  Adel laughs. “And that too.”

  Now they both are giggling.  This was an inside joke among the class. Nora had a homework assignment where the students had to write an essay using Canadian idioms. Masahiro had read his essay to the class and said that “I lost my underwear thinking about this homework assignment.” The class had burst out laughing.

  Adel says, “I will lose as fast as I can and join you at the pool.”

  “You are funny, Adel.”

  “No, I'm telling you the truth,” he says. 

  “See you soon. Bye,” she says. Adel hangs up the phone. His spirits have definitely picked up. Yes, he should take Kamil’s advice and not let Yonka ruin his trip.

  Chapter 32

  Rest and relaxation

  Adel holds two aces in his hand. There is an Ace on the flop and two Kings on the turn. Miguel, a regular poker player at the local casinos, confidently raises twenty dollars. He was confident that he would empty all the wallets of the other players tonight. Kamil and Masahiro fold. Adel re-raises another twenty dollars. Zeid, seeing that the stakes are going up in the double digits, folds his hand. Miguel, not swayed, calls Adel’s hand. Masahiro deals the river card which is an Ace. Miguel quickly raises his hand. Everyone watches Adel who hesitates. Suddenly, he pushes his chips and says “All in.” He has put in all the money he brought for the trip which was just over two hundred dollars.

  Kamil looks at him nervously. The pot is now over three hundred dollars. The amount of money on the table was almost half of Kamil’s wages at his father-in-law’s restaurant. 

  Miguel gives Adel a look. “Adel, I’m not sure if you have something in your hand or if you are big bluffer or if you have the real deal. You have such a good poker face.”  Had it been a scene in a James Bond movie, the moment might have been quite suspenseful. In this case, due to the stress, Miguel’s Filipino accent became stronger with the sound of the letter “f” turning into the letter “p” and vice versa. So the last two words from his mouth come out as “foker pace” which make Kamil and Zeid burst out into laughter. Being ESL (English as a second language) students, they often made fun of each other’s accents.

  Adel looks Miguel calmly in the eye. “Come on, Miguel. Are you in or not?” 

  Miguel says, “Oh yeah..I'm in.” He pushes his stacks of chips in.

  “Okay show your cards,” Masahiro says.

  Miguel puts down his cards, revealing an Ace and a King. He has a full house—which to him was an excellent hand. He says to Adel, “Give me my money, paré.” (Paré means friend in Tagalog.)  He reaches for the pile of chips.

  Adel smiles from ear to ear. “Wait a minute, paré.” He throws down his cards. “I’ve got four aces!”

  The other guys start laughing and howling, seeing that Adel’s four-of-a-kind beats Miguel’s full house by a long shot. Four Aces was definitely overkill. Adel smiles from ear to ear. He pulls the pile of chips towards him. He was three hundred dollars richer and enjoying every minute of it.  Miguel shakes his head and hits his hand on the table. He says a swear word in Filipino and gets up and takes out a cigarette.

  “Okay, you got me. I'm going out for a smoke.”  He steps out on the balcony.

  “Hey, hey, you cannot smoke on the balcony,” Kamil says and points to the sign on the wall.

  Miguel makes a face. “I'm going downstairs then for 10 minutes. But then we get back to the game.” He points to Adel, “I want to get my money back.” 

  Adel shakes his head. “Sorry, I've got plans.”

  Everyone looks at him.  Kamil asks, “What plans?” 

  “I’m going to the pool,” he says. Adel gets up and goes to his room.

  “Well, we should all go for a swim,” Zeid says. Everyone agrees.

  Kamil says, “But you don’t have your swimming suit.”

  Zeid laughs. “Well, we can go Turkish style, right?” Everyone laughs too.

  While everyone is getting ready, Adel rifles through his bag and digs out his black speedo and a towel.  He is ready for some action.

  ***

  Lounging around the hot tub, Nora and two other teachers are catching up with the latest gossip. Nora, dressed in a classic blue one piece bathing suit, Ms. Suarez, in an Olympic style one piece, and Ms. Myrtle, in a hot red bikini— the teachers have the attention of all the students in the pool. Kamil, Zeid and Miguel come out of the showers and head towards the other students. A couple of girls call out asking if they would sit with them. Kamil and Zeid’s mouth drop when they see their teachers sitting around the hot tub in their lounge chairs.

  Suddenly the pool becomes silent when one of the girls calls out, “There’s Adel!”

  Adel strides out of the shower room confidently.  He is lean and muscular and proudly wearing his black speedo.  Nora looks up at him, her eyes widening. The other teachers also stare.  Kamil and the other male students are in complete awe.   Adel nods at Nora with a little smile and walks over to the deep end of the pool.  The girls in the pool are frozen, their eyes following Adel’s every move.  Miguel and the other guys start elbowing one another, giggling and laughing.  Adel, unaware of the commotion, calmly walks onto the diving board. He runs and does a perfect dive into the water.  The girls squeal with delight and begin pointing at him. 

  “Ah, come on,” Miguel says. He is annoyed at all the attention he wasn’t getting from them.  Zeid shakes his head while Kamil smiles to himself.

  Adel starts to swim like an Olympic medalist going for the gold with perfect butterfly strokes. He swims towards the end of the pool where the other students are. 

  “Let’s get out of here,” Miguel calls out to the other guys. “This is lame.” The girls “ooh” and “ahhh” as Adel swims closer to them.

  Miguel, Zeid and the male students start climbing out of the pool. They are all dressed in long surfer shorts.  They look at Adel with disgust. Adel reaches the end and he pulls himself up out of the pool.  He looks towards the hot tub and gives his teachers a disarming smile. Nora giggles to herself while Ms. Myrtle starts some of her own “oohing” and “ahhing”.

  Miguel says, “Nice speedo, Adel!” Zeid and the other boys start to snicker. Adel turns to look at them. He then realizes that he is the only one wearing a speedo.  Even Kamil was wearing shorts.

  “Nice dive, Adel,” Lucy, the Korean student nods her head in approval. “You’re such a good swimmer!” another one chirps. The girls start giggling and teasing him. 

  Adel gives them a nod and then walks straight for the hot tub. He climbs into the hot tub, smiles at his teachers. He proceeds to find a seat between Nora and Ms. Myrtle. Ms. Myrtle moves over to give him space to sit.

  “Well Adel, that was very impressive,” says Ms. Suarez, nodding her head in appreciation. 

  “Yes, you obviously are very comfortable in the water,” Ms. Myrtle says in a flirty voice. 

  Nora is giggling into her hand. “That was a beautiful dive.” 

  Adel blushes. “Growing up in a fishing town, everybody knows how to swim before they learn how to walk.” 

  Nora gives him a big smile.

  Ms. Myrtle says, “Well, you know it's refreshing to see someone wearing proper swimming attire.  Most Canadian men don't have the courage to wear a speedo these days.”

  Ms. Suarez elbows Ms. Myrtle in the ribs.  Nora giggles again.  Adel notices Nora's hand near him and he reaches out to hold it. She pulls her hand away. 

  The boys from the pool are snickering after hearing Ms. Myrtle's comments
.

  “Aw, shut up… She's right you know,” Lucy says to them.

  Miguel and Zeid give Lucy and her friends dirty looks and jump back into the pool. This Adel sure took the fun out of their swimming party.

  “This is what we wear to swim,” Adel says. “I can't imagine wearing pants in the pool.” He flashes his teachers a charming smile. 

  Ms. Myrtle is smitten and perhaps a little drunk. She had started cocktail hour a little earlier than usual that day.  She comes up close to Adel and puts her hand on his knee.

  “You are so European,” she says in a husky whisper. “I really like Europe you know...” 

  Ms. Suarez pulls Ms. Myrtle back. “Okay Nancy. I think you've had just a little too many margaritas tonight. Let's get you upstairs.” 

  Ms. Myrtle shakes her away and comes up close to Adel. “Say Adel... could you teach me how to dive?  I've always wanted to learn.” 

  Ms. Suarez stands up and pulls Ms. Myrtle up. “Nancy, let's go.” 

  Ms. Myrtle pouts. “But...” 

  Ms. Suarez says, “No buts... let's go.” 

  Nora stands up. “I'll help you bring her upstairs.”

  Ms. Suarez shakes her head. “No, that's okay.  You just got here. Enjoy yourself for a little while longer. Plus we need to have a teacher here with the students before they close the pool in twenty minutes.” 

  Nora looks over at the clock. “Oh, okay.  See you tomorrow morning then.  Good luck with Ms. Myrtle.” 

  Ms. Myrtle frowns as she struggles to climb out of the hot tub. “What do you mean good luck?” She turns to Adel. “I'd love to have you in my class, sweetie.” 

  Ms. Suarez says, “Come on...” and pulls her out of the hot tub and heads her straight into the ladies shower room. 

  Nora turns to Adel.  He smiles again. “Well, Ms. Morgan, I best join the other students.” He whispers into her ear, “You look absolutely beautiful by the way.  I'll meet you in your room in thirty minutes.” 

  Nora blushes and nods. She didn’t realize what a Casanova Adel was. Adel climbs out of the hot tub starting another round of squeals from the girls. He walks over to the end of the pool and joins the girls. They surround him like sharks giggling, laughing and flirting.

  Miguel says to the guys, “Let’s play poker. This scene is lame.” Zeid and the other guys agree and climb out of the pool. Kamil climbs out too. He turns to Adel who is flirting with Jenny and the other girls. He walks over to Nora who is sitting by herself in the hot tub looking a bit lost.