Chapter 14

[Arnold's manuscript]

My last manuscript left off telling that we were leaving for L.A. I haven't made it and have decided not to try. Nothing would be accomplished. We are moving east from here.

We have had losses and gains. Personally, I gained a wife and partner. We lost people to bad people, bad animals, and bad times. We have gained friends and companions on this trip.

It was a long and savage trip filled with wild beasts and wilder people. However, good people and situations outweighed the bad. I am now a good shot with a rifle or pistol. I am learning the bow and arrow and practice daily.

This is the story of my trip from San Salvador to San Diego.

After dropping the manuscript copies at the airport, we left in two SUV's heading for the coast. Maria and Tomas had been that way and, as long as it trended north, I didn't care. Once at the coast, we tried to stay close to it depending upon the roads. Our vehicles wouldn't care. Both had plenty of ground clearance if roads were a problem.

We were in no hurry and filled up our tanks at every opportunity. According to my rough guess at the map, we were over a thousand miles from Acapulco. We had talked about our route and had decided to avoid Mexico City. There were too many potential problems with a city that large.

Our travel along the coastal highways was pleasant and unchallenged though slow. Everyone seemed to have gravitated to the larger places was my guess. The others agreed when I voiced it.

Our first leg would be a beautiful route along the coast to Acajutla. It was just a little over seventy miles but was curvy as we followed the coast. The views were fantastic and the traffic was non-existent. We went by a beach and everyone wanted to stop. I pulled over and parked. The girls made a magical change on one side of the SUV while Tomas and I used the other. They were between the SUV's. Tomas and I were out where we could be seen if there had been anyone to see us. We gathered towels and went to the beach. I locked my SUV and insisted that Tomas do the same. We carried the keys with us.

Maria and Dulce were gorgeous in their scanty bikinis. One thing I had learned from my stay in San Salvador was that female swimsuits were miniscule. Both girls' tops were just strings running between two small triangular pieces of cloth. The bottoms were thongs that exposed their bottom cheeks completely. Dulce was a pretty girl but Maria's more mature shape drew my eye. I guess that was best since Dulce was Tomas' girl. Maria was not really my girl though we were friends. So far, neither of us had shown any romantic interest in the other. Tomas wore a Speedo type suit while I wore a standard American suit. I almost felt overdressed.

We had fun in the water. Dulce and Tomas were touching each other intimately as they frolicked. After a while, I got out and sunned. I didn't want to watch the younger couple any more. Shortly thereafter, Maria joined me on a towel. She lay on her stomach and her cheeks showed. Those cheeks were already tanned, suggesting that she had worn that suit or a similar one often. They were very pretty, firm, and shapely cheeks, too.

Maria said, "Tomas and Dulce are becoming a bit demonstrative out there?"

I said, "Yes, even the suits are scanty to my experience. The other is just another step further than I find comfortable."

I was looking at her. She smiled. "If her parents were around, a different suit would cover more and her activities would be severely curtailed. I think they are enjoying the lack of a chaperone since neither of us is willing to act as a parent."

We lay in the sun a bit longer. I stretched and sat up. "I think we need to finish our drive to Acajutla in time to find lodging and food." I stood and gathered my towel to head to the SUV.

Maria said, "I will join you after getting my brother moving." She went toward the water and got his attention before grabbing her towel and starting for the vehicles.

We got there and changed quickly into our shorts and shirts. I opened the SUV to let the air flow through the interior and cool it down.

We walked across the road and found spots to sit in shade while we waited. Maria said, "Tell me more of yourself, Arnold."

"I think you know everything."

"I want to know you inside. I know who you are, where you're from, and your school and job history. What I don't understand is how you think and how you came to be the way you are."

"I don't understand what you're asking, Maria."

"You do if you think about it. I was brought up Roman Catholic. We have been a political family for generations. None of my family really took our faith seriously. It was just a facet of our public lives that people expected of us. There were things that we could not do in public, not because they were right or wrong to us but because our position in society required us to act in a certain way. It wasn't all bad or cynical but it made our private lives different.

"I believe in God but I am not comfortable with many of the Catholic church's pronouncements for how to live. On the other hand, I never contemplated this situation and now my beliefs leave me at loose ends. I think Tomas and Dulce are having similar feelings though they may not think it through quite that far. What do you believe, Arnold?"

"It's complicated. I was born and raised in the Birmingham area of Alabama. My parents weren't devout but we went to church fairly often. It was a big United Methodist church and I enjoyed going and being in the youth group over the years. When I was about to graduate from high school, my dad took a job in Orlando, Florida. The family moved there except for me. I stayed with a high school buddy to finish out the last two months of my senior year. After I graduated, I joined them before heading off to college. I had a sports scholarship for a smaller college in Alabama and left in late summer to start"

Maria said, "What sport?"

"It was in golf." She giggled a bit. I said, "It's a sport and playing paid my way through all four years. At least you don't get banged up playing. I had some friends who played football. They were almost crippled from their injuries.

"Anyway, I lost going to church along the way. Orlando was different from Birmingham. I don't think my family ever went with any regularity to any church once there. After graduating, I wound up in California with my job. California was nothing like Birmingham or even Orlando. Sunday was just another day there.

"I still remember my church lessons and, I guess, many of those teachings still guide my actions. Naked women involved in public sexual acts are not in my comfort zone."

Maria grinned. "Does that mean that it's okay in private?"

"Not really. Casual sex never was something that felt comfortable to me. I was dating a girl in California who emailed me to breakup the week after I came to El Salvador. I think I inhibited her. I was going with a nurse in San Salvador but we hadn't been intimate. She died from the virus while I was trying to help at the hospital. I'm no angel but I just don't get it without caring. It's less complicated to just masturbate for relief rather than engage some girl in a sex act that brings its own complications." I blushed deeply.