Chapter 12

At work, things were going well. Kyle knew his supervision of the therapist as opposed to him directly working with patients was starting to spoil him. He thought it would be difficult going back to where he was the one administering the treatment. At the same time, he was starting to think of ways to expand the physical therapy program.

It was a little over a week later when Kyle received a phone call from Elena saying she was having a meeting at the hospital tomorrow and would like to do lunch with him in the hospital cafeteria afterward. He agreed to meet her and could sense a little excitement in her voice in her asking that for some reason.

Kyle met her in the cafeteria after she phoned him saying the meeting was over. He could see she was excited. He asked her what the meeting was about. She told him it was about starting a National Vaccination Program.

“If you remember at the table New Year’s Day was the Minister of Finance who heard us discussing this program. On his own, he approached these two pharmaceutical companies saying it would be nice if they would donate the needed vaccines for this program. He told them that if they didn’t do that there was no problem as he could always raise their taxes and use that money to purchase the product. Can you believe that out of the goodness of their hearts they said they would donate the vaccines?”

“At the meeting today we discussed that our rules would need to change to allow nurses to administer the vaccines and the training program that would be done for them to do this. The hospital because of the further use of computers was going to lay off some of their accounting staff but now is agreeing to keep those people and is tasking them with administering this vaccination program, I think this is a win-win for everyone involved.”

“I agree with you and am proud of you for doing this.”

“Thank you but it was your idea to do this in the first place.”

Elena asked Kyle if he had plans for this coming weekend. He told her he had been looking at some brochures he had picked up and was thinking about going fishing on the big water. She said she would like to do that and knew of a friend who had a large boat set up to do that they could use. Kyle said while he would consider doing something like that in the future this time he would prefer to do the fishing on a party fishing boat. If she wore a hat and large dark sunglasses he doubted that anyone would know who she was and she would be safe. She agreed to go with him and to wear what he suggested to disguise her identity. To further hide her identity she said she would ride with him in the jeep in going there.

Back at his office, he sent an e-mail to the reporter advising him of this new vaccination program that had just been agreed to and thought he might like to do a story on it. Later he received an acknowledgment saying they would do it and thanked Kyle for the tip.

Elena as always looked good on the ride to the party boat for fishing. She mentioned that she had been interviewed yesterday by this same television reporter who had interviewed her before on the new vaccination program. The interview would be shown tonight and maybe in tomorrow’s news because of its significance. She wondered how the news came out so fast and before Kyle could deny it she told him the reporter spilled the beans.

The party boat was an older boat about fifty-five feet long that had seen better days. The people were given fishing rods and the boat motored out to what Kyle would guess was about four to five miles out from shore before the boat stopped and they started fishing. It was cut bait on the hook and they were fishing off the bottom.

The fish were cooperative because they were biting. Kyle enjoyed seeing Elena’s reaction as she reeled up a fish. She wouldn’t bait her hook but he didn’t mind doing that. She did say that she wanted to keep some fish for dinner tonight.

Kyle couldn’t help but notice that there always was another large boat about one to two hundred yards away from them. No matter what direction their boat was pointed or if they moved to another spot this boat was always there and on Kyle’s side of the boat. He wondered if Elena’s security was on that boat watching them with binoculars and if somebody there had a sniper’s rifle. Maybe Kyle had watched too many action movies but that was the thought he had.

He had purchased some diet sodas that Elena and he were drinking as the boat moved to another fishing spot.

An older man sitting next to Kyle said, “Excuse me, but you don’t look like someone who is a native here.”

“You are correct in saying that, I am an American.”

“Can I ask you what brings you here? Are you on vacation?”

“No, I work here overseeing the therapists who administer physical therapy treatments.”

“That sounds interesting. In doing that do you meet the Minister of Health?”

“I do.”

“Well, when you see her will you please tell her I think she is doing an excellent job. This physician assistant program that she is starting is something we have long needed especially in the not so populated parts of this country. My daughter is a junior in college and she tells me she is going to apply to this program. So please tell the Minister I appreciate what she is doing.”

Kyle thought about this for a few seconds and then moving back a little in his seat and pointing with his forearm at Elena he said: “Why don’t you tell her yourself. Let me introduce you to the Minister of Health, Elena Garcia.”

Elena had heard this conversation and when Kyle introduced her she took off her sunglasses and extended her hand to this man saying, “It is nice to meet you and thank you for those nice words.”

This man was stunned as he shook her hand. He again repeated what he said and asked if he could have a picture taken with her which was done.

When the four hours for fishing were up the boat was back at the dock. Because of where they had been sitting Elena and Kyle were among the last to be walking off the boat. Kyle was carrying their fish which had been cleaned and double bagged with ice when the boat was motoring back to the dock. Kyle noticed that the first people off the boat had not scattered and were standing on the pier in a loose group.

The word must have spread as to Elena being on the boat because when she started walking by this group someone started applauding, and soon all the people were applauding. A number of the people asked if they could have a picture taken with her. She took off her sunglasses and hat and honored their requests. She thanked the people and said that if they watched the news tonight on channel four and maybe tomorrow they would hear of the new National Vaccination Program that was being announced. Her saying that resulted in some cheers and more applause.

On the drive back to her home he noticed that Elena had a smile on her face that wouldn’t go away. In doing this drive he also noticed the black SUV which he guessed was her security that was following them at a discrete distance behind.

Back at her home Elena gave the fish to the cook and asked her to prepare them for dinner. She made two vodka tonics drinks and handed one to Kyle.

“I had a very nice time today. It was fun doing the fishing and the people we met afterward were very nice. It made me feel good to hear them saying those kind words. Tell me do you have any more of these activities planned?”

“To tell you the truth I was thinking about doing some golfing. The course at the county club looks nice and it would give me something to do on the weekends besides swimming in the pool. I don’t plan on being a fanatic at doing this but I would like to be comfortable in knowing how to play golf. You know as you get older there are very few sports you can do and golf is one of them. I have been looking at YouTube and watching some of the instructional videos there and thought I would give it a try.”