Chapter 5

It was quite a different feeling for Kyle to have in spending Christmas day away from family in a warm country without any snow on the ground. He made a Skype call to his parents and spent almost an hour talking with them and with his brother. Things were going good was a common thread in the conversations. He was a little surprised when his parents said they were considering coming down to visit him during Easter time. He told them they were always welcomed and that was when he had a vacation week.

He decided to celebrate the day by going to the country club for the Christmas Brunch. After showering and shaving he dressed putting on one of the new tailor-made suits he had just purchased. This one was a dark gray two-button suit made with an Italian silk cloth. Maria had told him of an excellent tailor who was good and very reasonable in what he charges. Kyle thought the suit fit him well.

There were many cars in the club’s parking lot but from what he could see his jeep was the only jeep parked there. The dining room had a large crowd and he wondered where he would sit when a man came up to him and said the Minister was asking if Kyle would join her at her table. He followed this man to the table and was a little taken back because not only was Elena at the table but also there was another couple who he recognized as the Minister of Finance and his wife were Elena’s parents, the President of the Country along with Elena’s mother. He should have realized that Elena would be spending this holiday with her parents.

Introductions were made and Kyle said he didn’t want to interrupt their holiday celebration but the President insisted that Kyle join them.

He did take a seat next to Elena and he thanked her for seeing him and extending the invitation to sit here although he said he was in over his head in sitting here. She laughed at what he said and then proceeded to tell the people seated there about what Kyle does and the fine job he was doing. The people there seemed to be interested in Kyle and asked him questions about where he was from and his educational background along with how work was going. He was guarded but comfortable in answering their questions.

The President asked him what he thought about his being here in this country.

“To be honest, I am living much better here than I would be in the States. My quarters are nice and memberships in this club along with the officer’s club on the Army base are things I wouldn’t have back at home. All these perks are going to spoil me.”

When asked about his work Kyle said, “The work is not difficult; I say that because I have some very nice knowledgeable people who work for me. I think you all recognized that if you have good people working for you, your job is much easier.”

Kyle saw the President and the Minister of Finance nodding their heads in agreement.

When asked about living in this country Kyle said, “I understand it is a beautiful country with many beautiful things. I am however a little embarrassed to say that I haven’t seen much of it and only have seen this general area. One of my New Year’s resolutions is going to be to take the time and see more of this country.

It was an interesting conversation Kyle was having with the people at the table. He made it a point to ask them questions about what places they would recommend he see of this country. He enjoyed himself in talking to these people. The food was good and the conversation was interesting. Overall he thought while he couldn’t spend Christmas with his parents this was the second-best way to spend that day.

After leaving the club and on his drive back home he knew he had a good time if for the fact that all of the people who were the most powerful in the country seemed to also be very nice. He had no complaints about how he was treated.

Waking up the next morning Kyle put on his workout clothes and decided to go for a jog. He had met Isla a few times before in doing this jog and he met up with her this time. It was only later that he thought Isla was in some way arranging these accidental meetings. They followed the route they had done in the past which he had measured at three and three-quarter miles.

While doing this jogging she asked him how his Christmas had been. With a straight face, he said it was fine and nothing unusual in that he had brunch sitting with the President of the Country at the country club.

Saying that caused her to stop running and looking at him she said, “You are kidding me, right?”

“No that is the honest to God truth. At the table beside the President and his wife were the Minister of Finance along with the Minister of Health.” He crossed his heart as he said this.

“Jesus,” was all Isla said and resumed the jogging.

“Any plans for New Year’s like going over to the President’s palace and celebrating with him?”

“No, he hasn’t asked me yet. What are your plans?”

“Just me and some of my friends are going to the officer’s club. They aren’t doing anything overly special but it was nice last year what they did and there will be a DJ there. There is room if you want to come.”

“Sure, put me down.”

After the morning jog and remembering what he had said Kyle did a one-hour drive to visit Asuncion Park which they had said was a nice place to visit. Why it had that name he didn’t know. Minister of Finance had said the waterfall there was beautiful and the flower garden which contained some unique orchid flowers was worth seeing. Kyle had to agree it was worth the drive to this park to see these beautiful things. He needed to either lookup on the web or ask Isla for more of these beautiful special places and make the effort to visit them.

In walking into the officer’s club on New Year’s Eve he thought his dress was the proper one. He was wearing a dark blue sport coat with a white shirt, tie, and gray pants. Some of the attendees were in their dress blue uniforms. Most of the ladies were dressed very nicely with a few of them wearing strapless dresses. Isla waived a hand at him and asked him to join the group at her table.

Introductions were made and he thought the two fellows sitting there were involved with two of the ladies and that meant three of the ladies including Isla were available or he hoped they were. He ordered a round of drinks and made small talk. Not everyone there was a military officer. Two of the ladies at the table were teachers who taught at the base school.

It was a DJ who supplied the music and to his credit, it was a wide variety from the slow and fast tempo songs. Kyle was up on the dance floor more than normal. He danced with all the ladies and thought Isla in a subtle way was claiming him for herself by the things she said.