Chapter 7

When we flew into Puerto Rico and made it through the airport, I found that she had a car at the airport, so she could drive us directly to her home. When we entered her house, I met her mom, Rosa and her sisters, Rene and Rita. I was glad that they all spoke English, because after counting to ten and ordering a beer, my Spanish goes downhill fast. Her father, Hector Argo, came home soon after we arrived and after some brief introductions, we all sat down to dinner. Rosa had made a pork and rice dish that was very good.

After dinner, we went into his den to talk. Carmen told her dad that we had met at the hotel in Miami and that I wanted to talk to him about my work, but, we also had become friends.

I said, "Mr. Argo,"

He quickly cut me off and said, "Please call me Hector."

"Hector, I asked your daughter to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement for your company if that's alright?"

"Yes."

"I work for a trucking company that we're planning to launch in a few months. Our intent is to deliver loads faster and cheaper than what you're currently paying, with the added benefit of delivering the load on time. I'd like to contract with you to move your containers once they enter the United States. I'm also interested in the work that you do and may have some interest in using your company to move shipments after we get them to the ports. Do you only work in the Caribbean and South America or can you ship to Asia and Europe as well?"

"We specialize here, but we can ship worldwide. What does your company do that can make our shipments both faster and cheaper, and have them delivered on time?"

Over the next ten minutes, I provided him with a quick overview of our business model. After listening intently, he immediately saw the benefit of our approach. I also explained that we had invested heavily in the railroad, so we could take any shipments leaving Florida and move them out without having to wait on truckers to come all the way to Miami to pick them up. When he heard this part, he had a big smile on his face.

Hector said, "This is exactly what we need to expand our business. We have had others contact us with many ideas, but we're always waiting on truckers to move our shipments off the dock. We have to pay a premium or an empty return fee to get them to drive down to us. If our boat had a train waiting at the dock for our load and then we could transfer them to trucks, we'd save a lot of money on every load.

I said, "Most of our loads will be domestic, but I can see that many will be international. We can either be partners or we can hire you, but we need someone with expertise and experience in international scheduling. My COO worked at the Port of Seattle, but he didn't have any responsibility after it left the port."

"When you're up and running, let's plan to send you a first shipment and then if that one goes well we can plan to send a couple more. If they go as well as you expect, we can talk about the other things we've discussed."

"That sounds fair to me."

"Here is my card and I'll write the name of the CEO for our trucking company. Just use my name since I'm a consultant for them. He'll put you in touch with the right person."

Hector gave me his card as well. As we shook hands, I thanked him again for meeting with me.

I asked Carmen if she could drive me to the hotel.

"Don't you want to stay with us?"

"I'd hate to impose on your family. Your mother didn't even know that you invited me here for dinner."

Carmen said, "I called and told her. Anyway, there are more than enough rooms for you to stay. I can drive you to the airport tomorrow or you can stay here as my guest and I'll show you around."

I said, "OK, but I need to call Beth and let her know where I am."

"We call the states all the time from here. I'll show you."

I called Beth, told her I'd be back in a couple of days, and gave her the number to Carmen's home.

We went out on the patio and Hector had a box of Arturo Fuente No. 48s. Both Carmen and I had a cigar with Hector and sipped Bacardi with some Coke and ice. It was very relaxing. I slept well through the night alone in the guest room. In the morning, Rene was the only one up when I came out to the kitchen. I asked about going for a run and she gave me directions to Central Park. When I went outside, it was still early. As I ran over to the park I tried to identify some landmarks, so I could find my way back to the house.

The temperature was in the low seventies and was great for running. There were some others in the park, including some riding bikes, and a small group of three people doing Tai Chi. I ran for around forty minutes and came back to the parking lot. As I arrived, I saw a woman yelling at two teenage boys who looked like they were trying to steal her purse. I saw one of the attackers rear back to punch her. As I yelled and I ran towards them, they looked my way and said something in Spanish that I didn't understand. Just as I got to where she was one of the attackers finally pulled the bag loose. As I reached for him and grabbed the bag and his arm, his buddy slashed my arm with a knife. In my rushed attempt to intervene, I hadn't seen a knife. The pain was immediate, so I let go of the attacker, but held on to the bag. When he saw the blood, they both ran off.

As they ran off, I dropped the bag, and because there was a lot of blood, I pulled off my shirt and used it to wrap it around the knife wound in my arm. The woman was talking to me in Spanish, but since at that moment, I didn't want a beer, I really couldn't understand a word of what she was saying or say anything to her in reply. At that point, she ran down the block and I found myself alone, sitting in the parking lot with my arm slashed open and blood soaking my shirt. I guess the reason she left was, so that she could call for help because as she came jogging back I heard sirens in the distance.

The police and an ambulance arrived and I was lucky that one of the police spoke some English. He asked me about what had happened and I told him about the ten seconds of my involvement. The woman was going on and on in Spanish, but I couldn't understand a word except when she said "dos". I think she was talking about the "two" attackers. While that conversation was taking place, the ambulance medic started to pay attention to my arm. He removed the shirt from around my arm and poured some disinfectant on the cut. He then wrapped my arm with some gauze and finally placed some tape over the gauze.

They led me to the ambulance and insisted that I go with them to the hospital. At the hospital, a nurse took my vitals while waiting for the doctor. Since it was a slow morning in the ER, I didn't have to wait long. The nurse didn't speak English, but the doctor did. It turned out that he was actually a Gator. We talked about Gainesville as he cleaned my arm and then taking his time, he sutured my arm making very small stitches. He started deeper in the wound with dissolving thread and then moved to the skin trying to make the scar as invisible as possible once it had a reasonable chance to heal properly. A woman from admissions came back and took my personal information, but everyone looked at me funny when they asked where I was staying and I said I didn't know.

I said, "There was a girl I met in Miami, and her dad's name is Hector Agar." I guess it was the same as saying Mike Smith. They asked about the neighborhood and I said, "It's a mile or two from the park."

She asked, "How were you going to get home?"

"I said that when I started running, I looked around when I made a turn and noticed that one house had a blue door, one had three trash cans under a tree and one had a green bicycle chained to a pole with a flower pot on top of it."

They just laughed at me. She asked if I had ID or if I had any insurance information. I didn't. I was going to have her call Beth but then Beth would be on the next plane to come and get me. I finally said, "Can't you just drop me off at the park and I can walk home? I'll get my wallet and come back to pay my bill."

The woman laughed again, but the doctor said, "Sure we can do that for a Gator that's a local hero this morning."

The ambulance had left and I realized that I didn't have a shirt. To deal with the shirt issue, the doctor got me a top from a set of surgical scrubs. I now realized that I couldn't call a cab or pay anyone to take me because I didn't have a wallet. I walked out to the parking lot and after asking a couple of people, I found someone who spoke English. I asked him for directions to Central Park and he said it was around five miles and he pointed in a specific direction. I asked if he'd be nice enough to give me a ride and even though I looked like crap, he gave me a lift. When we got to the Park parking lot, he felt better and relaxed a bit, so I asked him if he could drive me home. I pointed down a road until we came to the house with the blue door. Then we found the other landmarks until we made it to the home of the Agars'.

When I walked in, Carmen looked at what I was wearing and that I had a bandage on my arm. This totally shocked her. She kept asking me what had happened. Instead of answering her question, I went my room grabbed my wallet, walked out, gave the guy a hundred bucks, and thanked him for the ride. Carmen was outside with me and again asked what had happened to me.

She said, "When I woke up you were gone and no one knew where you were."

"Rene knew where I was."

"She went to class before we got up and daddy, well he leaves before the sun comes up."

"I went running in the park and then tried to stop some kids that were mugging a woman. One of them cut me and then the ambulance took me to the hospital way over by the University, so they could sew me up. When they asked where I was staying, I told them your name, but they laughed at me. I need to go back to the hospital, check in, so I can pay my bill and then check out."

"Why don't you take a shower and I'll drive you back."

I said, "I agree with you, but I can't get it wet, so it may take a while."

She took my hand and we went to my room. She looked in my bag and found a pair of shorts, a golf shirt and a pair of boxers, which she took out for me. She then led me to the bathroom, where she turned on the shower and started to undress me. When she had me naked, she got naked and we got in the shower. I found that I could hold my arm as high as I could while she scrubbed the rest of me clean. When we got out, I thanked her and then we dressed.

As we walked into the ER, I saw the woman in admissions that recognized me who then called back into the ER. Doctor Alvarez came out and held out his hand. The admissions woman was reaching in her purse to pay the Doc $20. The doctor said, "She was concerned that you wouldn't come back to pay your bill, but I told her you would."

I said, "So you bet $20 on me?"

The admissions woman said, "Well, it was a good bet. I lost and had to pay $20 he had to pay your entire bill if he lost."

I said, "I guess today is a good day for trusting in people. The stranger that gave me a ride to Carmen's house got a hundred bucks that he wasn't expecting, Dr. Alvarez made twenty and I took a shower with a naked beautiful naked woman. Go Gators."

Dr. Alvarez said, "Go Gators."

I handed her my license and dug around in my wallet for an insurance card. I gave her my credit card to cover the rest and we were on our way. I now realized that I was starving, so we stopped and had some seafood at a small out-of-the way place near the campus. After lunch, Carmen drove us out to the Bacardi Rum factory, so we could take a tour. It was a big place, so it took us a while to see the entire factory. We went back home and met with her mom and sisters while we waited for Hector to come home for dinner.

After Hector heard the story about my adventurous day we sat down to eat. Rosa had prepared Mojo Isleño. It reminded me of Pescado Estilo Veracruzano, which is a similar Mexican fish dish. I love them both. After dinner, we sat on the patio and Rosa joined us tonight for a drink. She apologized for her country that I had gotten hurt. I told her that it was not her country, but some stupid boys and you can find them everywhere in the world. I told her that her dinner was wonderful and thanked her for her hospitality on such short notice.

Hector said that he'd spoken to Craig today and that he said to expect a call on Monday from the operations manager. I told him that if he didn't hear from anyone, to call me directly. After a cigar and a couple of drinks, Hector and Rosa went to their room and they left Carmen and me on the patio. She came and sat on my lap and we kissed for a bit. She said that she didn't want to go too far because they were in her father's house.

"That's fine. I had fun in the hotel, but I have several other areas of the company that I need to work on, so we may never cross paths again. Tomorrow I need to fly back, but you have my card and Beth always knows where to find me. Thank you for your hospitality and for opening your home to me."

"I'm sorry you got hurt, but thank you for being brave and saving that woman."

"Me too. However, there's a good side to the mishap. I'll have to have Beth take showers with me from now on. That may not end up being so bad unless her husband finds out."

"I'm going to call her and tell her you said that."

"If you do, make sure you ask her what she's wearing."

I went to bed and Carmen drove me to the airport the next day. I got a hug and kiss as we stood by her car and then she was gone. I flew back to Miami and made a call to Beth, but she didn't have any pressing issues. I drove back to Orlando and stopped by Doug's place. I wanted to stay in the boathouse, but didn't want to give John a reason to worry about his wife working in my bedroom. I walked in and caught Jill and Doug by surprise. They both took it well since I had seen them both naked before. After we said hello, I offered to leave or at least go to my room. They both told me, "no." Doug noticed the bandage on my arm and asked me what happened and about my traveling. As we talked, they put some clothes on to feel more comfortable.