Second Chance Love (12 page)

Chapter Twenty

They had one more leg of the journey to complete, so they stayed at the airport. Still, with a typhoon washing over different parts of the Philippines just a few days earlier, she thought that she might see chaos, boarded-up windows, perhaps even refugees or panicked relatives running about. Instead, it just seemed like another business day in Manila.

Steve seemed to read her thoughts. “It seems weird, but remember the size of the Philippines. It's almost two hundred miles by air to Puerto Princesa. Palawan got center-punched, with the eye of it walking right over them. All Manila got was a wet and windy storm.”

They boarded their last flight of the day, from Manila to Puerto Princesa, just as it was getting dark. "My body clock is way off," said Elizabeth. "It feels like morning. Is this jetlag?"

“It will take a long time to reset our body clocks after this much travel, but I have a hunch we’re not going to be sleeping much the next week anyway.”

“You’re always so comforting,” Elizabeth said, laying her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes.

They landed an hour later, with Elizabeth waking up as a flight attendant welcomed them to Puerto Princesa International Airport. "We're almost done with airplanes!" he crowed in a suitably muted tone.

"This is an international airport? I don't see very many lights around it."

"We're closer to Malaysian Borneo than we are to Manila, and it's not much farther to Indonesian Borneo, or to Brunei. It's not much farther than Brunei to get to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. You were never this close to wild orangutans in your life, but don't get your hopes up, because Palawan doesn't have any."

“I can’t say that seeing wild orangutans was ever on my bucket list, but now that you’ve mentioned it…”

“Maybe next time.”

It was too dark to see any damage. Steve asked a flight attendant about damage to the airport. She explained that the water had come within a few hundred yards of the airport, then receded. There was no power to homes in remote areas, and land travel would be hard.

Along with everyone else, Steve and Elizabeth deplaned directly onto the tarmac. Even in the middle of the night, the air was uncomfortably warm. A steady drizzle of warm rain made them grab their suitcases from the cart and run for the terminal.

It was just after midnight, local time. They had been flying or sitting in airports for almost twenty-four hours. It took Steve little time to discover that no hotels were available, nor accommodations of any other sort. The flood of concerned relatives and emergency workers had spoken for every rentable lodging. And unlike the airport in Manila, with its numerous internationally familiar car rental firms, Puerto Princesa International Airport had one: Jeco Car Rental. The small location was dark and roped off, with a sign attached to the rope that said, “We will be pleased to serve you in the morning,” in both English and Tagalog. Across that was another sign, hand-printed in both languages, reading “No cars available until further notice.”

“That can’t be right. They must mean that they’re not accepting new reservations. We had an SUV reserved before we left.”

“No way to check right now,” Elizabeth said, looking around the mostly deserted airport. The few other passengers on their flight had met friends or relatives inside, had their tearful reunions, and left. One side of the terminal was taken up by four rows of uncomfortable-looking chairs. “I believe I have found our accommodations for the evening, good sir.”

Steve looked at the chairs, at Elizabeth, then back at the chairs. “This seemed like a better idea when we were sitting in my office, with Maybelle’s a short drive away and my king-size bed waiting at the condo, didn’t it?”

“I’ve told you before: whither thou goest. Even if where thou goest is a backache-factory chair in an airport I didn’t know existed until two days ago, hoping to rent cars that may no longer even exist, in order that we can drive out into the middle of devastation and hopefully do some good for someone. Shall we?”

They settled in and tried to get comfortable. It didn't work. “We’ll never get any sleep tonight,” said Steve.

Five minutes later, heads resting on each other’s shoulders, they were sound asleep.

Chapter Twenty-One

Sunlight poured through the high windows of the airport, waking Steve shortly after 8 A.M. Elizabeth was still asleep, but sometime in the night, she had shifted to her left and lay across two chairs, resting her head against her arm. Steve tried to sit up straight, but his spine advised him that it would punish such a reckless act. He was going to have to sit up in stages. Every other chair was filled in the rows facing them, with everyone staring at them or talking in hushed voices.

Are they really doing that just so as not to wake us up?
Steve reached out blindly and patted Elizabeth’s shoulder. “Honey, I think it’s time to wake up.”

“What? Why?” She opened one eye, saw all the people, and sat straight up. Elizabeth smiled at the elderly woman directly in front of her and said, “Hello.” The woman smiled broadly and nodded, but did not reply.

Steve stood up and shook his right foot gingerly, attempting to ease some blood flow back into it. “Are you going to be okay here? I’m going to go see what time the rental place opens, so I can get that straightened out.”

“You go on. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. If you can’t find me, just ask Suzi. She and Max always seem to keep tabs on each other.”

This conversation seemed very interesting to the people around them, who stared and smiled. As Steve creaked over to the Jeco Car Rental office, Elizabeth looked at all the people staring at her and said, “Good morning.” There were many nods in answer, but nothing more. Elizabeth stacked her small case on top of Steve’s larger one, which had casters that let it roll in any direction, and made her way to the women’s room. As she emerged, she noticed a small kiosk with breads, pastries, and the lovely fragrance of fresh strong coffee. Elizabeth picked up two plastic-wrapped pastries, pointed to the coffee pot, and held up two fingers.
I'm communicating in sign language. It's all I have. I have never had to do this. I feel like the typical ignorant American. And how much is this money worth, anyway?
Steve had given her some Filipino currency aboard the flight from Manila, but it hadn't really struck her as money. Taking a guess, she held out a thousand-peso note. The young girl behind the counter shook her head, reached into the fanned-out money and pulled forth a 500-peso note instead. She handed back a 200-peso note and some silvery coins with a smile and said, “Salamat.”

“Oh! I don’t know if that means ‘thank you’ or ‘have a nice day’ or what, but ‘salamat’ to you as well,” she replied, realizing as she did so that it was foolish.
She understood just one word of that, and I'm not even sure it's the right answer, or if I said it right. She can only go by my expression and context, and make a guess. I will have to remember this, communicating with signs, expressions and body language. But I'm pretty sure that 'salamat' means 'thank you.' There are far worse first words to learn in a language.
Elizabeth balanced the two sweet rolls on top of the suitcases, held the coffee carrier in her right hand, and towed the suitcase stack across the concourse to Jeco Car Rental.

Steve was holding an animated conversation with a young man in a blue dress shirt and khakis. Steve rarely seemed to lose his cool, but she could tell he was approaching that point. “There’s got to be a solution," he was saying. "Your company made a reservation for me, I flew all the way from America, expecting to find the car we reserved, and now you are telling me that you have no cars at all. I’m sure you understand that is not acceptable.”

The young man, whose black and gold name tag said his name was Mark, said: “I do apologize. You must realize, sir, that these are extraordinary circumstances. All of our vehicles have been put to use in the rescue effort. They are spread out over the entire island. If you would like to check back in a day or two, someone may have returned a car, and if that happens, we will gladly honor your reservation at that time. I’m sure the company will arrange for a substantial discount for your trouble.”

Steve was silent for a moment, then spoke again through clenched teeth. “I don’t want a discount. I would happily pay double or triple the going rate. I just need the car I was told would be waiting for me.” Mark said nothing.

After a moment, Steve smiled. Mark took a step backward, more unnerved by the smile than if Steve had begun to raise his voice.

“What car do you drive, Mark?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Thirty minutes later, after helping Mark unload his personal belongings from the back seat and trunk, Steve and Elizabeth took off in a 1997 Honda City. Neither of them had ever heard of such a model, but Mark had assured them it was in perfect running condition, and that it was popular with young people in the Philippines. To go by the many similar vehicles around them, Mark had told the truth. The City was a four-door sedan that had once been a bluish silver, but the sea air had inflicted large rust spots over much of the car. It had a full tank, though, and Mark promised that the air conditioner worked. In any case, it was almost surely the only car available within a hundred-mile radius. Steve had offered him its full value for a week’s rental, promising to return it to the airport.

Steve slipped behind the wheel, ground the gears a little before finding first, and set off for points unknown—at least, to them.

“Suzi? Wake up.” Steve had set his phone to go into sleep mode after two minutes, to conserve the battery.

“Yes, Steve. How can I help you?”

“Do you have the coordinates for Eden’s Bay Resort?”

“Yes. It is one hundred and two point seven miles nearly due northeast of your present location. Would you like me to plot a course for you?”

“Please. What is the estimated drive time?”

“Under normal driving conditions, it would take two hours and forty-two minutes to reach those coordinates.”

“These are not likely to be normal driving conditions. Do you have an ETA for today?”

“That is impossible for me to calculate. There are numerous reports of roads washed out and trees down along the route. I estimate that it will take somewhere between four hours and seventy-two hours, with some walking probable.”

“That’s very helpful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Steve.”

He turned to Elizabeth, who was beginning to smile. “We’re making great strides on Artificial Intelligence, but I don’t know if we'll ever find a program that will understand sarcasm.”

"You might not want one."

Suzi: “At the next light, merge right onto Puerto Princesa North Road. Stay on that road for seven miles, then merge left onto Puerto Princesa South Road.”

Steve reached out, took Elizabeth’s hand in his own, and squeezed. “Our adventure begins.”

“Our adventure began when you wandered onto that terrible little Christmas tree lot and found me again.”

He smiled at the memory, then bore right onto Puerto Princesa North.

As the town began to give way to jungle, Steve spotted a market and pulled in. He had feared that there might not be any supplies available, but there seemed to be no shortages here. Even where the brands were unfamiliar, he was able to pick what he wanted by the pictures on the cans and packages. At the front of the store, looking like an old friend, was a huge stack of Spam. Steve threw two cases into his cart. They ran through the store like a Christmas Eve husband with a long gift list and little time, filling up two shopping carts with groceries and bottled water. Steve didn’t know what they were driving toward, but he was sure supplies would be welcomed anywhere.

Along the way, they saw numerous large military and United Nations trucks, presumably also loaded down with supplies and medical equipment. "Our stuff seems like a drop in the bucket," Elizabeth said.

"It won't be. None of those trucks will turn off toward Eden’s Bay. It has only one road in, which cost the original builder a fortune, and no one lives there except for whichever of the construction workers either wouldn't or couldn't commute. Without us, whoever was there are on their own. The authorities will concentrate on El Nido and Taytay, which both got blasted, and have—or had—tens of thousands of people each. We might get there to find an empty beach with no sign of life, but we’ve got to know for sure."

They drove for many miles at a stretch, seeing no signs of civilization other than the occasional car heading the other direction. They saw not a single private car going their direction, although they did see an old Isuzu pickup abandoned on the side of the road with its hood up.

After several hours of making a steady sixty kilometers per hour, they came around a blind bend. Too late, they saw a young, uprooted akasya tree partially blocking the road. Steve slammed the brakes to the floor and yanked the wheel left, sending the City fishtailing hard to the right. Its passenger side skidded into the downed tree full length, gave one final lurch forward, and died. After a moment, Steve realized that he'd forgotten to push the clutch in.

“Lizzie! Are you all right?”

Elizabeth blinked and tried to collect herself. “Shaken, but not broken. What about you?”

Steve patted himself down, gave a little laugh, and said, “Well, other than maybe needing to change my underwear, I think I’m fine. I got a little overconfident, because the roads had been so good. That's what I get for letting my guard down in a disaster zone. Let’s see what damage I’ve done to the car."

She looked into the back seat. Everything was tossed about, but none of their supplies were ruined. "Everything back here's fine," she said, as he got out to take a look.

“Lizzie, look at this.”

Once out of the car, Steve could see a straight stretch of road ahead, much of it littered with debris. The mess included rocks, plants, branches, and whole trees.

Elizabeth rolled down the window. “We’ll be lucky to make it through that.”

"Maybe we won't have to try." Steve retrieved his phone from the charger. “Suzi, how far to the coordinates of Eden’s Bay?”

“You are currently twenty-one point two miles from your destination.”

“This road may be impassable. Is there an alternate route? Maybe if we backtrack?”

“There are no alternate routes. This is the only road that leads to the coordinates.”

While he thought over that piece of good news, Steve walked around to the passenger side of the car. Lizzie's door was blocked but not seriously damaged. The rear door and quarter panel were caved in. One branch's stub had actually broken through the steel body.

Steve sucked in a lungful of air and grimaced. The car hadn’t been beautiful when he had rented it from Mark, but neither had it been a wreck. Now it was.

“Looks like I am going to be the proud owner of a new-to-me 1997 Honda City. Maybe Mark will trade straight across for my Mercedes."

Elizabeth gave Steve her familiar
Are you never serious?
look, and said, “It just looks like body damage, though, doesn’t it? It should still run all right, don’t you think?”

Steve nodded, muttered, “As long as I didn’t bend the damn frame, yeah, it should be fine.”

"I think we could squeeze past on the shoulder, if it still runs."

Steve nodded. It looked promising.

They got back in the car, and Steve stepped on the clutch and turned the key. For a sickening moment, the engine wound but wouldn’t turn over. He tapped the gas lightly, and with a shudder, it came to life.

“See? No problemo!” exulted Steve, grinding the gears a little looking for reverse, then backing away from the tree. There was a horrible scraping sound, but eventually they sprang free with a lurch.

They were able to work their way around the tree, but it was slow going after that. They rarely exceeded 10 KPH, and often had to stop to roll a rock aside, or push and pull a fallen branch out of the way. Over the next eight hours, they were able to make eighteen miles.

Finally, after moving what felt like their ten thousandth tree limb, Steve looked up at the darkening sky and said, “Okay, I admit it. You can out-work me.”

“I didn’t know it was a contest,” she said with an air of innocence.

“It’s getting dark. We’re obviously not going to make it there tonight. Let’s pull over on this wide spot here, douse ourselves with mosquito spray, enjoy some Spam and bottled water, and see if we can get a few hours of sleep.”

“Who says men are not romantic? Eau de
OFF!
and heavily salted canned meat? Steve Larson, you are sweeping me off my feet.”

They got a blanket out of the trunk, unrolled it on the hood, and had their picnic. After eating, they lay with their backs against the windshield, looking up at the stars, holding hands. Steve rolled on his side and said, “I promised you I’d show you the world. Well, this is a deserted road in the middle of nowhere, Palawan, the Philippines, and is definitely part of the world.”

“I’m happy,” she said, simply. A look into her eyes confirmed it. Steve thought of the society girls he had dated occasionally over the years, tried to picture them in these circumstances, and laughed a bit.

“What? What’s so funny?” Elizabeth said. “Do I have dirt on my face or something?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. You do have dirt on your face, and pretty much every other exposed part of your body. You know what? You have never been more beautiful.”

“Flattery will normally get you everywhere, but not on the hood of a car or in the back seat of a too-small Honda, Romeo. What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

“More of the same, to a certain extent.” He thumbed his phone on. “Suzi, how many miles to the Eden’s Bay Resort now?”

“You are four point three miles from your current destination.”

“Since we are sleeping on the luxury mattress sometimes known as the front seat of a Honda City, I would bet that we’ll be up with first light. Even if something catastrophic is wrong with the road up ahead, we can still get there by midday. Then we’ll have to play it by ear, see if anyone there needs our help. If someone is there, Suzi can hook us up with the authorities via satellite and we can get them help.”

"Here's hoping that there's help to be had, and someone alive to get it."

Behind them was a day as long as either of them could remember. Ahead lay a day that could be even longer. They sat together on the hood, holding hands and talking softly for a long time.