The Fell Walker (7 page)

The lobby chatter, created by the hotel’s pre-dominantly western guests, continued. Now the orchestra started on Rachmaninov’s ‘Vocalise’.

Hector glanced across the table at Leni. She sat straight backed, head high, watching the orchestra - a glorious sight. She sensed his gaze and turned.

‘Do you know this?’ Hector whispered.

Leni smiled, and whispered back, ‘Vocalise...

Rachmaninov.’

It should have pleased him. It should have delighted him. It did for a second. But then the realisation that she had become even more desirable, and that he could never have her or someone like her, pulled a familiar dark cloud into his mind.

He tried not to feel sorry for himself. He turned away from the orchestra, away from Leni, and looked out through the window at the morning’s dazzling brightness. The sun made him squint...close his eyes, reminded him of his tiredness...then his weakness...his social incompetence, his ugliness.

When he turned back and opened his eyes, tears discharged themselves. They had taken on a life of their own, tired of being held back.

He reached for his handkerchief.

‘Is it the music?’ Leni whispered. ‘It often makes me cry, it is so beautiful.’

‘Yes...it always does this,’ Hector sniffed. It was only a white lie - he did usually cry when listening to ‘Vocalise.’

Leni sensed his lie. There was something in his tone, his manner, his sad eyes that she recognised. She had seen much suffering, though never in western eyes.

‘I’ll get you some water,’ she said, and left the table quickly.

She had left him alone deliberately, to give him time to recover his composure. Men didn’t like an audience when they broke down. She had seen her father and brothers walk into dark corners when lips began to tremble and eyes moisten.

When she returned, the music had finished and Hector was standing at the main door, apparently recovered.

‘Can I come with you to work,’ he pleaded. ‘I won’t get in the way. Maybe I could help you. Maybe we could talk about music.’

Now she was unable to refuse him. He had touched the soft centre that lay beneath her toughness. Yet, even now, her business-like brain reminded her to spend most of the time picking his brains about HD3000, as she had been ordered.

As they stepped out into the wall of heat, Leni opened her briefcase and took out a piece of cardboard of the same shape and size. She held it over her head, as did many of the people passing by. Like them, a sunshade umbrella was low on her priority list.

*

Hector spent most of the day trying to keep up with her as she dashed around the city calling at offices and factories. At times, she ran and jumped from one jeepney to another as she tried to make as many calls as possible. Only during a short lunch break in Jollybees, which he was glad to pay for, did he manage to talk to her about music. Even then, she soon changed the subject to HD3000. Surprisingly, he found it easy to respond to her endless questions about his special concrete, and watching her listening intently gave his confidence a boost.

He spent most of the day searching for shade as he waited for her outside her clients’ workplaces. On more than one occasion he was questioned by armed security guards and asked to move on. Eventually, he found it easier and more welcoming to wait in nearby shops.

At the end of the day he was exhausted, but Leni looked remarkably fresh. She was about to escort him back to his hotel when he announced: ‘I’ve bought something for you. I hope you don’t mind.’

He gave her a small parcel from which she extracted a small colourful umbrella. Her hand went to her mouth in surprise. Even though she had been pursued by many westerners, none of them had ever bought her a present. They always assumed you were grateful just because they were hunting you. She sensed that this was a genuine gift, not a prelude to seduction. He seemed too shy for that.

‘It’s wonderful,’ she said, giggling like a schoolgirl. ‘It’s beautiful.’ She spun it around above her head, and swivelled on her toes like a ballet dancer.

Hector had never seen such a lovely sight.

‘Thank you very much, Hector,’ she beamed. ‘I will use it every day, and I will take good care of it. Now I’m no longer a cardboard girl.’ She giggled and smiled and admired the umbrella from every angle.

Her reaction surprised Hector. That such a small gift could generate such excitement and pleasure was unexpected. It had changed her from an efficient businesswoman into a charming, giggling, schoolgirl. For the first time he was seeing what lay beneath her tough veneer.

In accordance with Filipino custom, Leni now felt obliged to reciprocate with a gift or service, so instead of returning to the hotel, she invited Hector to her home for tea.

*

Vilma had just arrived home when Leni and Hector appeared.

‘Look what I’ve got,’ Leni smiled, flashing the umbrella into action. ‘Hector bought it for me. Isn’t it wonderful.’

Vilma took the umbrella from Leni and examined it as though it was precious jewellery. Holding her breath and smiling excitedly, she opened and closed it repeatedly. Finally, she giggled and the two girls embraced each other in a fit of happiness. Hector looked on in wonderment. His next shock came when Leni pulled an upturned plastic container from under a steel shelf and invited him to sit on it, and then moved two paces to where a kettle sat on a small Calor gas stove.

Only then did he realise that this was their home. He had thought they were calling in the shed to pick something up before entering the nearby house, which itself was incredibly small and humble. A few dresses hanging from a string line caught his eye and confirmed that he was not mistaken. He felt ashamed and guilty. It was no bigger or better than one of his uncle’s hen huts. He had always thought that life on the croft was basic, but this! The contrast with the luxury of his hotel now seemed obscene. And yet, Leni seemed quite at home in either. She made no apology for her home; she was not ashamed of it.

He watched her make three cups of tea, a long process involving fetching water in a plastic container, and saving the spent tea leaves into another. All the time, Leni and Vilma smiled huge smiles, giving the impression that this was the happiest moment of their lives.

Leni presented the tea to Hector as though it was a special gift and then she and Vilma sat on their upturned containers, forming a close triangle with Hector, knees almost touching.

They drank in silence, the two women deferring to Hector, expecting the western man to dominate. Hector didn’t know what to say and stared nervously at the floor. When, occasionally, he raised his head, he was met by beautiful smiles, and puzzled glances between them.

Suddenly, Hector got to his feet. The only way to end this embarrassment was to go. ‘I’d better be getting back to the hotel’, he mumbled. ‘Thanks...thanks for the tea. It was nice...’

Had he been a Filipino, Leni would have been insulted by the abruptness of his visit, and assumed that he didn’t like their company. But she was beginning to understand that, for a westerner, Hector was incredibly shy and reticent, and so she felt sorry for him.

‘I’ll come with you,’ she said. ‘You won’t know the way or find the right jeepneys.’

Half an hour later they were back in the lobby of the luxurious hotel. Hector was aching to invite her to his room, and to tell the rest of the world to go away.

He wanted to take her away from that horrible shed, look after her, protect her, hold her. He wanted to buy her lots of things to make her happy, always smiling. He wanted to buy her a meal in one of the posh lobby restaurants.

But he knew it was no use. He didn’t have the nerve to ask. And she wouldn’t be interested. Instead, he would order a room service meal and go to bed early.

‘Hector, I’ll show you the layout at the Hyatt Regency tomorrow,’ Leni was saying.

Hector was still in his own worrying mind. ‘Right...what’s happening there...what’s the Hyatt Regency,’ he said, absently.

‘It’s the hotel where you are giving your talk,’ Leni explained.

‘My talk?’ Hector was paying attention again. ‘What talk?’

Leni looked puzzled. ‘Your talk to the government engineers about HD3000. Did nobody tell you it was tomorrow night?’

‘Nobody told me I was doing a talk,’ Hector panicked. ‘I’ve never done one before. Where is it? What time? Who’ll be there? I thought I was just sitting in at a meeting with them with John Elland. Who arranged this?’

Leni gave a rueful smile. This was typical of Yul. He loved to put on a big show. He had invited 50 government engineers to dinner in the penthouse suite of the best hotel in town, to be followed by presentations by his own company, then by Amtex, then by Hector for BNFL. And, typically, he had forgotten to tell the people involved.

She could sense the panic in Hector’s voice. ‘Have you got anything prepared?’ she asked calmly.

‘No...I wasn’t expecting. I’ve just got a technical data sheet. Who’s going to be there...how many....’

‘Maybe I can help you prepare something,’ Leni offered quietly. She was beginning to understand that Hector was very insecure. ‘Maybe we can turn your data sheet into a speech. Is it in your room?’

‘Yes.’

‘Let’s go,’ Leni said, and held out her hand as if to a child.

Hector took hold, and trembled. He was actually touching her. Such softness, such warmth, so small. This was probably the greatest moment of his life. And yet, she was leading him to what promised to be the worst.
Up in his room, they sat side-by-side studying the technical data sheet, shoulders almost touching. Hector could hardly breathe. Being alone with a beautiful woman in a luxury hotel in a strange country, preparing to make his first public speech, was more than his mind could cope with.

It escaped into a dream-like state, and participated from a distance, as Leni gradually took over. She wrote down suggestions for introductions, flip chart displays, overhead projector drawings on acetate. She even ordered some food and drinks from room service. Hector simply listened and agreed and fell deeper in love with her.

Suddenly, she was saying something reassuring as she glided out of the room, and he was left alone, staring.

*

The following day, John Elland and the company car reappeared, and Hector spent the day sitting beside the driver while Elland and Leni shared the back seat. They lurched around Manila visiting customers and projects. From their intervening conversations it was clear that Elland had been told about that night’s presentation at the Hyatt Regency and was well prepared, and confident as usual. In mid afternoon, Leni suggested that they call at the hotel to see if preparations were complete for the evening.

 
The Hyatt Regency proved to be even grander than the Sheraton, the huge interior being finished almost entirely in cool marble. As the lift reached the penthouse suite, Hector’s stomach was churning. They walked into a vast room, its large windows providing a panorama of the city. Hector’s heart almost stopped.

Beyond the many tables laid ready for dinner, was a raised table laid for six on which sat three microphones. On one side of the table stood a podium with a microphone mounted, and on the other side a screen and projector. On the wall behind the table, a very large banner proclaimed in red letters:

WELCOME TO PRODUCT SYMPOSIUM

AMTEX U.K. LTD WITH

WAYNE INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY INC.

SPEAKER: MR HECTOR SNODD

CHIEF ENGINEER, BNFL.

HYATT REGENCY, MANILA

Hector spotted a toilet sign, dashed for it, and managed to throw up accurately into a hand basin. He was literally sick with worry. Why had nobody told him about this? He wouldn’t have come if he had known. He couldn’t possibly stand up there and deliver a speech.