The Osita Cycle: Part Three

May 14, 1998 (Jefe)

"What are you doing, Roger?" asked Geoff.

"I'm writing a letter to my sweetie back in Surrey."

"Give me the parchment - you'll take six years!"

And with these words, a new chapter was begun. For Geoff took Roger's ideas, elaborated on them, fleshed them out, and put pen to paper (a task Roger was tempermentally unsuited for). Years would pass before Roger would admit that the words were not his own. But that is another tale.


"On the Plane"

Times were tense as the Bolivia-bound Spanish class sat in the luxurious seats of Dina's private plane. Roger worried about how far his meager Spanish would take him in a clime where people spoke fast and dropped S's. Geoff wondered how someone who claimed to be 23 could have assassinated Che 30 years before. Erika fretted that she wasn't piloting the plane (for wasn't the pilot lost - shouldn't we see mountains by now?). Laurie gazed out the window wishing she was back in sunny Winnipeg. Saleem ate his mushroom sandwich with a smile as wide as the Amazon - Erika wasn't the only one to wonder what sort of mushrooms Saleem's "Ecological Society" harvested.

When the Bolivian stewardess came by to offer drinks, Roger quickly hid his lap-top, requested a whiskey, downed it (for Roger is not a social drinker), and took great pains to point out that he was not a computer geek. "I don't even own a computer!" he pleaded. The sight of Geoff in the next seat immersed in "Oh Pascal!" did little to calm Roger's nerves. "You're such a geek, Jefe!"

"At least I've read more than two books in my life!" Jefe pleaded.

"I will read a book when I have time. Right now I have other priorities," retorted Roger.

"Like rescuing Dinorah?" questioned Erika. "For the love of God, let's have a plan, people." She slapped Roger full in the face, probably harder than she needed to. Roger spilled red spaghetti sauce on his yellow shirt. "Jesus! That was Land's End!" he cried to the great amusement of Jefe.

"I thought Dina had a plan!" said Andres, slowly realizing he was not the only one with no idea what was going on. "We've got time! Let Dina speak! She'll tell us what to do!"

"I only know where we are going, I cannot go myself. These people know me, and I would not be safe in Bolivia. I plan to stay on the plane. And as for the plan - I was kind of hoping that Erika had some ideas."

"What! You coward! You liar!" shrieked Roger. He looked at Dina - realized he couldn't hit a woman, and gave Jefe an elbow to the jaw. "What are we going to do?"

"Calm down, Slick."

This childhood nickname put Roger in his place. Why didn't she call him "El gran hombre de la noche" like he kept asking her to?

"Don't worry everyone. Vito will not be tough to track down. My intelligence suggests that he can be found at the La Paz Fitness World, ogling the local women. We will stake him out there. He will tell us everything we need to know."

"Sounds good." said Saleem. He looked at his watch, realized there were 12 hours of flight time left and relaxed in his chair, still enjoying his lunch.

But Geoff did not relax. Something about Dina's story didn't reassure him. No. It wasn't just one thing. It was several. She was obviously lying about her involvement with Che and she'd lied about being Osita. How could he be sure that she wasn't working with Vito and not against him? Maybe this was all a setup. And Dina was the one who held all the pieces of the puzzle? Geoff had a really bad feeling about this. He looked at Erika, and sensed that she had the same reservations. He then glanced at Roger, but Roger was immersed in his laptop - and could not be communicated with. Geoff knew better than to interrupt Roger when he was playing with his precious computer (which he denied owning, even though he lugged it around like a security blanket).

Tomorrow would be a difficult day.