Chapter 2 - The Connect

“Marsha each time we have porridge together I think of you as Goldilocks sampling the bowls of porridge in the bears in the cabin trying to find one with the temperature that was just right."

He chuckled as he spoke, causing few kernels to leak between the cup and lip falling on his white starched shirt.

“Oh crap,” he said still chuckling.

“You need a dribbler. You are just like the baby always making a mess and giving me extra work,” Marsha said fuming, while she wiped his shirt with the wet wipes from her purse. “Stop laughing. I can’t see what can be funny about dirtying up your clothes.”

Dominique slid his left hand unto her right thigh and then quickly between her tanned legs, and she moaned as his fingers caressed the warm soft nexus of her legs. He was sure that it was not the hominy corn that she loved so much that made her moan, but his gentle touch to her succulent flower.

“Dominique, you are too rude,” Marsha whispered, “You need to focus on the winding road in front of you, instead of the wetting the road between my legs.”

He smiled, as he thought about making love to her on the bonnet of the car, with the sounds of the waves in the background, and the response of her body as she climaxed with the gentle breeze fanning their bodies. As the colourful, lush vegetation gave way to the dry arid terrain with huge boulders and sand with cacti in clusters along the road leading to the airport, Dominique had to quickly refocus as he found the car drifting across the white line into the oncoming traffic.

“Shaving cream!” he exclaimed.

“See why you should not trouble me Dominique Martin.”

“Well it’s not like you have anybody else to trouble you, or is it that you have options?”

“Very funny Dominique, I just caught you winking at the cute cashier.”

“Oh, you admit that she was cute,” he replied, with sly smile on his face.

“I have been secretly waiting for this day for a long time when my wife would find another woman cute.”

“Dominique Martin you are a pervert. No way in hell are you going to have your fantasy.You need prayer!”

“Come on Marsha. I’m joking.”

“Yeah right!” she responded.

As they drove into the airport, the temperature was so much different and the car and his collar started to feel warm. He reached for the button to wind up the windows and simultaneously, Marsha punched the climate control button.

“Hey, you did you notice that sometimes we move or think alike. Why is it that this can’t happen in all areas of our life?” he asked.

“That is because you don’t talk to me any more Dominique.”

He sighed in response.

“Anyway, Marsha let’s put on our business faces we are almost at the airport car park. Marsha! Don’t you see that I almost missed the entrance?”

He applied the brakes hard and made a hard right turn and the seat belt gripped them tightly while the braking action threw them forward.

“Shit Dominique!”

“Sorry! Marsha, but I was just thinking about what I felt earlier between your legs.”

“You sure it’s between my legs you were thinking about?” she replied.

“Crap! I just hate the airport at this time of the year the parking was hard to find, especially because of the time of the year when all the children were going back to school in North America.” 

“Well Dominique, the ambiance of the airport had dramatically improved since the last time I came here the kerb walls arepainted in bright yellow and the no parking signs areerected, not to mention the smooth paved roads .”

“Marsha this means going through the booth and the lazy parking attendant and then walking all the way to the arrival lounge.”

“Dominique I know you hateto walk through the car park, but the exercise would be good for you.”

“Do you think I need any more damned exercise Marsha?” he asked as he lifted

his shirt to expose his wash board abdominals.

“Sorry babes, I was just feeling a little frustrated.”

He took a deep breath.

“Do we have a description of the client?”

She sighed and said, “Typical Dominique everything is last minute. I put the sign with his name in the trunk. He is an Oriental Manandhis name is Mr Ming”.

“I much preferred the days when we could park right by the door at departure to meet the clients,” he said, “instead we have to walk in the sun and then cross almost 4 lanes of road.”

“Calm down Dominique what else would you be doing this morning anyway but sleep? At least this way you can spend some time with me and earn some money.”

Dominique rolled his eyes and reached for her hand as they stood at the freshly painted pedestrian crossing. She smiled at the act. There was still a little romance left in him.

As they walked across the fourlanes towards arrivals, he muttered, “I heard that thought you just had awhile ago, and yes, I’m still romantic and your knight in shining armour.”

The joke calmed the festering tension between them.

Mr Ming was the only Asian man clad in a shorts, slippers and a sleeveless shirt with a hoody. He looked like a gangster. Dominique became cautious of him as the hairs on his neck stood up, and his blood ran instantly cold.

“Ok here he comes, finally. Can you carry his luggage to the car while I check for something in the shop?” Marsha asked.

“Ok babes.”

Dominque took the card with the name “Ming” written in bold letters.

Marsha walked away slowly as Dominique escorted Mr. Ming through the packed parking lot and loaded the two bags in the trunk.

As he walked Marsha’s cell phone accidentally called him. To avoid the awkwardness of not knowing Mr Ming’s language, Dominique listened to her conversation as she spoke with the attendant in the duty free shop. The attendant in the shop seemed quite attentive and had a peculiar but recognizable East Indian accent.

“Hi, good morning. How are you doing?” he asked.

“I am not bad,” she responded.

“Welcome to Jantique,” he said. “I am Indru what can I do for you?”

“I’m not visiting...,” Marsha replied but stopped mid-sentence just in case the price was different for locals.

“I need some of your finest coffee.”

“Ahh,” he responded, “the finest coffee for such a fine lady, I’ll give you an excellent brand at good price.Do you need escort around the town? Buy two and get one half price.”

Marsha chuckled. Dominique fumed a bit as he remembered their conversation, in the car regarding her options.

“You give me ten US dollars for the coffee.”

“Thank you, Indru you are quite a handsome man with those specs of grey at your temple, your eyes show maturity,but unfortunately for you, I am already spoken for.”

Dominique laughed at the conversation he heard on the phone and at how nicely she had turned down the offer, but was proud that a stranger found his wife attractive. He was tempted to hang up the call, but he kept it at his ears.

“Oh, you like you coffee strong?” asked Indru.

“Yes, I like it coffee strong and black just like my man,” she replied and Dominique could have heard if a pin had fallen in response on the phone.

“Can I give you card to call me if you need escort?” was Indru's

final comeback

“Thanks Indru, I will call you for sure,” she said.

Dominique knew her looks got her a discount on the coffee as he saw the same coffee in New Kingston for US$20 bag. He imagined Indru’s eyes being transfixed on her posterior as she went through the door.

Marsha reached in her bag for her phone and realised that the line was open,

“Dominique! Honey you must be fuming about me being away so long.”

            “Nah I heard everything. I was being entertained,” he replied.

He watched her hurrying towards the parking lot.

“You could have hung up the phone Dominique that was not nice to be eavesdropping on my conversation.”

“Hey, it's you that called me.How was I to know that I should not have listened?” he enquired.

“Well, thank God I did not do or say anything to make you question my commitment to you.”

“Anyway, Marsha I have the client here so hang up please we can speak about Indru in private,” he said jokingly, as he hung up the phone.

Dominique watched as Marsha walked briskly towards the car as he was trying to get the client Ming to get into the back seat of the car. Ming hesitated and wanted to sit in the front. He tried his best to convince the little man otherwise, and he wondered how to tell the man that the front seat of the car was reserved for Marsha. Ming didn’t speak enough English to make any sense of all of Dominique’s ramblings. It was Marsh who came and broke the icy awkwardness.

"How was your flight?” she asked.

Ming laughed and responded in broken English, "Yeh Mon the flight was no good and mi sit beside fat Mamma all di way from New York."

They all laughed, but at different things. Marsha and Dominique at the sound of the broken English and Ming at the thought that they thought he wasn't comfortable speaking patios, since he studied the local language at The University of China for three years. Marsha too was a little nervous as she read the body language of her husband.

“So what took you so long inside?” Dominique asked.

“You already know what took me so long you know I was just looking at my options,” she whispered.

“Mr Ming, can you please sit in the back of the car it's much more comfortable there and we have provided for you a welcome to Jantique DVD for you to watch,” Marsha requested in Mandarin.

“Ok,” he replied, hesitantly.

Marsha gently closed the door behind him, as the plush leather seats welcomed their client’s posterior.

As soon she sat beside Dominique she wasted no time.

“I bought these bags of New Mountain Coffee and I could not pass them up at the price I was getting it for.”

Dominique took a glance in the rear view mirror as they drove out of the car park and raised his eye brows and pursed his lips. Marsha picked up on his body language and turned to look at Ming.

“Are you comfortable Mr. Ming and why are you hugging that bag so tightly?”

Ming smiled. “I am fine and the bag makes me feel better close by.”

“Are you feeling the air conditioning around there? Look at those beads of sweat on your forehead.”

“Honey, please turn up the air conditioning in the back.”

“It's at the lowest temperature already and the fans are on high,” Dominique responded.

“Do you like music Ming?” Dominique asked as he auto tuned the radio and found a song that most persons around world knew that was synonymous with Jantique.

“I love reggae and especially Bob Marley,” Ming replied. Just then he shouted, “Ahh One love!” and started to sing along with the song.

Marsha and Dominique laughed at the way he sounded, but the longer he sang and rocked to the universal rhythm of reggae, he became more relaxed.

“Music really soothes the savage beast Dominique,” Marsha whispered. She could see Ming in her mirror moving to the rhythm of the music.

They watched the children running along the roadway or sitting on the benches in the mini parks with benches facing the sea.

The lush scenery gave way to the hardness of concrete and steel which was a stark contrast to the scenery he had just seen a short while ago.

“I like what the authorities have done to the entrance to the city it feels welcoming,” Marsha said.

“Yes for years it needed a facelift and they finally upgraded the landscape,” Dominique replied.

“The transition between the soft flower lined road to the urban landscape requires attention though, the zinc fences could be replaced, and the graffiti painted out,” Marsha responded.

“Graffiti is urban art and it shows character,” Dominique retorted.

“That is so true,” said Ming. “I travel world and in almost every country street art is a tourist attraction.”

“Well that is one attraction I would not want on my wall!” Marsha said.

Within 45 minutes of getting Ming in the car and leaving the airport parking lot, they were on the highway heading west.

"Hey sweetheart don't you feel as if the car is just cruising as if I am going100 kilometres per hour? I want to stop at our favourite rest stop at Toll Gate on the way back to town.”

He glanced at the clock on the dash board and noted that it was almost 12:30pm. As he raised his eyes back to the road, he saw the blue denim of the police from almost 1000 feet.

"Hey, look up the road Marsha," he said

"Speed trap," she replied.

“We are within the speed limit and all our papers were up to date. I sorted out my business with this thing on my side and it is now legal a few months ago. So there should be no need to worry or panic,” he replied.