Mac.'s Fates

The airline stewardess said, "Those of you on the left can look out to see the statue of the Good Ram that overlooks and protects the city of Buenos Aries. Those on the right will have to wait for our approach to the runway."

Mac., who was on the left side of the plane, looked through the plastic window to see the giant bronze ram standing on a peak. He followed the ram's gaze to see the arced shoreline of the Buenos Aries harbour and the long island protecting it from the Pacific Ocean's protean violence. He could feel his seatmate's breath and warmth as she practically leaned over him to see the ram. He could have licked her cheek. He dropped his ambiguous hands into his uncertain lap and said, "There it is."

"I wonder who made it," said his seatmate, her voice deepened by its proximity to his resonating bones.

Mac. slowly turned his head, instinctively allowing her to back off. "We'll be on the ground in ten minutes."

He saw her squirm. "I want to get swimming right away. There's whales."

"Oh really. I didn't think of bringing my bathing suit."

"There's a clothing-optional part to the beach, you know."

Mac. threw a big white hotel towel down on the white sand and disrobed completely and unashamedly in his mind.

He said, "That's not really my thing."

She briefly looked down at his hands in his lap. "To each his own, I guess."

Mac. thought of asking what hotel she was staying in, this young college girl travelling 'I swear for the last time' with her parents who were in the seats behind and possibly watching through the gap between the seats.

Sotto voce he said, "To each his own, yes. What hotel are you staying in?"

"The Green Hotel. What about you?"

"I'm in the Green Hotel too."

She raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps I'll run into you somewhere there."

He crossed his hands and was quiet as the plane banked, descended, and landed.

The college girl and her parents got up first, breathing anxiously along with the others who all seemed driven insane by the thought of staying on a cramped airplane one minute more than they absolutely had to. Mac. had the chance to calm down a little as the plane slowly emptied. Soon the family was well out of sight and Mac. chose that moment to stand and hit his head sharply against the storage compartment.

He caught up to the college girl and her parents in the terminal where the luggage was collected. He didn't go over to her to talk to her but he saw her glance at him twice. He saw them collect their three suitcases and head off, with her mind undoubtedly on something else, something sandy.

Mac. swimming naked saw her swim up to him in shallow waters and then she stood up in his mind.

He rolled his blue polyester suitcase over to where the shuttle buses left. His ticket was in order and off the rolled, four people talking in another language and him not talking in language at all.

At the desk of the Green Hotel he said to the moustached gentleman wearing the common suit of hoteliery, "Good afternoon. I have a reservation of sorts. Here."

The gentleman looked at the crumpled sheet Mac. held forth. "Ah, yes sir, you're one of the prize-winners. Some of your fellow prize-winners are here already."

"Oh yeah? How many, what are they like?"

The gentleman answered the first question. "I suppose seven or eight or so have arrived." And ignored the second. "You are all staying on the same two floors: the top floors." He dinged a bell.

Mac. said, "I can take my bag up myself, thank-you."

"It is hotel policy. You are an honoured guest."

"Okay, okay. So what are these other winners like?"

"They're all sorts. Young, old, male, female, tall-short fat-thin." He leaned forward. "We are not to take too much notice or ask many questions."

"Hmm."

The bellhop arrived and yanked the suitcase away from Mac. The gentleman tossed the bellhop a ram-bronze key. "This way, sir."

Going up in the elevator, Mac. asked, "Have you seen the others?"

"The others? Who are the others?"

"The other prize-winners."

"I know nothing about any prize-winners, sir."

"You can tell me."

"I don't know anything."

The elevator stopped. The door opened and there stood the college girl with towel in hand. The bellhop said, "Going up," and the college girl backed away. She looked at Mac. and said, "Hey! Off to the beach!" then the elevator door closed.

Mac. wondered how she had gotten here, settled, out of her clothes, into her swimsuit, then into her clothes again so quickly. Mac. wondered if she had a swimsuit.

The door opened again and the bellhop said, "This way, sir."

Mac. followed the bellhop to room 1104 and inside.

The bellhop said, "The directory's over there along with room service information and so on. I hope you enjoy your stay."

Mac. found some coins in his pocket. "Oh, here you go."

The bellhop said, "You can't do that. You're a special guest. Everything is free."

"But tipping is something else."

"We were told not to accept tips from the prize-winners."

"Ah, so you do know something about the prize-winners."

The bellhop put his hand on his hip and said sharply, "Did you really expect me to tell you anything more? Look, it's all we were told. Look, enjoy your stay."

And that was the last Mac. would see of that particular bellhop.

As he was unpacking his stuff there came a knock at the door. Mac. peeped through the peeper and saw a fat man. He opened the door and the fat man said, "So you're one of our special little group. I'm number six. And you are?"

"Mac. I'm number seventeen. What's your real name?"

The fat man shook his head. "That doesn't matter in the least. I'm number six and you're number seventeen and that's all anyone needs to know. Want to go for a drink?"

"Ah, I thought I'd go for a swim."

The fat man shook his head again. "You're not to leave the Green Hotel, at least for today. Tomorrow the rules might be different. Come on, the bar's upstairs." Mac. followed number six down the hall to a metal staircase with newels connected by rope, all painted yellow. "Seems there's a nautical theme going on here."

Number six said, "What'll you see the bar."

Yes, the bar was indeed nautical. The ceiling was low and dark. Ship wheels were on the walls and they looked real. The bar itself was decorated with all kinds of seashells inlaid, and the top surface of it was old oak beams under glass. The chairs and tables were likewise made of old oak as if scavenged from some caravel's destruction. Two people were sitting at a table and the bartender was wiping down a glass. One of the two sitters waved.

Number six said, "Come meet numbers eight and nineteen."

"Okay," said Mac.

Number six said to numbers eight and nineteen, "This here is number seventeen."

Eight and nineteen were women. One was about thirty and the other maybe fifty. They were both attractive.

Number six pointed to the one who was about thirty. "This is number eight, and this"‑to the other‑"is number nineteen."

Mac. said, "Hello, number eight. Hello, number nineteen."

Number six asked, "Anyone need some refreshment?"

Mac. patted his pocket and number six touched his arm. "Everything is on the house. Everything."

"Well then, I guess I'd like ... scotch."

Number nineteen said, "I'll take another gin and tonic. They're very sweet."

Number eight said, "Nothing for me right now, thanks."

Number six went off to the bar and Mac. sat down, saying, "Pleased to make your acquaintances."

Number eight said, "We get the idea."

Mac. ignored this and continued, "Are we the first ones here? I mean, the guy at the desk said seven or eight contestants had arrived."

"We haven't seen 'em," said number nineteen who appeared a bit drunk.

Late afternoon light was coming in the windows. The sky was very blue. Number six came back with a tray and drinks. "For you, and for you, and for me."

Mac. said, "So we don't care about names at all, is that right?"

Number eight said, "Nope. No names are allowed. Didn't you read the rules?"

"Not entirely, I thought I'd have some time to myself alone first."

"We're not to talk about any of that."

Number six said, "Actually, we won't be disqualified for slips we might make. This isn't Battle Royale. Our heads won't ... blow off or anything." He laughed.

Mac. said, "Oh. That's good. Can anyone answer me a question, if the question is allowed?"

"Give it a shot."

"Are we cardinals or ordinals?"

"What do you mean?"

"Am I number seventeen, or am I seventeenth? Am I behind you, six and eight, and ahead of you, nineteen? Or are these numbers just, I don't know, like assigned lanes in a road race?"

Number nineteen said, "I don't have the faintest idea. I guess I thought I was nineteenth," and here she preened and fluttered her lashes, "but really: how could this be nineteenth?"

Number six said, "Maybe we'll find out tomorrow. Hard to judge when there's only four of us here so far."

"If we didn't know anything about what we were to expect," asked Mac., "why did we all come?"

Number eight said with a shrug, "It's a free trip to Buenos Aries. What's not to like?"

Mac. finished his drink and said, "I'm still unpacking my stuff," and got up.

Number nineteen grabbed his arm. "You can do that later. It's not even five yet."

Mac. gently pulled free and said, "I'll catch up with you all here, say in about an hour. I have to phone someone."

"Who?"

"My cat-sitter. I didn't have the chance to talk to her."

Mac. found the elevator and couldn't remember his room number and realized he didn't have his key anyway. So down to the lobby he went in embarrassment.

Down and down....

The door opened at the lobby and there stood the college girl. Her hair was wet. "Hello!" she said. "The water's great. C'mon, come swimming with me."

"I have to get my room key, wherever my room is."

"That can wait." Did she know her shirt was translucent with moisture? "You can get a towel down there. They have all sorts of towels down there."

"I'm not sure about this."

"The water's really nice. Something to do with the Galapagos."

"It seems like I have to."

"C'mon."

They went out of the Green Hotel and across the road and onto the sand. They walked and talked. She said, "I hear there's a bunch of contest winners in the hotel."

"Yes, I'm one of them."

"What was the contest?"

"I'm not sure, but I came in seventeenth, or I'm contestant number seventeen, I don't know which."

"You came without even knowing what the contest was?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." He was twice her age at least.

"I'd like to know what happens."

They came to a sign that read, the English part of it anyway, Proceed at own risk, no lifeguard, clothing optional.

He stopped. "Are you sure about this?"

"Don't be shy."

And Mac. decided not to be shy.

They walked in about a hundred yards or so. Mac. was surprised to see so many good-looking naked people. He wondered how he would measure up. He tried to get himself mentally half-prepared by the power of imagination.

"Here we are," said the college girl who quickly pulled off her shirt and undid her pants. She stopped. "Oh, a towel. Up there, in that booth." Mac. looked and saw a booth filled with white towels. He went over to get a towel and when he returned she was standing naked for every other of the hardbodies to see.

Mac. shrugged, threw down his towel, and took off all his clothes. The college girl smiled and said, "Okay."

He walked to where the waters rolled onto the sand and kept walking. She was beside him. The water was cold but it didn't matter. He wondered if he was precisely twice her age or more than that. He looked at her body. It was more than that.

After splashing around for some time and swimming out kind of far he decided it was time to head in because the sun was low in the sky and he remembered something about sunburning at dusk, something he'd read somewhere. As he stood by the towels she lay down on her back. "It's nice here," she said.

He said, "Aren't you worried about burning?"

"You can't get burned at dusk."

"I heard this is the worst time."

"That's an old tale, like, from last century. It's not at all true."

Mac. lay down beside her. He could feel the heat from her. She moved a little, and their bodies were touching, and he didn't know how or want to move away.

He said, "I wonder what the other contestants are up to."

She said, "My, don't you have a one-track mind."

They were quiet for a while then she said, "I'm getting hungry."

So they got dressed and returned to the Green Hotel, to the dining room on the ground floor. They ordered steaks and drinks and he was told it was on the competition's dime.

"Oh hey," said someone, and Mac. turned to look and it was number six. "Are you still in?"

"In what?"

Number six sighed. "I've been eliminated from the competition."

"Already?"

"Yeah. Damn! But apparently I can stay on to the end. They're not giving me the old heave-ho or anything."

"How many were eliminated?"

"Ten. Were you eliminated?"

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything. We were swimming."

Number six looked at the college girl and said, "Howdy."

She said, "Howdy."

"So you left the hotel. On your own. Pretty ballsy. So maybe you're eliminated and just don't know it yet.... But on the other hand they knew how to easily find me.... Well, I guess we'll just wait and see."

"I guess so. I'll see you around."

Number six smiled at the college girl. "Sorry for interrupting."

"It's okay," she breezed.

Number six went away, heading toward the oak bar lit with fuchsia potlights.

Mac. turned back to the college girl who said, "Maybe you're a finalist! Wouldn't that be exciting?"

Mac. shrugged. "I'm hardly thinking about it."

"'Oh, look at the time,'" she said archly, looking at her wrist. "Would you like to see my hotel room?"

She could not have been more obvious. Kids today. "Do you think your parents would appreciate that?"

She figured out what he meant and said, "Oh, no, we're not all in the same room. That'd be like so last century. They're not even in this hotel."

"They're not?"

"No, they're off in the Orange Hotel, down the way."

"The Orange Hotel."

"C'mon. Sign the bill and let's go."

Mac. signed the bill. As they walked to the elevator he said, "Is this really happening? Is this really happening, to me?"

She said, touching his arm lightly, "Nothing has very much happened yet, you know. And maybe it won't."

The college girl's hotel room was identical to Mac.'s hotel room, so far as he could remember what his room looked like. There were two beds with six fat fluffy pillows on each, and a desk with a lamp, a balcony, and a bathroom. It was really no different than millions of hotel rooms all over the world, save that this one had a view of the twilit arc of the grey beach of Buenos Aries. She said, "Give me a minute," and went into the bathroom. Mac. sat down at the desk and looked at the beds. One was slightly crumpled. A few minutes later, the college girl came out, naked and shyly, and pulled the covers away and tossed pillows on the floor. She got in bed and said, "Be gentle. I've never had a man before."

"Never?"

"No. Just boys."

Dawn's hot fingers through vertical blinds were clawing the stucco ceiling when Mac. awoke. In just a couple minutes he and the college girl were up and dressed and back at the restaurant in the Green Hotel for bacon, eggs, good strong coffee, and toast. They made tentative plans for the afternoon‑perhaps a bike ride? perhaps a climb up to the Good Ram?‑then Mac. signed the bill and they went their separate ways, the college girl off to visit her parents and Mac. to the front desk to get a key to his room so he could finish the unpacking he hadn't finished the day before.

Mac. opened the door to his hotel room. A notice was awaiting him on the floor. He picked it up and read it. It informed him that at noon that day the final three contenders would be announced on the rooftop patio. Mac. idly wondered how to get to the rooftop patio. The clock radio beside the bed read 10:17. He decided to blaze a trail to the rooftop patio.

Remembering to pocket a key this time out, and still without unpacking conscientiously, in the hall he found the stairs that led to the bar in which he had the day before talked with numbers six, eight, and nineteen. He climbed those stairs and found himself again in the nautical bar. The place was empty and hollow, as if nothing had ever happened there. He saw double doors off beside the bar so he went to them and yes they opened and stairs led him up onto the roof.

There was nothing to see. There were no banners or portents. It even seemed, as one could have observed, a bit 'dusty.' How was it possible that in a little over an hour and a half a major contest would be decided?

Having accomplished this reconnoitre, Mac. went back to his room to wait for the college girl's return. He realized he wouldn't be attending the noon announcement. He picked up the notice and saw there was no contact information. He wondered why he had never wondered about the contest seriously. Wouldn't a normal person ask what the contest was about? And the day before, with numbers six, eight, and nineteen: it seemed none of them had wondered about it either.

At 11:13, the college girl knocked on the door.

At 11:45, dressed for hiking, together they departed the Green Hotel.

She said, "I know the way."

Mac. said, "How?"

She said, "I read the map. We go behind the hotels and a couple blocks that way (pointing) and we'll see the start of the path. From there I guess it'll be obvious."

They walked past the hotel and turned right at the next street to get to the avenue that ran along the backsides of the hotels. Further along she pointed out to him the sign reading Good Ram Trail. Mac. looked up the mountain and saw there were a couple dozen people switchbacking their ways up, holding sometimes onto a wise rope barrier. He said, "If I can't make it up‑"

"You'll make it."

The path started with a wooden deck with old benches roughly-hewn that turned into wooden steps going up a couple flights to what appeared to be another deck. Together they started up the stairs and pretty soon reached the platform. There was only one bench on that platform and a nice view. From there the path was a dirt path with the wise rope barrier running alongside.

Mac. didn't think to count the number of switches but it seemed well over twenty. Once upon a time he had been afraid of heights but on this trip he was too busy looking up at the college girl to think about anything much.

Finally they were at the Good Ram.

"I can't believe I made it," Mac. said.

"Look at that view! You can see the roads on the island!"

The Ram towered over them. Ah, it was made of plaster mixed with rock, painted a metallic brown. It wasn't bronze after all. They must have sculpted it up there.

"Do you think we'll find out: Why a ram?" she asked.

"We could ask.... Oh look there's a funicular."

They paid some money and got on the funicular. Down they went in comfort and joy.

Back at the Green Hotel they went to Mac.'s room. Another notice had been slipped under his door, this one saying that the grand prize winner would be announced at five o'clock.

The college girl looked at it. "Are you expected to go?"

"I don't know. In any case, that hike wiped me out, I think. I think I need to lie down."

"I'll lie down with you."

Forty minutes later there was a cautious knock at the door. Mac. pulled on some underwear and toddled quietly over to the door. Just then the voice‑it was number six‑said, "Seventeen, are you there? The big contest's a-coming. By deduction we figured you're one of the finalists. You in there?"

Mac. quietly toddled back to the bed. They were quiet for a couple minutes.

Mac. whispered, "I don't think I'll go."

She whispered, "That's good. I can introduce you to my parents over dinner."

"Okay." He looked around the room. "I wonder what happens if I win."

"Do you get to stay longer? I mean, when do you have to leave?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. That's when the room's to. But I guess I could stay longer if I wanted to."

"Move into my room. I'll give you a key."

"How long are you planning on staying?"

"Oh, for another week at the very least. Tomorrow I have my two best friends coming down. We'll all stay together. My parents are leaving in two days. We'll stay as long as we can, all four of us. Until the money runs out. We'll push the beds together. We'll have a great time."

 

‑‑August 2016