Our Man in Antigua

this is a f…kup…bank robbery early afternoon…BAM branch, Santa Lucia…or someone said another bank…details murky…three people shot, one dead…two guards or two cops? customer in line apparently got the Czech bounce…9mm…jeez…bank robbery in broad daylight in a busy part of town?…run off in tuk-tuks at full military power? apparently the robbers were caught…no, not the cops..hard to tell the difference sometimes around here..if you see Juan Mario Cervantes..probably at El Portal, he’ll know what’s what..

i thoughf this day would never end…at ten, i walk into my printers shop…’how are we doing?’  “Two days”…what?…i blow a fuse, go ballistic…’no…hoy, today’…laughter and smiles, blood pressure and pulse rate drop…’do you want all 50 today? ‘no, 25 works, the rest on monday”…i come back at 3pm, as instructed and we motor out to his remote printing shop in Joco…the presses are rolling, the machines are making noises and by 4:30..i’m tired, let’s stop and i’ll take 5 now, the rest in the morning…fine..Robto de Oro, happy recipient of the 2nd copy notices that page 1 isn’t page 1..it’s the last page…and page one isn’t…a slight mishap and i dash back to the shop at 5pm…’stop the presses!’…he understands the error, calls the shop in Joco…it’s all good but i’m a bit ragged around the edges…A. no nap and B…fulfilling my contractual(verbal)obligations with Ms G about putting up ten posters for the VMB…up one street, down the other..find a parking place, coerce/persuade/schmooze the owners to take a poster and put it in a good location…next time I drive and she can catch/deal with the nonstop phone calls…there’s good news of a settlement ($$)from the ex-employers, who were seriously messing with her…a call to a good attorney and suddenly…’peace in the valley’ as they used to sing…so…so what?

i’m home, boots off, an adult sports beverage in front of me…some people have ‘collectors items’…the first press run will continue tomorrow(and i’ll be making deliveries..COD)the 2nd edition goes out next week…including amongst over stuff…Ay Robot!, Sabe Rico, Ron fortin’s Home Spanish Academy(HSA, i’m fried, ok?) a couple more of early morning espresso stops and …and? ..stick a fork in me…i’m done..oh, Alice the Travel Agent!…whew…the moon’s getting fuller, i can see Jupiter from my kitchen table…where the hell is Uranus? San Francisco humor…have a great weekend…I will..and if you saw me running around with her…it’s business..