So, Glen's in New
York and he decides to visit his producer and, probably, the future
director of the show Glen's writing. You see, they're totally
friends. Anyway, Felix, the producer, is worried at how little of
the show Glen has written. Felix offers to rent Glen a studio, but
Glen says he won't be in New York that long. Glen also warns, “Don't
crowd me, Felix.” Then Felix asks why Glen is here if he doesn't
want to talk about his problem.
Glen is swept up in
memories of Erika, how amazing she is and yadda yadda. Glen can't
tell Felix about his problem because Glen always swears off women
while he's working, so Felix would think this was something serious
and it's totally not. Totally. Glen thinks about how he could have
just had sex with her and gotten it over with, but he wants it to be
special. Yup, doesn't sound serious at all, Glen.
Anyway, Felix
invites Glen to join him and his girlfriend, Joni, for lunch. He
needs to be alone, but he doesn't want to brood (any more), so Glen
agrees. Glen thinks about how Felix has a string of ex-wives and he
still gets along with all of them, as well as the kids he's fathered.
It's an imperfect way to do it, Glen thinks, but maybe it's for the
best. Then he realizes that he doesn't want to have a life that way.
He wants to marry Erika and live happily ever after! Glen finishes
eating, makes his excuses and leaves the restaurant. He finds a
phone booth, puts in a dime, and calls an airport to get tickets back
to Bermuda. Oh yeah, this book was written in 1985.
Meanwhile, Back in
Bermuda...
Erika gets a phone
call from an obnoxious American looking to have a 53 person banquet
in Bermuda. Tomorrow night. Knowing it'll be crazy, but also
believing the Moongate can do it, Erika agrees and settles all of the
money concerns with this guy. Banquets make more money for hotels
than just having guests, you see. She gets off the phone with the
American and starts getting twisting arms to get everything arranged.
Then there's something weird with the bank statement and her records
of money, so she calls Lalla in to talk about it soon. It is
difficult, running this hotel, but this fiasco is just a distraction
from her feelings for Glen. Life is sad now that he's gone. It was
so nice when he was here....
Oh hi, Lalla! So,
there's been a discrepancy of over $800 between the bank report and
ours, but I'm probably just overlooking something. ...Lalla, you're
terrible at poker, aren't you? You see, her son was made fun of
because he couldn't ride a motorcycle. It's easier to let him hang
out the with boys, even though they make fun of him. So, Frankie
borrowed a bike without permission and crashed it. He's fine, but
the repairs for the motorcycle were too much for Lalla to be able to
pay on her own, and she didn't want to go to court and she meant to
pay it all back, and.... Erika says that as long as they keep this
between them, she'll be fine with Lalla paying it back as she can.
No going to court for them! Hooray!
After dealing with
this, Erika wanders out to the garden just to chill for awhile and,
of course, think about Glen. Oh, hey there Mrs. Montrose. Her first
name's Catrina, by the way. She's got an issue as well and Erika
decides that she can listen to this woman's problem's too. As was
mentioned earlier, Catrina and her husband, Douglas, have marital
problems and there's something about a baby. Well, now we get the
story.
Douglas spends
about all of his time doctoring or golfing, and he really goes the
extra mile for his patients. They had a kid, Alistair, who was the
bestest, brightest todler you ever did see, just ask his mother.
Anyway, Douglas didn't notice the early warning signs because he was
hardly around his kid, so by the time they found out their three year
old son had a brain tumor, there weren't a lot of options left. They
opted to have doctors operate on him and he died on the table.
Well, that's
depressing. Catrina opened her story by claiming that Douglas had
killed their son. So, she's got some blame-issues here. I don't
know how long ago this happened, but it seems like awhile. Erika
advises that Catrina talk with her husband about this and Catrina
refuses to. Dang it, she's justified in blaming him! Also, she was
pregnant when Alistair died, and the shock killed the baby in her
womb, so Douglas is double-bad. There's little chance of making
another kid because they're not sleeping together anymore. This was
supposed to be a second honey-moon, or a restart for them, but
Catrina isn't willing to meet her hubby half-way. Marriages. Then,
talk turns to Erika's childhood and she decides to confide a bit
about her parents' divorce.
Erika was an only
child and very close to her parents. She was spoiled rotten, a bit,
I guess. So, she took it really hard when her dad had an affair with
his secretary, then left his wife and Erika for this woman. Erika
had met and liked the secretary, too. The whole thing just left
bitterness and depression in its wake. Mom never got over it, and
she died of cancer while Erika was at college. Erika can't escape
the feeling that it was her dad's fault. At Mom's funeral, Dad tried
to make peace but Erika wouldn't let him. She's totally justified in
blaming him!
...Sure, ladies.
Your stories sound reasonable. Anyway, Erika thinks about how her
life is so unstable since Glen left. Misery and woe forever.
By the way, if you
thought the crises were over with, you were wrong. This part happens
the next day, but it's still in the same chapter. The company hiring
waiters out to the Moongate will be two short, so Erika has to get
two more from somewhere else. Today. Also, the motor on the main
freezer burned out, so they have several tons of food going rotten.
Erika's got to call nearby hotels and ask to use their freezer space.
However, the banquet that night will be fine and perfect.
Wow, everything
falls apart at the Moongate now that Glen's gone, and he can't write
at all since he left Erika. However will they solve their problems?
In the next chapter, I predict that yet another woman will try to
confide in Erika, but this time Erika will wriggle out of listening
to her by screaming, “I CAN'T HANDLE ANY MORE PROBLEMS!” and
running away.
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