Passion desire Lust

Story 4 Coffee With Milk

“Don’t worry about it, Leila took me tI have always been an introvert. When I was a kid, I preferred to be alone during breaks at school and over the weekends I would stay at home reading or playing in my room. My parents tried to make me go out but I didn’t want to. In the end, they gave up and didn’t seem to worry much about me.

I had good grades and went on to university where I got my degree a year before the stipulated schedule. I got a job as an accountant in a small firm that produced high-end kitchen furnishings, such as cupboards, countertops, and modules.

My social life was limited to a couple of friends. I would meet them for a few beers once or twice a month. I had a few girlfriends over the years, but they didn’t stick around for very long. Apparently, they found me boring and anti-social. I didn’t want to go out in large groups or go to private parties, preferring to stay at home, watch a movie, and eat pizza.

Part of the reason for my shyness is my looks. I am well over six feet, slightly stooped, with blue eyes and thin blond hair. When I was a kid, I had the nickname The Stork, due to my appearance. Now, everyone calls me Horst which is my given name and a good German one.

I drive a mid-sized BMW and like to eat healthy food and I don’t drink if it’s not a weekend. I live in a suburb of Hamburg in northern Germany and I have never been out of the country. So, when my boss called me into his office one Friday afternoon in February and told me to pack my bags, I was stunned.

“I don’t own a suitcase, Andreas,” I said, using my boss’s first name.

“Of course you have, Horst, don’t be ridiculous. Everyone travels these days.”

“Not me, I have never been outside of Germany.”

Andreas sighed. “And why is that, if I may ask?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t like strange places, strange food or drinks,. Come to think about it, I don’t like strangers either.”

He stood and walked around his enormous desk. “Tough shit, Horst, you are flying to Panama on Monday, which gives you tomorrow and Sunday to buy a suitcase and get ready.”

He walked out into the office area. I followed behind begging, “Why me? I am not a salesman, send Mathias, he’s in charge of sales. I am just the accountant.”

Without turning, Andreas said, “Mathias broke his leg yesterday. He was on a skiing holiday with his family and took a bad fall.”

“Please, send someone else. I’m afraid of flying.”

He turned and raised his eyebrows. “How can you be afraid of flying if you’ve never flown?”

“Well, you know, plane crashes. Remember that crazy pilot who flew his plane into a mountain the other year. That could happen again, you know.”

Andreas burst out laughing. “C’mon Horst, be a man, buy a suitcase and I will give you the rest of today off. Pick up your ticket from Gretchen at reception. She has all the documents you need. Oh, and you have an appointment at the police station to get you a passport. I have thought of everything for you, Horst.”

Andreas walked away from me again, heading to the bathrooms and I stared at his back in bewilderment. If he had told me to fly to France or England, it would’ve been bad enough. But Panama! I didn’t even know where that was. All I knew was that we had signed a contract with a company there that imported our products and they were doing well.

After getting my new passport and buying a suitcase, I went home but then made a beeline to the closest Bierstube, or beer house, to my apartment and had two large beers, which was unusual for me. I guess it was down to the nerve-wracking thought of flying for nine hours to a country I didn’t even know where it was or what it was like. I decided to go home and Google it.

As I read about the country, my feelings dropped even further. Panama used to be a dictatorship but now was one of the fastest-growing economies in all of South America, thanks to a real estate boom and big investments by the government into the amplification of the canal, the building of a metro system, and other governmental incentives.

There was a growing concern about corruption, drug import, and export. Several European businessmen had been kidnapped over the years and random shootings were common in and around the capital of Panama City. For a moment, I thought this was Andreas’ way to get rid of me. Instead of firing me, he’d send me to Panama hoping I would either get kidnapped or shot. I pushed the irrational thought away, deciding Andreas would never do that to me. I’d been with him since he started the company fifteen years earlier.

On Monday, I took a taxi to the airport for the first leg of my long journey. The flight was on time and, before I boarded, I went to the bathroom and puked up my breakfast. My hands shook as I walked down the aisle looking for my seat. I had a window seat next to an older man and, when he tried to make polite conversation, I ignored him until he gave up. As the flight took off, I closed my eyes and prayed for the first time in my thirty-seven years.

A couple of hours later we landed in Frankfurt where I was to take a Lufthansa flight to Panama City. Before boarding, I made another trip to the bathroom and heaved out my lunch.

On the flight, I realized the booze was free so I drank five small bottles of wine and two miniature bottles of cognac. Two hours into the flight, I passed out.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are making our final approach to Panama City. Please make sure your seats are in the upright position, fold away the tables, and put on your seatbelts.”

The female voice woke me and I blinked a few times before getting my bearings. I had an urge to take a piss, but there was no time. My mouth felt like if it was filled with cotton and I had a slight headache. I looked out of the window but all I saw was a blue ocean. Then I saw a few large ships and smaller ones.

“Those ships are waiting to go through the canal,” said the man I had ignored at the beginning of the flight. Now, I turned and looked into a dark face with kind, brown eyes. He looked to be in his sixties and wore a suit and tie.

“In the morning they go from the Pacific to the Atlantic and in the afternoon the other way. Panama makes a lot of money from the canal, but it is not distributed to the people.”

“Oh, that’s not good,” I said and felt stupid when I had uttered the words. I quickly asked, “Were you in Germany on business?”

“No, my daughter lives there with her husband, he is German. What is your reason for visiting my beautiful country?”

“I’m here on business, just a few days.”

When the plane touched down and began taxing to the airport building I let go of a long sigh. My neighbor must have heard it because he said, “You don’t like flying?”

“This was my first time. Come to think of it, it wasn’t too bad. Maybe the wine and cognac helped.”

He smiled. “Yeah, maybe. At least they made you snore.”

“I am so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it; just make sure you see some of our culture, not only the inside of an office.”

The first thing I did when I got off the plane was to stretch. My tall body had been cramped in the seat for over nine hours and it felt good to stand up. The second thing I did was find a bathroom.