Passport

Jean Boris arrives at the hotel at 11:45.   He enters the lobby and asks the receptionist to contact Hamid to let him know Jean has arrived.

Five minutes later Hamid steps out of the elevator carrying a black briefcase.  He approaches Jean and without saying a word both men depart the lobby.   Hamid chooses to sit in the back seat.

Jean asks, “You have the money?”  “Of course I have the money.  I wouldn’t get what I want without it would I?”

“When we get to Doug’s residence I will wait for you in the car.  Bob wants me to drive you back there in three days to pick up your passport.” 

“That’s fine with me.  What is this guy like that I’m meeting?”

“I have no idea.  I’ve never met him this is not the way our business is typically run.” 

“There’s always a first time, how far do we have to go?”

“We will be there in fifteen minutes.”  The stern tone coming from Hamid is making Jean’s conversation sound very tense.

 

Hamid says, “That’s not telling me much.  Never mind forget it.”

He Wants What?

At seven in the evening Jean calls Hamid.  Hamid answers on the third ring.  “Bob has worked out a plan with our friend.  Because of the special circumstances in this case the fee is fifteen thousand American dollars.”  Hamid pauses, realizing to continue a search for a better price could lead to complications.  He needs to accept.

The phone line was quiet for a few minutes and Jean was wondering what Hamid would decide.

“Pick me up at noon tomorrow and take me to see your friend,” remarks Hamid.

The anxiety that is clutching Jean begins to settle down.  “I will call Bob and have him arrange it.  Make sure you have half for a deposit.”

“Don’t worry about the finances, Jean, you and Bob need to do your part.”

Would you like to help my granddaughter?

Jamie’s Conference

 

My granddaughter Jamie lives in Mojave, California.  She is an exceptionally bright sixteen year old, who goes to Rosamond High School.  Recently her parents received a notification that Jamie was nominated by one of her teachers to attend a National Youth Leadership Conference in Washington, DC during July 2013.   

A year and a half ago, Jamie’s father was injured at work.  He’s had one surgery and very soon he will be having neck surgery.  Her father will be out of work for at least another six to nine months.  With her mother being the sole supporter of the family of three children, there is no money to send her to the conference.  They are barely making ends meet even with the support of family. 

As Jamie’s grandfather, I can provide some of the funds but it would be greatly appreciated if others could donate to Jamie’s Conference.  Jamie is applying for scholarship money at the conference, but at the most that would be a couple of hundred dollars if she receives it.

 

Cut and paste and click onto:

http://www.youcaring.com/tuition-fundraiser/youthleadership-conference/46074

Thank you in advance for considering to help Jamie. 

Joe

Struggles

Sitting at a picnic table underneath a tree, each man begins to enjoy his lunch.  Hamid is deliberately delaying starting the conversation to build up Jean’s anticipation.  He wants to maintain control of this conversation.  Halfway through his sandwich he starts, “Can your friend Bob provide passports?’

“I thought you had a passport to get onto the island.”

“I do.  What I want is to have another passport to use for an entrance into Cuba without using my own.”

“Cuba, why do you want to go there?  The island’s economy has been falling apart for years.”

“I want to write about the island and not have the US know I entered the country.  They frown on their citizens going there.”

“I can ask Bob if he can handle this.  I’ll have to get back to you.”

“There is more, I want to meet the forger myself.  I am willing to pay you and Bob whatever fee is involved but I insist on handling this myself.”

“I don’t know if that can be arranged.”

“I also want the new passport in three days.”

 

“You don’t want much, do you?”

Cement Facility Tour

The tour begins where the limestone is delivered from the quarry to the plant in humongous size vehicles .  The stone is dumped in huge hoppers and from there begins a process of reducing its size into smaller units and passed onto a kiln with tremendous heat to treat it for the manufacture of concrete and cement.

The whole tour which covers all of the processes from the exterior of the plant takes close to two hours.  At the end of the tour the driver returns to the visitor parking lot and tells Jean he will look forward to seeing him another time.  Jean merely nods his head in acknowledgement. 

“Where do we go from here?  You said shipping was next on the agenda.”  “Yes, but first we must have lunch.  Do you like steak, I know of a great place?”

“Is this another personal home or a tourist place?”  “A tourist place but we need to get there before noon or there will be no seating available.”

“It sounds good to me, while you drive I need to make some notes about the tour.  Another question, I noticed yesterday and today, there is quite a bit of devastation done to building and some trees.  Was that due to a hurricane?”  “Yes, we had a terrible one two years ago and the island is just starting to recover from it.”