Saturday, July 16, 2011

Condos A Fire, part 1

I will be away from the computer for a bit and in the mean-time I thought you might enjoy this little tale I wrote a few years ago. It will be posted in separate posts so it will last for a bit.
See you in a few,,,


this is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and persons living or dead is purely coincidental



CONDOS A-FIRE The further adventures of Digby and Waffle
Chapter one.
It was a hot, still night. With no breeze blowing from the sea, the humidity would be considered stifling.
In the parking lot of the small, resort called “Misplaced Coral”, located in a remote, obscure area at the north end of the peninsula, in a small hamlet referred to as ‘Riversedge’ were a few cars, some bicycles, and 5 rented SUV’s. The lot would be considered full with this many vehicles. Inside, at the bar, a small crowd had gathered. They were well into the free booze being provided and some were eating complimentary burritos as well.
A glance around the room show a mixed crowd of half drunk local gringos, and a few ‘corporate’ types who were obviously not from the area. They wore pressed slacks, golf shirts with the little polo pony on the breast pocket, and those wing tip shoes that are present in every board room across America.
As the owner pushed more booze to the gringos, it seemed he was being asked to make sure they got good and loose for tonight’s meeting. He was reminded repeatedly that he would be compensated nicely if he worked with them on this.
While one executive fumbled with a slide projector, two others were leaning against the bar summarizing the job ahead of them.
“Well, at least there is only a few of them.”
“Yea, I remember the time in playa Del Carmen when hundreds of the pissed off locals wanted to hang us all right there.”
“This idea of keeping the public EIA meetings secret and ‘under the table’ really helps our chances of getting out of here alive.”
“And I am glad corporate HQ sprung for the free booze. That always makes us less assholes,, yuk yuk.”
All together there were five executives representing America, UK, Italy, one from Belize, and a Texan. The rep from the UK had already started his project, and the rep from Italy was well off the ground. The Belizean representative had just begun his portion, and the real reason they were all here was to get the American’s portion pushed through GOB without any further hassles. The Texan was included because they may have a use for him somewhere down the road, but doubtful. While the others were polished, well-maintained, corporate types, the Texan was, typically Texan. Up until about a year ago, he was living in a trailer in south Texas living off his mother’s bank account, and that was not large by any stretch. But in true Beverly Hillbillies’ fashion, they found out the property they owned was worth a lot of money. The others saw a possible scapegoat and decided to include him in their plan, just not too far in.
As the meeting began, slides showing the peninsula were flashed on the makeshift screen showing the location of all projects but mostly the Americans part. As they hurried through their required presentation, the rep from Belize was instructing the resort owner to push more booze. They were not drunk enough just yet.
The meeting was near the end and the speaker was rushing to close. They would get out of town with their skin again, and that is a relief. They have held many of these meetings and know full well that the local population will resist their ideas with complete disdain.
All the different parts of the ‘project’ needed to be approved and complete before the master plan could be put into play.
They knew they were destroying everything in their path, but it was a necessity to accomplish their final goal. Money, and an ASS-LOAD of it! Once their part of the mission was complete, they would never have to face the pissed off crowds again. Until the next EIA meeting was needed somewhere else.
The 5 SUV’s were the first to leave the area. The gringos were inside loudly bitching because now the resort owner was back to his usual cheap ass self and cut off any more free beer.
All in all, it was a good night for the corporate types and some local gringos got drunk for free.

4 comments:

sandy a said...

"this is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and persons living or dead is purely coincidental"

Barnacle said...

oh yea,, forgot bout that. thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hope they get longer. As for Fictional? lololol. this is gonna be good.
TC
Purely Coincidental

Anonymous said...

Hey Bill, this post really made me sad. Michelle and I used to go to Playa Del Carmen in the early 80's when it was a sleepy lovely little village. When it was ruined by all the development we started going to Belize to escape the masses. Last time we were there we were shocked at the amount of dig and fill for condos and whatever. I was glad to see the cruise ships aren't invading Placencia, but where is all the fresh water, and sewage going to go if they build all that stuff they want to?Keep up the good fight! I hope to see you again next March. Jon and Michelle