" . . .some bubblebath"

The sun was bright and high in the sky. It was hot, almost unbearable. Tae Jae's head was bobbing up and down from the bumps in the rode. It was amazing how she could sleep through all this. We passed a sign that said, 'AGADIR'. I drove for several more minutes and pulled off to a road leading to a hotel. The 'Diaf'.

Tae Jae's head snapped up, "Are we at Casablanca?" She said yawning slightly.

"No, not yet. We're in Agadir. We still have a few hundred miles to go. I reached into Mohammad's pants pocket and pulled out the money wrapped in a cloth. 2356 Dirhams. Not much, but it will have to do. "We can get a cheap hotel, food, and train or bus tickets to Casablanca. From there we can go home."

Tae Jae looked sad. Tears started welling up in her eyes.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing . . .I sorry." she said drying her tears away. "I watch jeep."

I smiled and she smiled back. Very pretty face I thought. Too bad she had to go through this nightmare. I got out of the jeep and walked into the hotel. It was a wore down building. Sweat and dirt lightly polluted the air. A desk clerk nodded off in a chair at the desk.

"Excuse me."

He woke up. "nahaarak sa9eed!"

I said, "A room please, two beds."

"Oh English." He cleared his throat. "Sorry, only one bed. Do you like two rooms?"

"No, I'll take one bed. How much?"

He reached down behind the counter and took out a key. "100 Dirhams." and held out his hand.

I pulled a note out and gave it to him. He smiled, the note disappeared and he gave me a key. "Room two two."

I took the key and left. The sun was hot and the air was dry. A faint breeze blew by, tossing up some dust. AGADIR wasn't a bad place, rather nice. It was very busy only during the day, the open market and vendors. I walked over to the jeep. Some kid was staring at Tae Jae.

"He will not speak?" Her voice had a mild tremble to it, on the verge of a shrill.

The kid had his hand out.

"Tarak." He looked at me. "laa! GO! NO!" He turned and left.

"What wrong with him? No tongue?"

"No. The children here can talk, only when spoken to. Morocco is very strict. Since the kids may not talk to adults they just stare and hold out their hands. It gets on your nerves after a while. They'll stand there until you tell them to go away or until you give them some money. . ."

"Money?"

I nodded, "Yeah, they were begging."

She laughed, "I glad hangul children don't beg like that. You get us room?"

I took the rifle and food, wrapped it up in a blanket and picked it up. Tae Jae took the other stuff and followed me into the hotel. The desk clerk was back in his chair softly making wood sawing sounds. We walked passed him and up some stairs to the second floor. We found the room and went in. . .

"I don't like this."

The room was filthy, well filthy by western standards. An old bed against the wall, no bathroom, a desk, no bathroom, an open closet, no bathroom, a small dresser, and no bathroom. I placed the stuff on the bed.

"At least the bed has no bugs."

She nodded.

"Are you hungry, Tae Jae?"

"Yes."

"It seems to be about two in the afternoon. Do you want to follow me?"

She looked around, "I follow you, Karen-san."

We walked out to the open. I saw vendor stands in the near distance. I started off in that direction trying to look normal in clothes that were five sizes to big. After several minutes of walking we came up to a vendor. He was selling rugs.

"You buy rugs?"

I shook my head and walked over to another vendor. Tourist's stuff. Tae Jae tugged on my shirt.

"Karen-san . . .look" She pointed to a vendor at one end. We walked over to him. He was an old man, maybe in his sixties. He wore uni-sex glasses, wire round frames.

"Women, in strange clothes." He said.

I chuckled at his remark about women in 'strange clothes.' "You speak English?"

"Yes. What buy you from me?"

He had clothes. "Two caftans."

"Only two." He said looking under a pile of clothes. "How is this?" He pulled out two plain ones. They looked used. "200 dirhams."

"What?"

He held up two fingers. "Two zero zero."

I had up one finger, "One hundred."

"One hundred, no. One nine zero. These are good caftans. Feel."

I did. "One two five. These are used. I will not pay one hundred ninety for used clothes."

"One seventy."

I grabbed Tae Jae by the arms, "Let's go. He's asking too much."

We walked maybe about ten feet, when . . ."Come back. One fifty."

I turned around, he had both caftans in his arms. I looked around his stand and noted sandals.

"One fifty?"

He nodded his head.

"Two caftans, two sandals, one fifty."

"Two hundred."

I turned and walked several more feet. "One sixty!"

I stopped and smiled at Tae Jae. She had a questioning and worried look on her face. I faced the old man again. "Okay one sixty."

He smiled, "Allah will be good to you."

I paid him his money and we left with some good clothes, anything was better then looking like clowns.

Tae Jae carried the clothes and sandals. I spotted a restaurant. I was hungrier than I thought, the aroma of mutton and liver aroused my appetite, pimentos and cumin also filled the air.

"Smells funny." Tae Jae remarked.

"Yes, but it tastes good." I quickened my pace. The aroma lead us to a row of restaurants, stores and more vendors.

"Which one, Karen-san?"

"The one that is crowded, it's cheaper." A group of locals, with some tourist were gathered around a stand. Tae Jae and I stepped up to the cook. He was very dark with a scar across the right side of his face. He looked up and smiled. I held up eight fingers. He nodded and got to work. He took a medium size piece of cardboard and fanned a spit. He placed some mutton, some liver, I guess pieces of kidney, and tiny sausages on it. The fire died down revealing glowing flakes of charcoal. A minute went by and he skewed the meats on eight pieces of sticks. He then placed each skewer across a flattish piece of bread. Squeezing the bread closed as he withdrew the stick. I started salivating, and felt certain Tae Jae was salivating as well.

"Looks good."

I nodded. "Cho-hu'n."

He then poured a gravy-like substance over the top and cupped each one into a paper tray.

"How much?"

"Forty Dirhams."

I opened the cloth, counted out forty and gave it to him. He thanked me. I took the delectables and walked to a clearing. Tae Jae sat next to me. In one minute we devoured our meal.

"I umsik I choha yo!"

I nodded, "It was good." I gave a heavy sigh, "Let's get back. Maybe we could take a shower or maybe wash up."

I wanted a bath, a nice warm bath with lots of bubbles. I wondered how Jim was. I then remembered John and became angry. Was he okay? I could only hope.

Tae Jae and I reached the hotel. It was dismal looking from were I was standing. I just wanted to sleep. "Ready."

"Ready, Karen-san."

Maybe the bathroom wasn't as bad as the rooms. It would be nice if there were some bubblebath in there.

We were down to about 2000 dirhams. Enough to get us a bus ticket to Casablanca and a few more meals. Once in Casablanca we could get to the US embassy, where getting some money and a passport would take about 24 hours. I turned my head to Tae Jae. She was snoring softly, a little drool was on the pillow. She rolled over and slid her body in close to mine. She was so warm. A draft crossed the room and I shivered involuntarily. Tae Jae moved in closer. Her buttocks was touching up against the side of my leg. I looked back up at the ceiling and thought about the face behind the table. He was Japanese, about thirty-two years old. A scar? Yes he had a scar across his chin, probably from a sword or knife. His voice was deep, unusually deep for a Japanese. I would meet him face to face. If I could spit in his face I would. 'Don't let revenge take over, Karen' I told myself. I wanted him to die, die by my hands. Vadnez just wanted me to get information, I did and look where it lead me. I rolled over and placed my arm around Tae Jae. She responded by burrowing deeper. I placed my face into her shoulder, another draft and I shivered again. Amazing how hot it is during the day and so cold at night. Tae Jae body aroma was pleasant. I wished Jim were here.

I felt Tae Jae hand close on mine, she squeezed it lightly. I was slightly embarrassed by my actions. I closed my eyes and gave a good heavy sigh.

"Good night, Tae Jae."

"Good night, Karen-san." She softly whispered.

A minute or two later I was drifting into a pleasant state of euphoria. I think Tae Jae rolled over and kissed me on the forehead. I heard, maybe, the word, "Gasahuminida." Thank you very much in Korean. Sleep took over and I floated down the stream of dreams wishing Jim was with me. A wish is a nice thing to have, no one can take it away, and it will always be there for you whenever you need it. I wished Jim was here.