Coyoacan Mi Amor Ch. 03

[Vocabulary notes: In a moment of passion, Dafna babbles "sin fin ain sof." Sin fin is Spanish for without end. Ain sof means the same thing in Hebrew.

Maccabee in Hebrew means hammer. The Maccabee brothers threw the pagans out of the temple in Jerusalem and gave rise to the holiday of Hannukah.

Meshugah means crazy in Hebrew.

Dormir is "to sleep" in Spanish.]

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On Thursday, Dafna woke up feeling troubled. Her online sweetheart Dan had arrived in Mexico City, and, thank goodness, had adjusted to the altitude and the ratty air. Wednesday, after he landed, they had some brief contacts, an email he sent at mid-day when she arrived home from teaching and a phone message while she attended her tai kwon do class at the gym across from her apartment building.

"Hola Dafna," Dan Lissner said into her phone machine. "I am still at the office. The partners are taking me to dinner this evening at a place called Tezka, in the Zona Rosa. Supposed to be great. The presentation coaching is going well. I don't know when I'll be back in my room. I miss you mucho and can't wait to see you. Lilah tov."

She returned at 9 pm. Dafna listened to the message three times. Dan had a wonderful, slightly gravelly voice, but, she thought, a little hesitant. What was the tone? He talked about work so matter-of-factly, then said he missed her. What was that catch in his voice? Did he really mean to say, "I love you"? That would be something to hear! But for the first time to say that, it would not be appropriate to say on a phone answering machine.

Dafna felt vaguely discontent when her sister Leah, in the border town of McAllen, Texas, beeped her on Yahoo IM.

LEAH: Hola big sister how is your evening going?

DAFNA: Not so good. I don't know. Dan is here in MC but we haven't talked as much as I expected. We haven't seen each other.

LEAH: Do you think he's avoiding you? He came a very long way to see you.

DAFNA: He came for work. I happen to be here. Have I done something to scare him away?

LEAH: Silly. You have said he works very hard and the project is important. Let him concentrate on that.

DAFNA: But I want to see him!! We talked online so much before he came. Now's he's always in meetings or dinners. Maybe they found a puta for him.

LEAH: Such insecurities! Very Dafna, very sad. He changed his plane ticket. He has the hotel for the weekend. Is he going back on Friday, after the project ends? Tell me that.

DAFNA: Noooo, he's still leaving on Monday.

LEAH: After he spends the weekend with you. If he was leaving right after the project, OK, I see a problem, but he's not. Don't let your anxiety ruin this. Let the poor man get his work done and then he'll have eyes only for you.

DAFNA: He didn't want me to meet him at the airport. He got sick when we were talking the first night, late dinner last night. Busy again tonight. Not a good pattern.

LEAH: Listen to me. Please. Tomorrow is Friday. The project ends, you get together this time tomorrow and you'll know. You're getting so worked up you'll start turning him off before he even has time to kiss you. Everything will be great.

DAFNA: What if we see each other and he's disappointed?

LEAH: Oh those insecurities! Dafna, dear, listen to me. You are a wonderful, loving woman. I don't know Dan but he has always liked you for who you are. You are both risking a lot by meeting. See what happens. Look to be happy not sad.

DAFNA: Am I going too far?

LEAH: Yes, my sister. Don't go neurotic and drive him away. This sounds like a broken record. If nothing else, you'll get a little vacation at a nice hotel!

DAFNA: True. Everything is good so far. I should see what happens. Not go crazy.

LEAH: And you and Velma are coming here to McAllen over the summer. We can have fun in the sun here. If things work out, perhaps Dan can come with you?

DAFNA: Don't know. Ask in 48 hours. How do you like living in the US?

LEAH: Well, here I don't have to speak English very much, except when I'm dealing with the schools or the shul. There's just a reform temple, no other choices.

DAFNA: In case things don't work out with Dan, any cute guys there.

LEAH: Many, but they are all in high school so that may be a little problem.

DAFNA: Not for me! I'll take them young.

Dafna stared at the computer. Not for me – the phrase had many meanings. What WAS right for her? Her eyes felt moist as she thought of her sister in Texas reading the same line. Leah had the life style she wanted. The adoring husband, the two kids, spacious town house, time for tennis and temple, enough domestic help to have dinner parties and Shabbat dinners (even if the help seemed baffled by the songs and candles. The helpers were girls fresh from Mexico, eager to start a new life in McAllen's worn-down colonias. None of them had ever seen a Jew although they had heard all the priests' lies).

LEAH: Are you OK sis?

DAFNA: You have a wonderful life. What did I do wrong?

LEAH: Sis you have done nothing wrong. Hear me? Nothing. You've traveled, you got your PhD, you control your time, great apartment, you've met a wonderful guy. You think running a household in a new country with two kids is easy? You want to trade places for a while? I won't argue with you!

DAFNA: OK, I'm just anxious. It's like Hanukkah when we were kids. We waited and waited and knew something fun was coming but then we got sick and cranky from the tension.

LEAH: But Hanukkah always came right? Is Dan your Maccabee?

DAFNA: Yes I want his big hard Jewish hammer.

LEAH: I bet you do! That, or a Jewish plumber? Poor baby, your plumbing is clogged.

DAFNA: Not like you married women, sex all the time.

LEAH: Sis, what planet are you living on?

DAFNA: I know. I was just letting my mind wander.

LEAH: Speaking of sex, a little sisterly advice.

DAFNA: Tell me.

LEAH: You DON'T have to have sex like you do online. Well, that's your business but sex can screw up a relationship. What's online is one thing. But when you're together . . . one doesn't mean you do the other.

DAFNA: I've learned that lesson too many times.

LEAH: If you both want that's nice but get to know him. For real. Talk to each other. If it doesn't work in person it's easier to accept that if you haven't slept with him. Are you OK with that? Not my business but still . . .

DAFNA: You're my sister. You can tell me. I may not do what you say, you and Mom know that! But I'll always listen.

LEAH: No big lecture. Just protect your heart. You bruise easily, like a peach. I will scratch Dan's eyes out if he hurts you!

DAFNA: [heart smiley] Thanks!! I know him well, as best I can. I have even chatted with his best friend from childhood, Clayton. Dan said I should get a "third-party opinion." He says that's accounting talk.

LEAH: I didn't know he had you talk to a friend. That's very unusual. What's Clayton like?

DAFNA: Very good friend. They played baseball together. Clayton lives in Houston, very involved in Christian activities. He's been to Guatemala for mission trips, he calls them.

LEAH: He didn't start bugging you to become a Christian did he?

DAFNA: No, no. He was very respectful and just said what a great guy Dan was. He's in accounting, too. I don't understand most of the stuff Dan talks about from his work. I'm just a math teacher.

LEAH: One heart + one heart =??? He'll understand that.

DAFNA: He'd better! -----

Dan staggered into the room at 11 pm. The phone blinked with a message. He listened to Dafna say he could call her until 11:30 pm. After getting undressed and splashing cold water on his face, he called her.

DAFNA: Hola.

DAN: Hi, I'm back in my room. Another long day. I miss you.

DAFNA: It is very hard for you to work on these projects.

DAN: It can be. The hours, the stress, the partners. The team is very anxious. I do as much therapy as communications consulting. I need to reassure them and keep them focused on the matter at hand. They tend to panic and throw in everything they can think of, which waters down the message.

DAFNA: But who calms you down, mi amor? What happens when the writer gets tense?

DAN: I've learned to live with it. I can talk to the project organizers if I want to kick around ideas. But I've just got my own ways of relaxing. You know that!

DAFNA: It will be over tomorrow morning, no?

DAN: That's it. Done. I meet the team at 12 to chat, go over final issues. I'll make sure they have enough copies of the leave-behind document with their photos and a summary and our pitch. That document gives the team one final way to impress the selection committee. Then they go to the bank and it's in God's hands. I went to the site and measured and took pictures. We mapped out exactly who sits where, and where our equipment goes.

DAFNA: You will go to the presentation?

DAN: No. Never. My job will be done. The team does the presentation alone. The audit committee does not want to see the peones like me there. We stay in the background. Afterward Hector, the lead partner, will probably call to tell me what happened. We already know the client liked the proposal itself. I'm just relieved it's over. The decision will be made next week. Or, it could take longer, depending if management and the audit committee disagree on who the auditor should be. That happens.

DAFNA: You are quiet, Dan. Is something wrong?

DAN: Tired. Anxious. And crazy to see you tomorrow. I have to struggle to concentrate knowing you're so close. Getting together, that's still the plan? No big guy in a sombrero taking my place yet?

DAFNA: Why, do you want somebody to take your place?

DAN: No, but I don't want you to feel pressured. There's still time.

DAFNA: Dan, where is this talk coming from? You don't want to see me, you want me to find somebody else and tell you, sorry? That's loco!

DAN: I want to see you in the worst way. But, but, it's scary. I won't be the guy at the other end of the phone or the computer. I won't be whatever ideal you've got in mind. Maybe I'm too short.

DAFNA: Dan! You are making me sad. I don't idealize you. Do you feel pressure that I am going to drag you under the chuppah before you leave for New York?

DAN: Well, is that the plan?

DAFNA: No! It I had wanted to be married, I would be, by now. I want your friendship. Oh, and your body. So good a friend, a wonderful love. Don't create pressures where none exist.

DAN: I'm good at that. And I'll give you the same advice.

DAFNA: I know. You're good at other things, too.

DAN: Like what?

DAFNA: OK, Mr. Management Consultant, I tell you in terms you understand, OK? One, you are very funny. Two, you listen to me with both ears and your heart. Three, You understand me. We are soulmates. Four, You make me verrrrry horny. What else does a girl need?

DAN: Whatever you need, you'll get it tomorrow. How's that sound? You know I'm crazy about you and can't wait to see you.

DAFNA: I know. I am very excited. A long time since you met somebody new?

DAN: A very long time since I met somebody like you. It's hard to believe. We should both sleep well and get our beauty rests.

DAFNA: You have heard from your friend Laurie Warshaver lately?

DAN: Where did THAT question come from?

DAFNA: Just curious. I am feeling un poco insecure myself. She made love eyes at you, you said. I am a jealous lover. I want to gobble you up all by myself, no sharing.

DAN: OK, you asked an honest question, so I'll give you an honest answer. Yes, we're in touch – on a professional basis. We are both officers of our Princeton class and we're working on our 25th reunion, a very big deal. We have plans to make and I'm the class officer in charge of communications.

DAFNA: You like her? She makes you hard?

DAN: Dafna! We are friends. No love interest since I was 19 years old. We met in November, the day that terrorist attack was foiled, and the past was on my mind, but that's what it was, the past. She's just too neurotic and needy for me. We haven't met since then.

DAFNA: But she has big tetas. I saw her picture online.

DAN: Well, don't you have big tetas too? And even if we had met, what would that mean for us? We can both have friendships with other people. We have lives, interests, jobs. Would I be here in Mexico City counting the minutes until we met if I wanted to be with somebody else? Are you looking for reassurances of some kind? Dafna, what can I say?

Dafna said nothing. She sensed something slipping away, like she were a boat drifting from an emotional dock, toward a whirlpool.

DAN: I have a question, too, since we are asking things. Have you heard from that guy lately, what was his name, Raul?

DAFNA: His name is Rafael. Yes, he is very persistent. He knows not to come here, but he keeps calling. I told him to leave me alone, that a very special friend was visiting me this weekend. He accepted that and hung up.

DAN: I'm glad to hear that. He sounds like a bad character.

DAFNA: I can handle him. He is a jerk.

They were silent. The conversation stopped, as if they had lurched into a dead zone between desire and anxiety.

DAN: I asked if you were looking for reassurance. You need something from me?

DAFNA: I don't need reassurance. I just need you, Dan.

DAN: But you have me! Can't you take yes for an answer? You have my heart and mind and you'll get my body tomorrow. You hit the trifecta.

DAFNA: Trifecta, what's that?

DAN: Sorry, that's a horse racing term. It means to pick the first three horses in a race, in the right order. Let's just keep things together until tomorrow, and then we'll see how things go. Let's be happy.

DAFNA: I keep you happy now? Whisper sweet things in your ear?

DAN: I'd love to but I'm too wound up from the project. I don't even know if I can go to sleep. I just want it to be over so we can have the weekend. OUR weekend. Then we'll whisper all kinds of sweet thing to each other.

DAFNA: OK. I had a hard day at school. You know Friday is a short day at my school? Everybody goes home at 2.

DAN: Snow day?

DAFNA: Ha ha. Not in Mexico City. No, just the way private schools operate near the end of the year. We have one early closing on a Friday each month, so families can leave earlier for their country houses, or to the US.

DAN: Private jets?

DAFNA: Some of them, yes. Rich brats some of them.

DAN: Are you packed for your big trip to the city? Suntan lotion and sturdy shoes? I'm sure we'll be walking a lot. Or do you think we'll be indoors some? It is a very nice hotel.

DAFNA: O yes, I will show you around the city. I never let you rest.

DAN: And your feet will never touch the ground. Maybe I'll keep them on my shoulders all weekend.

DAFNA: Oh Dan, yo soy tanto feliz, I am very happy.

DAN: I can't wait to hold you. Kiss you. You know that.

DAFNA: I do. Let's say good night and be fresh. Let's dream about each other and compare notes. We have sexy dreams of each other, don't we?

DAN: Great idea. Then we act out the best parts.

DAFNA: Buenos noches, mi amor. -----

Amit Shemtov smiled as an Israeli businessman and his family passed through security at Casa de Palmas, the apartment building where Dafna lived in one of Mexico City's most exclusive neighborhoods. Amit monitored traffic in and out of the building and the garage. The residents, many of them prime targets for kidnapping and terrorist attacks, felt safe in the building with its no-nonsense Israeli security staff. A quick look over the security desk showed the monitors covering all parts of the building.

Some things the residents did not see. A separate monitor bank in the security office, away from public view, watched the area beyond the buildings grounds, intersections, sidewalks, parking areas, and stores with a view of the apartment building. Quiet deals with retailers and offices in the neighborhood allowed the Casa staff to keep an eye on the area, sharing information with retailers anxious to keep the area safe. If Amit and his team saw something odd in the streets, they alerted the retailers. If something seemed fishy that might involve Casa de Palmas, the building staff got the call.

"Amit, come here, please," said Avner, a young agent just assigned to the building. Lanky, with close-cropped hair, he still looked very military. Avner monitored the banks in the office.

"What's up?" asked Amit, leaving the front desk with a single agent.

"There, that man in the window of the coffee shop." Avner zoomed a telephoto lens in tight. Through the front glass Amit saw a solidly built man in a business suit, dark hair carefully combed. He was reading a technology magazine.

"He looks prosperous enough. But that's just appearance. What is concerning you, Avner?"

"He's been there for two hours. Before, he sat in the park for three hours. He talks on the cell phone every half hour, very regular about that, has the magazine but mostly sits."

"Sits and . . .?"

"Watches us. I think he's casing the building. He always has a clear view of the entrance. Nothing distracts him, nobody sits with him, he doesn't read. For an hour I would not have minded, but this is very strange behavior."

"Recognize him?" Amit said.

"No. I checked the photo log of barred visitors, but nobody resembles him."

Amit frowned. A troublemaker could come in any guise. The man looked more like the victim of a crime than a perpetrator. He appeared ready for a serious meeting, with a business associate, a lover; he was a respectable man.

A respectable man. A man who demanded respect. Something nagged at Amit. That word, respect, teased his mind. He zoomed the camera in as close as possible. The man appeared to read, but in fact his eyes scanned Casa de Palmas. As a resident left and walked through the gardens or to a car in the building's sweeping driveway, Amit could see the man's eyes follow, especially women residents. That arrogant demeanor, the watchfulness, the hard set of his mouth, all the details troubled Amit. He could not place the man.

Amit picked up the phone.

"Armando, it's Amit. I have a little problem. Perhaps you can help me," he said without introduction.

"Yes, tell me. It's too quiet here today. I am tired of studying," said the man, Armando, from a table at a bookstore, where he really was studying for an exam at the university.

"Do you have your scanner?"

"I don't leave home without it," said Armando.

"Good. Go to the coffee shop and discreetly observe the businessman sitting at the front table. He is watching us, and talking on his cell phone every 30 minutes. Scan the call, see what's he's saying. You have your BlackBerry, you can send us messages?"

"Of course. I'll put the coffee on my expense report."

"Good man." -----

"Well, it's out of my hands now. I've done my part," thought Dan as he watched the team disappear behind the closing doors of an elevator on the 34th floor of the firm's offices on Paseo de la Reforma. "They've got to get the ball into the end zone." He smiled. Half the people on the team probably had no notion of that football cliché's meaning. He wouldn't understand soccer clichés, either, he thought.

Hector's pretty assistant, Esmeralda with the blazing blonde hair and, raccoonish eye make-up, and tight, stylish dress, saw his sense of tired relief. "You have worked very hard, Daniel. I know Hector, he is deeply pleased with your efforts. You are still staying the weekend at the hotel?" she asked.

"Yes, a friend from here is visiting me. Everything is set up for the driver, David?"

"Yes. He will pick you up at 5 this afternoon. He is our best driver and knows the city very well. Very reliable and discreet." Esmeralda suppressed a smile. She had heard Dan's visitor was a special lady who taught at the exclusive school in the hills. David's discretion, she knew, could be worn down with a few bats of her long eyelashes, if he hinted that anything spicy happened.