that I ate the kelaguen and red rice even though those foods were not familiar to me. I was starving when I got to the Saru’s house. Other than some trail mix on the plane, I had not eaten anything since my lunch with Emiko this afternoon. Or wait, what time is it?
“Mr. Saru, what time is it here?”
“It’s a quarter to eleven but for you it’s a quarter to three in the morning, Honolulu time. You must be tired. I’ll tell Alan to take you to the hotel. Get some rest and I will come by and pick you up tomorrow morning around nine” he says.
“You like good music?” Mr. Saru asks. Stevie Wonder’s Superstition is playing as Mr. Saru drives us to dinner.
“Yes, I like good music.” I say, confused. What kind of question is that? Everyone likes good music. Good is subjective. But I do like Stevie Wonder’s music and I would tell him but he wouldn’t hear me because he is singing along with the stereo. His car has an impressive sound system, loud enough to rattle the windows and vibrate the ground beneath the car, but without sounding distorted. After another verse he turns the volume down.
“So, what did you do today?” he asks.
I wasn’t prepared for that question. How do I tell him that this is a conversation that I don’t want to have? I want to go home. There must be a flight back to Honolulu tomorrow morning. I am not sure what I should tell him. I miss Emiko. I don’t like it here. But the truth is that I spent most of the day sitting in my hotel room. I watched TV, I took a nap. I really didn’t do anything. I don’t want to tell him that after I picked up my rental car this morning I got lost, panicked, became frustrated and decided to sit in my hotel room talking to Jay. I want to go home. Back to Honolulu and it hasn’t even been twenty four hours since my arrival on Guam. After looking at a map of the island it is hard to believe that I got lost. But I did get lost. I have a horrible sense of direction and I left the rental car parking lot and drove right back into the airport. Of course it could have been a subconscious choice to go back. Go back to Honolulu, back to Star Markets, back to Emiko. After circling through the airport a few times, I did manage to make my way back to Marine Drive and then down to a shopping center. There was a supermarket, Payless Supermarket to be precise. Inside the store it was like taking a step back in time. The store fixtures were from the 1960’s and 1970’s and the brands were mostly unfamiliar to me so I ended up buying a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and a twelve pack of Diet Coke. When I left the parking lot, I drove the opposite direction on Marine Drive, hoping to find my hotel. I got lost again and started to panic. It’s not like me to be somewhere, lost and without any way to call anyone. And stopping for directions wouldn’t have helped because other than Marine Drive, none of these streets have street signs. After an hour of driving around I ended up parking at a place called Y’pao beach where I walked around for about two hours until the panic wore off. The one thing about being on a tropical island is that you are surrounded by the natural beauty of the ocean. For awhile it was really nice to just sit in the shade, staring out at the ocean, wondering how to get back to my hotel.
After another hour of driving I made it back to the hotel and just as I opened the door, the phone rang. It was Tuna calling to see if I was going to make it to the gym. Frustrated, I told him that I got lost and didn’t think that I could find the gym, even with directions. He laughed and told me that nobody can get lost on Guam, not even one haole.
“Well, Mr. Saru, I was mostly just resting, watching TV in my room, but it seems like something is wrong, like the stations are not broadcasting the normal programs.”
“What channels were you watching?” he asks.
“I clicked through all of them.” I say.
“Well, the Korean station and CNN Asia are current and so are the local newscasts by KUAM. But the regular network programming is two weeks behind schedule because the local cable company plays tapes from the mainland USA affiliates. “
“Ah, that explains why MTV News is reporting things from awhile back. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.” Mr. Saru laughs and although I don’t say it out loud, I still feel like I am in the twilight zone.
He drives into a parking lot and sings along with the last few verses of Superstition. His voice is off key as he sings at full volume. As the song ends he looks at me and says; “I was a singer you know. I sang in a band several years ago. I still like to sing and I love listening to live music. We should go listen to live music.” I nod in agreement but I hope I don’t have to hear him sing again. We are parked in front of a restaurant, Ocean Bay Chinese Seafood.
“Ocean Bay is known for their Honey Walnut Shrimp.” Mr. Saru says as we walk towards the front door. “My family comes here all the time. It’s one of our favorite places.” The hostess greets us as we walk in the door and she leads us to a large circular table. Elisa Saru and the Saru children are there waiting for us. The dinner conversation is casual and I am happy to discover that Mr. Saru was right about the honey walnut shrimp, it is fantastic. So are the salt and pepper shrimp, the shrimp fried rice and actually, everything else. When I say everything else, I mean that the wait staff has loaded our table with platter after platter of food. I believe that we have received one order of each item on the menu. After dinner, Mr. Saru announces that he is taking me into Tumon to experience Guam nightlife. Elisa looks at me for a minute and then tells Mr. Saru that I look like I am too tired to go out. I nod in agreement.
“I am tired. It’s ok, Mr. Saru, you can show me around another time” I say.
“C’mon, you’re not tired. Let’s go. Let me show you around Tumon” he says.
“No, thank you, but really, you don’t have to show me around tonight.” I say.
“Nonsense, you are new to the island and I am going to show you around. You don’t want to sit alone in that hotel room. C’mon, let’s go down to Tumon” he says in a demanding tone.
One of his sons asks Mr. Saru if he is going to ‘see her’, a question which quickly answers with a nervous laugh.
“No, no, daddy will be home later” but as he says this Elisa notices that I am paying close attention and she looks away.
With all the neon and tall buildings, Tumon reminds me of a small scale version of Waikiki. But that is not what Mr. Saru meant when he said that “Tumon is like Waikiki.” As he describes it, Tumon is the place on Guam with the resort hotels and most of the tourist attractions.
“I chair the board of the Guam Tourism Authority” he says.
I pretend like this is news to me although Alan, the government driver already told me that last night. Mr. Saru continues; “You know, Guam has many great tourist attractions and we get more tourism than most of the beach resorts in the mainland USA. We compete with Hawaii for tourism too. Guam is only a three hour flight from Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and the Philippines whereas it takes at least seven hours to travel from any of those destinations to Hawaii” he says.
I notice that we are passing a Hard Rock Café, a Planet Hollywood and a Gameworks. There are resort hotels and restaurants, pool halls and strip clubs, lots of strip clubs. There is even a Duty Free Shopping mall next to a Louis Vuitton store. Mr. Saru is narrating the tour and as we pass one of the clubs, a club with a sign proclaiming it as ‘The World Famous Club G Spot’ he asks me if I like strip clubs.
“Strip clubs? Sure, they are ok.” I say.
“They don’t do anything for me, it’s a big rip-off!” he says. “I would rather stay home with my wife than go to a strip club. I don’t want to pay for
