The second time Angela went down to Mexico, before she
arrived at the Pyramid of the Sun, she met Fernando in
Monterrey. The entire trip was rather spontaneous, so
Angela had not actually planned to be in Monterrey for
any real length of time, but there she was, wandering
around the Monterrey bus station, when Fernando came
up to her and introduced himself. And though he
seemed nice enough, Angela immediately kicked herself
for not looking more like she knew what she was doing.
"Hello, my name is Fernando," said Fernando, with a
disarming smile. "Can I help you at all? I'm from
Monterrey."
Actually, Angela had been looking for the fastest way
out of Monterrey, perhaps the next bus to Guadalajara,
but she wasn't sure how much she should tell this tall
dark Mexican stranger who seemed to know English
fluently. "No thanks, I'm just looking around. I'm
just trying to decide where to go next." Oops.
Fernando said, "You're in luck. What would you like
to do? I'm sure I can recommend the perfect place."
He saw the deep suspicion in her eyes and added, "
Don't worry about me; I'm a medical student. Where in
the States are you from?"
Angela completely lost it. "Everywhere men are the
same. They see a woman alone and they think God put
her on the Earth just for them. Please understand
that we are not tools for your every whim. There is a
reason why we have minds of our own. I don't know
what your goal is here, but I am not the person you
are looking for. I wish I could do some kind of Jedi
Mind trick to convince you of that."
In an exaggerated and almost comical manner, Fernando
bowed and backed away. "Sorry to have offended you,
madam. You have read right through my clumsy facade of
benevolence. I was actually hoping to lure you into
my vehicle parked nearby in an attempt to kidnap you
to my laboratory and perform dastardly and quite
illegal medical experiments on you. You are quite
right to be afraid. You have not likely met a more
dangerous man than I."
"Your English is quite impressive," said Angela. "But
I think that last 'I' was supposed to be a 'me'. What
school are you in? Wait, you can tell me on the way
to your car. I've never been kidnapped for
clandestine medical experiments before. Will it be
painful? I was so worried that you were just trying
to hit on me. I've been getting that a lot lately."
Fernando laughed and pointed to one of the large glass
door entrances to the bus station. "My car is this
way. But I'm afraid you have already been officially
kidnapped, so I am not at liberty to answer any more
of your questions." Within a few moments they were at
his car, a smallish Pinto-type, the back seat of which
was crammed full of papers and books. "I'm afraid
your seating choices are rather limited," he said,
opening the passenger door and indicating the front
seat. Oh, and I'll take that. He picked up her bag
and tossed it into the trunk of the car.
Angela sat down and watched Fernando walk over to the
driver side and get in. She closed her door and
suddenly felt like she had just, on a lark, turned
over all control over her life to someone that she
didn't even know. And after her little speech and
everything, to just give in to him like that.
Sometimes she didn't have a clue how her mind worked
and in times like this she wondered if it really
worked at all. Suicide. That's what it was. Just
plain suicide. But she didn't feel suicidal. Maybe
she was just being adventurous in a very dangerous,
reckless way.
Fernando pulled out of the bus station parking lot,
and was soon on a careening path down a main street of
Monterrey. "Before we go to my lab, I thought I'd
give you a chance to see some of Monterrey. What have
you already seen?"
"Nothing at all," said Angela. "The inside of a bus
station. In other words, give me the works."
He smiled and changed lanes, increasing his speed a
little. "Then I'll show you the view of the city from
the mountains," he said. "You can see everything at
once."
She exhaled and relaxed into her seat, starting to
feel like she was going to enjoy this ride, wherever
it took her.
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