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.