9 Chapter 9

The aroma of scrambled eggs, tomatoes and sofrito served with arepa and cheese woke Solono. When he opened his eyes, he realized he had fallen asleep in Maria's room right where he had been sitting all night. Maria was not in her bed. He glanced out the window that had, just a few hours, ago provided a beautiful bright glare. Off to his left was an armed guardsman safeguarding the iron fences. To his right were men in green army fatigue with AK-47s monitoring anyone who approached the Presidential Palace without consent. Straight ahead were the beautiful mountains, trees and far off bungalows. Still mentally drained from the previous evening, he made his way towards the dining hall where Louis, Julia, and Maria had already started eating. He grabbed the first available seat, directly across from Maria.

"Solono, glad you could join us this morning. Maria was just about to describe her evening with Michael," Louis said as he stuffed his face with eggs.

"I would rather not talk about my evening. Just know that I won't have any future dates with Michael," Maria said.

"No, you don't get a pass on sharing details. How was it? Was the ropa vieja sensational?"

"Yes, it was wonderful!" Maria picked at her food. Julia stared at Maria.

"Louis, are things coming together as far as squashing the revolt?" Julia said.

"Don't try to change the subject," Louis said.

"It's obvious she doesn't want to talk about it. Why force her?" she responded.

"Father, his dish was wonderful. Michael is a very nice man, but we don't have much in common," said Maria.

Louis smiled. "No man is good enough for my little girl. He grabbed the napkin that rested on his lap, wiped his mouth and turned to Julia.

"The citizens need to pull their heads out of their asses and understand that what I am implementing will help them, their children and their children's children," Louis said.

Solono caught Maria's eye.

"Let's go to the market and get some fruit," Maria said. "Okay," said Solono.

While driving to town neither spoke. They entered the local market, Tienda De Comestibles, and grabbed a bag of fresh mango, barely ripe plantains, a few guavas and a few Papayas. Maria paid and left. Before they climbed into the vehicle Maria broke what was beginning to be an awkward silence.

"Solono, this silence is killing me."

"It was your idea to come."

"What are you thinking, you can't tell Father. You promised!"

"Why do you want to protect Michael? He deserves to die for what he did to you," he shouted.

Veins poked out his forehead as he spoke.

"Solono, get in the car. You are creating a scene."

Solono climbed in the passenger seat with the groceries while Maria sat down to drive. After driving for a few minutes and allowing Solono to calm down, Maria said,

"Just down tell Father. I can't handle his anger on top of everything else."

Solono looked out the window. "Fine."