The Traveling Salesman - Rodney Romig Author

Synopsis

It’s 1976. It’s fashionable to be against the status quo and searching for certainty. The Marcos’ rule the Philippines. Hank Cuffee and Derek Witherston can barely rule themselves. They bonded during five years teaching with the U. of Maryland–Far East Division. Professors who hired on for the ride were often attracted by the blurb, “Gypsy Scholars”. Post-Maryland, they hatched the idea to publish a newsletter for those with wanderlust–The Traveling Salesman.

Hank is the man on the ground, in the bordellos, the massage parlors, on buses in the jungles. Dina is a lovely Filipina who stumbles into the typhoon of Hank’s life. Derek is the publisher and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska who stumbles into Tammy. It’s not obvious who is the typhoon, Derek or Tammy. The only certainty is that typhoons create consequences. The only question, will the consequences be fatal?

Chapter 1.

It wasn’t the sound of Manuel rolling up the metal shutters next door that woke Renato but rather the early morning light that snuck through the hole in the roof above the window. It was over two months since the earthquake but still there had not been time to fix the roof properly. It was important to first replace the window frame and window.

Renato yawned and gazed at the figurine of St. Francis that sat on the corner table. He well remembered the day a careless taxi driver had grazed his father as he stepped into the street. Father had saved for several months to buy the small porcelain figurine. He was bringing it home from the store.

It was the rainy season. Perhaps the driver had been blinded by a gush of rain. For whatever reason, or for no reason at all, Father was knocked to the road.

Renato had been sitting inside the shop, watching the rain. From the window he could look down the street that paralleled the front of the shop. He didn’t remember leaving his chair or opening the door.

Before he was halfway there, Father had risen from the mud. What Renato remembered more vividly than the taxi knocking his father to the ground, was Father rising and instead of first checking himself or the figurine, he checked the mud for his floppy straw hat. Only after the hat was returned to the customary tilt on his graying head, did he check himself and the figurine.

If the statuette was not located directly in the light, one might think a spider had left its web across St. Francis’ body. Looking closely, it was obvious that the fine lines that crossed the statuette were not intended to be there. Renato was proud of his repair job. It was a shame they couldn’t find the left hand.

Father’s floppy hat hung on a hook above St. Francis. It was now Renato’s floppy old hat as was the sewing machine. His customers sat on the wide bench across from the sewing machine just as they had done when Father was alive. Each night the bench became a bed. The long cupboard beneath the bench was large enough for four pillows and four blankets. Renato used only the red blanket and the red pillow. After Father died, Mother had decided to move into Grandmother’s room. Grandmother was getting too old to care for herself, his mother had told him.

Two months later the earthquake had come and soon after that his sister left Cotabato City. The earthquake had crumbled the new three-story building where Dina worked as a file clerk. It would be months before she could work again, the manager told her.

Renato was not surprised at Dina’s decision to leave Cotabato City, but certainly sad. His sister was his best friend. He kept no secrets from Dina. He believed she kept none from him. He often thought he trusted her more than he did himself. She always sought Renato’s advice before making decisions.

In fact, it was not just Dina’s decision to leave Cotabato City, but rather that of Dina and Renato and the earthquake.

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