They went to Ave for breakfast, the resort’s only restaurant that was open for breakfast, sitting on the outdoor terrace overlooking the ocean 24′ below, Susan opting for avocado toast; brioche bread, a crispy egg, babaganoush, feta, sesame, and harissa, while Krista picked the buttermilk pancakes with honey-whipped butter, berries, and maple syrup, Zach requesting the jamon Benedict; poached eggs, Spanish ham, English muffin, smoked paprika, hollandaise, and breakfast potatoes. He also asked for a bagel with cream cheese which both women also opted for, as well as fruit smoothies, while Zach asked for 2 espressos, not a double espresso, he painstakingly explained.
“Why 2 espressos and not a double?” Krista asked.
“They just add more water, not more coffee, more flavor,” Zach explained. “I’ve tried ordering 2 espressos in a single cup, but they usually cheat and bring me a double. This is my solution to that.”
After breakfast they got a taxi to George Town to the Cayman National Bank where Susan met with a bank official, Zach and Krista opting to just wait for her in the lobby’s waiting area.
“I need your passports, please,” Susan said, appearing 10 minutes later.
“I wonder what that’s all about,” Krista said after they handed them to her and she once again disappeared.
“I’m sure we’ll find out if she wants us to,” Zach said. “One thing that I can tell you, I trust her, completely, without reservation, like I’ve trusted few people in my life. You, too.”
“I-I don’t know what to say,” Krista said, stunned. “I just know that I feel a real connection with you; and now Susan, too. Maybe it’s because of our shared violent experience.”
“Maybe,” Zach agreed.
“Now we can go shopping,” Susan said, handing their passports back as she approached. “They need a couple of hours to get some things prepared, then I can sign the papers. We’ll shop and have some lunch, then go back. That should give them more than enough time.”
Finding Sonja’s turned out to be quite easy, a mere 10-minute walk during which they got a bit of a feel of what George Town was; quiet and very low key, it seemed. A conservative place, even the architecture. It lacked the vibrancy of even Manaus.
Zach was predictably bored while Krista and Susan ooh’d and ahh’d their way through the collection, chatting with Sonja, a large, black woman with a gleaming smile, lamenting the fact that they even needed to wear anything on the beach.
“Caymans are a very conservative place,” Sonja said. “Severe Christians founded this place and it shows. To stay alive, the early slaves emulated their owners in their religious beliefs, hoping thereby to curry favor. That has passed down through the generations even until now. The new generation is a bit wilder, less religious. That’s the internet’s influence. Another 20 years I imagine we’ll enter the 21st Century.”
“How brief a bikini can we wear without getting into trouble?” Krista asked.
“Two postage stamps and a Band-Aid,” Sonja replied, laughing. “Believe it or not, this is legal,” she said, reaching onto a nearby shelf for something and then handing it to Krista.
“This is just some netting,” Krista exclaimed after examining what she had been handed. “It wouldn’t cover anything.”
“Except the law,” Sonja said, smiling. “If it weren’t legal to wear, I wouldn’t be allowed to sell it.”
“We’ll take two of them,” Krista said, laughing at the look on Susan’s face. “You’ll look great in it,” she told her.
“I’ll feel more naked than just being naked, I think,” Susan said.
“What do you think, Zach?” Krista asked, holding up the wispy bits of netting connected with string.
“If you’ve got to wear something, that would be my choice,” Zach replied. “It’s going to leave absolutely nothing to the imagination.”
“Sonja, are there any good clubs, not tourist places?” Krista asked. “You know, good music, maybe some dancing, hot men.”
“There is, but I’m not so sure that it’s the kind of a place that you’d want to be in,” Sonja replied. “Big Jim’s. It’s mostly a jazz and blues bar. Tourists in the know will find it, but not your run-of-the-mill tourist. The men can be pretty forward. They’d look at the two of you and see candy.”
“That sounds like just the place we’re looking for,” Krista said, smiling. “Big Jim’s. Thanks.”
Several boutiques and shops later, Susan had purchased a couple of skirts, one very mini at Krista’s insistence, the other mid-thigh, a summer dress, and several tops. She had also insisted on a summer dress for Krista, as well as a couple of tops, Krista opting for low-cut T-shirts that were a size too small, including one that came down to just below her breasts, appearing to have been torn off. Despite his protests, Zach was fitted out with a lightweight, raw-silk jacket and matching trousers in a light cream color, which then necessitated the need for shirts, one baby blue, one a light burgundy. When Susan pointed out the decrepit state of his tennis shoes, he had nothing to say and agreed to a pair of Docksiders. She bought a couple of different pairs of sandals for herself and Krista.
“Well, that’s my all-time favorite way of working up an appetite that doesn’t involve sex,” Susan said with a laugh.
“Susan, you’re simply too much,” Krista protested. “You really shouldn’t have.”
“But it was so much fun and now we all look so much better,” Susan replied.
“I don’t know about the fun part,” Zach said, “but thanks. It’s really nice of you.”
“That last boutique, she said something about a place called Brasserie,” Susan said. “It’s only a couple of blocks away. Why don’t we give it a try?”