new Mercedes Benz of my choice. I don’t expect that he will say yes to all of that and besides, two days later I accepted the job with Star Markets” I said to Jay.
“You little shit! Why didn’t you tell me you took that job? Congratulations” he said.
I had convinced myself that I was going to be a manager at Star Markets. I naively believed that by asking for an outrageous compensation package that Mr. Saru would say no and leave me alone. It had been more than a week since that dinner and I had interviewed for a job with Star Markets grocery stores. They were hiring a floating manager as a go-between for their five grocery stores and my six years of working as a store manager trainee at a Safeway grocery store in California was about to pay off. A career in the retail grocery business would have provided the stability that I needed. A job with Star Markets would have allowed me to maintain my standard of living on O’ahu. A job with Star Markets was the solution that I needed and yet I still felt lost. I felt that taking that job would have been like stepping backwards. I believed that my future was in the fitness industry. But I still felt like I wanted to continue moving forward with a career in fitness, even if it meant taking a big risk. I also remember how Emiko congratulated me when I told her I accept the grocery manager job but even her enthusiasm didn’t make me feel that it was the right choice. I wanted to work in the fitness industry. Even so, for the next week and a half I kept telling myself that managing a grocery store would not be that bad. I hadn’t heard anything from Mr. Saru since I faxed my compensation requirements. No news was good news and I figured that I wouldn’t be bothered by Mr. Saru anymore. With this whole Guam situation behind me, I could concentrate on starting work with Star Markets and get on with my life. I met with their human resources manager and filled out all the employment paperwork. I was scheduled to begin work on Wednesday of the following week. That night Emiko wanted to celebrate by going to karaoke. A few drinks were all it took for her to loosen up. She really likes to sing to me and her favorite karaoke songs are “Summertime” by the Sundays and “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. After leaving the club, we drove up to Round Top drive to look out at the Honolulu City Lights. The view is an amazing peripheral from the darkness of the Diamond Head crater to the city lights of downtown Honolulu to the distant lights of Ewa Beach. Emiko wrapped herself around me and held me tight. “I am so happy right now” she said. We kissed and enjoyed a moment in the moonlight as the minutes passed. The next morning we woke up almost two hours past the alarm. “Oh no, I am late for work.” Emiko said as she kissed me goodbye and left in a panic. I got out of bed, dressed and headed over to the Sure Shot Café for some coffee. On my walk back to the apartment I purchased a copy of the Honolulu Advertiser at the Village Market. As I was walking out of the market I answered a call on my cell. “Hello?”
“This is Mr. Saru.” A rush of panic and confusion overwhelmed me.
“I am back in town for a few days and want to know if you can meet up for lunch” It had been two weeks since I faxed my compensation requirements to Mr. Saru and I never thought that I would hear from him again.
“Can you meet me at the I Love Country Café at Ala Moana mall today at noon? “ He asked.
I remember checking the time; it was already nine thirty. “Sure, I will see you there at noon” I said.
The conversation during lunch was about fitness training, nutrition and who would win the next Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition. Mr. Saru is a huge fan of bodybuilding and that is why he became involved in the gym business. Mr. Saru opened his gym close to Hagatna, the Capitol City of Guam. The problem, he said is that he could not find anyone on Guam that was qualified to manage the gym. He told me that the last manager was great. He was also a coach for the Guam Olympic team and he eventually quit to work exclusively with his athletes and I remember being amazed. I had no idea that Guam had an Olympic team. Throughout that lunch I kept wondering if he was going to mention the fax and I had been tempted to ask him if he even read it, but I decided against it. At the end of lunch Mr. Saru invited me to meet with him and Fernandez for dinner at Chiang Mai that evening. That time I remembered to tell him that I already had plans with Emiko.
“Emiko is she your girlfriend?” he asked “Please bring her to dinner too. Will she be relocating with you if you decide to move?”
“We aren’t really a couple” I told him “we like spending time together but I don’t think either of us have plans for the relationship to go anywhere.” The words echoed through my head and I knew that what I had said was a lie. When we were walking out of the restaurant Mr. Saru handed me a business envelope and asked me to read the proposal when I got home. He said that he would like my opinion on the subject matter when we met later for dinner. I remember thinking that it might have had something to do with a fitness event that Fernandez previously proposed. A few months earlier I helped Fernandez with an event, a fitness challenge and Mr. Saru wanted to promote a similar event on Guam but when I opened the envelope, I was shocked. Inside was a seven page contract that included the salary, compensation and all of the perks that I had requested. I immediately called Jay.
“You’re not going to fucking believe this shit” I said. “Mr. Saru has offered to provide the complete compensation package if I take the job managing the gym on Guam.”
“Wow” Jay responded with shock. ‘What are you going to do?”
“Fuck, I don’t want to go to Guam. But the salary alone is double what I will be earning at Star Markets and l would have an apartment, a car and an expense account, commissions and bonuses” I said.
“Yah, well, you should check it out,” Jay said “make sure you really check it out. We have an office on Guam, I will ask some of our people there about that gym and if they know Mr. Saru.”
Chiang Mai is always crowded and for good reason. The food is ono or ‘broke da mouth’ in local pidgin which of course means that the food is so good that it broke the mouth. That night we sat at a table with Mr. Saru, Chris Fernandez and Chris’s girlfriend; Trisha. Emiko and I ordered spring rolls, spicy soup and green papaya salad. Also, two orders of Chiang Mai’s evil chicken and sticky rice. The rest of the dinner party ordered similar entrée’s and we all toasted Mr. Saru, our gracious host. Mr. Saru was seated at the head of the table on my immediate left. He kept talking about weight training with Fernandez who was seated directly across from me. I knew I was going to have to talk about the contract with Mr. Saru. I was anxious because I hadn’t told Emiko about it. I wanted to tell her later, when we were alone. I wanted to ask her to help me figure out how to gracefully decline his amazing offer. The dinner had an ambience of celebration and damn it if that wasn’t part of Mr. Saru’s plan. I needed to tell him that I was flattered but simply not interested. I remember that Emiko was fully engaged in a conversation with Trisha when I decided that it was time to tell Mr. Saru thanks, but no thanks. Just then Mr. Saru had turned to me and asked “Did you read that contract I gave to you?” I had a mouthful of spring roll and before I could finish it, he continued; “Because I want to propose that you come to Guam for two weeks on an all-expenses paid vacation. I will put you up in a hotel. I will show you around Guam. I can rent a car for you so that you can check things out on your own. You can work out at the gym, talk to the staff, visit my corporate office and take a test drive of life on Guam. You don’t have to answer right now, but think about it” he said. I was speechless. I envisioned a peaceful two week vacation, nothing but lying on the beach and checking out Guam. Oh, and the gym. It would be a fitness vacation, sleep, train, eat, beach, nap, eat and check out Guam. What could be bad about that? What about the snakes? Star Markets. I had forgotten about Star Markets. Then I actually thought about asking for a two week vacation before I started work. I remember all of this going through my head and then looking over to Emiko. She was picking through her green papaya salad. “Ok Mr. Saru” I had said, “let me think about it and get back to you in a day or two.”
Later that night when we were at home I showed the contract to Emiko and asked for her opinion. She surprisingly laughed and told me that she knew something like this would happen. She told me that her older brother, Hoyden had lived on Guam for about five years. He was there managing a chain of Pizza restaurants. Emiko told me that initially, her brother liked living on Guam. He even married a Chamorro girl and started a family on Guam. After five years