Checking Out

Marlo loaded his stuff into the van before his 7 a.m. tee time.

The codeine has provided sleep. The prenisone is offering morning energy. I finish emptying our room and slip a note under the tip Marlo has left on the table.

“Gracias por limpiar nuestra habitacion y por las conversaciones en Español” (Thanks for cleaning our room and for the conversations in Spanish).

I close the door, check out at the lobby, and sit poolside in the sun, waiting Marlo’s return.

Then, as I’m making a second trip to the lobby to drop off a second room key I have discovered  in my purse, I meet her one last time.

She has found the note. “Gracias” (Thanks), she says, and gives me a warm Latino hug.

"Tal vez nos vamos a ver una a otra el año proximo" (Perhaps we’ll see each other again next year), I say.

As she disappears through the resort doorway, I regret that I do not know her name.

Perhaps, next year. . .