Hitchhiking To Guatamala Part 18

Toad Swap

Lo turned off the lights and got into bed. I fell asleep for a few hours and woke up as Lo rolled over and put an arm around me. It felt great to be held, but I was also uncomfortable. She pulled me closer to her and kissed the back of my neck. She whispered, “Come to Cuba.” I rolled away from her and over the edge of the tiny bed, landing on the ground with a hard thud.

“So loyal.” she said, turning back around. I watched the room grow brighter from my spot on the floor as the sun came up. My shoulder hurt and I wondered if I had broken my collarbone. Finally, I stood up and the pain was excruciating.

“Ladies and gentleman, I think we should be heading to the airport” I said, standing and starting to pack my bags with my one good arm. “Join us for some delicious instant coffee, which I will never drink again after today?”

“I will never eat another avocado.” Windy said.

“I will never again east spicy peanut mix.” I added.

“I will never again with the chocolate Princess.” Anna snapped, grabbing her backpack and walking out the door. I wondered how she’d slept and managed to wake up still angry and still drunk.

“Go ahead. See how far you get.” Lo said, resigned. Then in German she seemed to be speaking more gently. I assumed she was calling her back. Anna continued walking. “She had much more to drink, I think. She is still drunk. I am tired of taking care of her.” Lo said to us, her eyes glassy with tears forming.

“I’ll go after her.” Windy said.

“We really do need to get to the airport.” I said. Windy gave me a handful of Mexican paper money.

“Go ahead and get to the airport. I’ll meet you there, or I’ll grab a later flight.” He rushed out the door. Lo started packing her backpack.

“Come on. Let me buy you a coffee and put you in a cab.” she said.

“Oh, I can get myself to the airport. Can you help me make a sling though. I think I might have broken my collarbone falling out of the bed.”

“Oh no. Loyal, I am so sorry!”

“Ah, I’m an old skateboarder. I’ve broken it before.” Lo helped me fashion one of my guayaberas into a sling. I put my pack on the opposite shoulder. Pain shot through my body. I put it down.

“Come on. First coffee, then a cab to the airport. You can’t take the bus like this.”

“You don’t have to do that. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Please, let me. Let the Chocolate Princess take care of you. I am able to, and you are hurt, and even if you don’t blame me I will feel better if I can help you get to your plane.” The truth was I wasn’t sure how I could get there in my condition without her help. We walked up to the restaurant and our friend the waiter was at the door waiting for his first customers of the day. “Does he live in the restaurant?” I mumbled.

We asked if we could get some coffee and fried potatoes to go and seeing that Anna was not with us he welcomed us to have a seat while he got our order ready. We took our food back to the room, wolfed it down and then had the woman at the counter of the hotel call us a cab. Lo put both our bags in the cab, and we headed to the airport.

“Wow, I can’t believe it’s only been two weeks. It feels like I’ve been here a lifetime. It feels like I’ve known you and Anna a lifetime. What do you think her and Windy are doing?”

“I don’t know, and I don't care. I’m glad he went with her though. She can be his problem now. She needs someone to be her mommy and I’m done. Windy is her Toad now.”

I laughed at this. “We Frogs swapped Toads, or you Toads swapped Frogs.”

“I like my new Frog much better.”

Lo took my bag from the cab and asked the driver to wait. She helped me check my bag in with a porter. A service I never used. “Loyal, you are a lovely person and your girlfriend is very lucky. I’m going to give you a kiss now and it’s just a friend kiss because you are my friend and I can’t hug you as hard as I would like to right now because it would hurt you, so you don’t have to freak out and break any more bones.” She kissed me lightly on the lips. “Here is my address in Germany. Please write to me and maybe one day we will cross paths again but it is okay if we don’t. This was the perfect adventure I needed and I think you are wonderful.”

“You’re pretty wonderful yourself, Lo. Thank you. Where will you go now?”

“I am going to Cuba.” she answered confidently. “I have let myself be codependent with Anna for long enough. I am going to live my life and I know she will be okay and I even know we will be friends still.”

I hugged her with my good arm and said “Goodbye.”