I never had any real desire to go to Hispañola, so how I ended up on a flight to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic probably takes some explanation.
When I worked for Prentice Hall in the mid-1990s, I met (and briefly dated) an inside salesman named Gary. Before we started going out, I would sometimes arrive at my desk and find candy on my keyboard. The first time it happened, I didn’t know where it had come from, but it didn’t take much longer for me to realize that Gary was stopping by my office in the evening after I’d left. I’d met Gary in an elevator on the way in one morning, and my intuition—my gaydar–whispered to me that he was a “fellow traveller,” to use an old euphemism.
Our dating history was brief, but Gary and I remained friends even after he left Prentice Hall to become an outside-sales rep for another company. We didn’t see each other very often but tried to get together at least a few times a year for the Gallery Hop or to see a show or movie.
Gary is an incredibly nice guy with a kid’s heart. He’s very easy to tease and embarrass, and each time he takes an interest in something—food, an online game, a book—he effuses an exuberance that can only be described as childlike. He doesn’t at all fit the stereotype of a salesman—brash, arrogant, cocky, pushy. Nonetheless, he is pretty successful at peddling books. I’ve been hearing from him for years about how he has made this or that sales goal and earned a trip to some exotic locale. Do you see where this is going?
A year or two ago, Gary was telling Mark and me about a trip to somewhere in Europe from which he’d just returned and mildly bemoaning that he always has to go on these trips alone. While he’s perfectly comfortable traveling by himself—Gary has never met a stranger—he felt it would be nice sometimes to share the experience with someone. Jokingly, Mark pimped me off. “Matthew hates the winter here; you should take him when you earn a winter trip.” Gary, as enthusiastically as always, agreed that was a great idea. I thought Gary was just being polite and that the proposal ended there. I was not correct.
Right before Christmas, Gary called me. “Hey. I was remembering a conversation you and Mark and I had. It’s totally okay if you’re not interested. I won a trip to the Dominican Republic from my company and wondered if you want to come.” His invitation threw men into a little bit of a tizzy. I had to make a decision within a few days, and I didn’t know what my workload was going to be like or if I could justify a trip after having just been in New York. Besides that, I take after my Mom and have a hard time letting other people do me favors. I spent the next day or two sort of trying to find a way out of going when Gary called looking for an answer. About the same time he called, it occurred to me that the conference—that’s really what the trip is—would include production staff and that I might make business contacts there and, if I were lucky, get a new client.
A high school teachers of mine presented my class with a dilemma once. I can’t remember exactly how he phrased it, but essentially, he asked, “For a dollar, would you go to bed with someone you didn’t like?” Our resounding “No,” was followed by his, “Well, would you do it for ten thousand dollars.” “Of course!” we replied only to be met with “Okay, we’ve established what you are; now we’re just haggling over the price.” I suppose in some way, we’ve established what I am but also my price. I’ll go on an all-expenses-paid vacation to a Caribbean island and feel indebted to my friend as long as I can justify the trip as a chance to build my business.
That’s sarcasm, really. I’m grateful to Gary for sharing his good fortune with me, and I hope some day I’ll be able to repay the favor. (It will bug me until I do!) Right now, I’m flying over little bits of land in the Atlantic. The ocean is the blue of the sky, but around the islands and islets, it’s the loveliest shade of turquoise.
As an aside, since my camera was stolen from my car in October, I have to rely on my iPhone camera. It’s not great, but I’ll try to get some decent pictures to add to the balance of my posts from Punta Cana.