5:31 p.m. Same day.
The fifty-seven years old full-bellied American admires the slow recession of the Solar Bay sun as he clicks his fingers and gyrates his wobbly head to accompany the music being rendered by the wireless earphones. He wears a colorful Hawaiian polo with pineapple and palm leaf motif, grey cargo shorts which goes way below his knees like the pajamas of a baby elephant, and a pair of odd-shaped sunglasses which could make Elton John scream like a pop royal baby. As he slouches on a park bench, he sings with a twist the all too familiar lyrics…
“Mega-Manila-Manila! I keep growing like Mega-Manila-Manila! Manila, I’m agrowing
old!”
From behind his field of vision, an unknown force bumps his hairy left arm.
Retired U.S. Navy Captain Dewey John Patterson – Jack – acts sur
