The little plane bumped and jerked to an unsteady landing. He had arrived – Pangatango! It had been a long trip, but he had arrived! Sam had heard of the island once during his military stint, where he had served a brief and uneventful two years in the marines. He had traveled very little, but some of his buddies told of being stranded here once when they had been on their way to the Philippines. Their plane had had problems and they were forced to land on this tiny island in the Pacific – an island he couldn't even find on the map ... They had to stay on the island while they waited for their plane to be repaired. The story they told was mostly of some bar that had given them free drinks, but they had also told him of the fact that it was a desolate island with few tourists, but a nice hotel, where they had stayed. He had thought little of it at the time, but now it sounded like just the place he wanted to be. It sounded like a perfect escape from all that was crowding in on him. Too much had happened in the past few months and he had to escape. He had to find a place where no one would try to tell him what to do or how to think. He had to find a place where no one or no thing would distract or influence him. After some searching, his travel agent had located the island that he hoped would be such a place. The travel agent had arranged connections with a couple of commercial airlines and an island hopping plane and rented a small cottage for him for a month in advance. It was here that he now found himself like a castaway – just what he wanted. Little did he know what awaited him on Pangatango.

The runway had been quite short and as his plane had finally settled on its tail wheel and jolted to a stop. Sam wondered how that Marine plane had been able to land there, but he guessed that anything was possible if the need was great enough. The plane turned and taxied to a spot closer to the buildings and the crew opened the door and lowered the steps to the ground. He climbed out of the plane, surveying his surroundings. The airport was very unassuming – a large hangar that looked like it had been left over from some military use, and a couple of smaller buildings that he suspected had been built to house private planes. On the tarmac, there were several small planes, a gas truck, and an ancient fire truck. In the far blue-grey distance, there was what looked like a volcanic mountain. He had seen it from the air – it seemed to be near the center of the island and was covered with trees. He reckoned it hadn't been active for hundreds of years. He had also seen from the air that there seemed to be little else on the island but the one town and a few scattered villages that looked like only tiny clusters of shacks. There was no sign of farming or industry. He supposed the natives lived mostly from the sea. He had seen one small, lazy-looking seaport where he suspected small cargo ships could come with supplies from the outside world, and perhaps a cruise ship might anchor on occasion. No one seemed to be too excited about his plane's arrival – or anything else, for that matter. No luggage carts rushed out to meet the plane. No one hurried to greet the passengers. None of the other few passengers seemed to be in a great hurry to get to any important appointment or meet any desperate schedule. He followed them toward what appeared to be the terminal in the center of a small grassy area surrounded by Palm trees.

The terminal consisted of a small, neat, white concrete block building with a corrugated tin roof. A large sign over the door said "Welcome to Beautiful Pangatango". There were a couple of benches outside, against the wall. A dog slept peacefully under one of the benches. A couple of little dark-skinned boys, dressed only in shorts, sat in the grass nearby, laughing and playing some kind of game with two sticks and a small wooden ball. A huge, beetle of some kind struggled aimlessly across his path. He stepped over it. A door marked 'Welcome' led to a large room with a ticket counter and a few more benches. In front of him on the opposite side of the room, was another open door, obviously leading out to the street. On a side wall were three doors marked

"Men" "Women" and "Office".

"That about covers it", Sam mumbled to himself.

Opposite the ticket counter in a corner, was another small counter with a sign hanging overhead bearing the word 'Customs'. Several people sat here and there on benches or on the floor, chatting. One noisy tourist in a suit stood at the ticket counter, expounding his desire to charter a plane to somewhere ... a nicely dressed woman stood quietly a few paces away with two expensive looking suitcases. She apparently was with the noisy one, but maintaining her distance from him. A few more people with assorted luggage seemed to be waiting for him to finish before approaching the counter where one slow-talking, attendant was trying to patiently soothe the noisy man. Sam was waved over to the 'Customs' counter by a stern looking man dressed in an official looking white shirt and dark trousers who asked him what he had in his bag. Sam looked down at the duffle bag he was carrying and replied, "Clothes". The official looked at Sam, smiled a broad smile with a wink and waved him past.

Outside, Sam stepped onto a palm lined street that led to the town and beyond. He could have walked the distance to the hotel – the only building over two stories high. It loomed less than two blocks away. But that was not his destination. As inviting as it may be, a hotel was definitely not where he wanted to be.

Uncertain of who he should ask directions of, Sam found three willing taxi drivers waiting ... Their taxis were brightly painted jeeps, open-sided with colorful canvas tops. They were decorated with pom-poms and streamers and painted-on flowers and crosses. A statue of Jesus on the dashboard ... Sam approached the first one in line and the driver motioned for him to climb in the back seat. He climbed in and handed the driver a card with the address of the cottage he had rented. The driver looked at it and silently nodded and immediately drove slowly away from the terminal.

Along their drive, which seemed to be the main street of the town, Sam quickly took in the view. The whole town may have been four blocks long, they passed the hotel and open-door shops and bars and markets of fruit, clothing, and tourist trinkets. The hotel stood like part of a movie set – three stories high with a pillared entrance and a portico like some majestic Southern Colonial mansion. Sam wondered at the sight of it – so out of place with all the simple buildings that followed. The hotel was surrounded by pots and beds of flowers and, behind the hotel, he could see flower-bordered lawns stretching out to a beach on a cove. There were a few tourist-looking people browsing the shops and walking along the street. There was a noticeable absence of cars. He saw only a few older ones, parked along side streets. The houses along the street looked well cared for and stood comfortably under palms and surrounded by flowers. He knew he would have to come back here to explore this town one day. But for now, he wanted to get as far as possible away from 'people and things' as he could.

They drove for only a short distance, passing the houses at the edge of town and then leaving town and along the shore, intermittently along an empty beach where he could see the waves pounding against the sand, and then away from...