Sun on the Rocks - Episodes One and Two - the Malibu Case - the Acapulco Cocktail by Workstudio - HTML preview

Seventeen

Clarity followed Ms. Avenworth and the CEO of the soft drink company to a luxurious lounge playing soft, relaxing bossa-nova music. Within fifteen minutes, Ms. Avenworth had reached an agreement.

“Three hundred thousand dollars for the lab in exchange for the formula and six hundred dollars for Clarity.”

“Agreed,” said the CEO, “do you have a name for the cocktail?”

“How about Sensualade…” said Clarity.

“Not bad,” said the CEO, “we´ll include it in our shortlist.”

“Isaias our provider of Damiana would like you to do some applied research on a medicinal drink to treat the flu.”

“Well, that´s out of our company scope, but we can offer our drink to a few pharmaceutical companies so that they develop their own products.”

“Excellent,” said Clarity, “that will please Isaias considerably, I think.”

They shook hands and moved to the saloon bar, decorated with silver-embossed door knobs and a bar counter cast from a single stone of marble. Clarity kept thinking about the six hundred dollars. She was getting ripped off, she was getting ripped off, she thought. Still, Ms. Avenworth had developed the formula, it was only game that she received most of the money. The following day, she said good bye to Ms. Avenworth and joined LT and Lanai for a late dinner at Quinta Real, an elegant spot in the Punta Diamante Area.

“I think you got ripped off,” said LT, “but I don´t need the money, I just got a job here, Trevor talked to the manager who hired me as Chief Party Bartender.”

“Whoohoo, what do you mean, six hundred giggles to spend, more money for our synchronized swimming team,” said Lanai, beaming with a smile.

“Giggles?” said Clarity.

“That´s money for me, money brings fun and giggles, that´s what I like of it, the fun it brings.”

“Speaking of money, we need a pool to train, where is the City of Wellington now?” asked Clarity.

“It left Acapulco, it´s going through the Panama Canal, and will reach Cancún and the Yucatán peninsula in a few days,” said LT.

“Excellent, a little holiday here and then We take a plane and join the girls there,” said Lanai, “I hope Taimi and Cynthia didn´t miss us too much.”

“I hope we can stay there for a few days, I always wanted to visit the Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza, Tulum, Coba, Uxmal…” said Clarity.

“Go to Xelha, it´s south of Cancún, a natural reserve where a normal river meets the Caribbean. It´s beautiful,” said LT.

Clarity nodded and looked at the new cocktail menu, filled with fifty two possible alternatives. When the waitress came, her decision was made.

“I´ll leave the cocktail for some other time I think. Please bring me a fresh mango on the rocks instead. Make it large, make it ripe, and make it with large ice cubes around it,” she said.