Geraldine Sakall - My Name Is Geraldine: Memoir of a Ballbuster

Encountering Africa

Departing the Excelsior, in Rome, I was bereft of heart and filled up with love and tears. But I was late and need hurry to reach the airport in time for my plane to Athens. Id extended my stay in Europe as a salve for deep feelings, an extra week and now absenceapathyin time maybebut he was married and that was that. On his way to Nice and a beautiful wife and such is life a conundrum. I hurried on once more a run to the check in counter at Fumachino in a dull thud, scant company, however, this time, I was too late.

So sorry madam the flight has already departed.

I was now many years older in the eyes of the desk person and my blond locks dimmed and could not hide my tears. I stood stooped in angst. I was not faring well and I may have just departed the love of a lifetime. I dabbed at my eyes with an already wet paper towel and felt a gentle tap on my shoulder? Turning I stared? Directly in my path were six of the most beautiful men I might ever lay eyes on, each in a Saville Row suit. Grey, light gray, double breasted, bespoke. Made by hand and finished by the finest detail tailors in the world. Each with a tie from whatever school they had attended at Oxford and twenty-two carat gold cuff links come from a special lot made by the jewelers to the English Royalty. Lions all, back to front, laid over white French cuff shirts, Hydich and Kye in Jermyn Streets, Saville Row. Three persons in a line, two persons in a line in front of the three and at the apex a sixth person who had tapped me on the shoulder,

and he said,

Dear young lady, Im sorry for your distress but perhaps you might wish to join us as we are on our way to Athens?

Each man stood slightly shorter than me. Each the color of polished ebony with a midnight blue tinge to their skin that gave off the smell of sandalwood. Three with a bulging briefcase. Two with folders and luggage in tow and one, the gentleman to whom I spoke.

We are departing directly as our aircraft is currently being fueled and you would be most welcome to join our company. I am the foreign minister of Ethiopia and a messenger for His Majesty Haile Selassie, the Lion of Ethiopia, may he live forever, we pray. These are my colleagues who aide me in making arrangements for the eventual visit of his honorable self in Greece. He is often seen there as a visitor and is most fond of Athens.

Splendid dear sir, I am most grateful for your kindness.

We walked through the terminal and turned to the left onto a red carpeted area. Parked just outside the viewing wall there was a luxe French Mystique. A private aircraft with a golden Royal Lion painted over the entry door. The most modern airplane, it was yet to be seen in the United States. The lower echelon men were carrying my luggage as well as their big fat briefcases. One man with the makeup case in his free hand a second with the luggage scraping the tarmac as he moaned and moved forward and I with the overnighter and a fresh shirt and makeup inside. The tapper held firmly onto my right elbow, in order to lead me forward to the stairs hanging from the plane. I started up the steps and a good wind made the ladder wiggle and the entry door wobbled but up I went and I pushed myself into a small vestibule where an onboard steward took my sack and my jacket and helped me beyond the door and into a well-appointed lounge and he had put my things into a clothes closet at front of cabin. First into the plane me and then the elder gentleman He showed me to a comfortable leather sofa and he took a seat in one opposite was an aide wearing a long skirt, green yellow and red striped, and a white jacket and no shoes,