Caleb's Sons' Adventures

Notes of explanation:

Hue - pronounced WAY
Hui - pronounced Hughy
Hua - pronounced Huwa
Dati - IndoDutch term for Papa
Baki - IndoDutch term for Brother
Onkla - IndoDutch term for Uncle

The crews and engineers, who had just returned from two years in the mountains of Mexico rebuilding a silver mine and smelter, were taking a well-deserved vacation. Dakar had no family and was spending his vacation on the beaches near Hilo.

He was sunning himself one afternoon when a young woman, carrying a small baby walked by. The woman stumbled and Dakar was able to grab the baby before they both fell to the sand.

As the woman got to her feet, he discovered that it was Pau Gorhli, their draftsperson in the Hilo office. He stood there with a baby in his arms, suddenly realizing he was staring at a beautiful woman. He stammered his apologies and assisted her in getting settled with her baby on the beach.

He spread out his own towel nearby and could not help himself; he was entranced by this woman. He spent all afternoon, covertly, he thought, watching Pau enjoy her day at the beach.

Pau saw him looking at her, she thought he was an attractive man and knew that he was very shy. She knew some of his story and why he left his home in Indonesia, but being an illegitimate son of a deceased father did not bother her in the least. She was attracted to the young engineer, but did not know how to approach him.

She decided she needed to have a talk with her mother that very night.

Dakar Mock had no clue on how to approach an American woman and told himself that he needed to speak with Mr. Concho first thing in the morning.

As the sun began to set, Dakar offered to assist Pau in gathering her things and her baby. As they were walking to the parking lot, Pau headed for the bus stop. Dakar offered to take her to her home in his car and the young woman was not about to refuse!

He helped her carry her things to the condo she and her mother shared and Dakar stammered his goodbyes and beat a hasty retreat.

Pau's mother had been watching out the window and she remarked to her daughter after she had gotten settled back in the house, "That young man is interested in you, daughter."

Pau leaned against the wall with a huge smile on her face and replied, "I hope so, Mamma, 'cause I like him a lot."

The next morning, Dakar made sure he was in the office early and waiting for Concho to arrive. As soon as Concho stepped into his office, Dakar entered and closed the door, "Mr. Best, sir, I need some advice," Dakar stammered. The young man continued, "I met this young woman at the beach and I, eer uuuh, I like her a lot."

Concho sat at his desk with a smile on his face and asked, "What is it you need to know?" Dakar got a nervous look on his face and replied, "Err aa, Who do I ask for permission to ask her out?"

Concho, being very careful not to laugh, said, "You would ask her papa."

Dakar, now thoroughly upset, replied, "Sir, she has no papa and lives with her elderly mother and her baby."

Concho began to put two and two together, he asked, "Dakar, do I know this young woman?"

Dakar, now near tears in his anxiety, said, "Yes sir, It is Pau Gorhli."

Concho struggled to choke back a giggle, and replied, "Just sit down for a moment, I will be right back."

He went down the hall to the Drafting Room, Pau was the only person in at that time of morning, so he asked, "Pau, there is a young man in my office that wants to talk to you something terribly bad."

Pau giggled, "Mr. Dakar Mock?

Concho smiled and told her it was and that he would be out of the office all morning, so she needed to go and rescue Dakar.

Concho walked through the office and grabbed Thomas, "We are going to go look at the Hilo Power Plant, come on."

He dragged a protesting Thomas out the door before explaining what was going on, the two of them laughed all the way up the volcano to the power plant site.

Before the end of the day, all those in the Hawaii Branch of Best Sons' Engineering knew that Dakar Mock and Pau Gorhli were dating!

Thomas had prepared all the estimates for the timber project on Mindanao and the project had come back approved by the company and the Philippine Government, who owned the timberlands.

With all the changes that Thomas had negotiated, it was going to be a $520 million, plus a $108 million T & M project. He was sitting in Concho's office discussing manpower. Thomas said, "I want Dakar on the Civil Engineering end of the job, there will be lots of roads and access problems. Some of the roads will have to be built in swamp areas."

He continued, "Norm Gunderson is already on board for the Forestry end of the work and Carl Driggers has started on the Electrical Engineering. What do you think about Pho Ban for the Mechanical Engineer?"

Concho replied, "I think that John Bruegman would be better, you guys are going to be way out of touch until you can get power and telephone service and Pho is a little insecure for that yet."

The two men agreed on the management lineup for the project and they agreed to give Carlos Espinosa a chance at being Job Foreman. They were going to have a core group of their own mechanics and electricians and hire locals for laborers. They would hire a construction company out of Manila for some of the civil work. The Philippine National Electric Authority would not be able to supply electric power, so they would have to construct a power plant on the mill site.

They made out the crew lists and had Son notify everyone that they should plan on departing for Manila two weeks from that date.

Thomas got together with Carlos that afternoon and they detailed what tools would need to be sent. They were going to send 4 Crew Boxes of tools as soon as possible.

Carlos was delighted to be chosen Crew Chief for the job and was determined to show Mr. Concho and Mr. Thomas that he was equal to the job. He had done well at the silver mine and he liked working for these people.

Carlos asked if he could have Felipe Damato as his assistant and both Concho and Thomas were pleased with his choice. Felipe was an eager young man they had discovered working at a drudge job for the county, he had an Associate Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a friendly, easy disposition that workmen were happy to go along with him on almost anything he wanted them to do.

They got the crew boxes loaded and two days later they were at the Hilo Airport for a cargo flight to Manila. Because so much of the work was going to involve heavy construction, Dakar asked if he could have an assistant and Concho suggested Bobby O'Mara. Bobby was more than just a draftsman and he had outside construction experience. Dakar had seen some of Bobby's drafting work and had been impressed. He decided they might need a draftsman on site as well as needing some supervisory assistance, so he readily agreed.

It was a mad scramble getting the crews together, the worksite was going to be remote and housing would be minimal at first. The more Thomas worked with Dakar, the more he became impressed with the young engineer. Dakar was a small man and very intense, but even under difficult situations, he managed to keep his "cool" and think things out before acting. He was not impulsive nor given to harsh language.

Concho had been carefully watching the relationship between Dakar and Pau develop and he hesitated in saying anything, but he felt he should at least let Dakar know that he knew about it and wondered if being sent on an overseas assignment was satisfactory to the young man.

He casually asked Dakar one day, while they were going over the payroll estimates and Dakar's eyes lit up, "Oh yes sir, we have been dating since I asked you."

He continued, "We are getting along nicely and I think ..... uh, errr, I think we are in love."

Concho asked him, "Is going away for more than a year going to be a problem?"

Dakar replied, "Oh no sir, Pau understands and she and Lamma will wait for me."

Concho asked, "Lamma?"

Daka said, somewhat excitedly, "Lamma is Pau's little girl and I hope she will be my daughter soon!"

Concho smiled and congratulated him and thought to himself, "There will need to be some office conferences with Dakar during this project." However, as the project proceeded, that became almost impossible.

The departure date arrived and everyone was ready, Son had gotten a JAL flight with sufficient seating in Business Class for the advance contingent to travel all together. They would have to take the Commuter to Honolulu to catch the flight to Manila.

Thomas would be the Managing Engineer in Charge of the project, but Dakar would be in charge at the work site. Thomas was going out with them to get the work started and would return to Hilo as soon as everyone had gotten settled.

They had a two-hour layover in Honolulu to change planes and terminals. Pau had been with Dakar as they left Hilo, Concho noticed Pau had tears in her eyes, he went over to her and asked, "You like him a lot, don't you?"

She smiled at him and told him she did.

He whispered in her ear, "He likes you, too!"

Pau giggled like a young girl and told Concho that she knew that!

It was a long flight to Manila and everyone was exhausted by the time they got to their hotel, the Grand Manila Marriot. It was unlikely that any of the group remained awake beyond an hour after their quick supper!

The next day was spent with various ministries of the National Government, it was fortunate that everyone spoke excellent English. The Minister of the Interior was very interested in the project, timber thieves, he said, had been stealing high-value timber from their forests for years.

He warned them of the dangers of a tropical forest, not only were there man-eating animals, but there were also poisonous snakes and plants.

They flew to the nearest major city to the project, Davao City. That, also, would be the port of entry for all freight and machinery. From there, it was a 2-hour ride by helicopter to Quezon and another hour by 4-wheel drive trucks to the project site.

The road from Quezon had been recently hacked out of the forest of towering trees and they felt like they had been leaping from boulder to boulder as the trucks drove along the poorly bladed road.

Thomas leaned over to Dakar and said, "Job number one, fix this damned road!"

They arrived at a clearing in the forest, there were a dozen double-wide trailers that had been brought in and were sitting on blocks to be used as homes for the Americans.

There was no electricity nor running water, all that would have to be installed before they could safely live there long term.

The Philippine Army had brought in a portable water treatment plant and two Caterpillar Generator sets to provide electricity.

After a nearly sleepless night, filled with the screams of animals and sultry hot trailers, the crew set about hooking up the generators and getting the water supply system working.

They had ordered groundbreaking machinery from Le Tourneau and it was sitting in Quezon, so Dakar sent Felipe and Bobby back to Quezon to arrange for the delivery of the groundbreaking machinery as soon as possible.

The army had driven a well on the site that appeared to be a good water supply, so the electricians manhandled the diesel generators into place and connected temporary wiring to run the water system. That night, they had showers, true, they were cold water as yet, but, at least, they could wash the grime off of themselves.

Slowly, the worksite lost that "gypsy camp" look and there were electric lights in the trailers, hot and cold running water and the air conditioning and the refrigerators were all working.

The Philippine Army supplied a small detachment of troops to act as security and to man a small communications center until the radio-telephone system could be installed. The detachment officer was Army Captain Rodrigo Bolapa, a young officer who had graduated from the American Army Military Academy at West Point as an exchange student. He spoke excellent English and he and Dakar formed a close, friendly relationship.

As it turned out, they would remain friends for their entire lives.

The routine settled down, the remainder of the work crew arrived and Thomas and Dakar held several hiring days in Quezon and one in Davao City.

They ended up with 125 Filipino men who were interested in working to construct the lumber mill and timbering operation.

Dakar's groundbreaking machinery finally arrived and his first project was to improve the road between the job site and Quezon. Thomas saw that things seemed to be well in hand, so he caught a ride back to Quezon to catch the Army helicopter into Davao City. From there, he made his way back to Manila and finally to Honolulu and then home in Hilo.

The Army had gotten the radio-telephone system working and a connection could be made to the Army switchboard in Manila. From there, international telephone service could be had.

Dakar was a little nervous at first, being left in charge, but so much was going on, he had little time to think about it. Their biggest problem was snakes, Captain Bolapa had warned them that there were many species of poisonous snakes and there was no anti-venom available for most of them.

There were, also, very large caiman, a crocodile-type reptile that was very aggressive.

If that were not enough, there were several varieties of jungle cats, all of whom were reported to have a taste for human flesh!

In addition, there were monkeys and a profusion of colorful birds.

Of course, there were many insects, all of whom bite and left welts or transmitted diseases. Usually, all of the above!

Slowly, the basics for the mill structures started to take shape, they had to build their own concrete mixing plant before they could begin laying foundations, but before long there were concrete piers that would become buildings.

Out in the forest, roads were constructed and log yards were created to store felled timber. The entire area drained well, the soil was a gritty volcanic soil that the rainwater from the frequent tropical storms drained away quickly.

The first building to be completed was the powerhouse. There were four large diesel-engine-driven generators in the warehouse in Quezon. Bobby made arrangements for two of the units to be placed on lo-boy trailers and pulled to the site. They were large 1,000 kW units and Carl had his electricians ready to hook them up as soon as they were set in place.

Bobby had the engines set on the foundations and then they lifted the generators into place, it took two weeks to get the generators mated to the engines and lined up.

There was a miscommunication with the fuel depot and it took yet another week to get fuel delivered to run the generators, but, at last, the noisy Caterpillar units could be shut down.

By getting the larger generators in place meant that more construction machinery could be used at one time and the buildings began to go up at a faster pace.

They ran pole lines out to the remote log yards so that as soon as they started felling timber, the logs could be sized and trimmed.

Dakar had to let Bobby go back to his regular job as soon as the mill machinery started to arrive, he and John Bruegman were needed for indexing and cataloging all the equipment as it was delivered to the warehouse in Quezon.

Concho and Thomas made a quick trip to see how the project was going and both were extremely pleased, the project was at least 20 days ahead of schedule.

Concho had a large package of mail, including a wrapped bundle for Dakar. Dakar's face turned scarlet when he saw who the bundle was from and it didn't help when Concho gently teased him about the perfumed envelopes in the bundle!

Their first casualty took place while Thomas and Concho were on-site; one of the Filipino workmen was bitten by a snake that had been hiding in a length of pipe. Instead of waiting for the Army to send out an ambulance from Quezon, Concho ordered the man placed in his Ford Explorer and he and Thomas rushed the man to the clinic in Quezon.

Their quick action saved the man's life, when he was able to come back to work nearly a month later, his story of how the Boss Man American had taken care of him and got him to the clinic in time to save his life was told all over the work camp!

When the work day ended, Dakar disappeared into his trailer, carrying his bundle of letters. He was not seen again until the next morning.

He and Bobby had become good friends and Bobby asked him, "Did you have a good mail call?"

All Dakar would do is get a silly grin on his face and shake his head, "YES!"

Concho and Thomas looked at each other, they both knew of Pau's dreamy looks back in Hilo. When it came time for Thomas and Concho to go back, they had an equally large bundle of letters from Dakar to carry!

The first of the sawmill machinery began to arrive. The first to be set up was the saw deck and the debarker. The logs were to go through the saw deck to be delimbed and then the debarker stripped off the bark from the trunk.

The next piece was the slicer, where the logs were trimmed to a specified length, according to their shape and configuration. The slicer operator would be able to turn the log with hydraulic arms and slice the log to get the maximum usable wood from it.

The next large group of machinery to be put in place was the lumber deck, where the log would be cut into boards and come shooting out on the green chain. At the end of the green chain, there was a grader and sorter station where the lumber was graded for quality and sorted. It then would go to a stacker and held on metal carts until there was space in the dry kiln.

They were having problems with the dry kiln, it was wood-fired and the scrap feeders would not feed the wood fuel uniformly into the combustion chamber. After disassembling and reassembling the unit several time, Bobby spotted a broken weld on the chain guides. Every time there was a load of scrap wood on the chain, the guide would flex downward and the wood scrap would jumble and jam the chain.

As soon as the weld was repaired, the scrap feeder decided to behave itself.

They ran a test load of mahogany logs through the system, until they had a complete load for the dry kiln. They then fired up the combustor and loaded the kiln with cars of mahogany lumber. It would take 4 days for the dense lumber to dry.

Carl Driggers was tearing his hair out, trying to troubleshoot the planer and the sander/sizer. They had been manufactured in Germany and there was no English translation for the installation instructions.

Fortunately, the operating instructions had an English translation.

He was delighted when he learned that Felipe Damato, Carlos' Assistant Foreman had taken German in High School. It took several days, but they had a working translation to begin installation with.

The dry kiln finished its job on a load of mahogany planks and they were drawn out to cool. The next day, they ran the planks through the planer and then the sander/sizer. They had to be graded and sorted on the floor as the grader line was not yet working.

They judged all but a few of the planks as "saleable".

Dakar was stumbling back to his trailer, he was numb from exhaustion after a marathon session debugging the grader/sorter chain. It had fought him and Carl for three days, before they found the problem in an incorrectly wired control panel. As he mounted the steps to his trailer, thinking of a hot shower and a clean bed, Felipe Damato came running up to him, "Mr. Mock, there is trouble, come quick!"

Dakar followed the young man around the side of the power plant building, there he found Carlos with his arm around a young boy and shaking his fist angrily at a crowd of teenaged boys.

When the two Americans arrived, the crowd of teen boys ran off, Dakar asked Carlos what was going on.

Carlos opened his arms, there was a very frightened boy, barely into puberty and holding a tiny baby in his arms.

The boy knelt before Dakar and said in very broken English, "Excellent Sir, me be told thou art a follower of the True Religion of Mohammed. Us help need. Be you take our care?"

Carlos added, "Those boys were throwing stones at these two, look at the bruises on the boy's back!"

Dakar sat on the ground and took the two boys in his arms, "Yes, I am a follower of Mohammed, what is wrong, what is going on here?"

The young teen wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "Excellent Mister, ours Papa be dead and no Mama us have. Us alone be. Most please excellent sir can thou help we?"

Despite their problems, both children were clean, although very thin.

Dakar discovered the baby was a boy and the older brother was named Jamil. The baby was Azam.

Dakar said, "Come with me, let me clean you both up and see what I have to feed you."

Jamil replied, "Most gracious mister, us give thanks you."

As Dakar was leading the two boys away, he whispered to Felipe, "Find Captain Bolapa for me, will you?"

Felipe said he would, right away.

Carlos followed Dakar and told him he would help clean up the two boys, he had young children himself and could help with the baby. When they got the children in Dakar's trailer and had some light, they saw terrible bruises on the older boy, Jamil's back and shoulders had been hit by many rocks. His arms were cut and bleeding from where he had shielded the baby from the flying stones.

As he got the boy cleaned up, his story began to come out, his father was a hide hunter, he hunted the large felines for their skins and sold them in Davao City.

The family was Muslim and hated by the people living in this area. People had raided their camp and their Father told Jamil to take his brother and run.

Jamil saw them kill their Father as they hid in the bushes. He had been running all day and had asked some of the workmen if anyone here was a follower of Mohammed when the boys found them and started stoning them.

As Jamil was sitting down to a bowl of hot soup and Dakar was carefully spooning some warm milk into the hungry baby, Felipe brought Captain Bolapa. Jamil kept his eyes down, not looking at the Army Officer while Dakar told him everything he knew about the two boys.

He had begun a train of thought in his mind, he knew the story of how Mr. Concho had adopted Sam and even of how Concho himself had come into the family. He would place a telephone call to Mr. Concho the next morning.

Captain Bolapa told Dakar that Muslims were hated among the local people and there was no place he could take the two boys that they would be safe.

Dakar said, "Fine, I will care for the boys and try to adopt them myself."

The Captain replied, "Sir, that would be best, they likely would not survive the night here."

After the Captain had departed, Dakar said, "Carlos, will you watch the boys for a little while, if I go right now, maybe I can catch Mr. Concho Best in the office."

Carlos said he would and Dakar ran out to the Army Post and asked the radioman to connect him to the oversea telephone operator in Manila. In a few minutes, the radioman pointed to a handset at a desk in the corner and Dakar spoke to the operator to place the call.

Concho was just leaving the office when Son called to him that he had a call from Manila. He picked up his telephone and Dakar hurriedly told him about the two boys and that he wanted to adopt them.

Concho thought for a moment and then replied, "Dakar, I will call our Factor in Manila, Andrew Clogheim, and set him to work on this right away."

"Join the Papa Club, Dakar!" he added.

After they hung up, Concho did exactly as he said he would and, after he told the Factor all he knew, he added, "Make this happen, Andrew, it is important to us."

Andrew Clogheim went directly to the Minister of Internal Security the first thing the next morning and explained what had happened and what they wanted to do about it. When asked about Dakar Mock, Mr. Clogheim explained that he was part of the extended Hue Daniel Best Family and that the family would spare no expense in raising the two boys.

The two of them had a lunch meeting with the Minister of Justice and they hammered out an agreement that Mr. Dakar Mock would be allowed to adopt the two boys, Jamil and Azam and they would become Jamil and Azam Dakar Mock.

Before the end of the day, Mr. Clogheim had paperwork signed by the Chief Justice approving the adoption.

The next day, he personally took a flight to Davao City and the Army helicopter to Quezon, where he was met by Captain Bolapa and escorted to the job site.

In less than three days, Dakar Mock had become the proud Papa of two young boys, one thirteen years old and the other nine months! The boys thrived with Dakar, in just a few days it was noticeable that their faces were losing that haggard look and Jamil's bruises were fading.

The men had to chase off the gang of teen boys several times, but when Captain Bolapa brought his soldiers to the work site, with their rifles, the gang made themselves scarce and never returned.

Dakar took a day off and took the two boys into Dravao City, where there was an American Consulate, and he applied for American Passports for them both. He was told it would take about 6 weeks.

The owner of the new plant, Philippine Hardwoods, had started hiring preliminary employees in preparation to startup. The timber crews began felling trees and storing the logs in the remote log yards.

All of the equipment had finally checked out and was ready for use, Dakar ordered the job site cleared for five days while a paving crew came in to pave the work areas and plant roads.

The only work going on was connecting of the final two generators and that was all inside work.

The five days were lightly loaded with work needs and Dakar spent some time getting to really know his two sons. With all the attention, Jamil's English language skills rapidly improved, but Dakar discovered that the boy had not had much schooling.

He went into Quezon and begged for some elementary books in English from the local schools and sat down diligently with Jamil every day to help him with his reading.

The boy picked up arithmetic fairly rapidly, but his primary interest was in "Talking American" like his Papa.

By the time the new paving was solidified, the Best Sons' Engineering Crews began teaching the company employees about their new plant.

Many of the new employees were from other timber companies or another plant owned by Philippine Hardwoods, so they had some sense of how the plant was supposed to operate.

The contract called for Best Sons' Engineering to spend thirty days instructing the employees on how to run the systems. Bobby O'Mara turned out to be one of the best instructors they had, he was patient and had the ability to teach others.

Over the next three weeks, the plant slowly came up to speed. The last week, they trained the new maintenance department on the care and upkeep of all the machinery.

Just to be on the safe side, Dakar insisted that Jamil and Azam not go outside the trailer unless he was with them. Their last days at the plant were trouble-free, other than a few nasty comments made by the new plant employees.

Captain Bolapa's soldiers made it a point to include Dakar's trailer in their regular rounds.

After the turnover, the Best crews began packing up their tools and equipment in preparation for going home.

A currier delivered the boys' new passports, Jamil was so proud of his, he slept with it under his pillow each night.

The last night they were there, a few thrown rocks hit the side of their trailer, followed by several shots fired by the Army patrol.

After the shots were fired, there was no further trouble that night.

The next morning, the Army had six buses there to take them into Quezon to meet the helicopters that would take them to the airport in Davao City.

It had been a long eleven months but they completed the job thirty days early.

Dakar had written Pau about the boys, but he was worried about how she would take a ready-made family.

He had proposed to her before he left and she had accepted.

He had discovered his Grandfather and had telephoned him several times to get to know him.

His Grandfather had said he would come from Indonesia for the wedding and Dakar had written him about the boys, but had received no reply. As far as he knew, the only people, aside from Pau and her mother, that knew of their plans was Concho Best.

The flight to Manila was uneventful, Jamil was wide-eyed as the small plane took off, he had a death grip on the armrest and also Dakar's hand, but as the plane smoothed out at altitude, like any teen boy, he was interested in what was going on around him.

In the three months, he had been with Dakar, his language had improved by leaps and bounds and he was proving to be an avid reader. Dakar had located a teen's version of Robinson Crusoe and Jamil had read it cover to cover, at least three times.

The first time, Dakar had to explain some of the terms in the book, but after that, Jamil read it on his own.

They again, spent the night in the Grand Manila Marriot Hotel and Jamil's eyes were bugged out in wonder. They had a buffet-style supper and Dakar showed the boy what he could eat and what Muslims should not eat.

Jamil loaded up his plate sufficient for a small army and proceeded to eat every bite!

Dakar was balancing Azam on his lap as he ate, and several waitresses oohed and ahhed at the baby boy, he was light-skinned with a reddish tinge to his hair and he giggled and cooed at everyone.

They had to get up early for their flight to Honolulu, they were checked in at the International Departures Terminal by 6 am. They had a little time, so everyone grabbed a light breakfast at a diner in the airport,

Carlos and Felipe took turns holding little Azam while Dakar got his food. Dakar looked at Jamil's plate and told him that he wondered if he was going to be able to afford to feed him.

He said with a big smile on his face, so the teen knew his Papa was joking with him.

As they passed through Immigration, Jamil proudly held up his American Passport for the officer to stamp it and then stood waiting while Dakar and Azam came through.

When they got out to the waiting room, the plane was already there, Jamil's eyes went huge as he saw that monstrous airplane sitting there. He was not at all sure he wanted to ride that thing, but if his Papa was going on it, he was determined to be with him.

Both boys had gotten up very early and Azam was asleep almost before Dakar had gotten his carrier strapped onto the seat. Dakar sat in the middle and Jamil was on the window, where he could see all the activity of loading the luggage and freight.

As the huge airplane taxied down the runway towards liftoff, Azam was asleep and Jamil had an ear-to-ear grin on his face. Both boys were good the whole flight, Azam got a little fussy and needed to be changed, Dakar thought he was going to have to fight the stewardess off in order to change his son's diapers!

Two meals were served, Jamil thought they tasted good, but he was looking for some more, that boy had a bottomless pit!

They landed in Honolulu just in time to catch the last flight to Hilo, Dakar had thought they would just run and catch the flight, but certain members of the Family Best had other ideas!

As Dakar and all the rest of the crew walked down the Arrivals Ramp, they were met with a crowd and a banner held up on two poles, "WELCOME HOME JAMIL AND AZAM"

The entire Hilo Office gang was there as were Hue and Daniel Best.

Standing out in front of the crowd was Pau Gorhli with a huge bunch of flowers and traditional leis, which she draped over Jamil and Azam. She picked up Jamil and planted a kiss on his face and called him son, she then insisted on holding Azam in her arms.

Poor Dakar's head was spinning in surprise and confusion, Pau whispered in his ear, "We need to talk!"

Concho announced that they had a whole wing at the Royal Hawaiian and transportation was waiting for them outside Baggage Reclaim.

When they got on the bus, Pau's Mother was sitting there with Lamma on her lap. Pau introduced Jamil to her Mother and little Lamma.

They spent the weekend relaxing in Honolulu, Pau's Mother watched both babies and Jamil was fascinated with the television, so Dakar and Pau slipped out for a little private time on the beach.

They were walking, hand in hand, down the warm beach and Pau turned to Dakar and said, "The answer is still yes."

Dakar replied, "When?" Pau clapped her hands and jumped in the air saying, "NEXT WEEK!"

Dakar groaned, "bu, bbbbut, how, ah"

Pau smiled, "Your Grandpapa will be here tomorrow, whom do you want for Best Man?" She continued, "The Cleric has already reserved the day for us!"

By now, poor Dakar's eyes were swirling, he had to sit down.

He said, "Can Mr. Concho be my Best Man?"

Pau replied, "Yup, he already said he would!"

Dakar laughed, "You got it all planned?"

Pau giggled, "Uh huh, Mom is going to watch the children and we are going to spend a week on Kauai with NO WORK! We are going to enjoy a whole week at Poipu Beach Boy Resort!"

The wedding went off without a hitch. The Old Colonel, Dakar's Grandfather made the wedding and reception.

His gift made both their eyes pop out of their heads.

Concho had held a brief meeting to summarize the Philippine Job before sending Dakar home to get ready for his wedding.

There were guests from all the islands and many from the mainland.

The small Muslim Community of Hilo was hard-pressed to provide for the wedding, but Concho had met with the Cleric and told him that Best Sons' Engineering would pay all the costs. The parade of cars going to the Hilo Airport jammed traffic throughout the small city.

As the happy couple got out of the limousine, Jamil, all done up in a new tuxedo and shiny patent leather shoes held up a bouquet nearly as big as himself and said, "Papa and Mama, we, Jamil and Azam and Lamma wish you happiness and prosperity for all of your lives. May Allah bless us all."

This is not the end of this wonderful family, the Best Boys and Best Sons' Engineering will continue their activities in the Pacific Basin and the Americas. Sometime in the future, we shall again visit yet another generation of this talented group of men who comprise FAMILY BEST in a new story, "QUICHEE".