The Con Man Who Lost the Con
So there I was in Mazatlan, Mexico, last week. It was the evening of Dec. 25 and Pam had a bad cold and was planning to go to bed early. But first she decided to have a couple of tequila shooters that would supposedly help her cold and put her to sleep. She surprised me by knocking them back like a seasoned pro (I'd never seen her do this ever) and I found myself scrambling to keep up with her.
A few plastic cups later (in the lobby bar of our all-inclusive hotel), I was raring for a good time but Pam was already asleep in our room. I met a guy at the bar counter named Gary and he was on his own, too. Perfect! He had just called a cab and we decided to go cruise Mazatlan at night.
In the cab, right away he told me the sad sad story of how he'd lost his wife and two kids in "The Accident" three years ago. Of course I threw my arms around him and gave him a consoling hug. I was thinking, here was this poor poor man and he deserved to have a little fun in life. We went out to a few places that night, including Joe's Oyster Bar (which I highly recommend, by the way, if you're ever in Mazatlan). I did manage to keep myself intact that night without any major mishaps and I arrived back safely into the hotel room by around 1:00 a.m.
After that, Gary and Pam and I hung around here and there at the hotel during the day, and a couple of times out at night that week. I started noticing that he never really paid for anything. He did have the all-inclusive wrist band, so I knew he was a legitimate guest at the hotel. But every time we went out he had some complicated reason that he couldn't pay for the cab fare, or he didn't feel like eating, and he kept meaning to get to a bank machine but didn't get around to it. I also noticed that he was very personable and liked to be friendly with other female guests at our hotel.
The other weird thing was that he kept trying to get my address for some reason. He went out of his way to buy a disposable camera, take pictures while we were out, and insist that I give him my address so he could send the pictures to me. He mentioned this address thing many times to both Pam and me. It was becoming actually tedious. But when I inquired about where he lived, I could never get a straight answer. It had something to do with his job contracts. I gathered that he either lived in Nanaimo, Edmonton, or a small town outside of Jasper.
These tidbits of information swirled around at the back of my mind but never really pushed themselves forward until after I had a significant dream. In the dream, Gary cut off our cab driver's nose...yes I know I know, it's bizarre, but you have to understand that I'd watched Reservoir Dogs the week before!! So anyway, somehow in this dream I realized that Gary was an evil man in disguise, and that our cab driver, Rafael, was a great guy whom I could trust. When I woke up, I thought about everything and announced to Pam, "Gary is a con artist!"
After that, I watched Gary closely. He made friends with a young couple and one night we were all in Rafael's cab. I heard Gary drop "The Accident" line and look away sorrowfully. I thought, he's acting! He managed to get a free cab ride that night and I don't remember him paying for any drinks at the restaurant.
The day before he left, he asked Pam to borrow a pen and pushed a blank piece of paper at me, saying, "Write down your address for me so I can send you those pictures."
I answered levelly, "I'll give you my address after you show me your I.D."
He paused a second and then forced out a laugh, "Oh, I was going to bring my I.D. down, but I left it upstairs in my room, heh-heh."
I left that piece of paper sitting blank in between us and I offered nothing in reply. Soon afterward, he thought of a reason to leave the table and he melted away. We did see him a couple more times chatting up a young pretty mom who was at the hotel with her two sons, and we exchanged casual greetings once or twice, but clearly he had given up on us.
Normally I'm a very trusting person and I'm relieved that all Gary got out of me was a couple of free cab rides. I am glad that my brain was working out the answers while I slept. I do wonder what his true goal was, how he was planning to use my address. But ultimately I beat him at his game and I feel quite proud of myself.
A few plastic cups later (in the lobby bar of our all-inclusive hotel), I was raring for a good time but Pam was already asleep in our room. I met a guy at the bar counter named Gary and he was on his own, too. Perfect! He had just called a cab and we decided to go cruise Mazatlan at night.
In the cab, right away he told me the sad sad story of how he'd lost his wife and two kids in "The Accident" three years ago. Of course I threw my arms around him and gave him a consoling hug. I was thinking, here was this poor poor man and he deserved to have a little fun in life. We went out to a few places that night, including Joe's Oyster Bar (which I highly recommend, by the way, if you're ever in Mazatlan). I did manage to keep myself intact that night without any major mishaps and I arrived back safely into the hotel room by around 1:00 a.m.
After that, Gary and Pam and I hung around here and there at the hotel during the day, and a couple of times out at night that week. I started noticing that he never really paid for anything. He did have the all-inclusive wrist band, so I knew he was a legitimate guest at the hotel. But every time we went out he had some complicated reason that he couldn't pay for the cab fare, or he didn't feel like eating, and he kept meaning to get to a bank machine but didn't get around to it. I also noticed that he was very personable and liked to be friendly with other female guests at our hotel.
The other weird thing was that he kept trying to get my address for some reason. He went out of his way to buy a disposable camera, take pictures while we were out, and insist that I give him my address so he could send the pictures to me. He mentioned this address thing many times to both Pam and me. It was becoming actually tedious. But when I inquired about where he lived, I could never get a straight answer. It had something to do with his job contracts. I gathered that he either lived in Nanaimo, Edmonton, or a small town outside of Jasper.
These tidbits of information swirled around at the back of my mind but never really pushed themselves forward until after I had a significant dream. In the dream, Gary cut off our cab driver's nose...yes I know I know, it's bizarre, but you have to understand that I'd watched Reservoir Dogs the week before!! So anyway, somehow in this dream I realized that Gary was an evil man in disguise, and that our cab driver, Rafael, was a great guy whom I could trust. When I woke up, I thought about everything and announced to Pam, "Gary is a con artist!"
After that, I watched Gary closely. He made friends with a young couple and one night we were all in Rafael's cab. I heard Gary drop "The Accident" line and look away sorrowfully. I thought, he's acting! He managed to get a free cab ride that night and I don't remember him paying for any drinks at the restaurant.
The day before he left, he asked Pam to borrow a pen and pushed a blank piece of paper at me, saying, "Write down your address for me so I can send you those pictures."
I answered levelly, "I'll give you my address after you show me your I.D."
He paused a second and then forced out a laugh, "Oh, I was going to bring my I.D. down, but I left it upstairs in my room, heh-heh."
I left that piece of paper sitting blank in between us and I offered nothing in reply. Soon afterward, he thought of a reason to leave the table and he melted away. We did see him a couple more times chatting up a young pretty mom who was at the hotel with her two sons, and we exchanged casual greetings once or twice, but clearly he had given up on us.
Normally I'm a very trusting person and I'm relieved that all Gary got out of me was a couple of free cab rides. I am glad that my brain was working out the answers while I slept. I do wonder what his true goal was, how he was planning to use my address. But ultimately I beat him at his game and I feel quite proud of myself.
posted by Tracey at
8:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home