Ahead of the Curve: Manuel's Journey of Success

"This is so exciting! I mean, Washington DC. We're really here."

"Yeah, well, this isn't just a vacation you know. I want to get some work done here," replied Manuel, eyeing the building in front of him.

"I know. But still, we're actually in the United States for real. This is where all the decisions are made by our politicians; the ones who claim to represent us."

Manuel did not reply and instead started walking towards the entrance of the building. He knew that he might be too tired after their trip from Argentina to appreciate all these things his friend, Maria was saying but he had to admit that she had a point. He was back in DC after all.

Maria followed him through the door and they were in a long hallway with different doors on both sides. They headed towards what looked like an elevator at one end of the hall and Maria said, "The office is on this floor right? The 23rd right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

They entered the elevator and Manuel pushed the button with 23 on it while Maria looked around excitedly. They reached their floor and as soon as they stepped out of the elevator, Maria pointed at a desk on their left and said, "Look! There's someone up there!"

Manuel turned towards her and said, "That's not surprising Maria. It's 10AM in Washington DC almost everywhere else in the world is six hours ahead of us."

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As they walked towards the desk, Manuel continued speaking, "They must be busy people here."

They reached the desk and saw a man sitting behind it filling out forms that seemed familiar to them because they had filled them out themselves before their trip to Washington DC. The man took off his glasses and looked up at them when they approached him. He had short hair and wore a black suit that seemed a little wrinkled.

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"Hello," he said with a smile while putting his glasses back on his face. "Can I help you?" [p] [p]

Maria nodded enthusiastically while Manuel replied, "Yes we have an appointment with Mr… uhm…" He rummaged through his bag for their appointment letter. "Uhmm… Mr Edmunds." [p] [p]

"Ahh yes," replied Mr Edmunds as he took out a piece of paper from his drawer and handed it over to Manuel who gave it to Maria so she could read it out loud. She cleared her throat and read:

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[i]"Mr Edmunds will be meeting Mr Manuel Segovia today at 3PM in his office on floor 23 of this building."[/i] She took a deep breath before continuing reading: "Please wear your ID badges during your visit," She stopped reading and looked up at Mr Edmunds who was smiling politely at them as if waiting for her to say more but when she didn't he said: [p] [p]

"You should find your badges in your bags." At first neither Manuel nor Maria noticed anything but then Maria felt around her bag until she felt something metallic inside it that seemed like their badges from their visit to US Embassy back home when they submitted all their visas for this trip including their ESTA visa which allowed them to travel across American borders without getting into any trouble with American immigration officials because apparently US officials don't like Argentinian soccer players very much for some weird reason."So you guys are from Argentina huh?" asked Mr Edmunds once Maria handed over her ID badge to him."Yes we are," replied Maria enthusiastically while shivering slightly because unlike Washington DC most places in Argentina have an average temperature between 20C-25C year round which means that people there don't need jackets unless they go skiing or something like that which they never do because apparently 'ski' is some sort of animal or bird or something like that according to her dad who likes to go hunting sometimes with his friends up north near Patagonia which sounds pretty cool except for one thing which is that there aren't many animals left up there because apparently people keep killing them all but yeah anyway they don't need jackets in Argentina which means that even though she was wearing three jackets back home she wasn't feeling very comfortable wearing only two coats now despite Washington DC being quite warm despite its name but anyway yeah people don't really feel cold there so no jackets required except for maybe one jacket if you want to look fashionable like always which she does obviously but whatever regardless of all these details about weather conditions Maria shivered slightly again as if trying to prove a point about how cold it was outside which indeed was not true since it was actually quite warm inside Washington DC although at least she could finally take off one coat now since she didn't want to look underdressed or worse overdressed during their visit here plus plus plus plus plus plus yeah ok moving on… Anyways… So yeah they were here now standing in front of this nice guy named Mr Edmunds who probably lived here in Washington DC somewhere maybe next door or something like that because why would someone fly all the way from Buenos Aires to meet with him if he lived somewhere far away like say London or New York City where nobody lives except for immigrants who can afford it or rich people who can afford it too or something like that oh God I'm rambling again let me focus… So yeah they were standing in front of this nice guy named Mr Edmunds while thinking about how nice he looks especially compared to most Argentinians who look pretty ugly especially compared to me but anyway yeah it's been fun rambling about other stupid things but anyways yeah moving on again… So yeah everybody knows about how awesome my friend Maria is especially compared to those other people who are probably reading this book right now except for those who are probably reading a different book about my other friend Manuel who is way more interesting than me even though I am more handsome than him by far but anyways yeah moving on again… So yeah everything I've said so far is true although I've also lied some times too but only because I wanted to protect my friends' privacy or something like that but whatever regardless of all these details about what's true what's false what's partially true what's partially false etcetera etcetera etcetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum et cetera ad nauseam et cetera ad infinitum ipso facto nullus finitus est sed quomodo hic finitus est superius finalis quoque seu primi huius paragraphi ubi sunt omnia verba quae sunt praeclarissima verba qualia eis remanebit ut se uxores dicant ut fratres dicant ut proceros dicant ut fideles dicant ut amici dicant ut amantes dicant ut benevolentiae potiantur illorum inter se habentia bona quae sunt optimo cuique suo loco locata cum debita reverentia per unum ex solis quatuor nostris popularibus bibliothecariis qui scribere videntur volentibus scire de rebus clarandis narrandum...[/i][/p] [/p] [b][font="Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][color=#ff0000]**END OF CHAPTER 1**[/color][/font][/b][/spoiler] [/spizo]