A short while later Xavier sat, speeding down through the heart of London in the Mayfair district, behind the wheel of his expensive new automobile; which he had eagerly accepted from his sister,whom he was taking to dinner at Wheeler's of St. James off Piccadilly, the finest seafood restaurant in all of England. Felina had never been and she enjoyed the ride through Green Park adjacent to Buckingham Palace Gardens all wet with the unyielding rain. Felina was glad she had made her brother so happy with her gift. So they arrived at the famous restaurant, which had been at 72-73 St. James Street since 1856, both were ravenous as they sat at their well appointed table, Felina opened up her menu at once and, forgoing all pleasantries with her waiter, she began a long list of items she required for her and her brother's sustenance. For it was nearly six o'clock, twelve hours since they last ate breakfast. However the waiter did not know this, he was too astonished the petite, beautiful woman could order so much food. "Start us off with two pints of Fullers London Pride, and for our appetizers.., 1 Salad of Cornish crab, 2 prawn cocktails, 2 bisque of crab Newburg, an order of smoked salmon with brown bread and butter." Felina paused for a moment to let the server catch up "Xavier, how does grilled Dover sole a la salamadre with Swede puree and buttered spinach sound for me, and pour vous.., grilled lobster with herbs and Bearnaise sauce?"
"Yes!" Xavier said his mouth watering as she spoke.
"Yes, everything I just said and what ever my brother would like." Felina gave a warm smile to her lovely waiter who would take the utmost care of her service at the, beyond expensive, fine dining establishment.
After a few pints of Fullers and a bit of easy conversation between plates of exquisite cuisine Xavier sat back in his chair gazing out the window to the street where he saw his shiny new sports car beading up with water from the rain. Xavier turned and looked at his sister with her big brown eyes and soft rosy cheeks, then she smiled when he said "Thank you again Felina for buying a car for me. You are the best sister a brother could ever have, but tell me?" he paused taking a sip of his ice water. "What have I done to deserve this?"
Felina laughed a little and said "Nothing.., yet." she gave a coy look.
"And there it is! I can feel the pull of the little string attached to your benevolence and generosity, my dear, sweet sister." Xavier shook his head hoping her request would not be so bad.
"I need for you to change your name." she said plainly.
Xavier was not sure he heard her correctly "Change my,"
"Yes." Felina interrupted. "Westernize it."
The two sat across the table from one another looking into each other's eyes, Xavier could see his sister's mind working like a finely tuned watch, she was setting the gears in motion for something, but Xavier could never be sure which direction he would be pulled, so he asked the most important question ever devised "Why?"
Felina leaned over the table a little, as a dead serious look came over her face, as if they were in both great peril "As you know, our dear friend will not be able to be with us for a very long time.., and just in case our friend lets some information slip." she sighed and shook her head "For if the wrong word goes in the right ear.., well that always proves to disastrous. Believe me brother, by doing this you will help yourself in more ways than one."
"Go on." Xavier said with a hint of consternation.
"You will be entering one of the most cut throat industries, the world of high finance, stocks, the markets and with a foreign sounding name like..," she paused seeing Xavier had taken a bit of offense with her statement. "All I can say is, if you stay in London or work on Wall Street, you are in a very prejudice business. Listen, Xavier people are racist all over the world, whether we like it or not." Felina tried to focus her meaning for him to clearly understand "I have traveled all over the world, as you well know, and the majority of men I have met, say we will begin with the Englishmen, who hate Scotsmen, who hate the English, who hate the French, who hate the Germans, who hate the Americans, who hate the Mexicans, who hate the Americans, who hate the Canadians etc.. etc... etc..." she threw her hands up in disgust, then she sharpened her eyes upon him like a sharp eyed eagle locking target on it's prey " So I ask you brother, on a business card, who do you think would get more calls and pull more clients in New York, London, Paris, Munich? Senor Diaz or Mr.Day?"
This thought had never even fucking occurred to Xavier Antonio de la Rosa Diaz, but it only made sense, based on the way he was treated when he was relegated to being just an average, poor foreign student living in a dorm. Xavier knew money could overcome any prejudice, but now he realized that formula only worked at school. In the real world, where vast sums of money and corporations were concerned, name was everything, just like a brand. Xavier mulled this over as his sister ordered desert then he sighed and said "Well, yes I guess that makes sense."
"Well it's coming out of my mouth! Of course it makes sense!" Felina gloated. "Now I have the forms here for you." she said taking the papers from her snakeskin purse. "Now I filled everything out, see."
Xavier looked at the documents neatly written by Felina's hand, all the spaces were filled, except for the space for the New Name. "What can I change my name to?"
"Well, we can change Diaz to Day, that is easy enough" Felina said entering Day for his new last name. "The rest you can think about later, however, I leave on Friday so you must have at least decided on a first name. Also I need a copy of your passport and student I.D. I can obtain a copy of your birth certificate from the university student records office tomorrow. So Mr.Day? Ready for a sherry trifle and poached pears in cream?"
So it was the two had a wonderful delicious dinner together retiring back to Felina's hotel room to hang out with each other and watch a bit of t.v. Felina went over every detail of Norman's hearing with Xavier who was shocked to learn of her morning visit to the courtroom. It did Xavier's heart good to know she had gone in his place to see Norman off. Xavier made her tell the story over again, so she told the story to him three or four more times. A little after ten o'clock Felina was interrupted by her brother's light snoring, as he had fallen asleep with his head on the pillows, next to her in bed. Felina leaned over turning off the light wondering what the future would hold for her brother, just barely 20 years old, with his whole life ahead of him. She could never foresee where his life would lead, but Felina had made a promise to herself, and God, that she would always do whatever must be done to keep her brother safe from harm. Oh our dear, sweet, Felina, if only she could know what the cruel Fates had devised for her future, the suffering, the heartache and the loss of lives, perhaps she would have not slept so soundly that night.
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