Chapter 1 "The arrival"
Katie nervously gazed out the window as she clinched her husband's hand. He felt the perspiration on her fingers as the small private jet came to a stop. They heard the door being opened and the sound of the engines cutting off as Katie squeezed his hand tighter with each counting second.
Jeff tried to comfort her. "It's alright darling. We're here now."
"Jeff, I'm afraid. Can't we just tell them we changed our minds?"
Before Jeff could reply, a tall skinny black man appeared in the doorway of the plane and motioned for them to get up and follow him.
Jeff stood up first still holding onto his wife's hand as he helped her to her feet. He led her to the doorway and followed the tall black man down the short flight of steps.
It was daylight. The sun shinned brightly in the sky as they walked down the steps and looked around at their surroundings. They still wore their winter coats. It was snowing when they arrived at the small private airport in their small rural northern Michigan town.
The Island they were on was absolutely stunning. The tropical foliage was in bloom. The temperature was in the eighties. Jeff could see the resort just across the runway and quickly pointed it out to his wife.
"You see honey. It looks like everything they said it would."
Katie didn't appear to be so convinced yet. They stood looking around while another black man walked up to them.
"You must be Mr. & Mrs. Hopkins I presume?"
Katie shook her head as she replied. "Yes. That's us."
His attention seemed a little more focused on Katie as he gave her the once over from head to toe than starred over at Jeff for an instant.
"Both of you follow me this way."
Katie took hold of her husband's hand. They seemed so out of place still wearing those winter coats. They walked along a narrow path. Jeff couldn't help notice all the men working in the flower beds and trimming shrubs.
He also took note that they were all white and a good looking bunch of men. They stopped and starred at the couple as they walked past them. Jeff smiled at a few of them but they only turned their heads down to the ground when they passed them by.
They were getting closer to the main building. The black man seemed to be taking them around a side entrance. It was a service entrance. Jeff shook Katie's hand as they walked past a pool.
There were black men lounging around. Jeff noticed scantly clad blonde serving cocktails to a couple of black men. She looked like something from a pinup calendar. Jeff seen high heels and what looked like a corset with a garter attached with black stockings.
The finally entered the building through a service door. They saw two white men wheeling a cart with freshly cut fruit and vegetables walk by. Katie held onto Jeff's hand as they walked down a hallway.
Just before they were about to turn a corner, Katie pointed out an old fashion looking shoe shin area. Jeff walked a little slower as he starred at the three black men seating in the chairs. They were being serviced by three white men. One of the black men was smoking a cigar and reading a paper.
They finally arrived at a doorway marked humane resources. The man knocked than slowly opened the door and peered inside.
He was speaking to someone inside the room. "I have Mr. & Mrs. Hopkins for you."
The black guy turned and said. "This is where you'll be processed. They'll make sure all your needs are taken care of here."
Katie walked past the man thanking him as she walked into the room. Jeff just starred than followed Katie inside the doorway. Jeff saw a beautiful black woman standing up from her desk.
"Please come in. Why don't you take off those heavy coats?"
Jeff helped his wife with her coat as the woman walked over to meet them.
"Let me take those for you. I'll be putting them in storage along with your other personal belongings during your employment with us here at Eban."
Jeff handed her their coats and she paused just before she was about to turn away and extended her hand out to Katie first and said. "I'm Paula. I'll be the person assigned to you both during your stay here on the Island."
Jeff watched Paula sit the coats down and walk around her desk. She pointed to the two chairs in front of her desk.
"Please take a seat and we'll get started checking you in."
Katie sat down first. Jeff waited as he saw Paula opening a folder with a stack of papers.
"I see here you signed up for three years. That's not unusual. It's a very good choice I try to recommend it to all of our employees'."
Paula started shuffling through the papers and glanced up at Jeff and Katie as they waited patiently.
"You're both going to do very well with this plan. We'll be investing your money during your stay. You should have quiet a large sum when you're ready to leave us."
Jeff and Katie watched as Paula started using a calculator. Paul looked up and smiled at them smiling.
"You're going to have in the neighborhood of four million dollars at the end of your employment with us."
Katie looked over at her husband and reached out for his hand and smiled when she heard the news.
"I see here you folks pretty much have everything signed and in order."
Jeff nodded his head and said. "They had us complete all the forms when we signed up last month."
Paula smiled as she flipped through a few pages of the folder. She started writing than looked up at the couple saying.
"Could you please put all of your personal items on the desk here for me? That includes your purse, wallet, jewelry, cell phones or any other personal item you may have with you today."
Katie looked over at her husband as she started taking off her necklace than her earrings. Jeff put his wallet on the desk than emptied his pockets. Jeff wiggled his wedding band off his finger and looked over at his wife. Katie put her purse on the desk and all that remained for her was her engagement ring and wedding band. She was holding her right hand on those rings and finally started to wiggle them off.
Paula slid their personal items across her desk and put them in a small plastic box. She smiled up at the couple as she closed the lid.
"Your things will be safely locked in our vault."
Paula put the box on a little table behind her and turned around and laid out a new set of forms. She slid them toward the edge of the desk.
"I'm going to have you both read the front portion of these documents and then I'll ask you to sign all four copies for me."
Katie and Jeff started to read them. Katie almost chocked up and started to shake her head as she looked up at Paula.
"We don't want a divorce! We can't sign these papers!"
Jeff finished reading and looked over at his wife and took hold of her hand as he looked pleadingly at Paula for an explanation.
"Mr. & Mrs. Hopkins, I can assure you that this is strictly for legal purposes only. We require our entire staff here to follow through with this process."
Paula smiled and looked pleadingly at the couple.
"There are many legal reasons why we require you to file for a divorce. I can assure you that it will help you drastically tax wise once you're paid in full at the end of your employment here."
Katie read over one of the paragraphs again with tears in her eyes. She was holding hands with her husband as he stroked her fingers with his thumb.
