Sixth installment

Later that afternoon I telephoned Paula and told her that I would take her out for a special meal at a hotel in Bizovac called 'Termia' as it was very good and had two restaurants, I told her to dress up and that I would pick her up at about seven. Once I put the phone down I asked Ernie if I could borrow on one of the cars for the night as I was going to take Paula out for a meal and to my surprise he agreed, saying that I had to bring the car back by tomorrow night but that was no problem, it gave me nearly twenty four hours to be with Paula, so off I went to get ready. It was almost seven thirty when I eventually arrived at her flat, she was waiting along with the girl from downstairs who we were going to give a lift to Bizovac as she and her boyfriend were going to a wedding party, we arrived at the hotel to find the car park full so I decided to park on the pavement so after negotiating my way in between parked cars I stopped and we got out, I couldn't lock the car but that didn't matter as who was going to steal this old car. We entered the hotel and headed for the 'national restaurant' as this was normally the quieter of the two restaurants but found it to be full as there was a wedding party going on there as well as in the main restaurant but after a few minutes we found a table and sat down, it was very noisy as we were only a few meters away from the band but that didn't matter, I was hear to enjoy myself with the help of Paula and a good meal. We ordered drinks and a fish dish that she knew was good, we talked while waiting for our meal about trivial things like the way the people opposite were dancing but Paula explained it was a classical way to dance and quiet different to a wedding party in Great Britain, I apologized for my ignorance and took a drink feeling a little bit stupid, but that was me always opening my mouth before my brain was engaged. The rest of the night passed smoothly enough with us both enjoying it especially when a friend of ours from the local pizza restaurant in Osijek decided to grace us with his company, he loved speaking to us as it gave him a chance to practice his english and tell us his views on the war, his name was Doug and he was a fat and friendly fellow, he was one of those people that was always laughing and making fun of someone or another, the main target was his boss who also spoke a little english, they had both been in a group before the war and were reasonably successful there name was 'zlatki dukati' and were reasonable successful in Croatian tearms. The three of us were then joined by the owner or lead singer, I ordered them a drink and we sat chatting and laughing but like all good things it had to come to an end as we had to get back to Osijek. We said our goodbyes after eventually managing to drive the car off the pavement and onto the road. We arrived back to a quiet Osijek and after having a cup of coffee we went to bed, it didn't take me long to fall asleep especially after the days activities and the drink. The following morning I awoke to find Paula already up, she had made breakfast and ate it quickly as I was always hungry in the morning. When we had finished I showed her the article that I had wrote and she said it was good, she told me that she had a friend in the local newspaper who just happened to be one of the sub editors and that we should go and see her. We arrived at her office which was because of the war had been transferred to the basement, we went downstairs to find her sitting at her computer, Paula told her why we were there and showed her the article, she said that she would have to ask her main editor but that there would be no problems in having it printed the following week, we left saying thanks and would expect her call. It was now early afternoon so I took Paula home and left for the base, it had been a great twenty four hours off but now I was back to reality, even if I didn't want to.