we never got around to that that night -- there was time enough during the next year for me to put together the bits and pieces he dropped , time enough for me to get a fairly coherent picture of his growing up poor with his panamanian parents working for the canal zone company , of his joining the american army after they both died ( he in an accident on the gatun locks and she by suicide ) so hed be sent to a good college in the states , trained and fed and clothed better than his heritage had led him to expect , and of his time in asia and his recruitment and his eventual transfer back to his homeland -- but we bought each other a few rounds and at his suggestion we headed for rainbow city , colons roughest and poorest section , to finish off the evening .