The end of Chapter 4 was aded on to the previous posting.

Chapter 5 – The friendly sounding woman who answered the phone had an accent. Joe thought that it might be British.

“Hello, this is The Active Travel Agency. Nancy Black here. Who am I speaking with and how may I help you?”

“This is Joseph Monroe. I need to change my travel plans for my Africa trip. It’s coming up in four weeks. My secretary has been talking to Nancy Duffy over the last few months. She’s been helping me make my plans and now I have a change that needs to be made. Is that possible? It was to be my honeymoon, but that has been called off now. My secretary is named Charlene.”

The woman on the other end of the call remained silent, listening. “Sorry to hear that,” the sweet voice over the phone responded. “I still have the the vacation time and if I don’t use it I’ll loose it. Is it possible to still go on this trip to Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania as a single and receiver half of my money back? I have to go alone now.?”

Just a moment Mr. Monroe, let me check on your file. I will be back in a few seconds. For a moment the line went dead. The woman came back on the line quickly and spoke to Joe.

“Well, Mr. Monroe, I see the notes about your trip here on Nancy’s desk. We have your trip leaving on the Monday of the last week of this month and a back up date of next month as well. Rwanda is a pre trip extension. You must book that separately. Oh, I see your secretary has done that already. She is a clever girl. There are already two spots reserved on both trips. You still have time to change the reservations if you need to. We can still refund the money for the second ticket if you wish. It’s getting close to the rainy season down there and these last two trips will fill up quickly.”

Yes, I wish to go this month and to cancel the reservations for the next trip. I will be going alone so just refund the money for the second ticket.” “Not a problem, let me enter that into the computer and see what happens. Just a moment please.” “Thanks so much Ms. Black. Joe waited as the line went silent once more.

Joe had little family and no pllans for the holidays with anyone special now. So that wasn’t going to be an issue. His only problem had been getting the time off from work and that had been settled easily. Joe tried to picture the face that went along with the voice on the phone. He saw a pretty face with a fair complexion and blonde hair.

The phone remained silent except for the playing in the background. It wasn’t bad. Eighties rock tunes do with no lyrics. Joe didn’t like being put on hold but the music helped. It was slightly, less annoying. In a few moments there was a click on the line and the woman with the sweet voice came back on the line. You’re all set. We only take twelve people on these particular trips and they fill up quickly. You are going as a single then?” We need to know that as soon as possible.” “Yes, I’m going as a single.” “Just another minute then.” The line went silent again and the music came back on.

Alright Mr. Monroe, your all set for the last week of November. You are a single and the difference will be credited to your credit card. Is there anything else I might help you with?” “If I find another person to travel with me will they be able to get a ticket for the same week?” “We can’t guarantee that, but the sooner they book thew trip, the better, would be my advice. You’ll be going as a single if I don’t her from you by the end of the week.” “Fine and thanks so much for your help.”

Chapter 6

Mary Slater sat at the bar waiting for here best girlfriend, Suzan, to arrive. They were to meet at The Primrose at 8:00pm. They hadn’t seen each other for a month of Sundays. They had both been busy with their respective livers. Their lives were very different for each other’s now, but both very hectic. Mary was happy that Suzan had finally settled down with a nice man. mary had been married for sometime now and had two small children.

Mary was wearing her best black cocktail dress and those red, eye catching shoes that she loved so much. She wore bright red lipstick and had lots of jewelry hanging from her writs. Her husband was loaded, treated her like a queen and spent gads of money on her. She was deteremind to make the best of this ride for as long as it lasted.

Roy was a little too old for her or so she had thought. She had dated better looking men. But a girl had to look out for her future and Roy looked pretty good from where she was at at the time. They had dated for six months and soon her closet was filled with with all sorts of new, expensive clothing and shoes. Her jewelry box was in need of replenishment then too. Soon it was overflowing. Most of her former inventory had been costume jewelry, not the good stuff. That had seriously changed after their marriage.

The stock market had been good to Roy these last few years and the trickle down economics that so many talk about in the parers had trickled down to her at long last. Roy seemed serious at first and that scared her a little but Mary was keeping her options open as Roy sold his everyday at work. She had heard of these things but had little idea of what they all were. Stocks and bonds were a mystery to her early on in their relationship. After several months passed, she had gone to the library to gain some insight into what he exactly did. Now after several years of marriage she had a good working knowledge of what it was that he did. At the end of the day it didn’t matter. His work was still a bit of a mystery to her but he had a great income and they lived very well. When he asked her to marry him after a year of dating, she jumped at the chance.

Suzan Drake saw her best girlfriend Mary sitting in the bar through the large frosted windows as she walked by The Primrose. Even before entering, she thought that Mary looked better than the last time they had met for drinks and a meal.

Suzan was dressed in her best suit. She pulled the heavy wooden door open by the long brass bar and walked in.

The noise from the busy traffic outside was silenced as soon as the heavy door closed behind her. She handed her winter coat to the girl in the cloak room next to the front door, walked ten steps down the entry way toward the bar and Mary.

The large bar filled with well dressed men and women came into her field of view as she turned to her left and walked down two steps. The bar was decorated with posters of the many plays that played over and over in New York City’s great theater district nearby. That seemed to be the theme of the bar. There were many autographed photographs of well known stars that had dropped in after their shows over the years. The “Prim Rose had become institution of sorts and had come to be filled with photos from several generations of actors. They were hanging everywhere. Suzan recognized many of them. She was an avid theater goer as her mother was.

Fresh flowers sat scattered around the room on many tables and on the back bar. The large room was twice as long as it was wide with the bar running the entire length of the dark, wood floored room. Tables for two and four people were lined up along the three remaining walls as well as in the center of the grand room.

“Mary, you look great,” Suzan said as they embraced and did the fake kissing thing that girls often do. “So do you sweetheart, climb up her on this stool that I saved for you and join me. Susan slid gracefully on to the red stool and settled in, tucking her dress in under her.

“What do you want to drink Susan?” “A dirty martini, of course. I see you are still a martini girl.” “Yes darling,” Suzan answered with her sweet. low pitched voice, “the dryer the better. You know you can’t be too thin or drink a martini that is too dry, Mary. “What’s new since last we met?” “Oh the usual. Chad and I are are still going strong. I think he might be the one. It’s been almost two months now.” The two women laughed at the remark and each took a drink. “I would like to meet him soon Suzan. I hope I’ll like him.What else have you been up to?” “Well this thing with Chad is working out alright at the moment and I’m busy at work, of course. There’s no stopping things at the office.” “Have you heard from Joe?”

“Oh god no. I’m sure he hates me with a power that is immeasurable. Everything was settled when I walked out. Theres no doubt about that for either of us. It was all made very clear, I think. I guess he thinks things ended badly and for little good reason from his perspective, but I’ve moved on. It’s just too bad that Chad doesn’t turn me on like Joe did. But Chad’s loaded and that’s worth something at the end of the day, right?” Mary smiled and nodded her head. Her hair swayed as she moved her head. “The sex isn’t awful and sometimes it’s great. Sadly the chemistry just isn’t there like it was Joe. But I’m not getting any younger and times a wasting if you know what I mean.”

“I sure do Suzan, our kids are growing like the weeds in the cracks in the sidewalk in front of our old apartment building.” These two women had been friends for years and lived near each other for ever.

“Do you think Chad wants to marry you?” “He’s been making noises in that direction. I think a proposal is just around the corner and I don’t know what I’m going to do. This new relationship hasn’t been going on very long but I think he might be the one. He makes a ton of money and my parents like that about him.”

“Well Suzan, if it’s coming soon, you probably need to be ready with an answer. Why wouldn’t he ask you to marry him? Your beautiful, have great cheek bones and your as smart as a whip.”

The women talked for an hour or so and had one more drink before Suzan had to catch the subway home. They hugged and Mary caught a cab home.

Roy gave her a large allowance every week for extras and cab fare. He didn’t want her riding the subway anymore. Things had gotten a little out of control on the subways these days. Mary reached home at 11:30 and the door man let her in.

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More to come tomorrow

Don’t forget that, “The Bad Seed,” my new crime drama is now available with many other of my novels on Amazon.

“Sunrise, Sunset,” my book of short stories and “Kazu, son of Osheda Kamasaki,” my Asian historical fiction novel are now available on Audible.