Chapter 15
Joe stood behind the yellow line of tile laid on the concrete waiting area of the subway for less than ten minutes. Soon a gush of cold air hit him in the face and announced the imminent arrival of his train. It stopped with each door opening at the exact same time at a small circle on the floor.
The half glass doors slid back to reveal a nearly empty compartment of the train. One man sat nearly asleep in a distant corner dressed in old overalls and worn down work boots. Three young girls sat nearby in what appeared to be Catholic School uniforms. He wondered who decided years ago that those Catholic girls should always pleated skirts and why? They really weren’t that modest, or so he thought.
The train rattled and hissed as it started toi move away from the century old station. The girls talked in a highly animated fashion while the older man seemed oblivious to the world moving quickly around him.
After a few moments with a little wind wafting through the car, Joe realized why the man could sleep so soundly through the noise of the girls and the train. He was intoxicated. A bottle of wine had come out from under his seat and rolled out on the floor and stopped, up against his feet.
Joe sat swaying to the motion of the train and thinking.
“Where was Suzan and her husband going on their honeymoon? Will I ever find another woman who will love me? What is this Charlene all about? She’s attractive but it all seems a little too complicated for things to work out as one might hope with her working in the office.”
Joe had thought that he had made it very clear that this was to be a platonic vacation for the both of them. “Was that a mistake,” he now wondered.
Light came through the windows of the train as it came out of a long tunnel and into the station at the airport. He stood up quickly when it stopped and started upstairs on the long escalator to check the flight boards to see what gate he needed to wait at. The air was cold and his breath looked like steam as he breathed. The three girls and the drunk stayed on the train. He looked back as he left the train with a worried face but soon decided that the three girls could make easy work of the drunk.
Charlene got into her town car quickly when it arrived. The air was cold. She had arranged the car herself. She had come down to wait in the large, warm, lobby of her building.
The front of the building was made of large sheets of thick glass and offered a great view of the street on front of it. It was lit with headlights and signs of all sorts as far a she could see. She saw the limousine pull up in the front portico of the building.
The large, well dressed, doorman carried her luggage to the car. The trunk lid had been popped before he got out f the long black car. The driver helped Suzan into the car as the bellman loaded the three expensive pieces of Gucci luggage into the trunk. It nearly filled the large trunk. She had two large suitcases and a smaller one plus a soft bag that she carried herself. it sat next to her as they pulled away.
Suzan was dressed to the nines with a long, thick, blue, overcoat covering her stylish outfit. It was a very expensive coat. Her father gave her an allowance that had let her live in the style that she had become accustomed to. Her salary alone wasn’t enough to keep her living in her comfortable surroundings.
Joe had no idea who her father was or that Suzan’s family had money. He came from the other side of the tracks, if the truth be known.
He had worked his way through school and finally landed this current job after several years. It was his best so far since leaving school. He had started out in the mail room of another publisher and then a friend had found him a spot higher up on the ladder. It had all worked out better than he had expected. The job wasn’t what Joe saw as his final stop on his career journey but it was a step up for him, even if Suzan wasn’t happy with it. He thought about her and clenched his fist. “She was such a hand full, why did I put up with her crap?”
He knew why. she had shown interest in him and made it easy for him to approach her. He fell into her trap, gladly. He would be more careful next time. he didnp;t know that he was now on the precipice of another love affair at the moment.
After thirty-five minutes, Charlene arrived at the airport. She climbed out of the car after the driver opened the door for her. She tipped him as a man came for her luggage and her with a trolley. “I’m on TWA Flight 21. Do you have any idea which gate I need to go to?” “No miss, butlet’s get inside out of the cold and I’ll find out for you.
They ambled into the cavernous airport and soon found a sign with with all of the flights listed. “Looks like gate fifteen is the one you need miss.” “Thanks, you’ve been a great help.” She pressed a five dollar bill into his hand. A buck was a great tip these days and she had given him five. He would have to tell his work buddies about this young woman.
Well, Charlene travels better than her boss. That’s an interesting development.
How will Joe react to this?
More tomorrow.
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