Joe sat down in a sandwich shop in the airport. He was a little hungry. He placed his two small bags in front of him and and stretched his legs out on them. He knew that his legroom on the plane would be limited to some degree.

His bags were well used but not well traveled. He had little chance to see the world until this adventure appeared before him as his honeymoon. He had Suzan to thank for that and a broken heart that was slowly mending, if nothing else.

He leaned back in his plastic chair and looked up into the the high ceiling of the airport terminal and spied the gigantic beams crossing under it. They looked like a giant spider web. They reminded him of St.Patrick’s Cathedral. He had been there a few times as a child on school outings. His family had no religious affiliation to speak of though he thought his mother might have been a Catholic at one time in her life.

The beams were a stark white with large blue squares between them. Sunlight penetrated the clear skylights in the daytime sending shafts of bright light into the terminal and lighting it up brightly. But now a starry sky could be seen through them after the rain had washed them into clear, colossal, sparkling, lenses. The night sky was now visible in several giant skylights in Jos’s field of vision, high above him.

Charlene had arrived in a black town car. It was sparkling clean and ran as silent as any car she had ever ridden in. The driver was in uniform with a low profile, black hat. He was dressed in all black, matching his car. He had said nothing to Charlene after she told him to “take me to La Guardia Airport, please.”

He was hard to read from the back seat. Charlene could only see his eyes in the rear view mirror. They seemed to be kind eyes. She had seen many harsh faces in her day and the part of his face she saw seemed kind.

The car was soon on the express way. It was traveling faster than she had expected. It would put her at the airport in plenty of time for her international flight. That pleased her. “Better early than late,” she thought. She checked her phone and found the gate information there quickly.

“I’m on Emirates Airlines, flight 231 to Rwanda at the international terminal, of course.” “Fine miss, we will arrive there shortly.” The driver seemed genuinely pleasant and helpful. She was relieved at that. “Some drivers are so rude,” she thought to herself.

Charlene always took a limousine to the airport. Her father had asked her to do that for her safety.

His wealth had helped to smooth out many obstacles and problems from Charlene’s path in life. This was one of the things her father had done to make her life easier.

He had been absent for many years in her early life and so their attachment was somewhat precarious. She knew he was trying but it was still hard for her to be open with him. She felt closer to her mother, even though she knew her father had interceded often to make sure she was safe. Charlene was trying to work at being closer to her father. She wasn’t a daddy’s girl at the moment but hoped to become one someday.

Charlene’s car arrived at the drop off area for international departures. She sat and waited for the driver to open her door on the passenger side of the car. The large man pushed the release button for the trunk and climbed out of the car. He quickly walked around the front of the car and opened Charlene’s door. He moved quicker and was more agile than Charlene had expected. She watched him and could see that he was very fit. Perhaps more fit than necessary.

He lifted the trunk lid up with a quick movement and pulled Charlene’s bags form the rear of the car as if they were empty. Charlene handed the man his tip and walked off with a bag in each hand. They seemed heavy to her.

A white Bentley pulled up behind Charlene’s limo but she was too occupied to notice. Chad and Suzan sat in the rear of the car.

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Yes, I do work on Sundays often.

I hope you are enjoying this saga so far.

I am taking a day off from tennis on Monday. I played four days this week plus handball on Friday. My body is talking to me.

I will post more of this tale on Monday.