More of Chapter Five and some of Six.

Unlike Charlene and Suzan who had wealthy parents, Joe had grown up in the Bronx under tough circumstances. That had made him resilient if not a little pessimistic about life.

He had hidden in the Bronx Museum more than once to escape a beating from kids in the neighborhood who didn’t like him at the moment.

Chapter Six

Suzan had always wanted Joe to have a larger apartment. The one she lived in was good for now and the rent was cheap.

Joe’s apartment was very small and a third floor walk up. She spent a few nights there each month but it never felt like her own.

Suzan’s dreams put her in a newer building, higher up with a grand view of the city and maybe even Central Park. Joe had promised her more than once that, ” it would come in time.” She wasn’t too and Suzan’s sure about that and her time table was not the same as Joe’s.

She was in a hurry and already had her eye on a gentleman she had met at a function dealing with her work. She thought he had possibilities. The Tall man in the perfectly fitting suit looked like he was going places.

His clothes were sharp and expensive, unlike Joe’s. He clearly had a bright future ahead of him no matter what he did. He was selling stocks and bonds in his father’s firm at the moment. That looked pretty good to Suzan at first glance.

Suzan had little understanding of business but that didn’t matter as long as he did. She had already gone out with him three times while engaged to Joe. Joe had been unaware of this of course.

Joe moved out of the chair and on to the couch as the sun set. He continued to thumb through the National Geographic and reread the interesting article about travel in East Africa. He now understood why Suzan had been so adamant about going there for their honeymoon.

The article mentioned the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, the elephants in Kenya and all the assorted animals in Tanzania. It was that article that had first captured Suzan’s interest in Africa to start with.

Joe had worked on the high school newspaper and on one in college. He was no stranger to using a camera, either. A crazy thought suddenly came into his head.

Why not go on this long vacation anyway?” he thought as he looked closer at the magazine. “I’ll pitch the idea about a few travel articles or a book on travel to the boss and see what he thinks.”

“I have already paid for the trip, so what the,” he thought. I’m caught up with my projects now for almost a month. That big Jones deal wasnp;t comiing up until after the new year,” he remebered.

“The marriage to Suzan is history now so why not? I’ll use this trip to start to start writing gain. I’ll also use the time to get over the loss of Suzan and our life together as well.”

Joe looked at the calendar and studied the dates of jhis weeks off that he had set aside for te honeymoon. He had friends in the magazine business, or what was left of it anyway and some with internet literary connections. Perhaps he could write a travel article with some of his photos included along with some of his photos included along with it while on vacation as well and make a few bucks while having a grand adventure.

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Sounds like a great idea Joe.

What could go wrong?