Chapter Eighteen

Joe stood behind the yellow line on the tile landing in the subway for less than five minutes waiting for the number two subway to the M60 Select Bus Service to LaGuardia.

Soon a gush of wind hit him in the face and announced the imminent arrival of the trian. It stopped with each door opening at a round marker on the concrete floor.

The half glass doors slid open to a nearly empty compartment. One man sat nearly asleep in a distant corner dressed in old overalls and work boots. Three young girls sat nearby in what appeared to be Catholic School uniforms. Joe wondered who had decided years ago that Catholic girls should always wear pleated skirts and why. They really weren’t that modest or so he thought.

The train rattled and hissed as it started to move away from the centuries old station. The girls talked in a highly animated fashion while the older man seemed oblivious to the world moving quickly past 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 rolled back and forth on the train’s floor between his feet.

Joe sat swaying with the motion of the train, thinking.

“Where are 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 ton work out as one might hope with her working in the office.”

Joe had made it pretty clear that this was to be a very platonic vacation for the both of them. “Was that a mistake,” he wondered?

Bright lights flashed through the windows of the train as it pulled out of a long tunnel and came up above ground at the airport. Joe stood up quickly when the train stopped and exited past the girls. He headed upstairs on the long escalator to catch his bus to the airport.

He looked around and saw the M60 went to all terminals. He waited for a few moments and hopped on to the bus when it arrived.

The drunk and the girls stayed on the train. Joe looked back as he left with a worried face but decided the three girls would make easy work of the drunk if necessary.

Charlene got into her town car when it arrived. She had arranged for it herself.

She had come down stairs to wait in the large, warm, lobby of her building. The front of the building was all glass and offered a good view of the street. She saw the limousine pull up to the front portico of her building as she sat waiting.

The large, well dressed doorman carried her luggage to the long, black car. The trunk lid popped as up as they approached. The driver helped Suzan into the car as the doorman dropped three pieces of Gucci luggage into the trunk that nearly filled it. She had two large suitcases and a soft bag.

She 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 helped her live, “the life style shat 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 her 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, his best so far after years of struggle.

He had started out in the mail room of another publisher and then a friend found hm a spot further up the ladder. That job had worked out better than expected. It was not what Joe saw as his final stop on his career journey but it was a step up for him, even if it hadn’t satisfied Suzan.

He thought about her and clenched his fists.

“She was such a handful, why did I put up with her crap for so long?”

He knew why, she had shown an interest in him and made it easy for him to approach her. He had fallen into her trap, gladly.

He would be more careful next time.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Is it becoming more clear now?

I wrote this sometime ago and am joining you on this adventure.

I have little recollection of this. As we go along, it all comes back to me.

Just wait.