Charlene knew about Suzan’s issues with Joe. Joe had told her about Suzan’s disappointments often over their time spent working together or during a quick lunch. Joe had told Charlene about that latest shot at him over the phone those few days ago. Charlene remembered how Joe had said they had cut him to the core.

Charlene knew Suzan was right to some degree. They weren’t a prefect match, that was evident to most who saw them together. Joe had vowed to work harder at getting things done in a decent time frame and to try and stop procrastinating as he had done so often before. He was sure he could conquer his demons, in time.

Joe saw the possibilities of becoming a changed man and it excited him to some degree. He thought that he had made some strides in that direction and had swore to make something of his life. But then reality had reared it’s ugly head. His changes hadn’t been enough for Suzan and they were too little and too late. It was no longer necessary for Joe to change. Suzan had found another man. His name was Chad and she was enthralled as much with him as he was with her.

Charlene thought that she knew both Joe and Suzan and understood them. Over time Charlene grew to love Joe, even as his marriage to Suzan loomed over her on the near horizon. Of course Charlene knew about the honeymoon. She had organized most of it at Joe’s request. She was beginning to feel that she knew too much about Joe and his private affairs to continue to work for him, especially now as she had fallen in love with him. She was alone and time was leaving her behind as others built lives with meaning and even some with love. She had to take a stand and this failure of his engagement had given her that opportunity. Perhaps this was fate showing itself to Charlene at the last possible moment or opportunity.

Joe walked across his tiny living room to his desk, picked up his National Geographic and walked to his favorite chair sitting in the warm sunshine. It was cold outside but his chair sat in the direct path of a warm ray of sunshine passing into his living room. He sat down in it and found the section on East Africa and starting reading it again. He looked down at the park two stories below him and out across the narrow wet street between reading the paragraphs and looking at the photos in the magazine.

Joe could see mothers out walking along the edge of the river and one young fellow trying to get his kite airborne. Water taxis and boats filled with unknown cargo and people passed by. He wondered if he would ever have a family now after this last and final breakup with Suzan. Joe often thought that his odds of success were as slim as his father had told him over and over again. He sometimes thought, secretly, that the odds of his success were somehow stacked against him by some unseen forces.

The subway entrance to “”the guts of the city” where Joe caught his train to work, sat at the corner of the park. Large trees stood silently in good and bad weather at the river’s edge and partially shielded the entrance to the of the subway from the autumn sun, cold though it was. The trees were mostly bare now and Joe could actually see part of the roof of the subway entrance. In the spring it would be hidden by masses of bright green leaves.

The roof was made of flat red tiles, now covered mostly in moss. He wondered how an artist might achieve that effect in a painting as he looked at it closely. Joe loved to walk through his neighborhood to the Bronx Museum near by. He loved to go into it when it was raining or snowing and study the paintings of the old masters when he had the time.

Unlike Charlene and Suzan who had wealthy parents and who had lived in the suburbs growing up, Joe had grown up in the Bronx under tough circumstances. “That had made him resilient if not a little pessimistic about life,” or so he thought.

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

Suzan had always wanted Joe to have a bigger apartment. The one she lived in was good for now and the rent was cheap. Joe”s apartment was a very small, third floor walk-up. She spent few nights there each month but it never felt like her own. Susan’s dreams put her up town in a newer building, higher up and with a grand view of the city and maybe even of Central Park.

Joe had told her more than once that, “it would come in time.” Suzan’s time table was not the same as Joe’s. She wanted babies and wealth and was running out of time, or so she thought. 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 showed some possibilities. The tall man in the perfect suit looked like he was going places.

His suits were sharp and expensive, unlike Joe’s. He clearly had a bright future ahead of him selling stocks and bonds, or so he said. Suzan had little understanding of his business but that didn’t matter as long as he did. She had already gone out with him three times while engaged to Joe. The dates hjad gone well. Joe was unaware of this, of course.

Joe sat in his warm chair, thumbed through the National Geographic and reread an interesting article about travel in East Africa. It talked about the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, the elephants in Kenya and all the assorted animals in Tanzania that had first captured Suzan’s interest.

Joe had worked on the high school newspaper and on one while in college. He was no stranger to using a camera either. “Why don’t I go on this vacation anyway,” he thought as he looked at the pictures. “I’ll pitch the idea about a book on traveling in East Africa to Richard and see what he thinks. Richard was Joe’s boss and a close friend. He might put in a good word to those above that Joe’s idea had some merit. He thought Joe still needed a vacation after the disaster that had befallen him with Suzan’s departure from Joe’s life. “I have already paid for the trip, so what the hell. I’m caught up on my projects for the next month. That Jones deal wasn’t coming up until after the new year.

“The marriage to Suzan is history, so why the hell not? I’ll also use this time to get over Suzan and the lost possibilities of our life together.” He took a drink from a can of beer and tried to relax. Joe looked over his calendar and studied the dates of his weeks off for the honeymoon. He had friends in the magazine publishing business and some with internet blogs if Richard couldn’t get the big bosses to go along with Joe’s idea. “Why not write a travel book as he went on this grand adventure with some photos tossed in and see what it might turn out to be. “He might even make a few bucks toward the cost of the trip,” he thought. That idea pleased him. “Wouldn’t Suzan be surprised.”

He might even meet a woman along the way. “Anything is possible,” he thought. He was starting to feel better already. He took another drink of the beer. He then thought about Charlene’s proposal.

It seemed like a dim possibility at the moment. It was filled with peril, no doubt. Charlene was an attractive woman but he had tried not to notice. An impossible task for any man. They were coworkers after all. As he had told Charlene and himself more than once, “if anyone finds out about this they will surely think that it was an office romance and we will find ourselves outside looking in. One of us will surely be fired if not the both of us.”

If Joe made enough money to pay for the trip with his writing and photos he would be thrilled. Suzan had left him with a good pile of debt. If he didn’t sell the idea or the book idea, he would still have a great adventure to look back on in his old age, if nothing else. The worst case scenario put him in Africa, single and with no ties.

He had planned on a gap year to travel after college but then he had net Suzan. Now she was gone and he had a second chance at a new beginning. That new beginning would start in Africa with his writing and his camera. Charlene would be a welcome assistant. She was a great secretary and her help and input would be very valuable, there was no doubt abut that.

—————————————————————————————————–

Suzan, Suzan, Suzan. What a naughty girl. Oh well, who can blame her after being with Joe?

But wait, Chad is more than he appears to be. That could be good, but maybe not.

Oh well, time will tell.

Don’t miss reading “The House On The Cliff.” It is a fun ride for adults and children set in early California. There are many things going on and one is funnier than the next. Don’t be afraid.

More tomorrow after tennis.