Chapter 17

Charlene sat down in the waiting area of her flight after wiping the seat with the back of her hand. She had thought about going up to the first class lounge but decided against it.

She wanted to see Joe before they took off. She knew the plane was going to huge and they may not see each other after take off. No one would be allowed to enter first class after take off where she would be settled in. She sat with her carry on and very expensive purse in the seat next to her, nearby.

She scanned the room for Joe but he was no where in sight. She wondered how he would get to the airport and when he might arrive. There were a few people seated around her in the large room with the floor to ceiling glass wall facing the runways. But more were filtering in as the minutes passed. The blue seats were made so that no one could lie down while waiting for their flights.

Some of the travelers were obviously black Africans heading home to many different countries. English and French accents could be heard as they talked among themselves in small groups. Many others were obviously tourists of all sorts. Some were young backpackers talking loudly to their traveling companions about past and future adventures and full of energy as they sat among their well worn carryons. They were full of pent up sexual energy, or so Charlene thought.

Others were surely business men looking to make fresh inroads into the economies of the developing African continent. “Some might even be spies,” Charlene dared to think as she looked for the most sinister of the group. Charlene’s imagination often took side trips down roads and alleys others didn’t dare venture into. Her drugs helped to stop that, sometimes.

The group of travelers was surely a mixed bag of humanity. Charlene had the feeling that the plane would be full or nearly so. She pulled a magazine from her purse and looked it over lightly. She didn’t want to dive in too deeply yet as she had a limited supply and had no idea if she could find English language magazines where they would be. She had brought them to entertain her when and if Joe was off writing in the evenings and didn’t want or need her around to help or just to keep him company.

They would be riding in large, green, jeeps while on Safari. Each Jeep held up to ten people with room to spare. The roof popped up for better pictures and views, or so said the brochure.

They would be riding together in the Jeeps on safari most of the long, hot, dusty, days. It didn’t matter what Joe was doing during the day. He might be taking notes or photos as the day progressed. She didn’t care. She would be seated next to him all of the time. That was enough for her to start with.

What might happen next would be up to pheromones, proximity and her unlimited imagination when it came to subtle and subliminal female gestures. “Surely Joe’s reptilian part of his brain would react to those,” if nothing else. All of those elements combined should start to move things in the right direction,” or so she thought. She was already in the jungle of Rwanda in her mind.

Joe arrived twenty minutes later. She saw him approach as she looked up from her magazine. It was starting to bore her with repetition of female figures and flowing fabric. Joe was wearing worn Levi’s and a blue windbreaker. He had obviously forgotten or didn’t have time to shave. His shoes were well broken in to say the least. The heals of the cheap cotton, hightop sneakers were a little run down on the outside edges of the soles, to say the least.

“Well, he’s off to Africa, so why not.” Charlene liked that rugged look. She had only ever seen Joe clean shaven and in suits at work. She liked this new rendition of Joe.

He had been walking for sometime when he finally saw her seated among a throng of people of all shapes, colors and sizes. She had waved at him. He adjusted his steps just a little and came in her direction through what seemed like thousands of travelers going to hundreds of different countries as he saw her. That quick reaction to her wave pleased Charlene. “There may be a chance,” she thought.

The variety of the room struck him hard. It wasn’t that big of a room where she was seated. Even living in New York hadn’t prepared him for this type of crowd. Joe sat down next to her when he arrived only separated by the seat filled with her belongings. It was then that she wished she hadn’t placed them there.

“Hello Charlene, glad you made it safe and sound.” He noticed Charlene’s outfit and was surprised. She looked to be wearing the newest fashion and with some expensive jewelry. Suzan had made Joe aware of those things in life. It was a habit of hers to look other women over closely for the signs of good taste and wealth that she sought. A little of Suzan had rubbed off on him after all, sadly.

“You look nice tonight Charlene.” Joe instantly thought that he shouldn’t have said that to her, she being a fellow employee and all. “Well were not at work now and were on a vacation together, sort of, so what the hell. All bets are off from here on out,” he thought.

“I’m glad you decided to let me join you Mr. Monroe.” Charlene was still hoping that Joe would let her call him by his first name. That would maker things easier down the line.

“I think we need to discuss the ground rules a little more closely, Charlene.” “Fine Mr. Monroe,” she said with a little smile on the corners of her full mouth.

“First, Mr. Monroe isn’t going to to fly on a three week trip like this Charlene. It’s much too cumbersome. You should just call me by my first name and I’ll call you by your’s. Back at the office we’ll revert back to more formal greetings. What do you think? Can you manage the without feeling too uncomfortable?”

“Yes Mr. Monroe, I mean Joe. No one will ever know about this, I promise.”

“Great then. I don’t want everyone to think that you’re my favorite coworker, even though you are.” Charlene’s heart raced.

“You’re the best secretary ever and you’ve helped me personally through more than you’ll ever know. Especially with this whole marriage fiasco. I was at my wits end and you really helped push some of that despair away with your friendship. You can’t know how much you’ve helped me.” Charlene was beside herself with excitement at hearing this.

Things were starting off better than she could have ever imagined. She could smell Joe as he sat next to her and it calmed her for some reason that she didn’t understand.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, there’s a lot here to unload.

I think by now you know my writing style if I have any. This is going to be an interesting story, no doubt.

The Kigali authorities have been contacted and are on the watch for all concerned. There’s more interesting events coming just here at the airport.

And we still have the safari to go on. And then there’s the life insurance still in affect on both Suzan and Joe.

“Mrs. Vee,” is in audio production now. “Atlanta,” an adult detective novel, “Kazu, son of Osheda Kamasaki,” my Asian historical fiction novel and “Sunrise, Sunset,” my book of ten very different short stories are now available on Audible.