A TICKET OUT
There were vans and taxi cabs to meet them when they got off the bus from Kansas. It was late, the parking lot was dark, and everyone was confused at first. But within a few minutes, it was all sorted out and everyone knew where they were heading next. Most were going by van and were being dropped at warehouses or churches while a select few were lucky enough to be taken by taxi to private homes that had recently been vacated. Before they all left, each was given a packet of materials to read as soon as they arrived at their destination and were told to check in with their bosses before 9 a.m. the next morning. Once again, the transfer went off without a hitch. They had done this so many times, it was a regular routine now.
It was still dark when Ted woke up the next morning. His body clock was two hours ahead and having slept a lot on the bus, he was ready to get up. Besides, he wanted plenty of time to re-read the information he was given and to scope out his surroundings. It was too dark last night to see much of anything, but he knew the ocean was close by and there was nothing he wanted more than to walk on a beach barefooted and to hear the waves crashing on the shore. Just like in the movies. This was his chance, and he wasn’t going to blow it this time. So he quickly gulped down the coffee the church provided, ate a stale pastry and then took to the streets to find that ocean before sunrise. His schedule was light today. Only a protest demonstration on campus that he had to participate in and a meeting with his new boss after that.
Alice’s first morning didn’t go as smoothly. The bed in the warehouse that was designated for her had apparently been given to someone else, and she was left high and dry with nothing but a fold out cot that had sprung coils and smelled funny. Having tossed and turned all night, she woke up to a stiff neck and back, a headache and a stuffed up nose. She was allergic to something in this hell hole, and she was now wondering why she ever agreed to this cockamamie scheme. At the time they approached her, she had just narrowly escaped from another fight and was desperate to get out of there. Anything would have sounded good to her then. But this was not what she had imagined and so far no better than where she had come from.
It was Bob and Carol who really hit the jackpot. They exchanged glances when their taxi driver stopped at the gate and entered a code, both recognizing immediately this was no ordinary home. Then when they spotted a water fountain with one of those giant mermaid statues in it, a nervous giggle erupted from Carol. At just that moment, Bob also spied the 4-car garage and was beside himself with joy. This was too much to take in all at once, and they just couldn’t believe it was all theirs. This was not a home. This was more like a museum with furniture too nice to sit in and expensive looking art on every wall. The master bedroom was larger than the entire house that Carol grew up in, and there was a swimming pool in the backyard and a tennis court off to the side.
When Alice called her boss and complained about the bed, she was promised a better location and a better job even. She had originally been guaranteed a position in the food service industry but was elated when she was asked this morning about how fast she can run and if she had ever had any acting experience. She had always been good at sports and the only A she had ever gotten in school was in drama class, so this job was going to be right up her alley. She would get all the details later but she was to pose as a helpless old woman in a park and would need to pick up a body suit, a wig and a cane at the back of the hospice shop behind Denny’s before noon.
Neither Bob nor Carol slept much, both too excited about their new home. As if it was the night before Christmas, Carol kept waking up and going out to the living room to look at the swimming pool all lit up. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her entire life, and on the last trip out before the alarm finally went off at 7 a.m., she stopped in the hallway to glance at a photo she had missed the night before. Picking it up, she looked at the smiling couple and then concentrated on the pretty woman in particular. She then walked over to the mirror and stood there for a minute carefully examining her own looks. Would she be able to pull it off? She was a few years older and a few pounds heavier, but the reconstruction surgery in Leavenworth had clearly been a success.
Copyright © 2015 (Michelle Parsons, Getting Back on Your Path). All Rights Reserved.
