Sears Island
Copyright© 2012 by Howard Faxon
Chapter 2: The Wind-Up
I received a certified envelope which I personally had to sign for while at work. I found this quite curious as nothing like it had happened to me before. Within the envelope was a first-class ticket to Bangor, Maine, a pre-paid hotel reservation for three days and a letter of introduction from the firm of Price, Smith and Bolt. I was requested to appear at their offices at 9:30 on Tuesday, the fifth of March. I gave the proverbial shrug and said to myself 'what the hell'. I showed all this to the superintendent (my boss) to arrange for some time off.
I had enough money in my account to do this and not feel overly put out about it. I packed my one good suit in my hard-side suitcase along with a paperback to read and tea fixings for the hotel room. It would be cold on the east coast in early March. I prepared for it.
Equipped with my suitcase, a small courier bag containing a laptop and my birth certificate I took the train into Chicago's Union Station. I found out which subway line to take to get to O'Hare Airport and spent a boring hour plus in transit. I made it through 'the grope' line without punching anyone. I'm a 'white-knuckles' flier but made it to earth again. Wonder of wonders, my suitcase made it to the same destination! A taxi took me to Epic Sports Gear where I bought a decent pocket knife and a warm, packable goose-down jacket, then proceeded to back-track to the Four Points Sheraton, near the airport.
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