Chapter 131: Finally Relaxing

Edited: nnpdad 10 May 2021

A cold ale, a nice shot, and a cigarette; let’s just start with that. Such was my thought to get into a relaxed mood, enjoy some light dining and drink, and then a good night’s sleep. Amos caught me on the way and related that he was taking our belongings to Mrs. Langdon’s house, as she had instructed. Well, that stopped me in my tracks. I had given Mrs. Langdon no such leave - to order my belongings moved. The good news was Amos had finished with the Gretzky’s, meaning they had some sort of reliable story to tell. The bad news was that Grace Langdon was already overstepping her bounds.

I decided just to roll with it; I wanted to have fun and not get all worked up. It was really time to take off the businessman’s mask and put on my adventurer’s hat. Indiana Jones ain’t got nothing on me. With introductions fully made and a round of drinks ordered, we sat down and started chatting. Safe topics revolved around travels and the wonders of the foreign lands.

We even got into education for a while, which startled me. USC in Los Angeles had become a university in Constantinople and Stanford University had a new name and was located in Geneva, of all places. Those respective languages were spoken along with English and the cities had been visited, so sites and stories somewhat made sense. Names were an entire discussion. They gave complicated African tribal names but he decided he liked Sheriff. She was to be called Lucinda. It wasn’t unusual to have new names when one came to America.

I led the conversation about traveling with harrowing tales of travel by ship and overland through desert and other inhospitable climes. Mrs. Langdon related amusing stories of her trip out west and the horrors of a Philadelphia girl in frontier St. Louis. It was culture shock that the other three of us could definitely related to.

We ate small dishes of light summer food for supper as the drink continued to flow. Everyone was getting a little tipsy and much laughter filled the room. We even spoke of sports and the half-drunk explanations of what basketball and volleyball were, had the room in tears. Golf and tennis were well understood and got more attention than I felt necessary, but we managed to avoid arts and entertainment. Those were off-limits topics for time twitchers such as us.

Music was interesting since vast cultural differences were assumed and newer music wasn’t such a problem when introduced as something from a far-off, exotic land. Food was another fun one. Modern dishes were simply viewed as more exotic items from unknown worlds. I spoke of the many disparate people we had in Rulo and listed the exotic foods that came with them. This was a somewhat cruel humor but it was fun to watch Sheriff and Lucinda drool over burritos, sushi, and chili-dogs. Once we got into pastas, they tried to order more food, but the kitchen was closed and it was time for us to go.

Amos was waiting for us as we said our good byes to the Byrnes and staggered out the back door. The spare horses were tied to the back of the rig and a teenaged girl about Amos’s age was standing holding the team. Well, that was new. Mrs. Langdon gave Amos directions, ‘half a mile on the main road, stone gate entry on the right.’ Langdon House was waiting up for herand lamps should be lit for our arrival.