Chapter 3

My boss was a pure ass. I was about fifteen minutes late getting in and he saw me. "What the hell are you doing, coming in late?" he practically yelled. I saw several heads popping up over the walls of cubicles wondering who had made the boss mad this time.

"I'm fifteen minutes late, Dale," I said.

"That's right and I've been looking all over for you. You need to be on a plane to Denver in less than two hours. The site is shut down until you get there."

"That's not going to happen, Dale," I said calmly.

"What the hell do you mean, that's not going to happen. You'll be on that God Damned plane, or you're fired."

"Well, I guess I'm fired then. I'll clean out my desk and leave."

"Like hell you'll clean out your desk. If you're not on that plane, your ass is out of here right now!"

I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible when I said, "Dale, I have some personal papers, some pictures, and a check book in that desk. You can't keep me from taking what's mine."

"I'll be damned if I can't, you son-of-a-bitch," Dale yelled just as Pete Welsh, the Vice-President of Engineering, walked up behind him.

"Gentlemen, keep your voices down," Pete said in that awe inspiring voice of his. "What's this all about anyway?"

"Ed came in late for work, then he was disrespectful to me when I called him on it. I told him we needed him to go to Denver and he refused. I told him if he didn't go, I'd fire him. He started to try to take company property out of his desk and I stopped him."

"I'll talk to you about it later, Dale. Ed, would you come to my office please?"

I had always liked Pete. He was a very stern man, but he was fair. For that reason, I followed him to his office.

"Ed, let me hear your side of the story," he said after we were seated.

"Well, Sir, Dale was right in that I was late this morning. When he yelled at me and said my ass had to be on a plane to Denver in less than two hours, I'd had enough. I told him I wouldn't go. He told me I was fired, so I told him I just needed to get some personal papers, some pictures, and my checkbook out of my desk and I'd leave. He was giving me his answer when you came up."

"What did you mean when you said you'd had enough?"

"Last year, I went seventeen weeks in a row without having a weekend home. I was home for one weekend, then was gone for another eight weekends. My being away so much cost me my marriage. My divorce was final last Friday. I was due a promotion two years ago. Although I have done more work than anyone else in the department I've not been promoted. Every time an engineer in the department comes up with an idea of how to do something better or less expensively, it gets shot down because Dale didn't think of it, then six months later, the idea is implemented as being Dale's idea. I think you can verify that from almost any engineer in the department. I've just gotten to the point that the job isn't worth it any more."

"Do you have any idea why you haven't been promoted?"

"None whatsoever."

"Dale says it's because you've been missing too much work."

"Excuse my language, but that's bullshit. I've taken one sick day in the last three years. I haven't taken any personal days. Personnel is yelling at me that I have too much vacation time accrued. I'll wager I've averaged sixty hours a week for the five years I've been here."

"What would it take to keep you here, Ed?"

"That's not possible, Pete. I wouldn't stay if I was promoted twice and my salary was doubled. Dale fired me and that's fine with me."

Pete sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Okay, Ed. I'll see that you're given a month's pay in lieu of notice. I'll also see that you're paid for your vacation time. I'll also write you a letter of recommendation and mail it to your home. I hate to see you go."

"Thanks, Pete. I like you and respect you. Unfortunately everyone in the company is not like you."

We shook hands and I walked to my desk. Dale watched me as I went through my file folders and picked out the ones that had personal information. I gathered up my pictures, my check book, and a few personal items and left without saying another word to him.

My cell phone rang as I was on my way home. I had given my number to Sam, so I figured it was her. I wasn't disappointed. "Hi, Ed. I found the guy I was talking about and he says the documents will be ready by tomorrow. I had to give him fifty dollars down and another hundred tomorrow."

"That's okay, Sam. Are you ready for me to pick you up?"

She was silent for a minute then she said, "I figured you wanted me to sleep in the park tonight. Do you really want me to stay at your place again?"

"Absolutely. I don't want you to ever have to sleep in the park again. Where are you?"

"I'm at Fuller's Market. Do you know where that is?"

"I sure do. I'm only about four blocks from there right now. I'll see you in a few." I hung up and smiled. I didn't want Sam to have to sleep in the park. She's a sweet, innocent girl and I'd do anything in the world to protect her.

Sam was all smiles when she climbed into my car. "So, what happened to you? Why did you leave work early?" she asked.

I told her the story of my reception at work. At first, she looked upset, then she thought about it for a minute and said, "That's really what you wanted, Isn't it?"

"Absolutely," I said with a big grin. "The VP felt so bad about Dale firing me that he said they'd give me a month's salary since they weren't giving me any notice. He also told me they'd pay me for all of the vacation time I had accrued and hadn't taken. That gives me almost three months worth of salary."

"Fantastic. So, when are we going to leave for our adventure?"

"I'm not sure. Let's make a trip to one of the local outfitters this afternoon. One thing though, when we go could you dress as a girl? I'd like to take you out to dinner afterwards and I don't want to take a boy to dinner."

Sam giggled. "I don't have any girl clothes, Ed."

"Then let's stop at the mall and get you some."

Sam smiled and said, "Okay, that might be fun."

We drove to the mall and Sam said she could find something at the Gap. I told her to spend as much of the hundred and fifty she still had for what she needed and I'd find a bench to wait on until she got back.

I don't know how long she was in there. I had leaned back and was dozing when she walked up and sat on the bench beside me. I didn't even recognize her when she sat down.

She was wearing a dark blue skirt with some kind of pattern in it. The skirt came about two inches above her knees. She had on a white blouse that anyone would have thought was conservative and a nice pair of sandals. Her hair was hanging down to her shoulders and it shown with a life of its own. She had put on just a touch of makeup. All in all she looked to be in her early twenties, rather than her admitted sixteen.

"Aren't you even going to say hello?" she asked after a while.

I jumped like I had been shot and Sam giggled. "Sam?" "You've got it. How do I look?" she asked as she got up and did a spin.

"Gorgeous," I admitted.

She held her hand down to me and asked, "Are you ready to go to the outfitters?"

"Absolutely," I said as I let her pull me up.

I was surprised at the quantity and quality of the equipment they had available. They had one of the recommended tents and we checked it out. It was a five-man tent and it looked like it would easily hold two or three adults. It cost a little over eight hundred, but we went ahead and took it. The salesman showed us how to set it up and take it down and pack it. Both of us watched closely.

We also bought two titanium framed backpacks. We started looking at sleeping bags and the salesman was really pushing one type. It was one of the ones on the list, but for some reason, Sam didn't like it. Finally, she pointed at another one that was on the list and said, "Those are the ones we want."

It really didn't matter to me so I went along with her. I'm not sure the salesman liked our choice, but he wasn't the one who would have to sleep in it. By then, I was tired of shopping, so I suggested we leave and come back tomorrow. We paid for what we had selected and loaded our stuff in the car.

Dinner was fantastic. We went to a nice restaurant and both of us ate more than we should have. We talked about our upcoming trip all through dinner. "Where are we going to start and end?" Sam asked.

"Well, I was thinking about starting at Eastport, Maine. It's about as far east as you can get and not get your feet wet. Ending? How about San Diego?"

"That sounds good," Sam said a little hesitantly.

"Are there any cities you'd like to avoid?" I asked, sensing her reluctance.

She hesitated for a moment then said, "I guess I should tell you. My step-father lives in Chicago. I really don't want to go through there."

"Okay, then let's stay a full state away from there. One of the things I was thinking about was walking along the US/Canadian border all the way to Washington. We'd be going through a lot of wilderness areas, but it would be a lot cooler than walking through the southern states during the summer months."

"Gee, that'd keep us hundreds of miles from the Windy City, wouldn't it? I think I could live with that."

"The only drawbacks I can see to that route is the greater distance between cities. That means it would be a lot longer between hot baths and more food that we'd have to carry."

"We can handle it, Ed, We might have to take it slower, but I'm sure we can do it. Besides, it would be more like we really were on the Oregon Trail a hundred and fifty years ago."

"Girl, you've got more spunk than anyone is entitled to. I'm glad you're going on this trip with me."

Sam didn't answer, but her eyes were sparkling.

The first place we went the next day was the place where Jim said he got his hiking boots. We went in and sat down to talk with a salesman. The first question he asked was where we were going to be hiking and during what time period.

I told him to figure we'd be hiking along the Canadian border in North Dakota in the middle of summer.

"Okay, you're going to have some warm days and cool nights. I'll check our information to make sure, but from what I remember it can get up to around eighty degrees in the daytime and can drop into the forties at night. We'll fit you with light, medium and heavy socks before we even look at the boots."

Sam and I looked at each other, wondering what planet he had come from. We talked to Jim about it later and he said we'd definitely want to wear two pairs of socks, because the socks would tend to rub together instead of rubbing our feet, causing blisters. He said we'd probably start the day with medium or heavy socks over light socks and change the outer socks to light ones before it got too hot.

Anyway, the salesman measured our feet before he even brought out the socks. He handed two pairs to each of us and told us to put the heavier pair over the lighter pair while he went to find the boots Jim had recommended in our sizes.

Sam and I put our socks on and waited for the salesman to return. He came back with only one pair of boots for each of us. Now, hiking boots aren't pretty and these were no exception. I wondered what Sam would think of the style, but she didn't pay any attention to the looks at all. The salesman helped Sam get her boots on, while I struggled with mine. I found out I was just trying too hard.

Once I had the boots on and laced, it felt like they were meant to be there. I got up and walked around the store in them and I know I had to be smiling. They supported my feet, but otherwise they felt like there was nothing there at all. I was sold. When I saw Sam walking around and smiling, I knew she liked them too.