Chapter 361

I watched the night pass through my front window, just as I did most nights. I was a bit of a let down, but not heartbreaking by any means. I wasn't sure if my heart could be broken. The strong black coffee helped me through the night. I tried not to think ahead.

I had breakfast at Helen's then rode my bike out to the mall for my morning walk. It was just like any other day. I doubted that anyone even noticed me that morning. I certainly didn't look any different from any other morning. I just felt a certain amount of anticipation.

After my walk I returned home immediately. I took a few calls about the housing development, otherwise it was uneventful. I had time for a quick tour of the project. I rode through it just to see how things were progressing. The second phase was almost half complete.

The crews moved from house to house finishing their trade, then turning the house over to another group of workers to do their thing. It was working in a nice flow. The painters were a couple of houses behind but that was okay. It gave all the other trades time to finish completely. Once the painters finished it was time to turn the house over to the owners.

It looked as though the project was going to be a bit heavily weighted with Middle aged grass widows. There were lots of government divorces moving down from Washington. The little houses were perfect retirement homes for them. They also had the required down payment. I was surprised how once word got out we stopped having a lot of lookers and got more buyers on the first visit.

I was back at my place by noon. I took a shower, then dressed in cotton panties that were green. I figured I might as well go with it. The very tight but short tee shirt I wore was also green, but it was a little different shade of green. The jeans were also green but not at all tight. I knew that I was going to be moving around in them and intended not to have them binding on me. I also wore a utility jacket from an army and navy store in Tryon. It was a little big only because they didn't come in a size as small as me. At least it they did that store didn't carry them.

Since my last trip into the field, I had bought six feet of 18" wide green jersey cloth. I bought it to use as a head band and face cover. It was to be worn under the large utility cap I purchased at the same time I bought the jacket. I didn't know if I would wear the disguise or not, but I knew I wanted to have it available since my face was pretty well known. I had one extra pair of panties folded and stored in a pocket. Otherwise I was at the farm's mercy for equipment.

Sylvia showed up first. She should have known I was going on a road trip, but she acted as if she had no idea.

"Well Sylvia you are going to have to take care of things while I'm gone. I would prefer no one know I'm gone, but you might have to tell Jennifer. If you do, tell her to keep it as quiet as possible. You should probably just keep on doing what you are doing now. If you do that, you will stay plenty busy." I suggested.

"So how long are you going to be gone?" she asked.

"I have no idea, but I hope no more than a couple of weeks at the absolute most. I would like to be back within one week. There is just no way to tell," I admitted.

"Well please be careful," she said simply.

"Trust me, I will be careful. I like my life the way it is. I'm not ready to give it up just yet," I said.

"Good, we kind of like having you around." She stated it flatly leaving no room to argue at all.

Within minutes Jerrod showed up at the front door. I had to direct him to the rear of the Drugstore Condo building to leave his car. The rusty old Toyota was a mess, but it seemed to get him around pretty well.

When he returned from the parking lot he asked, "So where do we go from here?"

"There is a small grass landing strip outside of town. There will be a small plane there for us at 2PM. Usually it is pretty close to being right on time," I said.

"God I hate small planes. They seem so dangerous," he said.

"Don't worry this one is leased to some very important customers. I'm sure they take care of the plane just as well as PanAm does their planes." I said it and I meant it. I was pretty sure there would be hell to pay if one of those planes went down with a high profile passenger on board.

It was a little after one when Jerrod and I climbed into my pickup truck for the trip down to the grass strip. I would be leaving my pickup in the parking lot down there. I had made arrangements with the operator of the grass strip to park there. I paid him a few bucks for the privilege, but it was worth it to me. I had no idea what kind of arrangements the farmers made with the owner of the strip, but he was always very friendly to me.

When we arrived it was a little windy on the field, so Jerrod and I waited inside the repair hanger. The mechanic had a small single plane inside the hanger with the engine cover removed. He was doing something to the engine, but I didn't bother asking him what. I wouldn't have understood it without research, and I just wasn't in the mood to research anything. My mind was in a different place all together.

"Is that the plane?" Jerrod asked.

I checked my internal clock then said, "I expect so it is time for it." I didn't tell Jerrod that the plane was two minutes early. I thought that might be a little more information than he needed to know.