Aquisitioner’s Entry 3: A Quick Trip With My Travel Agent, Karl
Karl and I sat quietly in the back seat of the cab for the first 5 minutes of the ride to the harbor. My dignity was in the trunk with my luggage which gave my curiosity plenty of time to ask the obvious questions. Why didn’t Finn tell me that Karl was a girl? How could she possibly help in this expedition? How does she keep from sweating in this miserable heat?…and most importantly…how much did she actually see of my graceful plane exit?
“So this is your first job?” Karl said breaking the painful silence.
“Yes, I still don’t know why I took the job. I guess Finn’s quite the salesman. I was about to say ’no’ when he handed me the cash, credit card and plane ticket. I think he could tell that a ticket to Africa was just the kind of bait I would go for.”
“Are you sorry you’re here?” Karl asked.
“It’s too early to say. Ask me again at the end of this assignment. By the way, what is the assignment? Finn said you’d fill me in. Said you’d had a similar assignment yourself”.
She was smiling wistfully at this last comment. I could tell that there was probably some inside joke that she and Finn were sharing.
“Your assignment is to ‘acquire’ a Slider snake. It shouldn’t be too hard but first you’re gonna need a little ‘Stuffocator’ training. Finn tells me he just had time to get you in a cab.” said Karl still smiling.
I couldn’t decide which was more dangerous ‘acquiring a Slider’ or that smile on Karl’s face. It didn’t matter; the cab stopped. Karl hopped out, quickly paid the driver, and collected my things from the trunk. I still feel off balance from the lack of sleep, 3 day old deodorant, my trip to the tarmac and the fact that Karl is a fantastic looking gal instead of the brutish, ugly, football player I had imagined.
Karl quickly heads down a pier with my duffle bag. I try to follow and not make a fool of myself again but it’s just not in the cards. At the end of the pier is a boat. At least that’s what Karl called it. To my mind it seemed to resemble an oversized surfboard connected to a miniature Ferris wheel sticking off the starboard side. I wish I could call it rickety but that clearly overstates its apparent seaworthiness.
Karl hops on deck with my stuff expecting me to follow. I’m not so sure…
She turns around and sees me staring at the boat. She turns on that smile and says, “Trying to be a little more careful this time?”
I step on-board with every expectation that the boat will instantly sink. The ‘captain’ peeks from behind the huge wheel, smiles, pulls a long rope, and instantly bends over to adjust the engine that coughs to life. Karl throws off some ropes and we’re on our way.
There’s no time to find out where the heck we’re going or to tell Karl how I get desperately sea sick. The boat just slides away from the dock as my last meal slides away from its most recent resting place.
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Quinn responds:
Posted: March 18th, 2008 at 11:04 am →
wow, this is looking to be a good series!
looking forward to next post