Chapter 4
UNKOWN
It was too late to turn back now, Brad thought as he looked at Los Angeles spread out below him. The flight had been uneventful, but he had not managed to get much sleep, as his brain tried to plan ahead.
He made his way to a motel not far from the airport. Where he booked in for a one night stay, also booking a Greyhound bus for the following morning to take him on the second part of his trip to Las Vagas in the state of Nevada. Once settled into his room the first thing he did, before even unpacking his bag, was to set up his laptop. Using the phone adaptor connections that he had brought with him. Brad was eager to make contact with Amy, this time it would be a little easier because he was now only a couple of hours behind her. However, he was to be very disappointed, Rascal was not on line, maybe this was for the better with all the excitement welling up in side of him. He was just as likely to blurt it all out and spoil the surprise that awaited her.
On the flight over from Australia he’d had to kill nearly 12 hours in the air. So he had taken the opportunity to catch up with some serious typing, adding some desperately needed pages towards his book. Something he had neglected to do in the days leading up to his departure. After a couple of hours he laid back to try and get a good night's rest, ready for the long trip ahead of him tomorrow.
Las Vagas was a city that Brad had always wanted to visit, ever since he first became interested in magic. Las Vagas was a Mecca for magicians, some of the world's biggest shows and artists resided in this fair city. Brad was not going to pass up an opportunity to visit the venues of this incredible place, after all it was almost on his intended route across America. Just a small detour would take him to see some of his lifelong heroes.
Brad sat by a window taking in the America sights that were flashing by, it was all new to him so it was very exciting. He was passing through places that he had only read about or seen in the movies. The seat beside him was empty, so he sat back and relaxed, nobody was going to be talking to him and distracting his concentration. What he did experiment with was his mobile phone, he connected it up to his laptop and dialled in to see if Rascal was on line, not really expecting that she would be. "Hey presto" there was Rascal already on line. Within a couple of seconds they were chatting. "How’s your day been" she asked. Brad had to think. Normally back in Brisbane it would be the end of the day for him so he had to answer as if that’s where he was, as though he was about to go to bed. "Fine" he answered, "Had a nice exciting day". That was the worst thing he could have said, immediately Rascal wanted to know all of the details. So Brad typed out the first little white lies that came into his head just hoping that he had not given himself away. He did have a little chuckle to himself as he typed out that he had been swimming in the sea on the Gold Coast in Queensland and then describing the area, but looking out of the bus window he was looking at what he could only describe as desert country side, "If only she knew" he thought.
Without realising it they had been chatting for nearly thirty minuet's, Brad was worried about the cost of the phone call. In Australia mobile phone calls cost a fortune, while here in America he was not sure. Somehow he would have to cut the call short just to try and save a little money. After all he was heading into the unknown. As far as cash was concerned he was on a limited budget, his resources was not a bottomless pocket. He would have to be careful, not knowing how long he would be in America or where he might be going next. Brad had a think on what was the best thing to do. Suddenly he turned his phone off without any explanation hoping that Amy would just think that his phone connection had dropped out, which was a common fault, to those in the know. He then reluctantly packed the gear away and settled back in his seat thinking of their conversation, wondering what she really thought of him and worst of all, what would she say or do when she first cast an eye on him. Had he been through all of this for nothing, was she in love with him as he thought he was with her, up to now he'd had no answers to these questions.
He then spent an hour on the book, as the last conversation with Amy had given him a few more ideas. Thinking it a good idea to put it all down in print, while it was still fresh in his head. After a time he became very drowsy and dropped off to sleep.
He awoke to the sites of Las Vagas streaking past his window. It was evening time, and coloured lights and neon signs lit up the whole city. As far as the eye could see was wall-to-wall clubs, hotels and colourer hoardings all lit up by what could only be guessed at, as a million watts of electricity. After stepping from the bus he took a taxi to the one place that he knew. The 'Monte Carlo' hotel, the home of Lance Burton, magician extraordinaire.
Lance Burton had long been his idol when it came to Magic, specially his card manipulation work. Lance was one of the owners of the hotel and performed a show most evenings. The hardest thing for Brad was going to be trying to obtain a ticket to one of these shows and at such short notice, as he was only intending to stay in Vagas for a couple of days.
He had no trouble booking into the hotel, "Why would he" He guessed that there must be a couple of thousand rooms in the building. He made his way to his room 1300, now there’s a lucky number he said to himself, but I’m not here to play the tables. Not enough money to spare on that sort of luxury, maybe on the way home when I know what I’ve got to spare.
He wasted no time in plugging in his laptop to the phone line and tried dialling up Amy, but this time he was not in luck. Amy was not on line so after a few minutes he shut the computer down for the night, trying to save some money.
His stay in Vagas was brief but he did manage to get to see at least one of the Lance Burton magic shows at the Monte Carlo. He was also very lucky and managed to see David Copperfield another very famous magician who was in town at the MGM casino. This was the first time for several months that the name of Amy had strayed from his head. For this short period in time magic had taken over his thoughts. Each time that he left the hotel or even went down stairs to the Casino or into the lobby area. He would find people selling the latest card tricks to the general public. This came as a very big surprise to him, as Brad had learnt his trade from a handful of magicians who had reluctantly and over a long period of time gradually let him in on the secrets of their magic. Here he was in the foyer area of a very famous hotel witnessing what appeared to him to be fellow magicians peddling their tricks to Mr Joe Public. Brad had to admit that the salesmen were very good with their demonstration of the packet tricks that they were selling. Thinking that if the public knew how a trick was performed then they would not come to one of his magic shows, this would put a dent into his potential earnings as a magician.
He purchased a couple of these packet tricks and with one salesman struck up a conversation, that led to a drink and swapping of stories and magic ideas. His name was Rudi Dench and he performed under the name of the great 'Rudi' It turned out that Rudi was a very good magician, but had just not had the breaks in his career, and that this was just a way of making a living. He had been born in LA and spent most of his early years around that part of California. Later when he was in his early twenties and had a good grasp of magic under his belt, the bright lights of Vagas had lured him in. He had been performing his trade here for almost five years now and enjoyed every minute of it.
Once the two of them started performing card tricks to each other at a table in the lounge area, the atmosphere got electric. Brad was very impressed with what Rudi could do, and Rudi was very impressed with what Brad could do. They went on into the small hours performing trick, after trick, first by Rudi and then by Brad. Rudi also gave Brad a few hints on what was expected of a magicians here in the US. He even went on to help and tell him how to make a living from this brand of magic, ideas that would come in very handy, later into his trip. However, Brad never divulged to Rudi why he was here in Vagas.
At one time a large crowd gathered around the two performers witnessing a truly great display of magic using a deck of cards. The people’s "Oh’s" and "Ah’s" b
ecame quite loud at one time and the management came over to see what all of the fuss was about. Sadly they broke up the by now disappointed crowd, when told that it was not allowed in the hotel That sort of entertainment was in the casino shows, but for that they would have to pay to see it. Brad and Rudi toned down what they were doing so that the crowd drifted away but still kept in conversation. "See" said Rudi a good card mechanic can always draw a crowd wherever he performs if his magic is good.
The next day Brad had arranged to meet Rudi and together they were going to do the sales pitch, selling the packet card tricks to the public. This was to be an eye opener for Brad, he was now into a new world. The world of salesmen, of fast-talking, fast dealing, and fast turnover of merchandise. Although Brad did not need too much encouragement from Rudi and took to the task like a duck to water, in the foyer of the Monte Carlo hotel. He was a natural or so Rudi told him and to prove the point, in their first hour of dealing they sold over 80 tricks and this was in the morning, normally a slow time of the day. Rudi said that at this rate, by the late afternoon early evening, which was a better time of day for selling, we would be able to get rid of all the stock that I have. It was not illegal what they were doing, Rudi had the full permission of the hotel to use their lobby for a sales pitch, but he paid for the privilege. However, even after taking out the cost of the tricks that he had to buy and then paying the hotel, he made a comfortable living. Although the main reasons why he went through this ritual was so that the people entering the Hotel would notice him. Depending on how good he was would depend on him picking up a lot of bookings, doing private evening shows, that’s where the big money was.
Brad thanked Rudi for all of his help, with Rudi saying no its me that should be thanking you, both agreed that they'd had a great time together. When they finally parted for good that night they swapped business cards, so that they might keep in touch.
Brad could not believe how easy it had been demonstrating and selling the card tricks with Rudi. Here he was showing off his favourite pass time to the public and he was earning money for doing it. Well he would have been earning money, if he had not told Rudi that he did not wish to be paid. Even though he could have done with the cash he felt guilty in taking it. Here was a man teaching him how to make a living, he had not the heart to take his money. However, he would certainly remember the lessons learnt, maybe some time in the future it would come in handy to make a living whenever he hit the hard times.
After three hectic days of visiting all of the world famous magic sites of Las Vagas, Brad found himself back on board another Greyhound bus heading east. He was now sitting next to a pretty young girl with the name of Emily, who was visiting her parents on a three-week holiday in Oklahoma City. They struck up a conversation, but it wasn’t long before they had run out of things to talk about, as Emily snoozed off in the land of nod. She had lived in Vagas for about four years and worked at the MGM Casino as croupier, a job that had been a long time coming but once in, she had excelled and got on very quickly plying her trade with a deck of cards. She had originally come from Oklahoma City where she had lived with her parents and two brothers all of her life.
The bus was now travelling through such famous places as Boulder City and Kingman in Arizona. They were on the old, but still very famous 'Route 66' Highway, so famous that it even had a song named after it, sung by the Rolling Stones. Though towns like Flagstaff, Winslow, and Gallup. Gallup brought back memories of Las Vagas, it was there that he had seen a very well know an extreme escapologist and magician named Robert Gallup. However, Brad’s funds had been greatly depleted in Vagas due to all of the shows and places that he had visited.
Thinking of Robert Gallup then brought back to him his conversation with Rudi. Now was the time that he needed to get some money back into his pocket. Remembering what Rudi had said. Brad walked down the isle of the bus and approached the driver. He was after permission to walk the isle of the bus and show the passengers a few card tricks. He had to be careful because as visitor in the USA he was not allowed to work in America. So Brad never mentioned to the driver anything about money, all he wanted to do, or at least that's what he told the driver. Was to relive the boredom of the trip for the passengers with a little magic.
With the drivers permission Brad started to visit most of the passengers who were awake and offered to show them some card tricks. The response from them was very encouraging and in a short period of time he had them eating out of his hand. Their clapping and appreciation actually woke up those passengers that were asleep. This was good for Brad because it meant that he had more punters, as he called them to show off to. After what for Brad was a very long but enjoyable two hours, he walked to the front of the bus and thanked them for their interest and appreciation. This was followed by the passengers all clapping and shouting encouragements at him. Then as Brad had hope, one guy suddenly stood up and announced that he would be bringing a hat round. As a reward for Brads time and the fun that he had given then, not to mention the boredom of the trip that he had broken. The hat was then tipped out into Brad’s hands, his eyes just lit up. He was standing at the front of the bus with just over $250 in his hands. "Wow" he thought, "That was worth the effort". He gave the Driver $50 and made his way back to his seat, where he soon fell into a sound sleep for a couple of hours. The bus sped on to Grants and finally Albuquerque in New Mexico where they had to change buses and stay the night in a motel. This was a good chance to stretch his legs, the bus was quite comfortable and even had a toilet on board for their home comfort, but it was oh so nice to be able to stretch your legs every now and again on solid ground.
It was also another chance for Brad to make contact with Amy. Brad found it was always easier from the comfort of a motel room, where he felt more relaxed. Using his mobile on board the bus always had its problems, with the phone constantly dropping out. It had become so frustrating that he had given up trying to establish contact that way, usually waiting for the evening time when the bus was at a stop.
That night the chat between them was all about Brad and his band with Amy asking all of the questions. Brad could not seem to break her line of conversation. Amy just seemed to go on and on, leaving him no chance to jump in and ask her about the town of Hays, the subject he was more interested in. When finally Amy said that it was getting late and she had to go to work the following day and was calling it a night, he felt a little relieved. After the usual farewells from Brad with "Sweat dreams" and "Sleep tight" Amy chipped in with just a simple "Bye", contact was then broken. It was too late for Brad to do a couple of pages on his book so he just laid back and a veil of sleep came over him very quickly. With the hectic pace of the past three days Brad had neglected to work on the book, it was gradually taking a back seat in most of his plans.
Next day it was back on to the bus, and once again seated next to Emily. Their conversation was by now a little more fluent and they got on quite well. Emily who had first explained that she was a croupier at one of the casinos in Vagas said she had been very impressed with some of the card work he had demonstrated the previous day on the bus. Brad took a deck of cards from out of his pocket and asked her to take a card. He then proceeded to go through his best ambitious card routine, just to impress her. It’s a trick where the chosen card is placed somewhere in the middle of the deck, but always reappears on the top of the deck. This trick then led to another and another and soon they were both laughing at each other’s jokes. Emily even borrowed the deck from him and showed him a couple of small magic tricks, the sort that most school children learn at one time or another. Brad felt more at ease with her now and told her that he was going to Kansas to find a Pen Pal. However, he had no idea what the outcome of his quest was going to be. He was very interested in anything that she could tell him about the State of Kansas, so he would have a little idea of what he might be up against. The conversation became very relaxed and Brad thought he could sense that Emily might be trying to flirt with him. He felt a little emba
rrassed about the whole idea, guessing that he might be twice her age, but still enjoyed and revelled in idea that he was young enough for somebody to take an interest in. This particular stage of the journey was very long and would have been very boring, but for the conversation they were having.
The bus sped on through towns like Santa Rosa, Tucumcari, Amarillo in Texas. Shamrock, Clinton and Reno in Oklahoma. Their conversation covered a lot of ground, and Brad finally confided in her and told the story of the loss of his wife, ten years earlier. Finally the bus pulled into Oklahoma City late that afternoon, where once again he had to stay the night. Tomorrow he would be heading in a different direction, he would be heading north. While the bus would carry on across American heading east. He fare welled Emily who had reached her destination here in Oklahoma City. Then just before she departed she gave Brad a kiss on the cheek and thrust a card with her contact number on, into his hand. She then whispered into his ear the words "Just in case". Brad returned the favour and gave her his mobile phone number and a nice smile as they parted.
That night while in his motel with his laptop connected up to his mobile phone. Once he was dialled in he found that Rascal was already on line. He wasted no time in typing out a short message to her "Where have you been stranger" she soon replied with "Busy at work". She went on to tell Brad that it was harvest season at work and that it had been very busy and chaotic, while trying to work very long, 10 to 12 hour days. They had to get the harvest in before the weather turned bad on them. Brad was just bubbling with excitement and could not believing that he was so close to her. He stopped just short of telling her where he was. Amy was still not giving anything away on the finer detail of where she was living. He estimated that he was only a day and a half away from her.
When finally they finished their chat for the night. Brad got Amy’s picture out of his wallet, the one he had down loaded from her, very early in their friendship. She looked a very pretty woman, but did she really look like this, had she sent him a true picture of herself, did she really look as nice as the picture portrayed her. After all he had sent her a picture of himself, from one of his magic show posters, the one where his hair had been coloured and touch up, hiding the grey that was about to take over. He had not been completely honest with her, why should he expect her to be honest with him. He remembered a story that he had read in a magazine somewhere, about the drummer in the rock band 'Fleetwood Mac'. The story that became known as the 'Story of the Blob'. Mick Fleetwood had struck up a relationship with a young girl over the phone. For nearly three years they had spoken together every night at some time or other. However, they had never met. During that time she had sent him lots pictures of herself, or supposedly of her. These pictures were of a gorgeous young girl. The drummers marriage had even broke up over the whole episode. When finally they met each other, the drummer almost had a heart attack, the girl was huge she was over 22 stone in weight. The shock of seeing her and the thoughts of his marriage break-up almost pushed him over the edge, was this to be Brads fate?
Brad tried to put the whole idea out of his head, after all it’s an honest world, or at least that’s what he wanted to think. Only he had sort to deceive, and it kept nagging at him. Sleep was very hard to obtain that night, he was now wondering if he had done the right thing. However it was too late to turn back now, he would have to see it through to the end. "What will be, will be", was one of his favourite sayings and this time he would have to practice what he preached.
He could not sleep, at around 2 am he got up and typed out a couple of pages of the, 'Love Story'. After reading through what he had wrote since leaving Australia, he was very pleased with the way that the project was going. The chat that was still happening between them was helping him enormously. He was now brimming with ideas, all he needed was the time to put it all down on paper. However, after only an hour he was feeling sleepy, so be finally returned to his bed, for a well-earned sleep.
Next morning he arose early and took a stroll, for a look around the area of his motel. Here he was halfway across America and he had really not taken the time to look at the towns he had passed through. He spent an hour just walking around the block trying not to lose his bearings, as to where the motel was located. Mind you in the past it had been no problem for him, his sense of direction had always served him well in the military. He just enjoyed taking in the sites and buildings that surprised him with every corner that he turned. When finally he turned what he thought was the last corner, there in front of him was a 'McDonalds' takeaway. This was language that he understood, these restaurants were worldwide and had a menu that was easy to understand. So he headed straight for the front door and to what turned out to be a big hearty breakfast, after all he had $200 in his pocket that he had received from the bus passengers, way back in New Mexico. While he was taking it easy after the meal, he sat back trying to decide what his next plan would be. He was to head north from Oklahoma City, this would take him up into Kansas the heart of America or as it had frequently been described as 'Tornado Alley' back home in Australia on the TV news broadcasts. Hope I don’t meet up with one of those things, wouldn’t have a clue what to do, was the first thing to go through his head.
As he was making his way back to the motel he walked past a transport café, with several trucks lined up on the forecourt. A plan suddenly dropped into place. "Trucks" he thought that’s the way. At the motel he grabbed his gear and paid the bill for the night's stay, and made his way back to the transport café. Upon entering he could see all the Truckee’s sitting around the tables eating and talking with each other. After grabbing a mug of coffee he walked amongst the drivers asking if anybody was heading north. Most just shook their heads, some said "No", a couple mention other guy’s names that would be coming through later. Brad was wondering if it was such a good idea after all. When the last guy said, "Yeah I’m heading north, when I’ve finished my meal". "Where you heading" he asked. "Hays" Brad said with a smile on his face. "Ah a Limey eh", "No, I’m an Aussie", "Same thing isn’t it", "No not really" said Brad as he took a seat at the table with the driver. There followed an introduction and a little conversation about each other. The driver told Brad that he was only going as far as Wichita. That was fine, once he reached there he knew that he would be on the home ward stretch. After all hadn’t Amy told him that she very often goes to Wichita and that it was only a couple of hours drive from Hays. If his memory was right, Amy had told him that it was a 350 mile round trip. So that made it only 175 mile to go from Wichita. He had lost all sense of time not knowing how many days he had now been on the road. His laundry told him that it was several days and that he was in urgent need of some clean underwear. If he could not find a laundry in Wichita then it would be easier to just buy some new items to wear, after all he was wanting to make an impression on Amy, not scare her off.
Within the hour the truck was heading north to Wichita. Brad was talking, or trying to talk to Dan the driver, above the roar of the engine. They were swapping details on each other but the conversation was more like a shouting match. It did not take long before both of them had sore throats and the conversation died off. Brad found himself nodding off for a few moment of sleep.
The truck passed on by the towns of Guthrie and Blackwell, and then crossing the state line into Kansas, passed the town of Wellington. "Next stop Wichita," shouted Dan. By this time Brad was awake and looking at the country side flashing passed them and catching a glimpse of a road sign that declared Wichita to be only 50 miles ahead.
Dan dropped his very appreciative hitchhiker off in the main street outside a motel. After a couple of farewells and good luck expressions were exchanged, the truck sped off, leaving Brad to book in for the night.
He took a short stroll around the town with his bag full of dirty washing in the afternoon just trying to get a feel for the state of Kansas. After all he was now on Amy’s doorstep, he felt like he could throw a stone at her house from where he stood. Anything he could learn about
the place was going to help him when he finally arrived in the town of Hays. With fingers crossed that would be tomorrow. However, the shops in the main street gave nothing away, there was nothing that was about to help him or would give him a hint of what to expect when he eventually arrived in Hays.
Lucky for him he walked on to a laundry shop, where he managed to spruce up his by now large bundle of soiled cloths, He even managed to get some of the items dried and ironed. He was now back up to scratch, he would be looking very smart and smelling nice when finally he approach Amy for the first time. In what he hoped would be in the next couple of days.
After grabbing a bite to eat in a restaurant, he made his way back to his motel room, he was eager to make contact with Amy. He knew that she would not be on line until later in the evening because of her work commitments. So to kill the time and boredom. Brad got to work and hammered out a few more pages of the 'Love Story'.
At 8 pm he connected up his laptop to the room phone point and dialled in. Amy was on line so he made contact immediately, his excitement was almost getting the better of him. He got to ask a few of the question he had wanted to ask for a few days now. It was Thursday, so the first thing he asked was, "What are you planning to do this weekend". "Oh just take it easy, take my dog for a run, tidy up the house, what have you got planned". Brad went into damage control mode trying to dream up a couple of white lies to tell her, not wanting to arouse her suspicions. During a break while he was awaiting one of Amy’s answers he got fiddling with the mouse and clicked onto a couple of the items on his task bar. It was then that he noticed that the times on the messages from Amy and also from him was showing the very same time. Well it would, the clocks were designed to print out the time that the message left the sender. Unlike when he was in Australia where there was a 15 hour difference in time. Here he was only about 175 miles away from her so the clocks would be saying the exact same times. He sat back in horror, what was he to do, before he had time to do anything Amy’s message appeared on the screen. After sending her a quick message so that he had time to think on what to do next. He got to thinking that maybe she would not notice, after all he had been in contact with her now for several days since setting foot on American soil. LA was on a different time than Kansas but by only a couple of hours. Surely that would have been enough, if she were going to pick it up she would have done it then. He had also chatted with her while he was in Oklahoma, there he would have been on exactly the same time. Slowly he tried to put it all into the back of his mind. She had not shown any signs up to now, that she knew what was going on. Unless she was just stringing him along, he would have to wait and see and sweat it out to the end. "But Remember I’m a Rascal". Those words still echoed through his head all night.