Brian hardly even closed his eyes on the plane to the
USA. Two things you should know about Brian William Rogers: First, he secretly
craved a dangerous, adventurous life. Second, he absolutely had no sense of
humor.
All his life he had dreamt of adventure but fate had
other plans. Stuck in the middle of ailing parents, a high maintenance wife,
two adorable children and a heavy mortgage, he was in no position to leave his
job as the manager of a moderately large shipping concern. Thus, when looking
over orders of ‘itch’ cream being shipped, he often allowed himself to be
wistful and longed for the life of adventure he never had.
He never thought for a moment that his wish would come
true on a dull Wednesday morning. An elderly gentleman named Mr. Gerard Thomas
had walked into the lobby, demanding to meet the manager. His meeting with
Brian had lasted for over an hour and a half, the gist of it being that Mr.
Thomas was a retired archaeologist who had been famous in his prime. He had a
package of extreme significance to be delivered to his son in the USA and it
was a matter of life and death involving much danger. It was crucial that it
had to be hand delivered.
Of the entire narrative, one word had caught hold of
Brian’s interest, the magic word, “Danger.” Naturally, Brian thought that fate
had ordained for this meeting to take place. After all, Mr. Thomas was a
renowned archaeologist and Brian had no reason to suspect foul play.
This was how Brian Rogers came to be flying to the US,
wearing a false beard and mustaches for reasons best known to himself. He was
slightly worried about customs and the dangers ahead, not that he knew what was
in the package.
In his nervousness he didn’t notice a suspicious looking
character sitting behind him sporting similar kind of facial hair and wearing a
coat similar to Brian’s.
He cleared the immigration process successfully, but ran
for his life the moment he saw some evil looking people making their way
towards him. He changed two taxis and finally ditched his sweaty coat, fake
beard and ‘staches. He finally boarded a ferry, congratulating himself on
evading his pursuers. He was sweating profusely and his heart threatened to
fall out of his mouth. He finally found his way to Thomas Jr’s house, jumping
with fright when an alley cat dropped out of a dustbin.
He knocked on the door and was greeted by the
bespectacled, pleasant faced, middle aged Mr. Gerard Thomas Jr., and handed over
the package to him. He was invited in for coffee and waited curiously while his
host opened the package. Inside the package was a pair of woolen socks! Brian
grew light headed with confusion and explained to his host about his meeting
with Mr. Thomas Sr., and he was surprised to see him chuckling.
In answer to Brian’s look of bewilderment, he said, “Well,
my dad is a practical joker; he often plays pranks on unsuspecting people.”
Brian stormed out of the house furiously, which goes to
show that, Brian William Rogers, had absolutely no sense of humor.
