Confidence
By John M. Artz
Chapter 20: Maria goes to Chicago
It was with mixed feelings that Maria Theresa accepted a job with
Intercontinental Detective Agency.
She did not like the idea of working
for someone else. She was her own woman. But the job offer was far too
good to turn down. Nor did she want to leave San Antonio and go to
Chicago. She was familiar with San Antonio and its ways. To her, like to
many residents of the south and southern Midwest, Chicago was an big,
evil, busy northern city where you could easily loose your way amid a sea
of people who could not care less if you lived or died. But, if Maria was
going to embark on her new life, Chicago was the next stop. So Chicago it
was.
Maria had called Intercontinental trying to find about some seminars that
she had heard they offered on con artists. Through an endless series of
phone transfers she landed up talking to an operative in the
Bunko
Division who convinced her to apply for
a job. The seminars were free for employees, and the pay was acceptable,
but the clincher was the opportunity to work on real Bunko cases. With
Intercontinental she could work on more cases in one year than she could
find in San Antonio in a decade. Besides, after five years she would
essentially be a freelance operative working through Intercontinental as a
free agent. It was a sweet deal. It delivered exactly was she wanted and
she would get paid. The pay wasn't what she could have made in her
practice, but she didn't need money so money wasn't an issue. The only
real drawback, of course, was that she would have to move to
Chicago.
It was a tearful farewell when Maria left San Antonio. She had taken a
taxi to the airport but several friends had turned up to say
goodbye. Shorty had picked up Uncle Julio and a couple friends from Casa
del Rio. In addition, a dozen or so odd colleagues, friends, and
acquaintances from Case del Norte showed up for the occasion. The farewell
crowd stood in the airport waving through the huge glass window and as
Maria looked back at the friends she was leaving tears welled up in her
eyes. But, despite her mixed emotions, she was still convinced that she
had made the right decision.
After a few minutes the airplane taxied over to the runway and prepared
for take off. Maria was pulled back against her seat cushion as the plane
increased its ground speed and she could hear the engines whining below
her. With a jerk and loud knocking noise the airplane was airborne.
Looking out of the little airplane window Maria could see the city of San
Antonio fading below her. It looked much smaller and less significant from
this altitude. There were only a few tall building and the tallest was
only a dozen or so stories tall. The live oak trees that grew all through
the city never reached more that ten or twelve feet high and looked more
like little shrubs than trees. As the plane gained even more altitude the
city of San Antonio looked like a toy city with toy buildings, toy trees
and toy cars. She could see the River Walk and the calm San Antonio river
snaking its way through the heart of downtown. As the plane rose and the
city looked smaller and smaller, Maria wonder how anything down there
could have ever threatened her. It was all so innocent and peaceful. With
a dinging noise the 'fasten your seatbelts' sign when off. Maria adjusted
the back of her chair into a more comfortable position and closed her
eyes. In a few minutes she was asleep. In a few more minutes she was
dreaming.
In her dream, Maria saw Uncle Julio and Shorty coming to her leading two
dragons.
One of the dragons was white with black stripes and the other was
black with white stripes. She looked down a saw that she held a double
edge sword in her hands with the point resting on the ground.
"Which dragon are you going to slay, Chiquita," Uncle Julio asked.
Maria responded. "One is black with white stripes, the other is white with
black stripes. What difference does it make which one I slay?"
"The difference is," offered Shorty, smiling slyly, "that you have to live
with what you have done. After all, that is all that matters."
With that, Shorty broke into high-pitched laughter and Uncle Julio joined
him as though they were sharing the greatest joke ever told. Maria stood
with the sword in her hand as the dragons took turn menacing her with
blasts of fire. Her heart was racing even though she could not even feel
the heat from the fire. She felt that she had to kill one of the dragons
or her life would have no meaning. But if she killed the wrong dragon her
life would not only be meaningless, but she would have to life out her
years in shame. It was a difficult choice.
"Maybe we should let the dragons decide," offered Shorty.
"Maybe you aren't as smart as you think you are," added Julio.
One of the dragons charged at her and knocked her over. She felt jarred as
she hit the ground. The dragon was staring at her making a dinging
noise. As she drifted from sleep to the verge of wakefulness, she realized
that the seat belt sign was dinging and the pilot was addressing the
passengers over the cabin speakers.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, we are experiencing
some turbulence as we descend to O'Hare National Airport."
Fortunately, the weather was bad and Maria could not see the city of
Chicago as they approached. If she had, she may have never even gotten off
of the airplane. But she did get off and a week later she was sitting in
the snack bar at Intercontinental Detective Agency after a weeklong
seminar on con schemes.
Maria was sitting near a window in the snack bar on the thirtieth floor of
the Intercontinental Detective Agency building enjoying the view of
downtown Chicago. It was so different from San Antonio. On the table in
front of her was a cappuccino and an croissant, neither of which she could
have pronounced a week earlier. As she sipped her coffee one of the
instructors from the seminar came into the snack bar. The instructor made
eye contact with Maria and Maria gestured to have the instructor join her.
"I really enjoyed that talk that you gave on the psychology of con
artists," Maria began. "We all think that everybody else see the world the
same as we do. But those con artists really follow a different set of
rules."
"That's what makes them so dangerous," the instructor added. "They're
dealing from a different deck entirely." There was a pause and the
instructor continued. "I understand that you are a new operative for
Intercontinental. What do you think of it so far?"
"Well, its really a little too much all at once," Maria observed. "This
city is so big. The building is so big. And I have so much to learn. It's
really overwhelming. But I think I am going to like it. I specifically
wanted to get involved in bunko schemes and here I am so I can't
complain." There was a brief pause and as an afterthought Maria
continued. "I'm sorry. I've forgotten my manners. My name is Maria Theresa
Diaz." With that she extended her hand.
"I'm pleased to meet you," the instructor said, taking her hand. "My name
is
Gita Ramana."
Click for background on Intercontinental.
Bunko is a slang word for a con scheme possibly derived from the
Italian word for the bank in a gambling casino.
Click for map.
Free will symbolism. Click for more details.
Gita Ramana is Wentworth's partner when he is working for IDA.
Is her meeting with Maria Thersa just a coincidence, or is it needed
for the story?
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