* * * * *
Upon leaving the airport, I headed straight for the New York-New York Hotel and Casino. While getting dressed, during the phone call, I had asked Kenny Gambol if he wanted us to meet anyplace special.
"I mean, if you think it would be too awkward, meeting at your suite at the Golden Nugget..." I had started to add.
"Yeah, it might. How about we meet at the replica of 'Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs' stand, in the lobby of the New York-New York?"
"That'd be fine!"
And, sure enough, that's where I found him. At a table for two, against the back wall, reading a paperback novel in between bites of a hot dog with mustard.
"Mr. Gambol?" I half-whispered.
He looked up, giving me a three-dimensional version of the face I had, here-to-fore, only seen on TV. The same infectious grin; and the same wavy hair. Only the crow's feet (and streaks of gray) were new.
"Call me 'Kenny.' Dr. Grant, I presume?"
"Just call me 'Doc.' "
He grinned and nodded, shaking my hand as he did so. The grin, however, faded after I had seated myself. Because, as he slid over a gray cardboard box to me, he confessed that he had read some of what was contained within the enclosed manuscript.
"And, I got to tell you," he added: "...it makes for mighty disturbin' readin'. That's assumin', of course, that he wasn't disturbed, himself, when he typewrote it!"
I half-smiled at the sudden mental picture of Ken, still carrying around that portable Selectric typewriter, years after everyone else had switched to wi-fi compatible word processors. Then, I withdrew the manuscript and proceeded to read.
"Dear Jay:
If you are reading this, it means they are getting closer. Forcing me to initiate my contingency plan. I can't trust the regular Postal Service, because I don't know how extensive their infiltration into the Federal government might be!"
I briefly looked at Kenny. The man had not been exaggerating! Then, I resumed reading.
"What I've uncovered goes back a long way. But, for me, it started last month, with a spate of UFO sightings over Lamont County, Illinois. You've probably never heard of it, so I'll give you some background. It's roughly equidistant between Chicago and East St. Louis, Illinois. With the county seat being the town of Cranston. And, with the county, itself, having been incorporated in the 1870's from annexed bordering areas of Morgan, Macon, Logan, and Sangamon Counties."
"Anyway, I went there to interview one of the witnesses to the earliest of the sightings. A young high school girl named Amelie Sargent. Her father is the head football coach at Knudop High School, one town over from Cranston. And, apparently, she and the marching band (for whom she's the feature baton twirler) were in the second of two school buses returning from a Friday night away game at Cranston High."
"According to the initial newspaper stories, the second bus returned to Knudop, a good two hours behind the first one. And, neither the driver nor his passengers could account for it! Only that the last thing they remember was the bus conking out at a railroad crossing. Followed by a blinding white light."
"Classic loss of time, right?"
"Anyway, after debarking at O'Hare, I rented a car and drove down to Knudop, where I followed the usual first step. Going to one of the local bars and listening to some of the regulars gossip. And, as usual, it worked. I soon found out that Amelie Sargent has an afterschool job, as a part-time waitress, at a local diner. So, that's where I went."
"I sat down at the counter, and she took my order. My usual well-balanced meal of bacon cheeseburger and Diet Coke! Ten minutes later, she brought it out to me. And, when she asked if I needed anything else, I nodded and showed her my business card. Telling her that I'd like to interview her about the bus's engine failure."
"Suddenly, she was freaking out! Screaming like a maniac at the top of her lungs. The next thing I know, the local cops have been called in...and I'm sitting in the city jail for soliciting a minor for illegal purposes!!"
tbc
Giantess World
