No, it's not like any other love. This one is different because it is us.
- The Smiths
It started with a roadmap, a Polaroid and handwritten note telling her to meet him at the first destination circled on the map. Jan had never been on a date like this, let alone a first date. The last thing she had wanted to do was go out with Dwight, but she had lost a bet. Like any good gambler, she knew the importance of paying up when she had been had. A small wager on a Phillies game with Jim had led her here, waiting in the middle of McDade Park in Scranton for a slightly deranged beet farmer with a love for bears. She suddenly regretted replacing Michael as the manager at Dunder Mifflin.
She turned the photograph over in her hands, inspecting the faded image of the massive black rock that stood behind her. Dwight had written the address of the park on it with Sharpie, his crisp scrawl instantly recognizable. He had also circled the park on the map with the same bold swoop of a circle. It was certainly an interesting way to handle this part of the deal. She still wasn't sure why Dwight had agreed to Jim's terms for the bet, not that it really mattered.
"Excuse me, miss," a uniformed man announced before handing her a small paper bag off a silver platter. She recognized the farmer-turned-miner as Cousin Mose, a relic from her one misguided visit to Schrute Farms when she was still trying to make things work with Michael. "Master Schrute asked me to deliver this to you post haste. Please accept it and follow his directions accordingly." Jan peered into the bag and then looked up at Mose. He simply shrugged before tipping his hart hat in her direction. "Good day.'
The whole ridiculousness of the situation seemed strange to Jan, even when it came to the already-odd paper salesman. She opened the bag to find a single beet and another Polaroid. The directions were written on the vegetable this time, telling her to meet him at the address on the next photograph. Jan looked at the picture and tried to figure out where it was. She recognized it finally as the old locomotive that sat outside the Steamtown National Historic Site.
By the time she arrived at the downtown monument, it was already an hour into her allotted time with Dwight. She searched around the crowd for him but was disgruntled not to find him. She slipped inside a building to look around in there for him to no avail. Finally, she spotted Mose walking her way, this time dressed head to toe as an engineer. Jan cracked a small smile and shook her head as he approached. This was just beyond.
"Nice to see you again, miss," he greeted her with a strange Southern accent. Jan nodded and gestured toward the burlap bag he was carrying under his arm. "Oh, yes, this is for you. Mister Schrute asked me to kindly deliver this to you. You should follow those directions and move along."
Jan was too busy with her bag that she didn't even notice when Mose left. This bag contained another Polaroid along with a stuffed brown bear holding an index card that read only, "Forge ahead." Tucking the bear into the bag with the rest of her souvenirs, she tried to decipher the object in the third photo. It was a magic wand and top hat, indicating that he was at some magic shop. When she looked up the address scrawled on the bottom of the map, it directed her toward the Houdini Museum on North Main.
She wasn't surprised not to find him this time. The fee to get into the museum was minimal, so she paid the fair and looked around for a few minutes, waiting for her next delivery to appear. Just as she was taking in a small memorabilia exhibit, a caped Mose appeared at her side. "Abracadabra!" he announced grandly, waving his cape more like a vampire than a magician. "Make the next clue appear!" With an intricate wave of his left hand and a not-so-sly slide of his right one, Mose produced a small box. "Voila!"
People around Jan clapped, thinking that it was all just part of the show. Jan smiled nervously at the crowd before taking the box from Magician Mose. Pulling away the white satin ribbon, she thanked him dismissively before gazing down at her next clue. This clue was a little more complex with its various miniature figures from some show or movie that she didn't recognize. A simple question to a clearly nerdy teenager revealed that it pertained to something called Battlestar Galactica. The Polaroid of the vintage streetcar pointed her toward the Trolley Museum.
Fifteen short minutes later, Jan had parked her car yet again in a parking lot and set off in search of Mose. She found him easily this time. He was waiting for her on a bench near the entrance, pushing a small silver trolley along the edge. "Hi, Mose," she said softly before sitting down next to him. Mose smiled in her direction but didn't stop playing with the car. "What do you have for me?"
Mose reached into his pocket and produced a postcard made to look like an old ticket. Dwight had written on the back that she should take the trolley with her and proceed onto the final destination. When she asked Mose for the toy, he handed it over and gave her the last Polaroid in the series. This one was of a sign.
"Well, that is certainly curious."
Mose shrugged. "He's waiting for you there."
Jan thanked him before heading toward her car. Her patience was still present but worn thin. And yet, she was excited to find out what was next on this impromptu scavenger hunt. She headed toward the address pinpointed on her picture, a place not all that unfamiliar to her. Dwight was standing outside waiting for her when she arrived.
"Hello, Jan."
"Dwight," she exhaled, still holding the burlap bag of souvenirs in her hand. "After all that, you brought me back to the office?"
"Well, I figured that I could play this two ways. I could take you on an awkward date that you would never enjoy or I could make your time fun for you. You held up your end of the bet with Jim. I didn't think it was fair that you be forced to spend that time with me," he explained. A small, mischievous smile played on his usually stoic face. "Now then, since that is through, you have a choice to make. Our date can be over, you can fulfill your commitment to Jim and move on with your life. Or you can go on an actual date with me and have fun. The choice is yours."
Jan knew that this was her chance to escape. Dwight was right; she had lived up to her end of the bargain with Halpert. However, she was intrigued what he could possibly have planned next. If nothing else, he had been creative and even, well, nice about taking part in their bet. She had gambled once and lost, but her luck was bound to change. Why not roll the dice one last time?
"Alright, I'm in," she decided quickly before she changed her mind.
Dwight chuckled appreciatively before handing over one more package. "You win this, then!"
Jan tore away the paper and inspected the tube. "Paintballs?"
"You still in?" he asked before pulling off his overcoat to reveal camouflage fatigues.
"I've come this far," she laughed before taking the oversized shirt in his outstretched hand. "Why not?"
Dwight outshot Jan that day by a wide margin, but she was able to get a few hits in here and there. He had to respect the way that she never gave up, and she had to admit that she had way more fun than she would have ever thought. Later, when she told Jim about the whole thing before going into a sales meeting , he shook his head in disbelief; it was hard to imagine the two of them having that much fun. And yet, a year later when Dwight bent on one knee and proposed to her in the middle of his beet farm, the two of them defied all the laws of ration. Some things were just meant to be.
