Chapter 2:

Arrival and an Introduction

April 3rd, 2017.

Time: 12:45pm.

The 747 was on its final approach and was due to land within the next 15 minutes. While approaching and going over Newfoundland, they'd ran into an unexpected headwind which pushed back their arrival time by nearly twenty minutes. The pilots had been able to make up some of the lost time but not all, although many of the passengers had been too busy enjoying their flight to worry about a delay now.

Jack was one of those enjoying the flight, particularly the First-Class service provided. An hour and a half after take-off, he was served a good lunch; starting with cream of asparagus soup, followed by the main course of roast beef with all the trimmings, including roast potatoes. To finish it all off, he enjoyed an ice cream sundae followed by a hot cup of tea.

Now satisfied after a good lunch, he had settled back into his seat and carried on with his laptop for another hour and a half or so before turning his laptop off and putting it away; now he had been settling down with some of his books for well over an hour and half since then, not even bothering to use the inflight entertainment system, although he did listen to some of his music on his iPhone, such as themes from war movies. Now though, his iPhone, now fully powered up, was back its pocket on the inside of his multi-pocket waist jacket, which he was still wearing.

One book he was reading was "Escaping the Trap: The US Army X Corps in Northeast Korea, 1950", about the battle of Chosin Reservoir in late 1950 in the first few months of the Korean War. He was at the part where the Chinese forces made their first attack on the U.S. Marine positions at Hagaru-ri when an announcement came over the public address system.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking; we will shortly be landing at Bangor International Airport. So please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts. I hope you had a pleasant flight." and then the P.A. system went silent.

"We're almost there already?" Jack said quietly, as he looked at his watch; it was 12:50pm. He was astonished at how quickly time had flown by since they'd taken off from Dublin. After putting his book back into his laptop bag and making sure it and his small trolley case were secured in the overhead locker and making sure he had his camera and its carrier bag by him, Jack took his seat and fastened his seat belt ready for landing.

After they landed at Bangor International Airport, only about 10 minutes behind schedule, and the plane taxied to the jet-bridge, everyone disembarked. After gathering his things, and making sure he left nothing behind, Jack stepped off the plane and up the jet bridge to the baggage reclaim area. After getting a luggage trolley and placing his small trolley case on it, he made his way to Baggage Carousel 3, which was for luggage from the Dublin flight. He didn't have long to wait long for his two large trolley cases, as they came out after about five minutes or so. He was able to identify them at once as he had placed yellow masking tape on them to form a square with an X in the middle.

After checking the bag tags, and then the contents to be fully sure, he loaded the two larger trolley cases onto the luggage trolley, placing the smallest on top, while having his laptop bag round his right shoulder and his camera case round his left. Then he headed to passport control and the main arrivals area, passing crowds of people waiting for their bags to come out on the different carousels. He was glad to be getting away from the crowds.

After quickly going through passport control, he stepped out into the main arrivals area and kept a sharp look out for the teacher from the school he would be attending who would take him to Chamberlain. But he initially couldn't see anyone who looked like they were here to pick him up.

"I hope someone's here. I don't wanna be stuck here tonight." Jack thought to himself as he looked round. Then he saw a red-haired woman not too far from him and holding up a piece of white cardboard with "Jack Sullivan" written on it with black marker pen. Heading over to her, Jack could see the woman, who was in her mid to late twenties and had her red-brown hair in a ponytail, was wearing a dark blue jacket, white sneakers and light grey shorts that went down to about halfway between her waist and her knees.

As he approached her, she lowered the sign and asked, "Are you Jack Sullivan?

"Yes ma'am, that's me;" Jack said, with a nod of his head. "Are you the teacher who's picking me up and taking me into Chamberlain?" he asked, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"Yes, I am. I'm Rita Desjardin, the gym teacher at the school you'll be attending." Rita said, extending her hand out while giving a smile.

"Nice to meet you. Have you been waiting long?" Jack asked, as he shook Rita's hand.

"Not as long as I expected to…only about half an hour. I watched your flight come in on Flight Tracker 24 on my iPhone." Rita said with a peppy tone, as she smiled.

"Well, I'm just sorry that we were a bit late getting in." Jack said, as they made their way out from arrivals to where Rita had parked her car.

"Oh, that's not a problem at all, Jack. After all, these things happen sometimes." Rita said.

"You know I was expecting someone…else to pick me up when I got here." Jack said.

"And right you are. Someone else, another teacher from Ewen High, was originally asked to collect you today but they couldn't as they'd a dental appointment scheduled for this afternoon. So, I was asked to pick you up instead." Rita said.

"Many thanks, Ms Desjardin." Jack said, while smiling at Rita.

Soon, with Jack's luggage securely stowed in the back of Rita's vehicle, a minivan, they left the airport and were on their way back to Chamberlain heading north on I-95.

"Is Chamberlain very far from here?" Jack asked as they turned onto the freeway.

"No, not far; it's only about 10 to 12 miles due north up the road from the airport. It's quite a nice town that's grown a lot in the last 20 years or so. More and more businesses from all over the United States have been set up there, attracting a lot of people in which means the town has increased in size quite a bit. It also has a university and substantial accommodation areas for the students going to it and the biggest shopping mall in the country." Rita said.

"Really? How big?" Jack asked as his eyebrows lifted in curiosity.

"You'll see when we get into Chamberlain. After all, the apartment building where you'll be staying in for the next two months is across the street from the mall in question. Have you ever been to the United States before, Jack?"

"No, this is my first time in this particular country. And it's one I've always had a great deal of respect and admiration for. It's nice to come here for the first time after having visited quite a few other countries around Europe." Jack said, as Rita smiled.

"So, you're quite a well-travelled person?" she said.

"I am. Oh, that reminds me…I better call home and let them know I've arrived safely." Jack said, as he took out his fully charged iPhone and dialled his mother's number, noting the time on his iPhone as 1:15pm; in Ireland it was 6:15pm, dinner time.

"Hello, Jack…is that you?"

"Yes mother, it's me; I just want to let you know I've arrived safely and I'm on my way into Chamberlain with one of the teachers from the school I'll be going to."

"That's fantastic! Did you have a nice flight over there?"

"Yes, I did. It was an uneventful one but we ran into a headwind while we were passing over Newfoundland, so we were a little bit late getting in."

"That's okay, but can you put your phone on speaker so I can talk to the teacher please?"

"Okay, but you'll have to keep it brief; she's driving us in." and Jack put his phone on speaker.

"Hello, madam…can you hear me at all?"

"Yes, loud and clear; I'm Rita Desjardin and I'm the gym teacher, or gym coach, at the school your son will be attending for the next two months."

"Even though I'm not there, it's nice to meet you. As you're driving, I'll keep this short; could you please keep an eye out for my son. He's almost 19, and thus a grown up, but please make sure he stays out of trouble. And if he does get in trouble, please contact me at once and straighten him out."

"Don't worry ma'am, I'll keep an eye out for your son. And if he does something wrong, I'll be sure to straighten him out." Rita said with a smile, admiring the concern a woman had for her child, who legally was now a grown up.

"Thanks. Okay Jack, your sisters and father aren't in now, but they've asked me to say hi to you when you call. We all miss you already."

"I know mother, I miss you all too. I'll talk to you with a Skype call the next time when you're all together. And tell dad and the girls I said hi."

"Okay son, I'll leave you to it. Bye for now."

"Bye mother, talk to you later." and Jack hung up. He glanced over at Rita, who briefly looked at him before turning back to watch the road ahead.

"So, your family miss you already?" she teased, while also giving a teasing smile.

"Yeah, and I haven't been gone even half a day yet. What's the world coming to?" Jack sighed as Rita chuckled.

"So, what do your parents do for a living?"

"My dad works for an Irish pharmaceutical company within the top management positions and my mother runs a very successful bakery company with 20 shops in business in Ireland, of which four are based in Dublin, with another two due to open in the near future. Her bakery business specialises with giving customers very high-quality baked goods, as well as other things like ice cream, custard and doughnuts."

"Now that sounds nice; and your sisters?" Rita asked, sounding impressed.

"My three sisters, who are triplets, are still in secondary school, or high school as it's known over here. Last Friday, we celebrated their fifteenth birthday with a big party…" and Jack spent a minute or two describing how the party had gone.

"Wow, it sounds like you had a good time there." Rita said, still impressed.

"Yeah, we did." Jack said.

After another two miles, they turned off the freeway and headed to Chamberlain. At one point they stopped two miles outside town due to some roadworks taking place. Jack looked to his right and saw they'd stopped in front of a large double gate painted black with a high wall on both sides of it with trees behind the wall.

On the other side of the gate was a long straight and wide driveway leading up to a very wide ten-story building with a red tile roof, though the nineth and tenth storeys were positioned in the middle of the building and appeared to be observation levels, given the fact they didn't stretch all the way to both sides of the building.

The walls were in red-brown and in front of the main entrance in the centre of the motor court was a marble fountain. It looked like an over-sized Hollywood mansion, except with the look of a Central European chateau.

"What's that place, Ms Desjardin?" Jack said, indicating to the building in question.

"That place was at one point owned by a rich couple and it has very good amenities, including a rooftop patio, three bowling alleys, balconies, large movie theatre, enormous kitchens, four swimming pools, three tennis courts, comfortable lounges, underground garage and a large wine cellar. But the couple moved away some years ago, and that mansion's been on the market ever since." Rita said. Then, given the all clear, they carried on down the road.

After a few more minutes, they came over the top of the hill and Jack got his first view of the town of Chamberlain as they drove through the streets of suburbia.

It was everything he imagined a typical American town would be, having seen enough American movies and television shows over the years; smart red brick houses on both sides of the street with typical American-made cars in the driveways, trees full of bright green leaves along the sidewalks and people milling about or walking along the sidewalks or playing games with friends in their front gardens, some of which were lined with white washed picket fences, most of which looked as though they had been recently painted.

"Wow, this is sure a nice place. Where's the apartment building I'll be staying at?" Jack asked, as he looked round in awe.

"It's not too far from here, but it's a bit of a long walk from Ewen High School so I'll give you a lift in each morning. It's no trouble, as I always pass through that part of town on my way into school each morning." Rita said.

"Thanks Ms Desjardin, I appreciate that." Jack said.

They soon arrived at the apartment building and parked in the parking lot. After unloading Jack's bags from the trunk, they made their way into the reception area where Jack was given the card keys for his apartment. Stepping into the elevator, they headed to the sixth floor, also the building's top floor, and went down the corridor to the reserved apartment.

Entering the door, Jack saw it was quite a substantial apartment; there were three bedrooms, one of which was the master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and large walk-in closet. The other two bedrooms had large walk-in closets and access to a shared balcony, a separate bathroom, two closet-like rooms for hanging up coats and storage, a room by the main entrance with a washing machine and tumble drier, a large combined kitchen and dining area with a dining table and six chairs as well as an island within the kitchen with a sink in it, two dishwashers under it and four chairs lined on one side.

The living area had a large red leather three cushion sofa and a smaller two cushion sofa, also of red leather and two armchairs, all of which could fold out, along with a coffee table and a wide-screen TV. A door by the dining table lead out to the large balcony, one which sat a white table and three white plastic chairs.

After they put Jack's bags into the master bedroom at the end of the bed, Jack went out into the kitchen and paused.

"Now this is my kind of place." Jack said, as he looked round in awe at his new quarters. Opening the door to the balcony, he went out, looked to his left and saw an enormous building across the road. The building seemed to stretch on and on wherever he looked to the left or right and it seemed to tower over the surrounding carpark, which was filled with many cars.

Jack's jaw dropped in awe and astonishment when he saw it, and he let out a low whistle.

"Is that the shopping mall you were telling me about earlier, Ms Desjardin?" he asked, as Rita stepped out onto the balcony.

"It is, Jack. It's the largest shopping mall in the whole United States, and the second largest in the world, with over 6 and a half million square feet of space spread over four floors with close to 1,000 stores. There's plenty of good restaurants, a few fast-food joints in a number of food courts and other good eateries and a few good gift shops too." Rita said.

"Are there any good bookshops there?" Jack asked.

"Yes, there's over a dozen very good bookshops there, some of which are the biggest I've ever seen with literally hundreds of thousands of books to choose from." Rita said, as she smiled at the awe-struck young man beside her.

"Good, I like reading. Maybe I'll be able to find some books in there that I've never been able to find back in Ireland." said Jack.

"Yes, it's a very popular place in this town. But all the same, don't spend all your time there; you've still got your education to keep an eye on too you know." Rita said, as she went back inside the kitchen; after a moment, Jack followed.

"Yes, ma'am."

"You'll need to get some food for here, but that's not too much of a problem as there's a very good and well-stocked food store across the street that's open 24/7. They usually have just about anything you could need to get in there." Rita said.

"Excellent, as soon as I've done some unpacking, I'll get some supplies." Jack said, as he looked at his watch; 1:50pm.

"Okay then, Jack…I'll be off now. I'll pick you up at about half seven tomorrow morning." Rita said, as she turned for the door.

"I understand, Ms Desjardin. I'll see you in the morning."

"Right-o; good night, Jack. Oh and…welcome to Chamberlain." Rita said with a smile, as she closed the door behind her.

After spending about half an hour unpacking his three trolley cases and putting his clothes into the chest of drawers in his room, as well as into his large closet and placing his empty cases into the closet, Jack decided to leave the apartment and explore round the shopping mall and get food from the local store. After making sure he had his wallet, phone, room cardkeys in his waist jacket and camera on him, as well as his laptop bag, but leaving his laptop safely in the apartment, he left the apartment and went downstairs.

Soon he was walking on the ground floor of the mall; he was astonished by how enormous the place was when he was standing inside it. Looking up his saw the glass roof overhead formed into an arch which stretched the length of the wing. It very much reminded him of St Stephen's Green Shopping Center back in Dublin. After stopping for a quick bite to eat at one of the food courts, a burger, French fries, and a vanilla milkshake, he went looking for one of the book shops. He found one on the second floor and was astounded by how large it was; it made the bookshops he'd been to in Ireland look pathetically small.

Finding the military history section, he searched for books he'd always wanted but didn't have; he quickly found two, Ridgeway Duels for Korea and The United States Air Force in the Korean War. After paying for them, he explored the mall some more and got a few more pictures of the place on his camera.

During his explorations, which he limited to another hour and a half, he discovered the mall had four bowling alleys and three cinemas, each with a dozen screens, half a dozen steakhouses as well as attractions that would never be found in any Irish shopping centre, such as a small amusement park with plenty of rides and attractions, an aquarium, two gyms, three swimming pools and a well-equipped conference centre.

By 3:50pm, Jack left the mall and made his way back to his apartment. After dropping his purchases there, he went to the food store and bought the food he would need for the next few days, as well as something for that evening's dinner. After returning to his apartment again with the food he needed and putting everything away, he set about getting dinner ready, two pork chops, fried in a pan with a honey garlic sauce, with boiled potatoes and corn on the cob. Once it was all cooked and ready, Jack pulled a can of 7Up out of the refrigerator and settled down at the coffee table to eat dinner while watching the TV.

As he ate, he flicked through the different channels to see if anything good was on. He finally found a movie channel on which was being shown the 1987 film Empire of the Sun. He hadn't seen this film in a while, so settled down to watch as he ate through his dinner.

By 7:30pm, with the movie finished and dinner consumed, Jack cleaned and put the dishes into the dishwasher. He went into the master bedroom and set about getting ready for school the next day; he brought a backpack with him as well as a few blank notebooks for the subjects he would be studying and a pencil case with some pens, pencils and sharpeners, a ruler as well as a calculator. Then he put into his bag his new book The United States Air Force in the Korean War, just so he had something to read just in case he had a free period the next day. Getting his backpack ready with the things he needed for the following day took only a few minutes and then he went back into the kitchen.

For the rest of the evening, he simply relaxed in the living area watching movies and YouTube videos, as well as checking the e-mails, on his laptop while enjoying a cup of tea and one of the chocolate chip cookies he bought at the mall earlier on. But then, despite Jack enjoying the evening, it was soon 10:45pm and he decided to have an early night. After putting the box of cookies away and the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, as well checking to see if the main door was locked, Jack turned off the lights in the kitchen and went into his bedroom. After putting on his laptop down on the corner desk, he went into the bathroom.

After using the toilet, washing his hands, and brushing his teeth, he had a hot refreshing shower. Once finished, he wrapped himself up in towels and dried off in his bedroom. Looking out the window as he dried off, he saw everything was now quiet as most of the traffic on the streets was now gone since most of the residents were now at home.

Once in his pyjamas and the towels hung up to dry, Jack settled back in his bed and, for about 20 minutes, read one of the books he'd bought with him from home.

Everything was quiet, but every now and then, he would hear sirens in the distance, more than likely from police cars on their way to an emergency somewhere in town, as well as the sounds of a train horn sounding in the distance as a freight train went by on its way south to Boston or north to Canada. But then again, sounds like that was what Jack had expected to hear in an American town, having seen a lot of American movies and TV over the years.

Eventually, he decided to turn in as he was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. Placing a bookmark in his book, and the alarm on his iPhone set to go off at 6:30pm, he settled down under the covers and turned off the bedside light before he fell into a deep welcome sleep.