Chapter Ten
As Jack's plane hit Thailand he was welcomed with one of those card board signs that people hold to tell them where to go and who's there ride. He met up with the person taking him. The guy had an innocent child like smile and immediately greeted him with a handshake. "Are you doctor Jack Sheppard?" asked the man. "Yeah, that's me." Jack replied a little nervous as to what he had gotten himself into this time. "My names Tom. I am a doctor from the states too. I am going to be the one to show you the ropes around here until you get settled. I must warn you this is no vacation. Your stay will probably be nothing like you had in the states. This is all about charity work. I assume you read all the guide lines?" Tom asked. "Yes, several times, before I got on the plane and after during the long flight in. I understand and agree to it all." Jack always came prepared.
During the long car ride to their destination there was not much to do other than talk. Awkward silence was not going to fun for a four-hour trip. Tom started the conversation since Jack seemed like he was focused on something else. He seemed deep in thought. "Do you play cards?" Tom asked. Jack came out of his thoughts. "Uh, yeah a little. My dad used to invite me over with his doctor buddies on Saturday nights for poker night. I picked up a few tricks along the way. Why, are you any good?" Jack smirked staring out the window. 'Am I any good?" Tom smirked arrogantly. "I am the best." "Well see about that" Jack quipped. "You haven't played me yet." They both laughed it up and it broke the ice. On the long trip they began to talk about everything. Their jobs took up most of the conversation because they had this in common. Tom also loved to talk about shooting. You would think he was the leader of the NRA.
"Why are you so interested in guns?" Jack asked. "I never really was that bog on guns until I came here. I mean I had a gun license and went shooting with my dad when he was younger that's how I learned to like them as a pass time. They are a necessity down here where it's dangerous. If you don't have a gun you are vulnerable and weak down here. And you don't want to be either one believe me." The conversation turned serious. "Do you know how to use a gun?" Tom asked concerned. "Not much, I know some basic things about it but nothing special." Tom looked worried. "I am going to teach you while you are here among other things. It is not safe not to know. Believe me I know. But it is good if you pretend not to know. People underestimate you that way. That gives you the upper hand. It is just like poker and bluffing. Never show anyone your hand. I obviously have to school you in a lot more than just cards" Tom laughed.
Things became personal when Tom asked him if there was a girl at home waiting for Jack. Jack's face darkened. "Not anymore Tom. We are in the process of a divorce. We were planning to come here for a vacation to help solve our marital problems but things fell through. I said what the hell, its no good to waste good pane tickets. Plus I saw the help all you guys needed here and it was as if it was my calling to be here."
Tom sympathized with him. "Back in Iowa where I am from there was a girl I once loved. I still love her wherever she is, just not in the same way I used to. We fell in love young, hard, deep, and too fast. I needed her and she needed me. But I could not help her with all her problems. She was a good girl living in a world that was not kind to good girls so she had to adapt. It was life that was bad to her. Life dealt her a bad hand of cards. It forced her to make some bad choices in life. None that I blamed her for after all she had been through. After a while her just and me took different paths in life. Not because we wanted to. It was all due to circumstances. We grew apart. In a way we both changed. But deep down I knew she didn't change. She was the same kind, loving, compassionate person at heart. We both grew up too fast. I haven't seen her in a while and it hurt like hell when she left. But life moves on and so did we and you should do the same. You will find someone else. I look at it this way, it was fate that you were to break up with your soon to ex wife. It wasn't in your cards to love her. You were probably meant for someone else. That's what happened to me. I feel your pain though. You will get through it just like I did" Tom said with a smile.
" I don't believe in that fate garbage. I used to but too many times it turned me down. I am more of a logic man." Jack said remembering Sarah's "miracle", than the destruction of his marriage to her, then his many failed attempts to recreate that "miracle" with other patients. "You will believe some day Jack, when you least suspect it." After that car ride Jack and Tom hung out and taught each other things for a couple of weeks than Tom left to introduce other Doctors to the program and Jack never saw Tom again.