Chapter 4
"Jim Arrives in Lancaster"
Lancaster, Pennsylvania had changed in the days since Wilson had last visited it nearly five years before. He remembered the occasion well. It had been the day of Dick and Ardais' commitment union, and he'd wanted to congratulate the two of them in person on that happy occasion.
Ardais Verengi-Degas, dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes, and a psychology fellow and native to the state of Israel, arrived on campus the middle of their sophomore year. Dick Dickinson met him first when he arrived at the same dormitory at McGill. Wilson, Dickinson and Joe Ferguson had been friends from the day they'd enrolled, but Verengi-Degas ("Dai") fit in well as a fourth Musketeer. He was older than they were by almost four years, and he'd impressed them immediately with his quiet manner and impressive knowledge and innate common sense.
For a time, the four of them palled around like a litter of exuberant puppies; studied together, took meals together, and enjoyed the same downtime activities. Then one day Joe and Jim noticed that the other two seemed to be pairing off more and more, seeking companionship away from the pack and eventually disappearing into a black hole when they were not actually in class. For quite some time, Wilson and Ferguson thought nothing of it. Then, late one Saturday afternoon, Joe walked past a thick stand of pine trees at the edge of the campus and heard two male voices:
"I think I love you …""I think I love you too."
There was no mistaking their identities. There was only one Hebrew accent quite that defined on the McGill campus. Montreal accents tended to be a bit "Frenchy". Joe hurried back to the dorm to inform Wilson.
"I think I know where Dai and Dick disappear to in the afternoons …"
"Where?"
The explanation had Wilson wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
"Wow!" "Yeah, Man … Wow!"When Ardais finished his post-graduate studies and returned to Israel, Dick Dickinson said his goodbyes and transferred, bag and baggage, to Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
Now they were back in the USA together. Also together, they purchased an old brick-façade office building, in danger of demolition, in downtown Lancaster, Dick's home- town. They renovated it, and each established a practice in it … one floor apart.
Ardais worked mainly with children and elder-abuse and domestic-violence clients.
Dick worked with everybody else.
They had been together for eighteen years, "unionized" for five!
The first three floors of the old five-story had been given over to state-of-the-art offices for a variety of businesses. The fourth floor contained two luxury apartments. Dick and Dai lived together happily on the fifth floor where, on a clear fall morning, they could see all the way across to the mist rising above the Susquehanna River.
It was into this bustling center of commerce that James Wilson now guided the Volvo, looking for familiar landmarks and trying to remember how far he'd come through town the last time he'd had occasion to drive over here.
State and Grand … a familiar ring there! Both streets were one-way. State Street headed east; Grand Avenue headed south. Following the flow of traffic, he eased into the opposing lane and made a turn onto Grand Avenue.
Two blocks. There it was on the right.
Very old, faded brick, almost like crushed velvet. Fancy hand-painted sign with arc lights above: "Dickinson and Verengi-Degas". So stately! Definitely sandblasted. New window-casings. Vinyl storm windows. Parking meters out front, but an arrow pointed to a rear lot for tenants and clients only.
Jim turned on the right signal and moved gradually across, arcing the steering wheel, and the car's tires clopped softly over the divider and onto the smooth macadam. He found a parking spot, pulled in and killed the engine. Took a deep breath and relaxed, finally.
His head was clear, eyes dry. He hoped, during the next few hours, he could remain that way.
No promises!
Oooo0oooO
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