Abandonment - Part 6

In our last instalment Ed was deemed as sane as could be expected and sprung from the hospital with some meds and a renewed desire to live. Before lunching with Leslie, he made a few calls and located Adams' missing evidence files at his niece's house out in Scarboro. Get your streetcar tokens ready! We're off to get those files.

The good thing about Scarboro is that it's only an hour from Kresge's downtown lunch counter and Ottawa is five. 

And, you can take a superPCC to get there. They're longer, faster, and more plush than the regular ones. Yeah, these seats are great. We'd only been on this thing for ten minutes and the comfy seats were already working their relaxing magic.

And, on this route to Pinebrae in deepest Scarboro there're a lot fewer stops. But, it costs more. You cross zones, so you have to pay twice as much.

Ah, well, the quicker we get there, the quicker this will all be over. Leslie was sitting to my left, and I think she was nodding off now and then. To my right was a window with a great view of Scarboro's endless parade of highrises and strip-malls. Which was great, but Adams was blocking my view.

Adams? There he was sitting on the other side of window moving along with us as if he were sprawled in a barcalounger bolted to the outside of the streetcar. He gave me a little Queen Elizabeth wave and said, "Hey Dude."

Great, hippie Adams was back. I liked angst-ridden, neurotic, tightly-wound Adams better. I guess in the afterlife the personality traits that are better left repressed get released once the ego no longer has everything under its thumb.

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore it. It, him, I have no idea. It's a hallucination damn it! I opened my eyes. He was still there and he continued on, "Dude?"

"Yes, what now?"

"You're on your way to see my niece?"

"Yes."

"Be careful dude. She's weird."

"She's weird? I think we've both got weirdness covered."

"Dude, just play along with whatever she says, and when you've got the files just drop them in the mail to Douglas. Then, easy-peasy, you're done."

"Yes, I'm done all right." Someone was calling my name. Leslie was calling my name. People were staring at me. I turned to stare at Leslie.

"Ed, you're talking to yourself."

I was. I looked around and gave the onlookers my best what-are-you-looking-at glare. Some cowered, some didn't. I didn't care. I stopped talking. I returned to staring out the window. Adams was no longer blocking my view.

Part 7 is here.