able only of a blank, void expression. He wore a gold watch and the latest style in expensive suits, but I doubt that the salary as a charity worker would pay for them. His voice was thin and reedy. The entire world never saw such a charity worker. He spent the entire day, and with nothing but a persuasive tongue, made the people feel guilty for not giving enough to charity. And with the donation he appropriated for himself a sizeable portion, which, in a week, was more than what the donator could make within a month. To help his craft, he carried a gold-laced leather photo album with pictures of the poverty-stricken. With that, and his clever tongue he made ordinary people feel like misers. Now that I have introduced to you, the reader, the station, job, clothing, personality of each pilgrim, I will tell you what happened that night at the airport. I addressed them plainly as follows: “My friends, we have a long journey before we arrive at the celebration in San Francisco. Our wait here, and afterwards our plane flight will undoubtedly be filled with boredom, so I merrily propose this: I assume that each one of you know some tales that can be told for our amusement. Thus whoever can tell the best tale on our journey will be awarded a hundred dollars to spend whatever way he, or she, wishes.” My proposal was thus granted, and to choose who amongst ourselves would tell the first tale, we drew straws. As it so happened, the short end fell to the woman senator, who, by agreement had to tell her tale. And thus she spoke, and thus began our journey. ...
