Obfuscation (Expanded Edition)

Spring. May 22 to be exact. It was a warm and sunny day.

I love this time of year, and I especially love it when I can look out back and see nature at it's finest and smell the fresh spring air.

That's rural living.

My closest neighbor is five minutes away.

No noise. No pollution. No...anything.

We have lived here for 15 years. Myself, my wife Michelle, my eight-year-old daughter Cindy, and my 12-year-old son Michael.

We have lived in a farm house just off of rural route 44, near the town of Everton.

Summers were comfortable. Winters were long, cold, and dreary, but being farmers, we mostly had winters off.

However, living in a farming community had its disadvantages.

To put it as simply and bluntly as possible; farming sucks.

I needed a change, and I was constantly looking for something else.

It was early afternoon, I'd say about 1:30, and it was Friday.

That was the day things would change.

I went into the den to check email, and there it was.

An email from Dynasoft Business Solutions. A computer software company. They saw my resume' on one of those job-search sites and they were interested in hiring me.

Since they were located in a major city about five hours away, they were willing to interview me over the phone.

I called their HR department immediately. I explained about the email and the person who answered transferred me to the person who sent the email.

She seemed to be a really nice person.

She asked me about my background. You know, education, experience, and how much I knew about corporate sales.

I was applying for a job in the sales department. I had done some corporate sales before I went into farming. Then again, farming is a form of sales as well. You have to sell your product to someone, right?

After all was said and done, she was very impressed and she wanted to meet me in person.

That meant travelling to the big city.

It had been years since any of us had been to the city. The furthest any of us had traveled recently was to Everton.

Of course, getting a job in the city would mean for all of us to have to move there, and I am a little worried as to how Michelle would feel about that.

"Are you out of your frickin' mind?"

Michelle seemed a bit upset.

"Look", I said, "It is a better job. More stable, and better pay."

"How much better?"

The kids were snooping around, and I did not want to reveal too much to them right now, so I wrote a figure on a piece of paper and slid it across the counter to Michelle.

She looked at it.

"Really?"

"Really."

"When do we start to pack?"

"Well, not so fast. She wants to meet me first."

"When?"

"Monday."

"Are you going to drive all the way there?"

"No. I will take the train."

"Well, good idea, and good luck."

The family and I enjoyed the weekend together as I looked forward to visiting what would hopefully be my new job.

It was Monday morning.

I had to be at Dynasoft by 2 PM.

I woke up at my usual time, 5 AM.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't rushed and in case something happened. Even by train, the trip would take at least four hours. That means being on the 8:30 AM departure at the absolute latest.

After a shower and a good breakfast, I had Michelle drive me to Everton. I could catch a train there that would take me to the city.

After arriving at the station, I said my goodbyes and went to get my ticket.

The train was already there and waiting, so I lined up to board.

There was an announcement, "Now boarding: 08:30 Local service to..." The announcement was cut off by static.

I wanted to make sure I was boarding the right train, so I asked the conductor and he assured me that it was the right train. He also told me that our anticipated arrival tile would be just after noon.

Perfect.

The first thing I noticed upon boarding was that there was an unusual odor throughout the entire car, but I could not recognize what it was.

We were to make two stops before arriving at the city, and that they would be serving lunch at about 11:00.

I noticed that the car was almost full. There were only three empty seats.

Looks like a full-house, I thought.

This would be a good time for a nap.

The last thing I heard before I drifted off was "All Aboard!" over the train's PA system.

I awoke to a lady standing over me.

“Sorry, sir. I need to know what you want for lunch? You have a choice of beef, chicken, or fish.”

“Oh. Lunch already. I must have slept a long time. I’d like chicken, please.”

“Chicken, okay”, she wrote my seat number with "Chicken" next to it.

I looked around and noticed that the car was almost empty. There must have been a lot of people get out at the previous stations.

The next station was mine, and we should be there in about an hour.

I looked down at my smartphone and noticed that there was no service. That didn’t bother me as much as when I noticed something very wrong. The date displayed on the main page. “May 24”.

Wait. Yesterday was May 24. Today is the 25th.

I saw the server lady walk by.

“Excuse me. This may seem like an odd question but, what is today’s date?”

“It is Monday. May 24th.”

Monday, May 24th? How can that be? May 24th would have been Sunday, yesterday. Not today.

I must just be really tired. Maybe I will feel better after a good meal.

Not long after, the server brought me lunch. Baked salmon on a bed of rice with broccoli stems and baby carrots.

“Um, excuse me”, I motioned to her, “I believe I asked for chicken.”

“No, sir. Fish. It’s right here.”

She showed me where she wrote my seat number with “Fish” next to it.

It was getting weird. At that point I just wanted off of that damn train.

All of this weirdness was making me tired and I drifted off again.

I awoke some time later to a lady standing over me. This time it was a different lady.

“Sorry, sir. I need to know what you want for lunch? You have a choice of beef, chicken, or fish.”

"What?"

"Lunch, sir. What do you want? Beef, chicken, or fish?"

"I just had lunch and I didn't finish..." My voice trailed off as I looked down at my drop-down table that had never been opened.

"What time is it?", I asked.

"A little past 11."

Confused and obviously going totally out of my mind, I said, "Beef."

She wrote my seat number with "Beef" next to it.

I looked around and noted that the car was now filled with different people from when before I fell asleep.

Okay. I have now officially lost it. Once I get to the city I am going to see someone professional.

I was afraid to do it, but I did. I looked at my smartphone. Still no service, but the date was still May 24.

In what seemed to be about five minutes, the server lady brought me lunch. A grilled chicken breast with mixed veggies and mashed potatoes.

"Excuse me."

The lady looked at me.

"Never mind.", I said.

We arrived at the city at what appeared to be just after noon as scheduled, but who really knows any more?

I now needed to know how to get to Dynasoft.

I wanted to bring up Maps on my smartphone but noticed that there was still no service.

How can I not have service here in a major city?

I decided to ask at the information desk.

"Excuse me. I'm new to this city. I am looking for Dynasoft. You know the software company? Do you know how to get there?"

"Dynasoft?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry. I have never heard of Dynasoft."

"Well, do you at least know where I can get my phone fixed?"

"Yes. There is a cell phone repair place up on the mezzanine."

"Thank you."

After a bit of a walk I found the cell phone repair.

I handed my smartphone to the guy and told him that for some reason I wasn't getting any service.

He asked me who was my carrier.

I told him, "C-Mobile."

"C-Mobile?"

"Yeah. You know. One of the largest mobile carriers in the country? C-Mobile, for Christ's sake already!"

"I don't know of C-Mobile, sir."

"Well then, do you know how to get to Dynasoft Business Solutions. One of the biggest software companies?"

"Sir. I don't know what you are talking about. Would you like me to call the police?"

"The police? The hell? Why?"

"I think you are not well, sir. Let me get you some help."

"No. Where is there a pay phone?"

"Right there, sir", he pointed to the wall behind me.

"Great."

I walked to the phone. I needed to talk to Michelle.

I called home. It rang a few times and then a woman answered, but I didn't recognize her voice.

"I need to speak to Michelle. It's important."

"I'm sorry", the woman said, "There is no Michelle here."

I hung up and dialed again. I mean, it was possible that I was over-tired and dialed incorrectly.

The same woman answered.

I didn't understand.

Where the hell was I?

Here I was in this very strange city with even stranger people. Lost and confused and very tired. At this point I wanted to forget the whole thing and go back home.

I tried striking up conversations with people to try to find out where I was but without sounding like some weirdo.

I asked several people about well-known actors and athletes, you know, celebrities that all if not most average every-day people have heard of, but nobody in this screwed-up city knew of any of the celebrities I mentioned.

That's it. Forget it. I just wanted to go home.

It was late anyway. It was now well past 2 PM. I had spend so much time trying to figure out this place.

I finally asked one last person for no other reason that to try to regain my sanity.

"Excuse me. I have been looking all day for a software company called Dynasoft Business Solutions. They are somewhere in this city. My stupid phone with this stupid C-Mobile service isn't working. Can you help me? Please. I'm begging. Where is Dynasoft?"

A woman standing behind the man I was asking said, "C-Mobile? I think he means T-Mobile."

"Sir", the man said to me. "The only software company anywhere near here is Microsoft."

"Microsoft?"

I had no idea what he was talking about. What the hell is Microsoft?

I ran fast. As fast as I could back to the train station.

I stepped onto the first train going towards home. I didn't even buy a ticket. I really didn't care any more.

A found and empty seat and fell asleep almost immediately.

I slept for the entire time it took to get back to Everton.

For some reason I must have lost track of time or something because it didn't seem as late any more.

I didn't want to bother Michelle, so I took a taxi back to the farm. I had a rough day and I had a lot to tell Michelle.

When I finally arrived home I ran right in to meet Michelle.

I gave her the biggest hug.

She gave me an odd look.

"What happened?", she asked in a puzzled voice.

"I just had the strangest experience..."

"You didn't go to the city?"

"Yes. That's just it..."

"How? You were only gone an hour."