the office in the corner of the parking garage was a small one, completely unadorned, with only a desk and two chairs, including the one behind the desk, and a single small overhead tv monitor.
“you wanted to see me, mr johnson?”
“yes, I did, dennis, come in, sit down. go ahead, the chair won’t bite you.”
dennis sat down in the chair. he sat up straight.
mr johnson relaxed in his chair behind his desk. “you look surprised, dennis, that i called you in here.”
“yes, i am, sir.”
“we have been watching you for a long time, dennis.”
“you have?”
mr johnson laughed politely. “i don’t mean that i have been sitting here watching you by the minute, dennis. but we do have footage of every minute you have been working here, as of course, you agreed to when you were hired.”
“of course,” dennis flushed slightly.
“and we - that is, my personal staff, and i have gone through the footage pretty thoroughly, as well as through your employment and life history, and we like what we see.”
“thank you, sir.”
“you always show up, which is the most important thing. you do your job and don’t complain, and we appreciate that. but most of all - and i don’t want to give you a big head here - by golly, you are just the best darn car parker we have ever seen.”
“thank you, sir,” dennis said again.
“i mean it. now, just out of curiosity, was it something you practiced before you applied for the job?”
“uh - no, sir, it is just something i can do.”
“interesting. well, down to serious business. I called you in here, dennis, because I have a special job I would like you to do for me. now before we go any further i want you to promise me that you will never reveal to anybody what i propose to you, whether you agree to do it or not.” mr johnson stared at dennis wth an i’m serious look on his face. “now, i’m not going to go through any rigmarole of having you sign anything , because what would be the point, but i want you to promise me that what i say here stays in this room.”
“i promise, sir.”
“good, well, we only have footage of you driving around the garage and parking the cars here, but based on that we assume you must be a very capable driver. and so what i want you to do is take a car - a car which we will provide you - and drive it not only out of the garage but out of the city and past the outposts around the city and halfway across the continent. do you think you can do that?”
dennis looked astonished. “across the continent? but ,sir, are there still any roads - i thought -“
mr johnson laughed. “yes, there are roads, dennis, and the system in the car will guide you to and down them.”
“but - what about gas - or recharging -?”
“that’s good, dennis, that shows you grasp the situation. yes, there are gas and recharging stations, and we have those all mapped out for you too. some of them are a bit off the grid, so it might be a bit of a challenge to find them. that is one of the reasons - the second most important reason - we want a person to drive the car and not just send it on its way by itself. before, we go any further, do you think you want to do this? it can be done, we just need someone to do it.”
“i’ll do it, sir. you can count on me.”
“good man! now - on to the most important reason - the purpose of the whole thing. which is to deliver a package to a man - to deliver it to him personally, see it right in his hand. do you understand?”
“yes, sir.”
mr johnson smiled. “do you want to know what is in the package?”
“if you wanted me to know, sir, you would probably tell me.”
“exactly. i like your answers more and more. there is no need for you to know what is in the package. and in any case, you couldn’t open it if you wanted to. it will be wrapped in paper, and you could unwrap the paper, but you couldn’t get any further than that. “
dennis nodded, and mr johnson went on. “the package is in the glove comportment of a car parked here now, you may have noticed it - a long black limousine, parked in the far northern corner, in sector j.”
“oh, yes, sir, i have noticed it. it looks like a real beauty! but i don’t think i have ever driven it.”
“no, you wouldn’t have, it has just been sitting there. now, is there any reason you can’t start in the morning, after getting a night’s sleep?”
“no, sir.” dennis, like the other parking attendants, slept in a series of small rooms, little more than barracks, directly above the garage. the rooms were wired and monitored 24 hours a day.
“good.” mr johnson opened a drawer on his desk and took a small tablet out of it and handed it across the desk to dennis. “here is a map of the continent showing exactly where you will be going.”
“I was never very good at geography,” dennis said.
“with this map, and the system in the car you shouldn’t have any trouble,” mr johnson assured him. “where you are going is just outside elko nevada. that is about 2400 miles.”
“2400 miles!” dennis hesitated. “and the roads - what are they like?”
“i told you - we are pretty sure they are not anything the limousine can’t handle - as long as you keep it gassed and charged up.”
“aren’t the roads - kind of dark and lonely?”
“yes, i am sure they are very dark and lonely. “
“and are there any - any what do you call them - gangs - marauders…?”
“ha. ha! no, those are the least of your worries. they were always exaggerated by the media, and now they are long gone, trust me. they were scavengers, and there is nothing left out there for them to scavenge, so they just died out.”
“if you say so.” dennis looked a little uncertain. “so these roads - they must be pretty dark and lonely.”
“oh yes, they will be very dark and lonely. and that brings me to another very important point. on these dark and lonely roads you may encounter a few hitchhikers. do not - i repeat, do not under any circumstances, pick any of them up, do you understand? no matter how much they might tug at your heartstrings, or how sad or in need of help they look. do you understand?”
hitchhikers, dennis thought, there will be no gangs or marauders, but there will be hitchhikers. but he said, “i understand.”
“until the very end. at the very end, you will pick up a hitchhiker.”
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