The Wrong Road Part 1 Through 16

The Wrong Road Taken Part 3

But I digress, so back to you.
When the opportunity arose,
I made the suggestion that you were the person I wished to represent your company at the conference.
A suggestion that the CEO of your company was more than happy to comply with, what with it coming from their largest stockholder."

"Well, I must say I am impressed.
I still don't know that I'm ready for this, however, I am willing to return here for awhile after I have taken care of my obligations at my workplace."

"Luke I have already taken care of that.
I spoke to the CEO this morning and told him that you are to be kept on the pay roll while you are on extended leave working directly under my supervision on one of my projects.
He was most enthusiastic and spoke highly of you.
He also told me that you are to be given a large increase in your salary.
He would see to it that all your future earnings will be sent in as direct deposits to your account."

"Well, it looks like you have anticipated pretty much everything."

Later that afternoon, we were sitting in the garden eating lunch and debating the merits of various philosophers.
Lucia was a constant source of amazement.
I can't think of a subject that I broached that she didn't have a solid understanding of or was willing to spend time debating with me.
What also impressed me was her never talking down at me or belittling my ideas.
She was willing and eager to look anew at her ideas and reassess them in the light of new information.

Hours later, Lucretia returned to the house to finish some things she had cooking for dinner.
This gave me some free time to wander around the grounds, exploring.
Lucretia had already told me what hazards to be aware of while wandering through the woods.

Awhile into my trek, I had my first encounter with the Gorth.
As I rounded a corner, they were sitting in the sun, just basking themselves in its warmth.
As soon as I was spotted, they sprang to their feet and rushed me.
True to her word, they knocked me down and hovered over me, debating whether to eat me there or take me home for dinner.
This all changed in a flash as they began sniffing at me.
At that moment they stepped back and sat up on their hind legs, looking at me with their tails wagging.

One of them moved to the tree line, picked up a large branch, and returned to me only to drop it at my feet.
I took the hint, and as I picked up the branch, they became very excited.
As they were hopping around, I took the branch and tossed it as far as I could.
The two of them jumped, turned, and tried nudging the other out of the way to be the first to retrieve the object of play.
They would return, drop it at my feet, and await a repeat toss.

Lucretia's description of them as large dogs was an understatement.
They were the size of overgrown dire wolves, however, they were far larger, their backs were shoulder high and probably weighed about 250 pounds.
They were definitely not something you would wish to run into alone at night in the woods.

Half an hour later, I could no longer toss the branch due to fatigue.
When I tried to leave, they kept nudging me with their wet noses and whining like the overgrown puppies they were.
Finally, they gave up trying to keep me there while looking at me with forlorn eyes.
As I was leaving, they curled up and went back to their hard won sleep.

After going about a mile, I began to hear voices.
Moving very quietly, I did my best to be stealthy while looking for the source.
As I rounded a corner, I saw a pair of hunters sitting in a blind.
Not very good hunters at that.
When you are hunting, quiet is the golden rule.

I was about to sneak around them to avoid detection when one of the hunters left the blind and walked right up to where I was standing.
He had to be no more than ten feet away when he unzipped his fly and took a leak.
I mean, come on, really dude, I'm standing right here.
He just ignored me and continued to empty his bladder right in front of me.
I even yelled at him, and he never noticed me.