Chapter 18 - A Visit To Mr. D's Office

“Ah! Mason! What an unexpected but wonderful surprise” Mr. Dickinson beamed. “Do come in!” “Thank you, sir” I replied as I gently closed the door behind me. I walked over to his desk, and he stood to greet me. “What can I do for you?” he asked, gracious as ever. “Well, sir, it's kind of a long story” I explained “but in short I need to make a request.” His eyebrows perked and he chuckled. “Oho, what kind of request?” “Would you please allow a special guest of mine to attend the tournament tomorrow?” I kept casual, non-formal eye-contact with him, as he caressed his scruffy white beard between his fingers. “Well” he hesitated. “As you know, I've been extremely busy with the tournament as it is. There are so many preparations to make. Who is it that you plan to invite?” he asked curiously. “Just a friend; well, actually, a very close friend” I said, rather timidly. Mr. Dickinson paused to ponder for a moment, and then spoke again. “Well, here's what I'll do. If you give me the address, I'll send one of my private cars to go a bring your guest straight to the tournament. Then, he or she will have the honor of watching it with me in my private box.” I couldn't believe it. Everything was falling back into place. Tomorrow, Heather would have the most exciting time of her life. I walked over behind his desk and shook his hand. “Thank you so much, sir” Before Mr. Dickinson had time to say “you're welcome”, I was already out the door. I had to get back and

phone Heather to tell her both the good and the bad news.



The bus had already left, but Mr. Dickinson had generously called a cab for me, and it had arrived in no less than a minute. I told the driver that I was heading back to the city and needed to be dropped off at the hotel. With still little if any traffic on the streets, it was only a half-hour ride. So by the time I returned it was about 2:30. I took the elevator back up to the room, but when I took out my key and

inserted it into the slot, the light blinked red and rejected the card. “But, that could only mean…” I banged on the door, but no one answered. I pounded harder, but still got nothing. This couldn't be… they had checked out… without me!



After I had double-checked everything over down at the front desk, it was all clear. The Blade Breakers

had checked out of the hotel at promptly 2:00 that day. They had left no message or information as to

where they might be, so there was no way for me to find them. As I sat on the bench just outside the

lobby, I tried to think of how to get things back on track. I had really screwed up this time. Maybe…

maybe I should've been more honest with them. I had to find them and tell them everything. It probably

wouldn't be enough to fix everything, but at least they would know. I carefully went over my plans for

tomorrow, and then at around 3:00, grabbed another cab over to Heather's place.

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