The Eighteenth Post

This is more like the sequel to the Seventeenth Post, since I never got to finish it, but since that was yesterday, we'll call this eighteen. Let me cover why it ended so abruptly. You'll note that I commented that at any time, someone could come up behind me. Well, someone did. Thank God for speed keys. I hit Control-P to publish the entry just in case and closed my laptop.

This person politely asked that I accompany him out of the store. I politely declined. He began to insist. I ran out the fire exit. He chased me across the parking lot, where I couldn't help but note a couple other individuals who were waiting at the main entrance give chase as well.

I had two things in my favor at this point. First, my car has automatic door locks, so I was able to get it open before I got there. Second, I was so far out in the lot that no one was around me, so I could jump in, start, shift to drive, and go. No, they weren't dumb enough to get in front of me.

The downside is that now they know what my car looks like, and probably have the license plate. I would be willing to wager they've reported it stolen by now. After all, that will put my car on the radar, and once I'm in police custody, I'm sure it's no big deal for them to spring me. Can't make a commotion in the police station, and they wouldn't believe this story anyway.

So at this point, I'm not in Broken Arrow. I think I'll not say where I am for the moment. Granted, it'll be a case of me being gone before anyone gets here, but I don't want my current location known even generally. It took me so long to reply back because the hotel I ended up in didn't have internet, and I didn't know the Wi-fi hotspots in this area. But I found one, and I'm determined to go on. After all, I have a story to finish.

Tracking my parents was no easy task, but finding their names was actually very easy. I looked through my personal documentation and found my birth certificate. This is a piece of paper one totes round forever and never even glances at it, but on that day I looked and there they were: Mack and Cynthia Mulligan. Maybe it was too easy, but it was a start.

So I went to the next logical place: the phone book. I'm from Broken Arrow. Tara said my parents lived here as well, so it shouldn't be too difficult. And under Mulligan, we find...nothing. Unlisted. I checked Tulsa, and while there are Mulligans, no Mack or Cynthia. I expanded my search to Jenks and Bixby, but still nothing. I got on the Internet, and searched all of Oklahoma, but I still came up empty... and I pretty much expected that. If they have been in this organization since before I was born, then they're going to be quite secretive.

Then again, it's been almost 30 years. How long could one stay in such a position? Quite some time, I eventually learned, but for now, it was a question of where to go. What would my adoptive parents know? Anything? How would I approach it? Maybe I could find out the name of the agency. Maybe they could help.

This latter part was doubtful at best. First, movies have taught me that adoption records are quite secret, and they don't tend to reveal them to anyone. Add to this that they are a part of a secret, networking organization, so the adoption may have been done off the books entirely. There would be records on the part of my quite innocent adoptive parents, but likely nothing noted on my birth parents. Add even to that that the names on my birth certificate could have been pseudonyms. Who knows?

Since I found a couple Mulligans in the book, I decided to take an easy course of action, and call a few of them. I said I was looking for Mack and Cindy, I hadn't seen them in years, and wondered if they'd heard of them. Not so lucky. I completely struck out. Oh well.

I went to the adoption agency, and as expected, they refused to help. I could try my adopted parents to see, but right now, I don't want them to know where I am any more than anyone else, and I don't them involved in this mess I'm in. I knew as soon as I called, my father would be telling me to come home so they could help. No, that wasn't an option.

I had already gone through Tara's address book, and every paper she had left behind. There was nothing. Nothing that showed anything about The Mist. Then I remembered where I'd dropped her off that first date -- behind ELH. She walked down Hickory. Since Tara was one of them, maybe her parents (or whoever) would be able to tell me something.

I went back over everything she owned and realized I should just check her driver's license. Sure enough, the DMV has her on Hickory. I left immediately to see what was there -- maybe do my own stakeout. When I got there, I found...nothing.

The address didn't exist. It was on her dirver's license, but it doesn't exist. There was a house with the numbers on either side, but not the one I was looking for. I sat in my car for several minutes, trying to figure out what to do. I knew I'd seen Tara come down this road before. It's on her license. Something has to be here somewhere.

So I did the only logical thing for me to do: I sat in the car and watched the location until something happened -- and it did.