30. She Was No Scully

Whose ride should we share tonight? 

Maybe the story of the young lady I picked up from the Gentlemen's Club, who had never heard Don McLean’s “American Pie”, and was amazed by it, and asked me all kinds of questions about it and if I would play it again (which I did) before we made our first stop at the bank so she could deposit her earnings for the day, and then I took her to her dormitory at the University and told me she didn’t have to work tomorrow because she had classes all day tomorrow which seemed like more information than I needed…

How about the young man who I was going to pick up but before he got into the car asked me told me that he had lost his wallet with his ID and everything and if I could go into the dispensary and get some things for him because he only had cash. I had to decline…

Then there was the young lady I picked up who started singing along to “Say My Name”, and joined in on “My Own Worst Enemy”, and when the next song was “Flagpole, Sitta”, she asked me “what radio station is this?!?“ I told her it was my own mix, and she said “OMG, this is my jam, I am totally into the 90s!” To look at her, I would not think she had been alive for very long in the 90s, and when I dropped her off at a sorority house, I was pretty sure she was not alive at all in the 90’s. On top of it, she was a young Latina who I would not think would like Harvey Danger or Lit, but I should know never to judge a book by its cover…

No, the ride I will share with you tonight is the passenger who was not allowed to tell me a lot.

After I accepted the ride, my GPS took me on a route that was leading me south of the city. I ended up on a dark stretch of road that I was told to drive for 12 miles. As I drove down the road, it got darker and darker and at one point it was pitch black. My GPS showed me that I would be turning soon, and when I finally hit the turn, I could see lights up in the distance.

I drove towards the bright lights and could see two tents in the middle of the desert. Made me wonder if the circus was in town. But as I got closer, I could see the tents were surrounded by chain-link fence topped with razor wire. if this was a circus, it wasn’t the fun kind.

I pulled onto the side of the road outside the fence. The front gates were being guarded by men with automobile rifles. My imagination flew wondering what was on the other side of the fence and who my passenger might be. Some kind of prisoner exchange? Maybe this was a hidden drug operation and I was picking up some cartel member? Maybe a government scientist who had been experimenting on aliens?

Several other cars also pulled into the dirt lot outside the fence and picked up and dropped off people. Employees, I was guessing. But employees for who or what?

At one point, As I waited for my passenger. A couple of armored buses came through. The armed guards opened the gates and let them through. Who was in these buses? Convicts? More soldiers? Aliens?!? I was very curious if this was some kind of X-Files/Area 52 scenario going on.

My passenger finally approached the car and got in. We exchanged pleasantries and she said she was just getting off work. It was 11pm. I felt that opened the door, and I oh so coyly asked her “Oh, what do you do for work?”

The only thing she could say was that she was doing housekeeping. I told her I had worked in hotels and was familiar with housekeeping and it was a hard job in any situation. 

She told me that the housekeepers here were paid $22 an hour and receive full federal benefits. They were well paid housekeepers. Better than the housekeepers at any hotel.

If I knew any interested housekeeper looking for better paying work, her organization was looking to hire more people. The size of the facility was going to be doubled in a month. She then told me a website that I could send people to apply for the job, but she warned me that they would have to go through a very thorough federal screening.

I thanked her for the info and told that I would pass it along. She told me that they work in three shifts around the clock, including overnights. Their job is never done. People were expected to work any of the shifts tans that sometimes overtime was necessary and it would mean a double shift. people were expected to work in full eight-hour shifts. 

She said that if someone did sign up for the job and they were given an appointment to meet for an interview, it might be in an unusual location. It was only because of the nature of the job.

The rest of the ride was pretty quiet. She had been very serious in her tone, and I was not going to press her for more information. It made me wonder though, what kind of housekeeping she was doing for the Feds. What was she cleaning up for them? Alien guts? Bodies?

I thought of going to the website and applying for the job. To see what the feds were up to out in the desert.