The daily meeting at the clinic was the usual, boring discussion about the kitchen, the need to quit wasting time, yada, yada. Carl was resting his eyes when he was suddenly wide awake. “Do any of you have a CDL? We need someone immediately to drive the supply truck for the cruise ships. Anybody?”

  Carl stood up and said he had a current CDL and was experienced at driving semis. He thought, ‘This sounds like a nice, easy job and I won’t have to hear the screams of people, withdrawing from drugs and alcohol.’ “ I do the food deliveries to the patients here and would have to check with the boss…”

  The moderator of the meeting cut him off, saying, “Nevermind that, we will take care of it. You just be ready to go at a moment's notice.”

  He introduced another speaker who stood up and cooly said, “Good morning everyone. The president has been following your accomplishments with the homeless and is pleased with your results. This has been the most successful campaign to take care of the homeless that we have seen nationwide and we are happy to be a part of it. As of this morning, 3,260 people have been moved off of the streets of Portland and are living on the cruise ships, never to mar the streets of Portland again! “

  “ Also, the clinic, here, has seen 1, 300 people come through and I will say, those are 1,300 drug addicts and alcoholics who will not ever again affect our lives!” There was a huge applause and after it had died down, he continued. “This whole program has worked so well, so far that we won’t even need the third cruise ship here in Portland, so the Heavenly Homes will be sailing for Seattle this week. Seattle is our second city to be actively involved in this program and hopefully we will have the same results as we have had here. I will return in three weeks to watch the progress and to observe how you will accommodate the disabled and the elderly, after the addicts are taken care of. Keep up the good work and I will see you all then.” He smiled and walked out of the room to another roar of applause.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A tall, skinny man came to get Carl and took him out to the parking lot to explain his duties and he showed him the map so he could get an idea of where he was going. The truck was already loaded, so Carl would simply drive to the dock, where the truck would be unloaded, and he would be riding to the cruise ships to help with the unloading. His big surprise came when the government speaker from the morning meeting came out and told Carl that he would be his ride-along. He would be going on the ship, incognito, to check on the progress being made on the cruise ships.

  Carl was sweating, thinking about riding with this man who was comfortable with killing all of the addicts. He wondered if he could change his mind about this trip or if it would raise red flags and cause his life to be endangered, too. He decided to go ahead with driving the supply truck but knew he needed to carefully guard his conversation.