Scenes inside a Gold Mine, Ch. 7

Two Scenes:

Scene I:

In the shop "Sunshine Daydream" near Belleville, Illinois.  A bearded guy wearing a t shirt with a cannabis leaf stumbles into the store.   His cell phone is on speaker.  He is unaware that everyone in the store can hear his phone conversation.   He is visibly intoxicated.   He stumbles to the counter and starts to talk to the pregnant store clerk.   He is barely paying attention to the voice on the cell phone. He covers the speaker of the cell phone with his hand as he tries to strike up a conversation with the store clerk.  The woman's voice on the phone becomes louder as she pleads with him not to drink today.  He eventually responds that he has not had anything to drink, but he makes no guarantees about the remainder of the day.   Having said this, he winks to the store clerk, seeking an accomplice.  The store clerk makes no response.   Undaunted, the bearded guy continues to hit on the store clerk while the frantic woman on the phone continues.


Scene 2:

At a train station in a small Midwestern town.   Ten people await to board a train to Chicago.   A woman asks the man sitting next to her if if she will be able to easily catch a taxi when they arrive at Union Station.  The man responds that it will not be a problem.   The woman explains that she has a doctors appointment at Northwestern University Hospital.   The man responds that he also has a doctors appointment at Northwestern University Hospital.   They laugh at the coincidence.   She explains that she has a rare cancer of the eye that will require an experimental radiation procedure that is only offered at several locations in the United States, Northwestern University Hospital being one of them.  With a smile she reports that she is probably going to lose the eye, but this is her only option.  The ophthalmologist at Northwestern is leaving to go to Egypt after her appointment, but was kind enough to squeeze her appointment in before he left.  The man responds that he has prostate cancer.  The doctors in his small town provided radiation treatment to him several years ago, but the cancer had returned, aggressively.  With a smile he tells her that he is going for a new experimental radiation  treatment at Northwestern University Hospital which is last hope.  They smile less enthusiastically at the coincidence.  They make plans to share a taxi when they arrive in Chicago.