Meadville

Having lived in Meadville, Pennsylvania for his entire 42 year life, and being the sole owner of the Brandon Family Restaurant, Mark lived a comfortable and happy life. When Mickey’s Firehouse Station opened up on the other side of town, he was afraid that he would lose business and have to close. However, the opposite has proven to be true and the restaurant is thriving! Mickey’s is an old firehouse that was turned into a restaurant, and since it gets regular write-ups in travel articles, it attracts the tourists. Locals tended to frequent Brandon’s and Mark believed he knew everyone in this town of 13,000. Imagine his surprise when a stranger arrived and sat at the bar, placed a black notebook on the counter, and asked for Mark Brandon personally.

Mark approached the stranger “Hi, sir. I’m Mark Brandon. What can I get for you?” The stranger, who appeared to be in his 60s, identified himself only as “Lonnie.” “I’d like water and some Jacka Daniel’s.”

“I’ve traveled a long distance just to come here to meet you. It was recommended to me that I stop by if I’m ever in town. There’s not much to see here since Conneaut Lake Park closed a few years ago. But I live in Philly and I was on my way to Cleveland to reunite with my old high school band mates at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. One of our friends is being inducted this week. Anyway, I thought this was the perfect time to take a detour and see what all of the fuss was about.”

“Are you sure that you don’t want Mickey’s Firehouse Station? It is always being written about in travel magazines and it draws the tourists. Not my little humble restaurant.”

“No, this is the restaurant I intended to visit. I’ve been all over this country, touring with my band. My favorite things to do are to visit the places the locals frequent and meet the owners and staff. From what I hear, Brandon’s is the place to be. Much better than that fireplace diner.”

“I do alright, I admit.”

“It brings me joy to make friends all over the country. Nowadays with cell phones and social media - what a crazy thing, huh? It is even better because I can keep in touch with those I meet. Otherwise, I may never see or hear from them again. And I’ve met some fascinating people. However, my visits are not usually friendly, I have a mission for each and every one.”

“Well, Lonnie, what is your mission on this trip?”

“I told ya boy, I came here to meet you. Now what is your most popular item? I am hungry.”

Mark laughed. “That would be our pierogies. We have several flavor choices for you. Our ribeye is also very popular. We use the same meat to make our burgers if that is more your thing. We have some good chicken dishes that are popular. Our macaroni and cheese is to DIE for.” “No the ribeye steak sounds great. Medium well, please. I ain’t from Texas, I like my beef cooked. And pierogies. I have been hearing about them my whole life. It’s time I try them.”

The men developed a quick rapport and became fast friends. Before they knew it, hours had passed and it was time to close up for the night.

“Lonnie, I have enjoyed talking to you and I didn’t realize the time. Please excuse me, I need to close up and get my staff out of here for the night. Please, have another beer and take your time leaving. Your tab is on me.”

“Thank you Mark, but I best be going for tonight. I have a reservation at the inn. I’ll finish my beer and get out of your hair. Maybe our paths will cross again sometime.”

“I truly hope so, Lonnie. I feel like we were friends in another life.”

“I feel the same way, son.”

About an hour later, Mark left the restaurant. On his way out he saw that Lonnie had left his black notebook sitting on the counter. It looked like an important notebook, it was leather, hard bound with an elastic band around it. It had to be important! Thinking that Lonnie would be back for it, he placed it in his desk drawer in the back of the restaurant.

But Lonnie did not come back for it. Not the next day, or the day after. After three weeks, Mark determined that Lonnie wasn’t coming back for the notebook. Several months passed before Mark thought about it again. He took it out of the drawer, and opened it, hoping that Lonnie had left his number or some way to return it to him.

When Mark opened the notebook, he noticed a few interesting things. First that it was a brand new notebook, and that it was practically empty. On the first page it was written: “Mark Brandon” with an address that was in Seattle. Taped to the page was a small envelope with a key inside it. “What is this about?” he wondered. Flipping through the pages, he found another envelope. This envelope was very thick. He opened it carefully, and found a stack of cash. Counting slowly, he counted out $20,000 in $100 bills.

“Wow. Why hasn’t Lonnie been back for this? He has to be missing it.” Convinced that he was going to return the money to Lonnie, he carefully went through every page of the notebook. Finally he found a note. The note read:

“If you found this note, you have also found the money and the key. There is something very important waiting for you at the address listed. But in order to claim possession of it, you need to spend the entire $20,000 along the way. You cannot give the money to charity, and all transactions need to be under $350. Those are the stipulations. If you cannot or do not wish to go to Seattle another visitor will come by to retrieve the notebook. You cannot keep the money if you do not travel to Seattle. I highly suggest you take this offer. Yours, Lonnie”

Mark was confused. What was in Seattle? He has never been to Seattle! He was happy here in Meadville. He had everything he wanted and needed. He ran a successful business, he had family including his parents who were alive and well, friends, a modest home that he shared with his dog, Buttons (“yeah, yeah,” he would say. “I wanted something more masculine, but my ex-girlfriend’s daughter named him and now he’s stuck with it).”

The next morning, Mark woke up and decided that he had to go to Seattle. He had no clue what was there, or why he suddenly had this urge to travel to Seattle.

He packed his bag, his dog, and got in the car. First order of business, his restaurant. He called all of his employees, telling them that he was leaving town for a bit, but didn’t know how long he would be, potentially up to two weeks. He trusted them to run the restaurant as if it was theirs and that there would be envelopes with $350 in bonus money for each of them. He would arrange for someone he trusted to give them another $350 next week. That was $7,000 of the $20,000 and he didn’t think that violated any rules.

He plotted out his route. It would take approximately 40 hours to drive to Seattle, travelling through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon before arriving in Washington State. He would split that up into ten hours of driving over four days and arrive by Wednesday night. He knew that this would be a scenic and meditative trip. He was getting excited to see the sights and stop for photos along the way.

Buttons was fortunately a good traveler, but being a dog, he needed to make frequent walk breaks. Mark was happy to oblige, stopping at parks along the way. He spent money on gas, as his little sports car wasn’t the best on gas mileage. He stayed in nice hotels, and ate good food. But he had trouble spending the money.

He became inspired around the time he was in Iowa, near the Nebraska border. He decided that he would stop in the small towns, and talk to the sheriff or manager of town halls inquire about community needs. In some towns, he would provide clothing or shoes to a family in need. Several families had the basics, but wanted to take their children to the local amusement park or a vacation to the lake. Mark was happy to dole out the $350 gifts and help everyone he could.

As he continued to drive across the country, he realized he really enjoyed helping people. “Buttons, this philanthropy gig is really cool. I can see us travelling all of the time, you and me, and helping people. But where do we get the money? I don’t have much of it left.”

At the next stop, Buttons pulled Mark into the wooded area along the rest stop. He would NOT let Mark pull him away. He was very interested in something. Finally Mark decided to look and found a little gray tabby kitten hiding in the tall grass. “Oh kitten, how did you get here? Where is your mama?” He picked the kitten up, who immediately began to purr. He checked for teeth. “Good, she is weaned. Buttons, what do you think? Is her mother around? Siblings?” but Buttons appeared to smell nothing. Mark decided to take the little kitten with him. Maybe some family would like to have her. But he knew deep down, that Buttons found this kitten for a reason, and that reason is that she was meant to join the family. He decided to name her Crystal for her clear crystal green eyes.

They continued their journey, a man, his dog, and his cat. Crystal turned out to be an excellent traveler, taking to the harness and leash like a champ. Oh Mark knew he’d get some scorn for walking his cat, but he just didn’t care. He thought he was happy in Meadville. Turns out, he was happier on the open road. If only he could make this reality.

When he crossed the Oregon/Washington border, his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but he had a suspicion of who it was. “Hello, Lonnie,” he said.

“Hello Mark. I see you decided to take my advice. I hope you learned what you were meant to learn. I wish you the best in your new life. I know you will make it to your destination with exactly zero left of your money. You’ve done good. Enjoy your reward. You will never hear from me again, Mark.”

With that, Mark crossed over into the City of North Bend, WA. He said to Buttons and Crystal “Well, kids, this is it. Half an hour to our destination. Are you ready?”