AJ Episodes - 12 (ADVENTURE JOURNEY: The Extreme Vacationer's Handbook)

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AJ EPISODES
Episode 12: Buenos Aires, Argentina, Summer 2003



	START FROM THE BEGINNING: Episode 1 Siberia, Winter 1992 Episode 2 Kauai, Hawaii, Winter 1984 Episode 3 Osaka, Japan, Summer 2005 Episode 4 Monte Verde, Costa Rica, Summer 1989 Episode 5 Aspen, Colorado, Winter 1983 Episode 6 Mali, Fall 2001 Episode 7 Sydney, Australia, Spring 1991 Episode 8 Brisbane, Australia, Summer 2006 Episode 9 Antarctica, 1999 Episode 10 Belen, Nicaragua, Spring 1990 Episode 11 On the Mediterranean, Spring 2000 Episode 12 Buenos Aires, Argentina, Summer 2003 Episode 13 LAX, Summer 2003 Episode 14 Lagos, Nigeria, Spring 2000

Dave was seated in a dimly lit corner by the mirror. Around him snappily dressed porteńo waiters served medialunas to fashionable touristas amid the ornate surroundings of Café Tortino, the oldest coffee shop in the city. He pressed his cell phone against his ear and ignored the milieu.

"Hello," said the American voice on the other end, an elderly lady by the sound of it, "Suicide Prevention hotline. My name is Judy."

Dave took a deep, weary sigh and gazed deeply into his café con leche.

"Can I help you?" Judy asked.

He gave the table next to him a sideways glance, but nobody was eavesdropping. "I'm thinking about killing myself. Maybe you can convince me not to."

"Do you have a plan?"

"Sure. I'll jump in front of the Subte tonight. But I'm waiting until the last train, so that I don't affect too many people. I'll be polite about it."

"Where are you?"

"Far away. I didn't want to call anyone who could actually intervene."

"Why do you want to throw yourself in front of a train, sir?"

"Oh, the old cliché--I've lost everything. My money. My business. Poof. Gone. Like they never existed. And...before that...my fiancé. I thought I was over that, but...still--" He accidentally caught sight of his misery reflected in the mirror and was momentarily silenced by it. Then: "Anyway, all of those are details. What I see now is that it was stupid, stupid, stupid and I think maybe death is preferable to pointless...pointless...pointlessness."

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