CALIFORNIA GOLD I meet Carl at Voyager in Santa Maria which is along the coastline north of Santa Barbara. Carl lives in Santa Barbara with his wife and two children, but has to commute more than two hours every other day to Santa Maria, driving by the Solvang ostriches, which study his pickup truck as he passes. Why Voyager couldn’t open a clinic in Santa Barbara is beyond his comprehension, but Carl tends to just go with the flow of the universe. From our discussions, he was apparently like this as a teenager, so it had nothing to do with his conversion. Santa Maria is the first of a five city circle route including San Diego, Palm Springs, Bishop, and Redding. Carl and I have lunch after his morning shift and before my afternoon session. “How are things running at the clinic and for you, Carl?” “Things are fine… I can’t complain…” “Well, I am here to hear your complaints, so you can definitely complain. How is the commute going? It looks like it takes a couple hours round-trip.” “Yes, as much as three hours if traffic is bad. I am thinking we should move to Santa Maria, but the kids are happily in school and my wife likes the Santa Barbara boardwalk and is taking classes at UCSB. So it doesn’t seem like a good trade.” “Has anyone explained why there isn’t a clinic in Santa Barbara itself?” “There is a clinic, but it is run by Remigius. Apparently they have their own clinics along with making the machines that Voyager uses.” “Could you shift to that clinic?” “No, there is some kind of exclusive contract that prevents vampires from changing providers. Remigius will not respond to my emails or visits to their clinics. I think this would be considered ‘hiring collusion’ and is illegal in California at least, but undead don’t have the right to complain or sue.” “That is apparently one of our mottos. I am not sure it is true, but I understand where you are coming from.”
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