Gertie’s husband Will was being transferred to Charlotte, North Carolina. This was going to be quite a change for Gertie who had lived her entire life in Tucson, Arizona. She even went to college there and settled in the mid sized desert town thinking she might live there her entire life. All she could remember about Charlotte, she had never even been there before, was how nice all of the people sounded on the phone. This makes more sense when it is put in context with her job because she worked for in the customer service department of a major retail store through most of high school. She had many people call in from Charlotte and they were always extremely polite and she thought they were some of the nicest people she spoke with.

This memory was all she knew of her new home so she and Will planned a two week vacation in Charlotte since they weren’t going to be moving there for another year. Gertie made their reservations in one of the Charlotte luxury hotels and paid careful attention to the disposition of the person on the other end of the phone helping her. Sure enough, she was very friendly sounding. One the plane flight Will began to talk about the early significance of Charlotte to the country’s development and this intrigued Gertie a great deal. And as they began their final descent into the city Gertie was stunned by the beautiful skyline.

As if to emphasize the historical significance of the city, which Will knew would impress his wife, he took her on an excursion the following morning and brought her to where James K. Polk, the eleventh President of the United States, had been born. The replica of his family home inspired Gertie’s curiosity and interest and she was sure that she would enjoy all these historic elements of Charlotte and the region. They enjoyed a quiet picnic out in nature and Gertie considered how different the geography and climate was from the desert. The next day they spent in the Mint Museum of Art and Gertie had a great time and enjoyed the permanent collection. They had lunch in a beautiful sidewalk café and Gertie knew as she sipped her tea that she was going to be happy there.

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