The motel manager woke me up at around three in the morning. He was banging on my door for about five minutes before I decided to get up and see what was going on. "What took you so long?" he asked when he saw me.

"You could have been a crazy person, " I said. "At this time of night. One of your other guests coming to rob me at knifepoint."

"I don't allow such guests at my establishment, " the manager told me.

"But how do you know?" I said. "What I mean is, someone could look innocent enough when they check in, and then it turns out that they're wanted in a dozen states."

"I'm good at figuring people out when I see them, " he said.

"It takes maybe five minutes to check in, " I said. "And you're telling me you can tell in that short span of time whether or not the person in front of you is going to cause trouble."

"I've been in this business for a while now, " the manager said. "It's not hard. You think it's hard? People reveal themselves for who they really are within maybe thirty seconds of you meeting them. I thought you were a salesman or something. You should know that."

"I'm not in sales, " I said.

"Well, your boss is on the phone looking for you, " he told me. "Or someone is. He sounds like your boss."

"I don't have a boss, " I told him. "But what's going on?"

"There's a call for you, " he said. "At the front desk."

I put on some clothes and stumbled out into the dark. The freeway traffic rushed a short distance away as we headed down the little sidewalk from my room to the lobby. "I don't like getting calls like this so late, " the manager told me as we went. "But this sounds like it's important. I figure you'd want to deal with it right away."

"You could have taken a message, " I said. "But that's fine."

The little lobby was illuminated only by a small lamp the motel manager kept on the counter. The fluorescent lights above were off. "You sure keep it gloomy in here, " I told him.

"It's the middle of the night, " the manager said. "I'm not going to pretend otherwise."

The phone was also on the counter, with the receiver resting beside it. I picked it up and said, "Canton here."

"We have to change your schedule for tomorrow, " said the voice on the other line. It was Chase.

"I can't change a thing right now, " I told him. "I have people that are going to be waking up expecting to meet with me in a few hours. I'm not about to call them up now and cancel."

"We're going to have to do some rearranging, " he said. "What time is it out there, anyway?"

"After three, " I said. "So you're up early, as well."

"I've been up since before three, " Chase said. "Three our time, of course."

"So what's going on?" I asked him.

"There's someone from Hollis & Company Consulting you need to see, " he told me.

"I've never heard of the place, " I said.

"They're in Albuquerque, " he told me. "So you're nearly there."

"I wasn't planning on going to Albuquerque, " I said. "You know that."

"This will mean cancelling some appointments, I know, " Chase told me. "We'll handle that from here. We'll get Roger on that. He can talk to people."

"But I'll take the fall if we lose those clients, " I told him.

"We won't lose them, " he said. "You know Roger. He knows just what to say in these kinds of situations."

"What's going on, anyway?" I said.

"We've made a contact there, " Chase told me. "Someone by the name of Charles. I don't know the man. He called us, apparently. But he didn't call me. They tell me, though, that he can help us expand our client base out there. They say that he knows the area."

"We don't need help, " I said.

"I'm telling you what they told me, " he said. "And they're telling me that we need more clients out there. Otherwise, what's the point of having the clients we have? How much does it cost us to do business with them, sending you all the way out there who knows how many times each year?"

"So you want to add more clients so I spend even more time out here, " I said.

"This isn't coming from me, " Chase said. "The way you talk. I'm only telling you what they told me."

"Give me the details, " I said. "I'll see what I can do."

It turns out that Hollis & Company was off a busy road on the outskirts of town. It was packed inside a one-story office plaza along with a host of other small businesses doing this and that. Inside the air conditioning was on full blast, making it hard to talk to the receptionist. Once I made it clear that I was there to see Charles, however, they hurried me into a nearby meeting room. I waited maybe ten minutes for him to arrive.

Charles was an older man, but he looked to be in good health. He was formal, wearing a dark suit with a bowtie. He shook my hand hard and we sat down and got to business.

"So, thanks for making the time to see me, " Charles said.

"It's no problem, " I told him. "I hear that you're somebody worth seeing."

"That's how they sell me, " he told me. "They say I'm the one who knows everything there is to know."

"I hope that's not just marketing spin, " I said.

Charles smiled at that. "I know you're probably busy, " he said. "How many clients do you work with out here?"

"We acquired a firm that was based out of Belen, " I said. "The place with all the trains. Or that's what they tell me. Anyway, they had about a dozen clients when we got them. Now we're down to about eight."

"And things are going well?" he asked.

"We put them in touch with potential clients out east, " I said. "They like that. We've done pretty well keeping them in business."

"Right, right, " Charles said. "Of course there's plenty of business to be had out here as well. Plenty of clients."

"They tell us that they want to expand, " I said. "We do what we can with our skills and knowledge."

"That's why I'm here to help you, " Charles said. "Hold on a minute"

He reached down to a briefcase on the floor. He snapped it open and pulled out a thick blue binder. He dropped it on the table and tapped it with his index finger. "Here is where I want to come in, " he said.

He opened up the binder, and it was nothing but maps. By that I mean that he flipped through the pages, and all there was inside was maps tucked inside plastic folders. Page after page of maps. "These are the places I know, " Charles said.

They looked to be maps of town in the area. Small places with the streets drawn in thick lines. I caught some of the names. Socorro. Estancia. Mesita. Milan, if you can believe it. Each of them plotted out with the utmost of care. "We have a printing company that does these, " Charles said.

"I don't know any of those places, " I said. "Most of our clients are in Belem."

"But that's the point, right?" Charles said. "You can get out and explore. Go street by street if you have to. Pick a place and get to know every inch of it."

"I don't get it, " I told him.

"Let's take here, " he sad, pointing at the map of Estancia. "You drive to the middle of town and park. And then you get out and see what it's like. You know, probably there's a bank and a few places to eat. Maybe a store or two, though times have changed. Most people, you know, they do their shopping in the superstores outside of town. Or they'll drive an hour just to get a better deal. But that's not the point. There are businesses still around. You just have to go and find them. Street by street, as I said. Hunt them down."

"This is a waste of time, " I said. "I shouldn't have come."

"I don't think you had a choice, did you?" Charles said.

"No, I don't suppose I did, " I told him.

"You go by yourself, " he sad. "That's the best part. I won't be going with you. You go out there and see what you can find on your own. You explore on your own. Doesn't that interest you? Doesn't that excite you in any way?"

I pulled the binder towards my side of the table, and turned it around so I could see it from my perspective. "I'm going to have to phone back home to see if this is what they want, " I told him. "I'll have to be out here longer."

"I understand, " Charles said. "But don't worry. Don't worry. This is exactly what they'll want you to do. I guarantee it."