Chapter 6 - Folly Beach to Hillsville

It was 3 in the morning - Mike and Charmaine entered the I-26 West highway.
Having failed in an argument with Charmaine over going in the same car, he wondered if it was a good idea to have her involved at all.
Charmaine had always helped him in many situations. All these situations, agreeably complex, Charmaine somehow made it simple or at least made it appear so. However, in all these situations, Mike knew what help he needed from her. He wondered, if he could have ever survived without her.

But this situation is quite different. His best friend's son was kidnapped last night. His friend sounded so broken that he offered to come over to his place.
He couldn’t possibly imagine how she could be of any help when he himself didn’t know what help he or she could offer to their friend. But Charmaine insisted she came along.

Charmaine was always adamant with few things.
“Not this black dress please” Mike said as he saw her packing a black top in her bag.
“Don’t tell me what dress I should pack”
“This dress looks funny. Why is this piece of cloth hanging from the sleeves of this dress. What is its use?” Mike pointed to an artistic piece of cloth that was hanging from the elbow of the sleeve.
“It is fashion. You will never understand. And this my lucky dress”


Disappointed after trying for different flights the previous nights, they decided to drive all the way to Hillsville after a 4 hour sleep. As per google maps, it was a 6 hour journey.
Mike had thought of picking Charmaine up from her apartment but Charmaine insisted that they drove in 2 cars.
“What if we needed 2 cars there in Hillsville?” Charmaine asked.
“Why will we possibly need?”
“You will never know” Charmaine was adamant.


The drive went on for a couple of hours, Charmaine maintaining the same speed in the adjacent left lane signaled him with her hands to take the next exit for a break.
"What are you thinking?" Charmaine asked sipping her latte in the restaurant.
"Nothing"
"What? Tell me"
"Thinking, why would anyone kidnap Robert?" Mike biting his sandwich.
"Money is what I can think of" Charmaine said.
"James is dirt poor, owning a tire shop in his village, why would anyone kidnap his son for money"
"Good point. Then, did they kidnap to save his son from poverty?" Charmaine chuckled.

"Can we think about it a bit more seriously" Mike sounding a bit annoyed.
"Hey, I am thinking seriously." Charmaine was defensive and put on serious face.

"You know what, I am already thinking I shouldn’t have involved you at all"
"James is my friend too!. I got as much responsibility as you have"
“No he only paged me. Not you. Apparently, he did not want you”
“No it is only because he thought, you will bring me along”

Mike gave a heavy sigh "But you are not worried about his problem at all. Are you? For you this is some fun trip. Right? James lost his wife a few months back in a car crash. Now his son is kidnapped. Being his best friend, he turns to me for help. And I am a fool to have involved you - thinking you might be of some use. Only to hear funny comments about my friend's poverty"

"Alright, I am sorry" Charmaine stood up "I will tell you something" Charmaine and Mike walked towards their cars. "A problem is made of many forts that protect an underlying knowledge" Charmaine's tone turned serious. "Solving a problem, is gaining access to the underlying knowledge. It is these forts, that make the problem difficult to solve. Have you ever followed any methodology in solving a problem, Mike?" Charmaine asked him.
"I don't even know what you are talking about" Mike was honest.
"I am talking about a problem in general. Don't be bogged down by this particular one. Think of any problem in general. Have you ever followed any approach?"

"I don't know" Mike responded after thinking for a moment "Probably, I think each problem is different in its own way. A common methodology can't exist."

Charmaine continued after a few seconds.
"That is because, we fail to see a generalization in a problem. We get into the details very soon and fail to see the bigger picture."

"So, what is your approach, Charmaine?" Mike really wanted to understand her.
"The strength of each fort differs. The difficulty of a problem is only as great as its weakest fort! "
"That sounds logical"
Charmaine continued "The approach is, you need to move around the problem to see which is the weakest fort before you attack or else you will be wasting your effort and time working on a strong fort"
Mike looked at her surprised. She had indeed given some thought. He nodded his head in apprehension.

"And you know what is needed to move around a problem to evaluate the different forts?" Charmaine asked.
Mike shook his head.

"You need to have different perspectives. You need to see the problem from the viewpoints of James, Robert, Mike, Charmaine, the cops, the kidnappers, the general public, an intelligent, a stupid and a clown. All of their view points are important to evaluate the different strengths of each fort. If you get emotional thinking about your friend's situation, you get stuck in one fort and you can't have different perspectives. I am trying to get you out of that."

"That explains a lot about you" Mike looked at her astonished. "Where did you learn all these?"
“CVU”
“What is that?”
"Charmaine Virtual University" Charmaine chuckled.

Soon they merged in I-77 North and a couple of hours later they took another break.

Within an hour, they both were happy to see their hometown near Hillsville after such a long time. As they had hoped, things haven't changed much in that village.