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	CLUE NUMBER SEVENTEEN (from Oakland): For the Hidden Journey: Authenticity is the wellspring of strength, serenity and direction. For the Puzzle: Here is the seventeenth clue for the puzzle/cryptogram: The solution's name is Vigenere. This is clue 17. The remaining two clues (and bonus clues, if you can find them) will help you solve the puzzle/cryptogram.                                     The Story: "Cram it" is behind the counter, and she's pulled off her bandana so her long black hair has fallen down her back. It's very straight and shiny. Alex drifts over to a bulletin board by the door, giving me the big hint, let's haul derriere. The girl still hasn't looked me in the eye so I go over to look at the board, too. I see a bunch of notices of rooms for rent by the month, and then I notice one hand-drawn sheet for a large room in a Victorian house in Oakland for $50 a week. I wouldn't mind staying a week, so I take off the sheet and go to the counter with it. She asks, "What'll you have?" without smiling, almost cold. I pick out a couple of pastries and pay for them. Nobody else is in the store, it's the dead zone part of the afternoon, so I ask her, "Know any place to stay around here?" Alex kicks me in the shin because he wants to go on to San Francisco, so I say, "I mean either here or in San Francisco." She doesn't look at me directly, but she says, "Depends on how long you're staying." She looks out the window and says, "Nice car." "Thanks," I say. "So where would you recommend we stay?" She straightens some stuff on the counter and still doesn't look at me. "A lot of people stay at the Youth Hostel out at Fort Mason in the City," she says. "Over here, everything is more expensive." I show the hand-drawn poster advertising the Victorian in Oakland to the girl and ask her, "Know where this house is?" She looks me in the eyes for the first time and there's even a hint of a smile on her lips. "Why do you want to stay there?" she asks. I tell her the truth. "It's the only place that rents by the week." Her expression changes and she says, "It's in a bad neighborhood." "You know the house?" I ask. She looks away from me again and says, "Yeah. I live there." "Why, is the house nice?" I ask her. "No," she says, "but it's cheap and the bedrooms are big." Alex gives me the Big Stink Eye, but I keep looking at the girl. "Sounds good," I tell her, and I catch her eyes and hold them for a second. "It's actually Elroy's house," she says. "You'll have to talk to him." She shoves the phone over the counter to me. "You better call and see if somebody else already got it." Alex gives me a shin kick, but I ignore him and ask the girl, "What's your name?" "Nikki," she says. (continued in Chapter Twenty-Three of I-State Lines) All content and coding copyright © 2006 by Charles Hugh Smith, all rights reserved
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