The Contestants Arrive

Each of the contestants had their own method of getting to the small New Jersey town where the Gin Factory was built. Walter borrowed a fraternity brother’s SUV without asking. Jonah flew and took a limo from the airport and failed to tip the driver when he deposited her at the casinos in Atlantic City (a reasonable distance from the Factory, naturally). Chatpers set out from his small South Carolina town with only a bandana on a stick. He had twelve dollars that he had been saving and managed to get a drunk hobo to trade a bus ticket for twelve dollars and a whiskey bottle filled with iced tea. Gerry scavenged his house for every empty can he could find and recycled them, making enough money for both plane ticket and airport drinks. On the morning that the actual tour was to take place a small gathering formed outside the factory. It would be inappropriate to say there was a large gathering, because in order for a gathering to be large it must contain people who are simply standing about because other people are standing about. A small gathering consists only of people who know what is going on. A few old men, a gathering of emo kids wearing black nail polish, a few retired frat boys. The somber fans of Old Grandpa were gathered to wish on the lucky few that had broken into a shrine sacred to only a handful and protected by the world’s complete apathy. What, really, was the big deal about touring a Gin Factory? Not even a reporter from the local newspaper attended the event, though several radio DJs in Hoboken had done a fantastic redneck phone joke about a guy finding a ticket in the disposal then losing his hand. As each of the contestants appeared at the gates, all on time more or less, there was only the slightest hush to contain the noise of the outside world continuing on. But by some mysticism, it was enough. Only appropriate, considering how extraordinary a factory it really was.