“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 39: Exposure
The next morning we got an early start. Everyone was very
concerned about me, and they fixed a large breakfast, but they also didn’t want
to focus too much attention on what was already obvious. I knew what last night
represented as well as anyone, and I think they all knew that I’d internalize
it, which would only increase the pressures on me and likewise increase my own
tensions.
Melissa asked if she could come along and watch what we did,
and I didn’t feel we could deny her after what we’d gone through the previous
night, so we invited her along. We decided to take two cars, I’d take Cate and
Kitty with me, while Gail would take Melissa with her.
We arrived at the Alice Lovett Center for Reproductive
Medicine just shortly after they opened. There were already people waiting
inside. When I entered there was a different girl behind the counter. I wrote
down all of my information and told her why I was here. She looked over my
notes while I waited for my specimen cup.
“Uh, excuse me a moment,” she said, which instantly set me
on edge. She picked up the phone.
“Dr. Lovett, he’s here,” she said simply, looking at
me the whole time.
“Is there a problem?” Gail asked walking up to the counter.
“It seems the good doctor wants to speak to us,” I told her.
It was about three minutes later that Dr. Lovett came out.
She ushered us over to the side so we could talk somewhat privately. The other
girls came along as well. She glanced at them before turning to me.
“Yet another new girl?” she asked.
“Actually it’s at least six since we were here last week,
and that’s not counting all those who would like to be included,” Cate
corrected her.
She looked at me and shook her head.
“Actually I had Linda call me because I didn’t want you to
have the same trouble you had the last time. Somehow I figured you’d likely
have just as unusual a request as you did the last time. I figured I should
take care of you personally.”
“Actually, if he needs someone to take care of him, I’d be
glad to volunteer, though I was told I wasn’t allowed to assist with the
‘procedure’,” Kitty teased.
“You know, I do have an additional unusual request,”
I told her. “Let me give you a little background on why we have so many people
interested in my genetic material, as it were. These girls and I share a number
of unique genetic anomalies that work together in some unique ways. They each
depend on me to find and activate these traits, thus they are anxious to make
sure that nothing happens to me. While there are many of them, there’s only one
of me.” At this point I stopped to see just how well she was taking this. She
nodded, seeming to consider it seriously.
“Now, at some point, it’s likely that news of our little
group might leak out to the general public. As you may imagine, there may be
many who wouldn’t be very appreciative of us. What’s more, there are a good
number of people, and companies, that would be very interested in gaining
access to my DNA. I can imagine that, in such a situation, they’d be able to
apply pressure on certain government officials to act, and they’d likely find a
sympathetic judge who’d give them a court order to do whatever they wanted.
Especially if they wrapped it up in a Domestic Security wrapper. What I’d
really like to ask you, knowing what I’m asking you is completely out of bounds
and could put you in a world of trouble, is if you could, say, accidentally
mislabel my samples. Thus, if they were to come here looking for my samples for
their own research purposes, they’d only find an unidentified sample from a
normal guy.”
She cocked her head and regarded me for a moment, which
caused her hair, which was in a bunch of loose curls, to jiggle enticingly.
Down boy, I told myself, you’ve got enough. You don’t need to be looking for
any more. Although I had to admit, for as much as I loved Kitty, Chalise and
Cate, I had really developed an appreciation for more mature ladies as well.
“You know, you just get to be more and more fun each time we
talk. You just can’t invent stuff this entertaining. While what you are asking
is completely unethical, illegal and immoral, I doubt we could be held
responsible for an honest administrative mistake. I’d have to think up a good
story for who should handle the samples. Not that I’d ever do such a thing you
understand. You realize DNA is pretty easy to lift nowadays. They can probably
grab it from a comb, dead skin from a bedspread, or they could simply compel a
blood sample.”
“Yeah, I’m aware of that. I’m not looking to avoid all
potential troubles, I’m just trying to reduce the few risks that are within my
control. Anyway, I’m sorry I asked you to potentially compromise your ethics.
We won’t speak of this again. Now can I have my cup please?” I asked her with a
smile.
She laughed and pulled one from her lab coat and handed it
to me.
“Do you want to modify your authorization list?”
“Nah, the same people are in charge. They can look after the
rest. Thanks for everything you’re doing for us, Doctor Lovett. I really
appreciate it.”
“Thanks, Alex. I think by now you can call me Alice. I think I’m going to grow quite fond of you. If you need a list of sympathetic clinics,
just ask and I’ll get it for you, although you’ll probably need to make your
own arrangements with each of them yourself. I’ll look forward to treating your
various ‘girlfriends’ in the future, hopefully with you in attendance to
check over my work.”
I managed to do my work quickly and efficiently. Cate and Melissa managed to find another watcher outside, so we invited her with us when we returned to
the downtown area. We decided to vary the location, but only slightly. We
figured we’d focus on more than just tourists by situating ourselves at Aloe Plaza, a little park with some nice water fountains and sculptures just outside Union
Station, so there should be plenty of people passing nearby while we waited.
While we drove there I contacted Clara, figuring it would take her a little
while to get organized and meet us there.
We parked at Union Station and got situated at the public
park by the fountains. Melissa volunteered to get us some coffee from a shop
inside Union Station, they all seemed to think it might be too difficult for me
to try to handle anyone inside the crowded terminal, so we set up shop sitting
around the fountain, giving Gail a nice overview of the surrounding area. While
we waited for both Clara and the coffee to arrive, Cate and I talked to the new
watcher, Kelly. Kitty watched without saying anything. As Cate went over
specifics, I glanced around to see if anyone was paying any attention to me. I
spotted a couple of people watching me standing outside of Union Station, so I
pointed them out to Kitty to try to round up. Just as she set off, a nice plain
van pulled up in front of Union Station. The door slid open and as I turned to
look I saw Clara burst from the open door to come running full tilt towards me.
“Master, Master, please Master,” she cried loudly enough for
everyone around to hear. There were a lot of people still coming to and from
the terminal, so she attracted a lot of attention. Cate and Kelly both looked up, and I saw Kitty stop as we all watched Clara running towards me. I sent a
quick ‘Shhh’ to her, but it was only partially successful. She ran up
and threw herself at my feet again, silent now, eyes averted, awaiting my
reaction.
‘Red Alert! Red Alert!’ I distinctly heard Gail’s warning in my head. Sitting up I looked around. Seeing my motion Clara raised herself
slightly.
“I brought people,” she stated proudly. “Now everyone can
see just how mighty you are, and you can strike fear in all your enemies.”
“Oh Shit,” I groaned to myself. Looking back at the truck I
saw two cameramen and a female reporter with a mic in her hand.
“Cate, interference,” I hissed as I jumped to my feet. In
order to set up a watch over the area, we’d decided to situate me right in the
center of the fountain, meaning I’d have to walk half the length of the
fountain to get away. Figuring it would be close, I broke into a run trying to
get away.
“Master! Master, what’s wrong?” I heard Clara calling from behind me.
‘You idiot,’ I mentally hissed at her. ‘You don’t
ask Jesus to appear on a Roman Early Morning News program the day before he’s
to appear in Jerusalem!’ I hated to both flat out reject her and
call her names, but I couldn’t help it. I was seriously pissed. I knew her unstable
personality was going to get us all into trouble, and now she’d proven me right
in the worst manner possible.
Shit, I really hadn’t expected for Clara to arrive so soon.
She must have been waiting nearby for me to contact her. Now all my plans to
find new followers here were trashed. I certainly couldn’t reach out to anyone
when there was a news crew looking to chase me down.
‘I’m not a fuckin’ Avenging Angel, Clara. In case you
hadn’t noticed, I’m just a kid. I’m not here to strike down nonbelievers, I’m
not here to become famous, and I don’t operate on YOUR schedule,’ I told
her angrily as I tried to figure out how to respond.
“Excuse me, Sir, Sir!” A feminine voice called out from the
direction of the street. I glanced over and saw the reporter closing in on me. She
was a very attractive well dressed blonde, but I had no intention of spending
any time getting to know her any better. I just hoped I could get away before
they got a clear picture of my face, so I tried to cover my face with my arm.
But then I figured I’d look even guiltier doing that. Seeing her catching up
with me, I took a short cut through the fountain, hardly the kind of thing to
make me look good on television, and splashed my way to the other side.
I couldn’t see any more behind me, but I could see what was
happening through Gail’s eyes. Actually it was strange, because instead of the
bouncing view you get when running with a video camera, I got the sharp focus
on select regions of Gail’s vision, so I could easily discern what was
happening.
As the news crew ran after me, Cate ran and stood directly
in their path. Kelly, following her lead, threw her purse at the lead
videographer. I could see from her perspective that Gail was covering a lot of
ground as she came up on them from the side, while the two women that Kitty had
been on the way to talk to followed the news crew. I had no idea what these
last two planned, but I hoped it worked.
The newswoman collided head on with Cate, who yelled at her
and called her a stupid clumsy bitch. The lead cameraman almost lost his camera
due to Kitty’s purse, and had to stop to steady it. The other one didn’t want
to outdistance the star of the show, so he pulled up short as well, filming the
newswoman sprawled on the ground. By then Gail had reached them.
“Hold it right there, you,” she called out to them.
The female reporter looked at her as she was trying to stand
up without losing her grip on her microphone. She glanced at my retreating
form, then turned to Gail. She quickly tried to compose herself, giving up on
catching me.
“Hmm, Smith & Wesson concealed pistol, official bearing,
you’re a cop. What does the city have to do with this?” the woman asked. This
put Gail off a bit, but only a bit.
“Please hold back. I’m off duty but I’m not going to let you
badger an innocent civilian...” Just then they were interrupted by a scream,
and they turned to see the cameraman wheeling, covered in dripping coffees
thrown by an angry Melissa. The two women from the terminal started surrounding
all three of them. Gail couldn’t let this get out of hand.
“Everyone STOP!” she shouted. The various women all halted,
not sure of her status in this fiasco, but taking her take-charge attitude into
account. Kitty looked around, panicky.
“Get the hell out of here,” Gail demanded, and both Cate and
Kitty took off, running back towards Union Station in different directions. The
two cameramen looked around in confusion, one still cursing while he tried to
wipe his camera dry. The other cameraman was caught unprepared and with nothing
to focus on but fleeing backs to shoot.
“What’s going on here?” insisted the reporter. “What’s this
all about? Why are you protecting that man and those women?”
“Listen, I’m not involved, I just...”
“Right, and you just happen to be here, ready to step in at
the first sign of trouble, but you don’t attempt to stop anyone else but me,” the
newswoman countered. Gail looked hesitantly at her.
“Look, everyone is already dispersed. I don’t know what this
was about, but it’s over now. If you can identify who attacked you, you can
press charges, but you’ll have to counter your own attack on the other woman
you ran over. Now, since this is over, I’m leaving,” Gail said, starting to
back up.
“Wait, don’t you think we deserve an explanation?”
I sent a quick ‘Shut the fuck up and get the hell out of there!’
to Clara, along with a follow up ‘And don’t talk to the press.’ But by
then I was gone from sight. I’d continued running down the street, blocked by
traffic and a line of trees until I rounded the corner where no one could track
me. Luckily the two girls had enough presence of mind to not head for
the car, but they ran into the terminal building, slowed down, and calmly
walked through it at a leisurely pace. I wasn’t sure about the others, but
since Gail had dismissed them they each started to back away as well. I also
had no idea of what Clara was doing, since Gail wasn’t facing her, but I could
hear the sound of her crying receding, so apparently she was heading away as
well.
“You can’t impede the free press from filming in a public
park and then just disappear,” the reporter protested, causing Gail to finally panic and beat a hasty retreat.
“Hey, I’m talking to you,” called the reporter, taking off
after her leaving her camera crew behind. Realizing she was being chased, Gail weaved through traffic, trying to get away. Soon Aloe Plaza was left with dozens of very
confused people, probably all hungry to describe their confusion in full
details over the open air.
I continued heading north, away from the area. I talked with
Gail, who told me she was still circling around and was heading for our cars.
She told me to head to a diner she knew that wasn’t far away, and to wait for
her there, making sure I kept a low profile as the reporters might drive around
the area looking for me.
‘I contacted Shani,’ Gail informed me. ‘I had her
call Cate. Hopefully the girls are together by now. I don’t want to directly
contact anyone because if this gets back to me, I don’t want anyone to link me
back to you. In fact, I can’t even call Melissa for fear it will tie her to
this.’
‘That’s OK,’ I told her. ‘I’ll have Brooke call her and tell her to wait for the girls at her car. They can meet us at your house.
I guess we’ve lost touch with the new watchers there, but that’s a minor
concern at this point. Do you think they’ll run with this?’ I asked.
‘I doubt it. They didn’t really get any good
incriminating footage, though it would depend on what Clara told them
beforehand. If they smell a story, they could be all over it. But I think
they’d need something specific to interest the public. Something more compelling
than people interfering with an obnoxious press corp. But I think it best if
you got out of Dodge,’ she warned me.
“Yeah, I guessed that much. We’ll all meet at your place and
decide what’s next.”
When we finally regrouped, everyone had to detail what they
knew of events and what had happened to them. Luckily Cate already had Kelly’s phone number, though no one knew anything about the two girls who had helped us. Kitty
and Cate had gone looking for the coffee shop that Melissa had visited,
figuring it to be a decent meeting point, and that’s where Melissa had found
them. So they didn’t arrive very late.
Everyone finally agreed that I’d been correct in my
evaluation of Clara, that she was in fact dangerous to us.
“I guess she just thought that everyone in America wants to be on television,” Cate said.
“Hell, if I wanted media attention, I could have gotten it
myself. What I’m looking for is the freedom to move around. Being hounded by
the press isn’t going to help with that,” I complained.
“Man, what’s wrong with that woman?” Cate asked, lacking her
usual regard for others.
“Guess she thought the second coming needed a little media
help to get started,” Gail unhelpfully offered.
“We will not do that again,” I insisted. “That woman
is officially off limits.”
“You don’t have to tell us twice,” Cate answered. Melissa apologized for potentially getting us in trouble as well.
“I’m really sorry for damaging their equipment,” Melissa told us. “I realize that could involve criminal charges being involved, but I was just
so angry at them for being so aggressive I couldn’t help myself.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. That gear is built to withstand
wind, sun and the occasional rain. Hopefully it just annoyed the cameraman,” Gail responded. “Still, you don’t want to destroy several thousand dollars worth of equipment,
you simply want to get away from a situation like that. That would be considered
willful property damage, as well as personal assault, and it would have had
multiple witnesses and possibly additional camera footage.”
“Yeah, I’ll remember that for next time,” Melissa responded. “Sometimes you just react in situations like that.”
“Hey, I’m not pointing blame. What you did was a natural
reaction. But I’m just letting you know the possible repercussions,” Gail said as she gave Melissa a hug. That seemed to ease Melissa’s mind quite a bit. I would
have done that myself, but both Cate and Kitty were busy hugging me at the
moment. Seems everyone was much more concerned about me than about anything
else at the time.
Kitty turned on the local TV news, scanning the channels for
any mention of us.
“It wouldn’t be on now, since it’s not breaking news,” Gail suggested. “If anything it would be a little piece on either the six o’clock or the late
news.”
Cate insisted that I relax and take it easy, fixing me some
more food, just to be sure I didn’t burn up too much energy stressing over the
event. I insisted I was fine, but I’m not sure anyone believed me.
“Look, I’m sorry I pressured you to try again,” Cate tried
to apologize. “You knew she was unstable.”
“There was no avoiding it. I didn’t think to ask what stupid
things she may have pulled since we’d last spoken. She planned this all ahead
of time.”
“Actually, Cate, I was the one who pushed him into it,” Gail confessed to my sister. “I gave him a hard time about how I could see her having a hard
time with his response to her. If anyone is responsible for this fiasco, it’d
be me.”
“No, that isn’t true," I told them both. "I got it
from a few people, but principally it was Nikki who told me how she’d have felt
if it had been her in Clara’s place. She struggled without me for months, and
that was hard enough on her. But to be rejected by such a significant figure in
your life would have been too much for her. However the fault is mine. I didn’t
anticipate how she’d react. As I said, I should have asked her what she’d been
doing and if she had any more surprises for me. When I spoke to her the last
time, I didn’t want to have a long conversation since she was pleading with me
to forgive her so much.
“I wonder how she ever convinced a news crew she was legit?”
Kitty asked, trying to change the topic to avoid all the recriminations. None
of us had a clue so no one responded.
We continued to sit in an uncomfortable silence imagining
the unpleasantness we may have avoided. I certainly hoped we’d avoided it. She’d
gotten a good look at each of us, what’s more they undoubtedly got video
footage of me, although there was no telling how clear it was. I felt it
unlikely they could track me back to my home in Shawneetown, although if they
broadcast it here, certainly quite a few people in Carbondale would see it and
recognize me. Things could get ugly pretty easily.
“We’d better get out of here,” I suggested. We’d been
waiting for early evening for the news programs to come on, but I wasn’t sure
that was a wise decision. “We don’t want to be observed around the city after
today, especially if they show any of that video footage. I’d suggest that you
keep a really low profile for a while as well,” I told Gail. She agreed, and we all started straightening up and getting our stuff organized. Just
before we were ready to go there was a knock on the door. We all looked at each
other.
“Were you expecting anyone?” Melissa asked.
“No, although sometimes one of my friends will stop by
unexpectedly,” Gail advised us.
“You realize it’s just as likely a nearby watcher or seer
who’s been feeling me nearby from yesterday, and has only built up the nerve to
stop by,” I suggested.
We looked skeptically at each other and Gail finally straightened her shoulders and headed for the door. “Stay back and out of sight, Alex. I’ll let you know if it’s safe to come out.”
“We could simply not answer,” Kitty mentioned hopefully.
“The lights are all on and they’d know we’re hiding in here.
They’d just wait us out,” Gail explained to them. She opened the door a crack
and spoke through the partially open door. It was clear almost immediately that
it was the same reporter. I instructed Cate to call Bev and Julie and gave her their numbers after getting them from Gail. Both she and Kitty got busy
dialing.
“Head into the bathroom and try to slip out the window after
you’re done,” I instructed them. “Have the girls pick you up. Their cars won’t
be recognized by anyone. Make sure you put on dark clothing and cover your
heads. Meet them outside, away from us, so you can exchange cars if you need to.”
“What about you?” The both asked me.
“Everyone knows this is about me. I’ve got to try to
minimize the damage as best I can. Now get going.”
‘I’m about to bring her back without the cameras, boss
man, are you ready?’ Gail asked me. I responded in the affirmative, and
shortly Gail came back in with the woman reporter. Like most female video
reporters, she was quite beautiful, with blond hair, nice makeup and beautiful
clothes. She looked confident, but she also looked curious, so I hoped that was
a good sign. Hopefully my apparently luck with women would pay off this time.
“This is Lisa Woodall, a local television news reporter,” Gail introduced our guest.
“How are you today, Lisa?” I politely enquired.
“A bit curious but otherwise quite fine,” she pleasantly
replied. “To whom do I have the honor of speaking?”
“I’m sorry, but I have no desire to be publicly outed. I’ve
taken off from college to visit a girlfriend here in town, and I certainly
don’t want either the college or my parents to find out or I’ll be up the creek
without a paddle.”
“Oh, a college boy with a civil tongue in his head, I like
that,” she replied, not pursuing my name. “Tell me, is your girlfriend one of
those girls I saw you with today?”
“Again, I’d really prefer not to say. It could get us both in
a world of trouble.”
“And why would a local policewoman be taking such an
interest in protecting a young college boy from getting into trouble?”
she asked, emphasizing the college boy in the sentence.
“We’re kind of related. I’m actually her godson.”
“I’ve never known an adult woman to willing to put that much
effort into taking care of an adult godson,” she observed.
“It’s a long story,” I sighed as if I’d had to repeat it
numerous times. “She made friends with my mother, who had a falling out with my
first godmother. So she offered to take over. Since she stepped into the role
at a later point, she takes it more seriously than most.”
“Very nice story,” she practically cooed at me. “I also
notice you didn’t mention Officer Knowles name; very cagey.”
“We like to look out for each other. I don’t want to
jeopardize someone willing to help me out.”
“And yet you’d let her expose her position in the police
force to hinder a TV news crew?”
“She didn’t stop you in order to ‘hinder’ you, she was
merely looking after me as a member of the public being aggressively pursued by
people he had no interest in interacting with,” I tried to explain, though I
doubted it would win me any points in the current context. “Look, that woman,
whoever she was, seemed to be a bit nuts. She came running up to me out of the
blue shouting ‘Master, Master’. What was I supposed to do? Stop and speak to
her? Ask a news crew why they’re following her around when I’m not supposed to
be here? Doesn’t sound very sensible to me.”
“And you’re all about being sensible, aren’t you... what
should I call you, Mister X?” I simply shrugged indifferently.
“What college did you say it was you were attending, Mister
X?”
“I don’t believe I did,” I told her simply.
“No, you’ve got a particular aversion to names now, don’t
you?” she asked with a penetrating look.
“Look, you may be used to getting your way with your pretty
smile and your famous TV face, but I’m not a big fan of television, and I’m not
particularly anxious to have my face plastered on the TV set, so I’m not
particularly impressed. If you want to ask a question go ahead and ask, but I’m
not telling you anything about myself.” She simply looked into my eyes for a
few seconds.
“Ah, yes, the intellectual who always eschews the idiot box,
I’m sure you impress all the young girls with that.”
“If they’re so easily impressed then I’m not particularly
interested. I happen to like a bit more of a challenge.”
“Oh ho, someone who disapproves of TV and appreciates
girls for their wisdom and maturity. I also noticed the younger girls with you
weren’t particularly large breasted. Is that another atypical male behavior of
yours?”
“What does this have to do with anything?” I asked her a bit
pointedly.
“It should be obvious, I’m testing you. I don’t think
anything you’ve told me is honest, yet.”
“So far I haven’t told you anything, so I’d have to agree
with you. Did you have a question, or do you just like trying to make people
look stupid so you’ll appear smarter?”
“Oh, touché. Have you ever met Clair Thomkins before, the
woman that approached you today?” she asked, clearly expecting me to jump on this
mistaken usage of her name.
“No, I’ve never met the woman before. Personally, she kind
of terrifies me. I’ve been held up on street corners by ranting schizophrenics
before and I always have a hard time getting away, so I’m not real anxious to
spend time with them.”
“So, an intellectual who appreciates smart women, who
attends a no name school, and who doesn’t like to deal with disadvantaged
individuals?”
“I don’t dislike anyone,” I calmly replied, “I just don’t
know how to address them. They have a tendency to get carried away, so I tend
to avoid them unless I’m around someone who knows more about dealing with them
than I do. And I’m an Engineer, not a Psychology student,” I told her,
inventing a lot of little details to make my lies more believable. However, she
was still trying to trip me up and catch me in a falsehood.
“Ah, an Engineer? Say, what do you call those drawings you
do with those little computer programs?”
“They’re Engineering Diagrams and they’re made with a Cad
program. I’m an Electrical Engineer by the way.” I knew I was really testing my
luck, but I didn’t think this woman was as smart as she liked to think. She was
persistent and quick witted, but not always on the top of her game. “Do you
think we might eventually find our way to a point at some time?” I asked her.
There was a sudden honking of a car’s horn outside, causing us all to turn and
look at the door for no apparent reason.
“Maybe those are your other friends now?” she asked.
“Point?” I asked simply.
“She seems to know you quite well,” she said, returning to
our discussion about my knowledge of Clara. “Described you to a T, in fact.”
“I seriously doubt that, Miss. Woodall, as I’ve never met
the woman.” I knew she was lying because Clara would not have been able to see
me, aside from the initial vision, but I was hoping to pick up a tell from her.
“She tells quite an interesting story, much like yourself.
Seems she felt drawn to someone she’d never even seen, drawn from some distance
away. When she finally saw him, she says the ‘holy spirit came over her’ and
‘revealed the world for what it really was’. She says he was a young man, much
like yourself, though she thought he was the lord Jesus, but when he commanded
her to come unto him he corrected her and sent her away, telling her she was
mistaken about God and his word by her church.” I simply listened without any
comment. I didn’t need to be drawn into this conversation because she spent all
her time trying to trip me up for no apparent objective. Eventually she began
again.
“Seems she then went back to her church and tried to press
the issue. The church leaders told her she was delusional and filled with the
devil, because she spoke of having visions, seeing angels shining upon the
ground, and seeing colors dancing all over.”
“Sounds pretty familiar, I’m sure I could pick a nearby
nursing home that housed a few patients with similar complaints,” I said.
“The story goes on, don’t worry. Seems she was so distraught
at having them doubt the word of the resurrected Jesus himself, that she
proceeded to tear the church apart. They promptly called the cops and had her
arrested. Seems the cops aren’t particularly set up to handle anyone like that,
so they let her go. That’s where I came in. I thought I might get an
interesting side piece out of it.”
“I doubt it, sounds like a pretty cut and dried psycho
delusional case to me.”
“Yes, spoken like a promising Psychologist,” she told me. I
couldn’t guess whether she was goading me or still trying to trick me. I hadn’t
found any gives in her facial expressions yet.
“The interesting thing was what came up after we moved past
all of that. Seems the resurrected Jesus had a young lady friend that explained
all about the woman’s newfound visions. Seems she could detect emotions, basic
personalities and even sicknesses.”
“And the point where we discuss non-delusional ramblings
would be?” I pressed.
“Strangely, when I tested her, she seemed quite accurate.
She told me when I was getting impatient despite my best poker face,” she said
cheerily, making fun of my attempts to read her expressions. “She also detected
my cameraman’s missing appendix and damaged liver. She diagnosed my missing
fallopian tube.”
“Maybe she actually spoke with God then,” I suggested,
“Assuming God comes equipped with 20th century Biology text books
and an X-Ray machine. Strange how Jesus never diagnosed missing fallopian tubes
during his ministry.”
“She says the girl with you was the one who told her about
her vision, and that you’re the one who revealed himself to her.”
“Look, if you’re just going to repeat the same thing over
and over, only to intersperse it with silly questions about my background, then
there’s really no point in discussing this any further.”
“You’re an odd one, Mister X. You don’t act like any college
student I’ve ever met. You don’t look like a college student, and most college
students don’t treat threats to their sponsor’s careers very lightly.”
“You’re threatening to damage my godmother’s career?”
“No, just that that’s how I found you. I went to the Police
Commissioner and asked why a certain unnamed police woman accosted me in a
public park and interfered with my job. I told him I wouldn’t press any charges
if he could just let me know who she was.”
“That was very manipulative of you, but I think we’ve said
about everything there is to say, which is a whole lot of nothing. So far
you’ve asked me all sorts of questions about myself that you refuse to believe,
you keep accusing me of the same thing, which I keep denying, and you keep
quoting your authoritative source who happens to be a delusional hysterical
woman. If that about covers everything I’ll have to ask you to please leave.”
At this point she just looked at me, trying to figure some way past my refusal
to play her game. Finally Gail came up behind her and grasped her elbow.
“This is a private residence and you’ve been asked to leave.
I’ll have to insist that you do so,” Gail explained to her.
“I could easily have your commissioner bring you in for some
basic questions,” she politely threatened her.
“Fine. I’ve been planning on transferring anyway; it’ll give
me the impetus to speed up my search. I’m not answering any questions, and I’m
not as polite as my godson here. Are we finished now?” She finally conceded
that she was, and Gail escorted her out, only to return moments later.
“She’s likely going to be waiting out there,” Gail informed me.
“No doubt, she’s persistent, you have to give her that,” I
conceded.
“Not real bright, but persistent and used to getting her
way,” Gail agreed.
“I’m guessing the girls got away with the car,” she
continued. “Why don’t you do like the girls, put on something dark and slip out
the back. I’ll head out in a few minutes and provide you with a distraction.
She already knows who I am, so she’ll be hounding me for days. You should be
clear if you can just get away cleanly.”
“I’m not so sure, she seems likely to track down her
subject. Still, it’s the best option available,” I mumbled as I pulled a hood
over my head and entered the bathroom. Just as I did we heard a bit of a racket
outside. Gail hurried to peer outside.
“Seems there’s a scuffle outside between a certain news crew
and some of the neighbors,” she told me.
“They’re likely sympathetic watchers that live nearby. They
figure they’re helping me.”
“Well, take advantage of it. Slip out now and you may be
able to slip away.”
I went out the window, which had a bit of a drop to it but I
survived it. While I was climbing out the window, I talked to Nikki and had her call Sara. I didn’t want any obvious links connecting everyone together.
Hopefully she’d get here soon. I managed to slip away pretty easily, as the
sounds of an argument and things being thrown covered the sounds of my escape.
I waited around the corner, having Nikki update Sara on my new location,
telling her to drive up without her lights on and to keep away from Gail’s house.
‘I did as you asked, Alex,’ Nikki said, ‘though
she’s quite curious about what you’re getting into. She knows about you using
her two friends, but I told her I had no idea of what was going on. So be
prepared for her questions when you see her,’ she advised me.
‘Also, I want to apologize for getting you into so much
trouble with Clara,’ Nikki told me. ‘I should have assumed you had a
better feel for Clara than I did. I was projecting my own problems onto her,
making her into a poor hapless soul when actually she brought your derision on
herself. I’m sorry for all...’
‘Look, Nikki, don’t put yourself down. You gave me some
legitimate advice. My problem was that I didn’t trust my instincts enough. If I
had I would have talked to her more and considered her emotional state. If
anything the problem was mine. Now let’s not discuss this anymore, as I’m
currently on the lookout for any trouble from Lisa Woodall, and I’ve got better
things to do than discussing who is and who isn’t at fault,’ I told her.
Sara picked me up a block and a half away, and we didn’t see
any signs of the reporter’s van. Sara didn’t ask anything until we were leaving
the neighborhood.
“Guess you’d like an explanation?” I asked to help fill the
awkward silence in the car.
“That would help. This isn’t the usual kind of thing Gail’s friends get into.”
“It’s part of my attraction. The wrong person felt attracted
to me and she invited along a news crew. As you might imagine, I like to keep a
low profile, seeing as how I’m underaged and many of those attracted to me are
adults. The reporter managed to track Gail down, so we’re trying to avoid her.”
“Is this going to impact Gail?” Sara asked, concerned for
her friend.
“Quite probably, yes. As you know, she was already leaning
towards alternative employment opportunities. I just made her my own job offer
last night. Since the reporter has been telling the police commissioner about
her after-hours activities, she might be asked to leave in order to head off
their perception of a hard to explain problem. If so, I plan on giving her that
job.”
She turned and regarded me before turning back to the road.
“Thanks for being so honest. I don’t know what a teenager
could offer a cop in the way of employment, but if Mark Zuckerburg can become a
multimillionaire while in college, then I guess it isn’t any more unbelievable
than the other things we know about you. By the way, we’re all meeting at the
Abbey. It’s an out of the way spot, and no one is likely to report anything
they see there. We’re pretty protective of our own.”
“Thanks. I think the plan at the moment is just to get out
of town. Right now the reporter doesn’t have any idea of who we are, but they
might piece things together if we stay around too long. Since Carbondale shares
TV space with St. Louis, I’m afraid a lot of people who know me may recognize
me if they air anything on television, so it may be a while before I can afford
to come back.”
“After we drop you off, we’ll double back and pick up your
car. I assume it’s in front of Gail’s house, correct?” When I nodded, she
continued. “It should be easy enough, but just let me say this. It’s a pretty
fanciful story you tell, but if we find you’re involved in anything
questionable or illegal, and you put our friend Gail in any kind of trouble,
we’ll go to the authorities and the press with everything we know. You realize
that, don’t you?”
“Sara, I wouldn’t expect any less of you. After all, Gail is your friend, and I respect the value of both family and friends. You wouldn’t be here
if I didn’t believe in old friendships so much,” I told her, feeling a bit of a
hypocrite since I had so few of my old friends left. I guess that’s why they
are so important to me. Those that had little in their youth learn to value
those things as treasures, whereas those who had free access to them tend to belittle
them.
When we arrived at the Abbey the girls were glad to see me, and
we hugged as Sara and Bev took off to retrieve my car. Julie stayed to watch
out for us. The girls were full of questions for me, so I did my best to
recount my conversation. However that required a full description of what had
happened earlier, for Julie to understand what was happening. You couldn’t have
pried Cate and Kitty from my side with a crowbar while we were sitting there.
We were still talking when Bev and Sara returned. We thanked them, and they
said they’d watch out for Gail and let us know if she needed any help. We gave
them each multiple hugs and invited them to come visit us if they got the
chance.
“It’s a bit crowded sometimes, especially with new people
showing up all the time, but it’s also a lot of fun. And you wouldn’t believe
the amount of naked women around this guy,” Cate teased.
I also told them that Lisa Woodall was intent on this story,
and that they’d better all lie low and tell their friends not to answer any
questions as well. They promised they would as we all drove off into the night.
It was a long silent drive home, much different than the
drive up on Friday. We didn’t talk much, I planned to provide a full recounting
when I got home. Instead Kitty called Chalise, and Cate called our parents,
while I spoke with Gail and Shani, giving them a basic overview of what
happened, asking Brooke and Rebecca to check the news for any reports of me on
the TV.
It seemed that our flakey little Sister, Clara, might have exposed us all. I sent a follow up message telling my girls to move into
their apartment they’d gotten until further notice. I told them they might want
to go back home to visit until this blows over, as we don’t want to expose too
many of us if we can avoid it. I also suggested that Nikki go visit her parents,
but she refused to go without me. I simply told her to either go with Brooke and Rebecca to Carbondale, or go to the apartment with the other girls, but that I only
wanted the family at home tonight. I thought any more would risk too much
exposure. They weren’t happy about it, but they agreed to follow my
instructions. I told them we’d figure something out, but for now we just wanted
to minimize the risk to everyone. If I was exposed, it would help me if my
girls weren’t as well.
All in all, things were looking pretty bleak.