EARLY EDITION: DARK SECRETS
"It is now six o'clock a.m. in the busy city of Chicago. Today will be partly cloudy with scattered showers throughout the day-" Gary Hobson smacked the snooze button of his alarm clock, turning the radio off. He sat up in his bed and ran his hands through his messy, brown hair trying to comb it down to an acceptable level.
There was a meowing sound at the door of Gary's living area, followed shortly by a loud thud. Gary rolled his eyes and heaved himself to his feet.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Gary padded to the door, still in his red, flannel pajama pants and shirt, and let the persistent cat inside. The cat immediately ran inside and planted himself on the green sofa that had been placed in the center of the room. "Make yourself at home." Gary said with dull sarcasm as he picked up the morning paper from his welcome mat in the outside hall.
This, however, was no ordinary morning paper. It was tomorrow's morning paper. Gary kept the paper a secret because he used it to silently save lives, and he didn't want others to interfere. He didn't know how the paper came to him or where it came from, but he had given up trying to find out. There were very few people who also knew about Gary's "gift" including his parents and his friends: Marissa, Chuck, and Erica.
Gary tossed the paper on the cold kitchen counter hoping to down a cup of coffee and take a quick shower before he would have to do the paper's bidding.
-
Downstairs in McGinty's restaurant, Marissa was already up and filing through some old papers that had been so graciously given to her in brail. She tossed the pile into the trashcan just as she heard Gary's alarm clock go off upstairs, so she knew he would be down shortly.
Since Marissa was blind, people thought her jobs, like cleaning up in the restaurant, would take more time but she always surprised the doubters by finishing just as quickly as anyone else would.
She walked out to the main serving counter and began to wipe off the wood with a damp rag one last time before she would flip the "closed" sign on the door to "open."
Her black skin stood out against her white blouse as she walked into the large kitchen to through the rag into the laundry basket. She heard Gary start his shower as she filled up a bowl of food and set it down on the floor for her guide dog, Spike. She carefully patted the German shepherd's head and walked over to the main door, switching the sign to "open."
A few minutes later Gary came downstairs wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He sat on a stool at the counter silently watching Marissa work.
"Good morning, Gary." She said without breaking from her current task of setting out clean glasses on the supply shelf.
Gary snapped to attention. It had always fascinated him when Marissa knew he was there, even if he hadn't made a sound. "How'd you know I was down here?" He frowned slightly and motioned to the counter next to which he was sitting - a pointless gesture since Marissa couldn't see it.
"I heard you come down the stairs." Marissa said simply.
He sighed. He hadn't thought he'd made any noise coming downstairs, but he knew better than to doubt Marissa's keen sense of hearing.
At that moment, the orange tabby cat jumped up onto the counter, purring and rubbing against Marissa's shoulder. Marissa turned and picked the cat up, cuddling him.
Gary watched the scene with a raised eyebrow. "You'd better be glad somebody loves you, Cat."
Marissa gave Gary a teasing scowl and put the cat down. "So, what's the paper have for you today?" She leaned against the counter and rested her chin in her hand, waiting for him to answer.
"Nothing until later this evening. You know, I don't understand it. The paper doesn't seem to want me to have my own life, and then it goes and gives me a morning off." Gary reached to pick up a glass that Marissa had missed before continuing. "You know…I think I'm going to go for a walk." At nearly the same instant, a flash of lightning ripped through the sky outside, followed by a steady downpour of rain. "Well, I was going to go for a walk." He leaned back against the counter frustrated. "I knew this was too good to be true." He said giving the paper a slight shake. The cat meowed, looking up at Gary. "Oh shut up." He looked outside with a frown, seeing his plans for the day slide out of the picture just as the raindrops were sliding down McGinty's glass windows.
Gary's glance outside was just in time to see a person in a very large, hooded coat walk down the sidewalk and approach the restaurant.
Gary watched as the figure pushed open the large, glass door. The person walked inside, his face hidden by a drooping hood. Suddenly, the hood was lowered, revealing someone who was very familiar to both Gary and Marissa. "Hola, Senora!" The person said to Gary with a lopsided grin.
"Chuck." Marissa said with little enthusiasm. She leaned against a wall and waited for Gary's reaction.
"I - uh, think your Spanish needs a little work." Gary said with a forced, but believable smile. He turned to Marissa and mumbled under his breath, "You see, I knew there was a real reason that the paper gave me the morning off. I'm going to have to spend my entire day babysitting him!"
Luckily, Chuck had been too busy looking around to hear Gary's mumbled comments. "Yeah, so my foreign languages are a little rusty. Who cares? I'm back!"
"Yes, we see that!" Marissa said with an "innocent" smile.
Gary finally managed a stressed laugh as he spoke again. "So, Chuck, what brings you here?" More like, what do you want? Gary thought to himself.
"Oh, just thought I'd pay a visit to me ole' buddy! Thought we could have a 'family reunion.'" Chuck laughed. He took off his dripping coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door. "It sure is wet out there!" He shook his head, sending tiny drops of water flying through the air. "Mind if I use your shower, Gar?"
Gary shrugged. "No, no go ahead."
"Thanks, Buddy." Chuck nodded his head with a smile and rushed upstairs.
Gary glanced at Marissa; both were speechless.
It was Marissa who finally broke the silence. "Well, I guess he's back." She gave a half-hearted laugh as she pushed away from the wall and leaned up against the counter once more.
"Yeah, what's it been now…three years?" Gary spoke with slight frustration.
Marissa laughed. "Oh, give him a break, Gary. You know how Chuck is." She picked up a glass and filled it with water, setting it on the counter in front of her.
"Of course I know how Chuck is. I know all too well how Chuck is!" Gary stood up from the counter and went to the coat rack, grabbing his own coat. He stepped over the puddle of water Chuck had created in the entryway as he pulled the black leather around his t-shirt and headed for the door. "I'm going for that walk I scheduled earlier. Tell Chuck I went to get some supplies for the store and that I'll be back in about an hour." -
Author's Note: This story takes place after the series quit filming. It's been three years since Gary and Marissa have heard from Chuck, so it's probably about three years after the last episode.
-Bibble