August 9 - 10, 2010
I wanted to add a little bit to the "Saint Bernard" conversation.
Btw, you have noIDEA how badly I wanted Annie to buy Auggie a stuffed Saint Bernard before she got on her plane home.
It's my understanding that Annie terminates her call to Auggie before the bomb goes off, and Auggie learns of the explosion through the news. I watched 1x04 (No Quarter) with subtitles on IMDB (courtesy of Hulu) and between "wish me luck" and "good luck," the Closed Captioning says "beep"—I assume that's Annie hanging up, because in the next cut of her in the airport, there is no phone visible.
"Someone's a little cheeky this morning. Too bad, I was gonna get you a souvenir," Annie sighed in mock disappointment.
"Yeah?" Auggie asked, interest piqued. What could she possibly be getting him from Switzerland? Chocolate? Cheese? A watch? A pocket knife?
"Yeah, a Saint Bernard. Stuffed, of course." Annie chuckled before adding, "Kind of remind me of you."
"Great, I remind you of Cujo. It's the slobbering, isn't it?" Auggie asked, smiling in spite of himself.
"Yeah, that, and they're cute and dependable," Annie drawled casually, and the comment surprised Auggie.
"And when you're feeling low they bring you booze."
Auggie had to chuckle at that one. While the comparison didn't quite work, it made for an interesting picture: a huge, furry, black-brown-and-white dog hooked up to a cooler came to mind first, followed by a two-legged, dressed-like-a-bartender Beethoven handing out shot glasses.
"It's my contact," Annie declared suddenly, finishing, "Wish me luck."
"Good luck," Auggie replied as the call ended.
As he listened to the chatter from the office around him, he considered what Annie had said before the 'booze' portion of her comparison.
Cute and dependable, she'd said.
The question was, did she really mean that? Did she really think he was cute?
Sure, Auggie knew he was dependable—plenty of other people had told him so, especially before he'd lost his sight.
And he knew that some women probably thought he was cute.
He'd been told he was cute before he'd gone blind, and listening to the giggles of random women on the streets of DC had convinced him he still was.
But for Annie, who hadn't known him very long, to fess up and admit she thought he was cute...
That would make for an interesting dinner conversation.
He didn't get any more time to contemplate the conversation, because someone called out, "Turn on CBG! There was an explosion in Zurich!"
Immediately, Auggie's mind shifted to panic-mode.
Zurich? Please not the airpo—oh, crap.
He slammed his fist down on his desk, listening to the news report.
A bomb had gone off in the Zurich airport, injuring "a handful" of people.
Auggie only hoped that Annie was not among those injured.
End notes: Um. Short.
But you know what comes after this, right?
Words: 365
Time: Um. A few hours over two days.