People used to be kind without expecting something in return, do something nice for a stranger can bring good fortune or satisfaction, but do something good for a new acquaintance can lead to better understanding of people. Rose didn't work in Monday mornings so she spent that time in her home doing little research for her friend Professor Bishop, who work as a consultant for trackers in the whole country.
She was reading and taking notes on her laptop, with a gray T-shirt and shorts that barely covered her buttocks, barefoot and braided hair, she knew Chibs would come to her place anytime in the morning and at least had taken a shower, while she was deeply engrossed trying to decipher a path for some missing people she heard the engine outside her home.
- Want something to drink? - Asked as she watched him work from the kitchen ba .
- beer would be nice.
He rose from the floor and start with his beer as he observed the notes she had taken and spread in her living room, that kind of work seemed worthy of a detective and asked her if she worked with the FBI.
- Not at all - smiled discreetly – Before being kicked out of Berkeley I had a job as a research assistant for Professor Bishop, a few years ago I found him in one of my trips to San Francisco and ask me to work with him again, this is just a little job for someone missing some years ago.
- If you have a job like that why are you a waitress?
- Because I cannot be home all day, every day. I know myself and I would stay here until I had finished with seasonings and had nothing else to eat, I need to have a reason to leave.
- Friends, maybe?
- Hannah has been the best one to offer me the job, she knew I needed it.
- Most people talk about money, and how good is to meet other people.
- I don't like other people and the money always comes and goes, has never been a priority for me. It's uncomfortable, but I must ask - that moment he was waiting for some time, always came to a point when people asked him about his scars, but it was customary as he bear it on his face every day - what part of Ireland are you?
- I lived in Bealfast for a long time, but I'm not Irish, I'm from Scotland - It was not the question he expected - it's weird , people often say the first time I'm Scottish .
- Sorry, I should have asked that first, but you see, your accent is quite confusing, but many of the words you say are Irish.
- Do you know many Irish sweet?
- A few, I lived with an Irish family for a while, hearing them discuss while being drunk was the most fun.
- You accent is also quite confusing too; you're not from Portland aren't you?
- No, I lived there for a while, but I was born in Boston.
She left him in his task and took one of the notebooks and went back to work, she was working so hard to connect the dots and decrypt a missing lead that she didn't realized that he was watching her from the kitchen counter.
- I thought you would ask me my scars, you've been watching them every time we meet, it does not bother me but it's not as if you looked at my tits.
- I'm sorry, the least I want was to be this rude but ... - She did not know whether to continue but feared it was too late - you see, I had a friend many years ago who had the same scars as you, I never dared to ask him about it, but then one night I was very nervous and I told him accidentally I liked his Joker scars, the last thing he told me was that the next time I meet someone with the same I should never said that again, you are the first one I know.
- These scars are not a joker smile, but if your friend had them had to know it was a very common assumption, why did you say that it was the last thing he had said? Did he ditch you for saying that?
- No - she said with a smile - he died that night.
- I'm so sorry, but if he was the same as me, life shouldn't have been very easy to him, you see, this are called the "Glasgow grin" and not any person find himself in that situation, very cruel people make them for terrible things you've done or they assume you've done.
- And what did you do - asked as she pulled another beer from the fridge - Nothing legal, I assume .
- It goes beyond that, it's a matter of honor and one of the memories that I have of everything they took away from me – she was greeted with empty eyes - not a nice story but maybe someday I will tell you.
- Filip, I'm so sorry - that was the first time she said his name and it hurt to see the sadness in her eyes as she did so – I was hoping it was nothing serious, some bar fight or something like that, but I think I made you tell me what you didn't want.
- You didn't know and that's why you asked, I have no intention to hide a truth that is in my face every day and I have come to be direct about it, I show my burden when people look at me, but sometimes the burdens that no one can see hurt even more because they are harder to share - then something was revealed in Rose's face, a sense of sadness and concern that was shared with Chibs and in an instant a chilling cold filled him as warning that something was wrong there was something else below the fresh fitness of the young girl.
- Those burdens that go under the skin and rob us our sleep and the desire to eat - she said bringing her hand to his arm - but when we decide with whom we share it, whether visible or not, are a big risk because you never know if it's something that can save us or finish us.
They shared a smile and turned to play more friendly subjects anytime they chat again, what had been a surprise to both parties, apparently she was not a dumb girl who said the first thing that came into her head, it was obviously for him she had some issues and for her there was no doubt he was not just another thug of a MC. She had been in more solitary places with more dangerous men but the situation was more strange to him than to her, women from Charming and many other places did not invite strangers into their homes and stayed chatting with them while drinking beer in the kitchen, there was something peculiar about the way she spoke, the things she said, as if she had led a life of adventure and risk that somehow would turn her into a much older version of the girl she looked.
- What was it that you changed a city like Portland for a town like Charming?
- Somehow I have come to feel more comfortable here in the short time I have been than in the whole time I spent over there, but if you ask me the reason why this specific place Hannah is the person responsible for that.
- You were with her when I met you, I met her after you left, she is a very nice girl. How did you get to know her?
- She studied at Berkeley, her dad wanted someone to take charge of the place and little good Hannah was responsible enough to finish her studies, I was very lucky to have her as my roommate for over a year, why connected because we were somehow the outcast, apparently other girls didn't like Hannah's plunging necklines and passion for boxing and guns, on the other hand I did not have the necessary social conventions to please them.
- I knew that Hannah liked boxing, she always goes to the fights we organize, if you like it too you should go to our gig this Saturday, nothing fancy but you can have fun.
- Underground fights are always the best - she said as both of them went to the door.
- Will you stay in Charming for a while?
- I wish I could stay, but still don't know, whenever I make plans things came out very different, I would say that I will not have to go, but I do not know.
- It's time for me to leave, I will leave you with your business.
- How much do I owe you?
- I'm sure I drank anything that could be charged - he said as he closed her wallet in her hands - anyway I know what it means to be a stranger in a small town, consider it a welcome gift for your friend the Scots man.
