Timefall: Chapter 7 (by Elliot Bowers)

_____Gally and Mr. Dark walked into the recreation center.
Both of them looked worn out and bedraggled, beaten and
tired as they passed through this foyer. The collar of
Mr. Dark's shirt collar was undone, his pants and hair
dusted with something--missing tie. Gally's metal body
looked dusted as well, her pretty face was smudged and cut.
And her straight dark hair full of grit. Both she and the
bedraggled big man trudged their way toward the white
office.
_____They walked... Walked through the public lounge, with
the building's janitorial staff looking on curiously.
Those people said nothing to Gally and Mr. Dark, knowing
that it was none of their business. What those two did
was best left unquestioned.
_____When the two came to the white office, Mr. Dark was
so worn and feeling downtrodden that he let Gally open the
door. They went in.
_____And both were surprised to see a uniformed soldier in
here. A tall soldier in green camouflage, black boots on
his feet. The pin-on marks on his shoulders indicated that
he was a corporal. Looking at Mr. Dark, the soldier stood
straighter and did the Army salute. "Good morning, Master
Sergeant Dark," he said.
_____Mr. Dark did a quick return-salute, and the soldier
put his hands behind his back and stood with feet apart--the
"at ease" position. "Well, Corporal Boogs," said Mr. Dark,
glancing at the soldier's nametag. "Why are you here? Does
a local unit want to move in and give more direct
assistance?"
_____Corporal Boogs shook his head. "Sir, I am not authorized
to make such a statement at this time. I arrived here with
my squad to deliver raw supplies and the damaged gynoids.
Dr. Briette recieved the supplies and the gynoids. Also, I
have been ordered to remain behind and communicate a
message--for ears only."
_____Mr. Dark glanced down at Gally, who was not addressed
by the soldier. Since that soldier said nothing about
Gally standing here, it was fine for her to hear as well.
"Okay, tell me the message," said Mr. Dark.
_____Nodding once, Corporal Boogs began to recite the
message. "The local unit of the Science Corps has been
monitoring meteorological and chronological stability
within Franklin Township. And, it has come to the
following two points of important data.
_____"Number one--airborne anomalies have returned to the
skies above this town. Likely, the anomalies are weather-
related, but another explanation is very possible.
_____"Number two--be aware of anomalous daytime activity.
Though the anomalies have been primarily active at night,
morning readings indicate the presence of daytime
disturbances of the sort common in Franklin Tonwship. That
is all."
_____Hearing this, Mr. Dark grimaced. "So, we're going
to see some trouble during the daytime... The freaks are
going to make their way into the day."
_____Corporal Boogs looked at Mr. Dark and down at Gally.
"I am not authorized to answer that question, sir--just
authorized to deliver the message."
_____Shaking his head, Mr. Dark spoke. "You're dismissed,
corporal. I recieved your message. Tell your C.O. thanks
for the supplies and the help." He saluted.
_____After a return salute, Corporal Boogs jogged out of
this office. And he quickly and quietly closed the door
behindhim. So quickly did the corporal leave, that it \
seemed as if he were never here...
_____Mr. Dark looked down at Gally. "Well now, you know
what this means... A world of trouble, and a change of
plans."
_____The petite cyborg spoke, her smudged and cut face
confident. "I do understand. But, those who need
understanding live throughout this town. Change of plans
for them as well."
_____Nodding a few times, Mr. Dark went over to his desk
and reached under the top to activate the elevator. The
sectioon of wall behind the desk opened, revealing that
elevator. "Gally, go down to get washed and fixed up...
I need to go elsewhere to wash, to get decontaminate... All
that sort of stuff. We don't know what's in this dust we've
got on us..."
_____Quietly, Gally walked into the elevator. The doors
closed and she went down. As for Mr. Dark, he went out of
the building to get a change of clothes. Then, he would
wash....

_____And came down to the cybernetics lab--which now looked
a bit more supplied and busy: There were several large
cases set at the left side of the room, and much of the
cybernetics equipment atop the side-tables had been turned
on. A covered cot was set up next to Dr. Briette, who was
at one of the computer workstations.
_____That scientist turned, stood up in surprise. "Gally...!
About the explosions... Are you okay? Any malfunctions with
your body? Any odd feelings in your head?" She walked
closer, seeing the cuts in the pale synthetic flesh of
Gally's face and the grit in her dark hair. "Oh my God!"
_____Gally shook her head. "No trouble with me passes at
the moment. I simply request a shower for now to cleanse
grit from my face and body. And... As for the twin
gynoids?"
_____Dr. Briette gave a quick dismissing wave of a hand.
"They'll be fine. Vannessa is already fully repaired.
More quickly repaired because the Army brought upgrades and
supplies for the autodoc. Now she's on the cot.
_____"But I'm not going to activate her until the autodoc
is done with Vicki. Without Vicki, Vannessa is more than
just a little trouble... Anyway, you know where the shower
is--in the side room. The shower is set on automatic now,
and there is an infrared-assisted air dryer... The two
closed drawers are full of clothes and has the gynoids'
stuff. But don't touch the bottom drawer--Vannessa would
become so mad if anyone touched her stuff...."
_____Giving a nod of thanks, Gally moved toward the side
room and stepped in. It was a well-lit and nice-sized
bathroom. A closed shower at the far end, with a sink and
toilet at the left. An air dryer and drawers were at the
right. Gally heard a humming sound from the drawers,
and she suspected that they were automated somehow. Indeed,
the drawers used automatons to wash and dry clothes stored
in there--no need for separate washers and dryers.
_____She then moved over to the sink--then stood on tip-toes
to look in the mirror. In the mirror, her own large dark
eyes stared back at her--the cuts and smudges, the look of
exhaustion. A mess.
_____She turned away from the mirror and went into the
shower. Closing the shower partition, she saw and heard
the water came on--a private rain of warm cleansing water.
Though she could not feel the warmth of the water on her
metal body, she could feel it on her face. It felt good...
_____Carefully, she rubbed her metal fingers through her
hair, washing away the grit. Even more carefully, she
rubbed the synthetic flesh of her face with the help of the
water. After that, she let the water wash her alloyed body
clean.
_____So there she stood in the shower, the hiss of the water
coming down. This was time for the little cyborg to think.
So far, so much had happened. She had been struck by the
blast of the machine she destroyed, but not damaged. But
the gynoids, it seems, had to be fully repaired.
_____Odd, Vicki and Vannessa were both completely artificial,
but both looked completely human--and were, in some ways,
just as vulnerable. No, the gynoids were somewhat more
vulnerable: They could not heal. And they had to be
repaired more than Gally; Gally herself only needed
diagnostics as her body's moderate auto-repair systems kept
her in good condition after battles...
_____And then Gally came to a moment of "sartori": a moment
of revelation. She knew why Vicki and Vannessa were not as
battle-hardy as Gally: The twin gynoids were not designed
to be fighters. No, the two were designed and programmed
to be as human as possible.
_____If Vicki and Vannessa had been designed to be fighters,
there could be many sorts of modifications done to make
them stronger: armor plating beneath their skin,
electromechanics instead of artificial muscle, better
tactical subroutines...
____Indeed, the two gynoids were designed to be human--
even if doing so made them more vulnerable. Designed to
seem more human, even if they could never be. As Gally
stood in the shower, thinking on this, she felt sympathy
for the gynoids--sympathy for machines.
_____She stepped out of the shower, and it turned off.
She then used the air dryer set high on the wall, letting
the heated air dry her, especially her hair. Sympathy for
machines... Then again, maybe Gally was herself a machine--
with just a glob of thinking flesh for control? She looked
down at her own physique of armor.
_____No...! Closing her eyes to block out the sight of her
own ody. Gally liked to think herself human, and that was
how she chose to live. Her brain was human, so she was still
human. Satisfied, dried and cleansed, the metal-bodied girl
stepped away the air dryer. Left this side-room and went
to be with Dr. Briette. The water washed away the dirt and
grit; help would fix Gally's face more immediately than
autorepairs would.

_____In another building, also in the municipal complex,
Police Chief Hagar was at work. He sat in his office--on
an upper floor of the police station. An office that was
both well-equipped and decorous--certainly more decorated
than the white office. A large window on the side let in
the light of the afternoon--the time of day when the police
had to slow down and prepare to leave for the night.
_____Chief Hagar's desk was--oddly enough--made of sycamore
wood (albeit well-treated wood), and he relaxed his back
against a large bucket seat. Being a sturdy man, once an
amateur wrestler, he needed the big seat and big desk. And
he had to buy clothes of large size to fit his broad-chested,
muscular physique.
_____On the wall behind him were training certificates,
awards, and a big portrait of the current mayor. The other
walls had pictures of various police events--competitions,
picnics, and such.
_____He looked at his big desk, looked at what was on it:
the portable computer on the right and several manila-colored
folders at the left. Time to go to work... He got up from
behind the desk, turned on the florescent lighting to augment
the light coming through the window, then came back to sit
again. Time to consider the craziness...
_____Seated here, letting out an exhausted breath, he opened
the first manila-colored folder. In it was a main report
including summaries and highlights about last night.
Important because it was the first time the police went
outside since things started happening in this town. Going
out, the officers on night patrol had some particular things
they wanted the chief to read and know about.
_____Hmm... Chief Hagar read the report. Essentially, the
report in this folder was written by police officers who
tried to make certain events of last night sound as
believable as possible.
_____What kinds of events? Of course, there were the night
lights, lights in the sky, though local airports insisted
that NO airplanes flew over Franklin Township anymore due
to "weather-related anomalies." And there were locals who
dared to look out their windows, to see misshapen intruders
stalking about their property. Also, there were call-ins
about massive interference with radios and televisions,
especially when the two explosions occurred.
_____To any other police chief in any other town, this would
be quite an interesting series of events. To anyone else
in any other town, in fact, it would be interesting... But
Chief Hagar read about these events so often that the reports
read as usual. The usual creeped-out freakiness...
_____Also in this folder were photographs that ought to be
in supermarket tabloids--but were too damned weird for that
sort of thing. Police cars in Franklin Township used
high-resolution digital cameras--somewhat like the big
armored scout car parked out front. And those digital
cameras were put to work...
_____Two photos from this folder were photographs of streaks
of light in the night sky. Streaks of light so bright and
high in the sky that they lit up some of the clouds.
Another photo was taken of someone walking by a police car--
someone in white shirt and slacks, someone with metal junk
making parts of his chest and dirty wires woven into the
flesh of his face and neck... In fact, the man-like being
in the picture was dressed exactly like Chief Hagar was at
the moment... God-DAMNIT!
_____Chief Hagar dropped the photo atop the rest in the
open folder. There it was, atop his desk: another photo of
one of those damned Night People. "Hmmph... Night People,
ha!" he said aloud. If this were one of those damned horror
movies from the 1980s or a Playstation game from the 1990s,
he would have called them "zombies" or something. But
this was real-life, and the Night People were...something
else.
_____Whatever the Night People were, Chief Hagar refused to
call 'em zombies. Zombies were stupid, slow, shuffling
things. But the Night People had some brains left and
could talk. And, according to reports, they laughed.
Night People laugh. Bullets work against video game
zombies, but bullets don't work against real-life Night
People.
_____Right about now, Chief Hagar wanted to call Mr. Dark's
office. The phone was right here, on the left side of his
desk--next to these damned files he's been looking through.
Mr. Dark's team, they handled the Night People. Yes, two
robot girls and a creepy little cyborg from God-knows-where.
_____Damn, as if the idea of semi-classified robot-girls
wasn't enough... Now Mr. Dark's team included a petite
Japanese girl with a metal body. Night People, freaky
lights in the sky, weird television interference... Now
a real-life cyborg.
_____Oh, this town was becoming a real freak show! Night
People, lights in the sky at night, gynoids, time travel,
a little cyborg girl, and distorted reality! Oh yeah,
real Stephen King or John Saul sort of stuff. Pretty
soon, somebody would write a damned book or movie about all
of this--probably that weird guy who rode his bike to the
library every Sunday. Almost like a... Final fight.
_____Chief Hagar rubbed his face and let out a tired breath.
This was getting to be too much... Right about this time,
the stressed police chief half-expected little gray aliens
from television to walk into his office and shove brain-
probes up his nostrils and into his right ear. And when
the telephone made it's electronic trilling sound, his hand
snapped to his holster--to his gun.
_____Yes, Chief Hagar still carried an officer's gun. The
telephone rang again. "Hello...? Oh, good afternoon,
Mr. Mayor."
_____It was the mayor on the line. The mayor's voice and
manner was never serious, even in the bleakest and eerie
of times. Right now, the mayor wanted the telephone
number to Mr. Dark's office. It seems that he lost it.
And Mr. Dark's office number was not listed in any
telephone directory... A contradiction, since Mr. Dark's
office location was not secret.
_____Chief Hagar told the mayor the number. "Will that
be all, Mr. Mayor?" he asked. The mayor said that was the
only reason he called. And, told Chief Hagar to keep up the
good work and all that. "Thank you, sir. Have a good
afternoon..." Then Chief Hagar then hung up. Didn't the
mayor want to know about last night?

_____Over at the recreation center, in the white office,
a cleaned up and neatened Mr. Dark picked up the telephone.
"Oh, good afternoon, sir," he said in a tone of voice quite
like Police Chief Hagar's. "About the girls? Oh, they were
a little bit thrashed up by the explosions, but they'll be
fine by nightfall. Don't worry. In fact, the only one who
needs fixing up now is Vicki."
_____The mayor's laugh sounded tinny and electronic through
the telephone. Then he asked Mr. Dark about how the new
girl did with the trouble last night.
_____"Oh, Gally?" voiced Mr. Dark. "She just needed her
face redone a bit... She's small but tough, really tough.
Dr. Briette sas that the only things vulnerable about Gally
are her face, her brain, and the mind in it..."
_____Trouble? The mayor wanted to know if the new girl
put up any trouble, especially in getting along with
Vannessa. If Vannessa was bitchy towards even her own
equally synthetic sister, then how bitchy was she towards
Gally.
_____"You'd be surprised, Mr. Mayor," answered Mr. Dark.
"For once, I think Vannessa admires something with a real
human brain. She and Gally are getting along surprisingly
well. Like I said, you wouldn't believe it. No, strike
that: Even I don't believe it.
_____"Of course, we had some trouble with Gally before, but
she's shaping up. I'd have adjustment problems, too, if I
was yanked through a warp to end up in THIS town."
_____On that, the mayor gave a loud laugh. A laugh so loud
that Mr. Dark had to pull the telephone a bit back from his
ear. The mayor said that adjustment problems were the least
of Gally's troubles! On the idea of adjustments, the mayor
wanted to know if Dr. Briette was still planning on
developing those special ceramic bullets for the police--
so the police could go out every night and defend themselves
against those You-Know-Whats.
_____"Unfortunately, sir," began Mr. Dark, "Dr. Briette has
been so busy with diagnostics on Gally that she couldn't do
that. But we're getting close enough to stopping the
problems that nobody will need special ceramic bullets,
anyway..."
_____Ah well... The mayor granted Mr. Dark that point.
Well, that was all the mayor wanted to talk about. And
he asked that if Mr. Dark saw the Little Man around, tell
him "hi." So, goodbye...
_____"Goodbye sir," said Mr. Dark. And then he hung up.
He moved his chair forward, closer to the desk. He was
going to look at some police reports copied from the
station earlier when he heard the elevator come up.
_____He swiveled around on his chair, to look at who now
stepped out of the elevator. "Oh, hello Gally," he said.
"What can I do for you?"
_____Stepping around to the front of the desk, Gally stared
at this big man. And now, her huge eyes seemed infinitely
dark and deep, somewhat disorienting. In fact, staring at
those eyes made the room seem to swirl. Something was
wrong here.
_____To try and shake off the sudden disorientation, Mr. Dark
shook his head. He asked, "What did you come up here for?
And what's happening? You can tell me!"
_____Gally shook her head. "I am not quite sure. Yet,
Dr. Briette allowed me to come up here." She turned away
from Mr. Dark's desk and looked around at the very plain
white walls. "But I went up the elevator for a distinct
reason... Never mind, I should say. I will remember the
reason another time."
_____Looking a bit askance at the lost-looking litte
cyborg, Mr. Dark asked, "Are you feeling all right? Maybe
shrapnel from the explosion gave you a hit to the head...
Have Dr. Briette take another look at you."
_____Considering it a second, Gally nodded once in agreement.
"I will do so... I thank you." And with that lost look in
her eyes, she stepped toward the elevator behind the desk.
The elevator doors opening as she walked toward it.
_____"Huh? I didn't press the button..." mumbled Mr. Dark as
he swiveled around to see the open elevator door. He
expected to see someone but... ARGH! A splitting
headache CUT INTO HIS THOUGHTS! "What the HELL?" And he
heard an odd metallic sound...
_____That had to be the sound of Gally's metal body falling
to the hard shiny office floor. Headache still cutting
into his head, blurring his sight, Mr. Dark managed to
swivel around. "Gally?" he asked through pain-clenched jaw.
He staggered to his feet to look around. Gally was gone, but
there was no way she could have left the room without
having gone through the door or having used the elevator.
_____Then he felt himself falling to the floor. The headache
was just so severe. Not only did he feel himself physically
falling, but he also felt his mind falling into another
place. Falling... Going down into darkness...

_____...And it was THAT place again--the Third Place.
There was the round formica table, surrounded by absolute
darkness above and all around. Gally was seated at the
left, sitting on a chair and with her gray arms at her
sides. Seated on the right was that dwarf-midget in red
lounge suit... The Little Man.
_____The Liitle Man set his small but strong-looking hands
atop the formica tabletop. And then he said, "ANOTHER ONE
comes into town! He comes...through THE breeze!" He
raised his left hand, then threw something down onto the
tabletop: a red piece of paper in the shape of a circle.
_____Looking at the red circle on this formica table, Gally
thought she understood. The white paper circle symbolized
whoever the Little Man was talking about. But, what did
he mean by "another one?" Who was the first...?
_____Staring at the paper circle, she tried to understand.
Then, she saw things change... The color of the paper
circle faded into darker red. Then a round paper head
appeared atop the circle, followed by little paper pants
and paper arms. A paper hat followed. The result was
that there was now a little, winter-dressed paper person
on the table.
_____Shaking his head sadly, the Little Man spoke again.
"Oh, INDEED. ANOTHER one comes to the town. The breeze
will darken again, because The ANOTHER becomes a DARK LAUGH.
Beware The Another from THE breeze!"
_____A dark laugh? As it was, Gally barely understood the
past few riddles put to her. But this latest set of symbolic
riddles was more troubling and somewhat more puzzling. Who
did the little paper figure represent? And what did the
Little Man mean by "The Another" person being a "dark
laugh?"
_____A headache interruped Gally's thoughts. She shook
her head, then fell to the hard floor in the darkness. And
she knew she would awaken back in...

_____...Back in reality. She stood up from the floor, back
in the white office. Mr. Dark was slumped forward on his
desk, arms folded to cushion his head. Both Gally and he
had fallen asleep in the middle of the day. Odd...
_____Or, not so odd considering what else happened these
days. "Mr. Dark? Are you well?" asked the little cyborg.
She carefully stepped over to him. "Are you fallen with
sickness?"
_____"Argh..." grunted Mr. Dark, sitting up. "Well now,
what was THAT all about?" A sigh, and his eyes blinked
against the florescent lighting. He checked the flipped-up
screen of the portable computer atop his desk. "We didn't
sleep long. It's still afternoon." He then looked to
Gally, standing before his desk--like before. "But what the
HELL was that really about?"
_____"The Little Man... He gave us an event," said Gally.
"In doing so, he presented information. And we should
understand it."
_____With his headache cleared up, Mr. Dark thought about
that. "Hmm... The Litte Man pulled that same weird trick
back at the mini-dump... The junkyard. Let me guess, we
both went into the same dream, right? Something otherwise
impossible, but not impossible here. GOD, I can't wait to
get out of here..."
_____Gally nodded. "We were in that other place, where
the Little Man seems to stay when he is not walking the
streets. You know it--a round table set in darkness. With
him sitting there and presenting riddles. This time, he
spoke of 'another' coming to town, someone who is a 'dark
laugh...'" Then, Gally KNEW what the Little Man meant.
_____"Hmm..." went Mr. Dark. "The Little Man could mean...
No, I don't know just yet. But, maybe another..." He saw
Gally's eyes widen. "Well now! Looks like you figured out
something. Tell me."
_____Carefully, she spoke. "The Little Man said that 'The
Another' comes to town. Meaning, another being with power
has come to town. The Little Man is an empowered being,
and so we should expect another empowered being. One who
has come with a recent breeze. As he is a 'dark laugh,'
put in local cultural context, dark laugh meaning a
malevolent being."
_____Mr. Dark slammed his fist on the desk. "Damn it!
You're right, Gally! If that's what the Little Man meant,
then we could be in some real trouble. Some more trouble
than before.
_____"Up to this point, the Night People and all the things
that happen at night were just things that just...happened.
Almost at random. The altered night was just a sort of
invisible pollution, a sort of reality pullution caused by
those two damne machines--which you and the two gynoids
destroyed last night. But now..."
_____Gally completed Mr. Dark's spoken line of thinking.
"Then, the Night People may have gained a leader. Just as
we seem to have someone on our side, the Night People may
have gaine a being favoring them."
_____Thinking about that, Mr. Dark asked Gally, "Did that
last visit to the Little Man link back to previous clues
from him?"
_____For a second, Gally thought on that. Then she knew.
"Considering a previous dream-visit, I now believe that
the newcomer to town is likely equipped with something
dangerous... The Little Man showed me something about the
machine not totally being destroyed. Somehow, the newcomer
must have gained a piece--from one of the dark machines.
I further suspect that such a piece of the machine is enough
to keep things happening at night."
_____"That would make a lot of sense," said Mr. Dark. "The
night was made normal and safe enough for the police to go
out onto the streets after the explosion, but some things
are still happening..."

_____It was 2:00 p.m., and the students of Franklin High
School were coming out for the day. Franklin High was a
massive and wide structure, three town blocks long and two
town blocks wide--two stories tall. A vast building of
tan-red brick and concrete that looked warm in the afternoon
light. A big school, because this suburb has MONEY to
spend. Not that the teens had an appreciation of this;
they just wanted to hang out after school.
_____Last year, dismissal time was 3:00, but that was when
daytime lasted longer and sunset was less dangerous.
Nowadays, everything had to be hurried and cut short during
the day. Even education...
_____Which was perfectly cool with the local youth! Three
such youth--Jimmy, Leela, and Reina--all left the building.
Went to their motorcycles, which were parked in the parking
lot on the west side.
_____They dressed as usual: blue jeans, tee shirts, leather
jackets, and backpacks--helmets attached to backpacks. In
general, badass biker gear right out of the 1950's.
_____Reina sat in the seat of her motorcycle, with Jimmy
and Leila doing the same on theirs. Since the three had
parked side by side, they could pretty much sit here and
talk, even with the din of many teens leaving the school
and getting into cars.
_____"Hey," said Reina, "I have a quarter-mile of English
homework to get through. So if we're going to do ANYTHING,
we should do it now."
_____Jimmy shook his head. "I've got some homework to do,
too. Just some. But you're the one who's always got
something cool things to do.... No dice, Reina? Aah,
screw it. What d'you wanna do, Leela?"
_____A shake of her head indicated that Leela had nothing
to suggest either. "I don't know! What do YOU want to do?
I'm clueless. Back to you, Reina..."
_____"As I said BEFORE," said Reina, her anger not as pretty
as the rest of her, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE ARE TO DO! What
do YOU want to do?"
_____Jimmy shrugged. "I dunno. What d'you wanna do? I'm
flat out bored. And it's only a few hours before night...
What do YOU wanna do?"
_____Catching Jimmy's expectant stare, Leela put up her
hands. "Uh-uh! I TOLD you: I don't know what to do.
What do YOU want to do?"
_____And so it went for some minutes... Each one wanting
to know if the other wanted to do anything. What do YOU
want to do, Reina? No, what is it that YOU want to do?
I dunno, what do you want to do? Don't ask me... Ask her.
Ask him. Don't ask me! What do YOU wanna to do?
_____A yellow taxi screeched to a halt here, and out
hopped a very chubby boy. He was about as wide as he was
high, but the tailored suit he wore fit him well. "What's
happenin', guys?" he asked, rubbing his mittened hands
schemingly.
_____Reina, Jimmy and Leela just LOOKED at the odd little
boy who stood before them. For an odd reason, Reina wanted
to start her motorcycle's engine and run that fat little
business-suited freak over. But that would not be polite;
running over creepy little fat boys was not proper--regardless
of how creepy they seemed.
_____Jimmy answered first. "Who th' HELL are YOU?" he
asked. "Shouldn't you be home right about now? Playing
with your little friends?"
_____The well-dressed fat boy, Cartman, put on a scrunched-
up expression. He SO wanted to shout four-letter words at
that guy on the motorcycle, with two chicks at his side...
Oh, Cartman wanted to call him a pussy-whipped, bed-breaking
pig-fucking jackass with HERPES!
_____But no, Cartman wanted to hire that jackass and his
friends. "Heh-heh-heh..." he chuckled, still trying to
play nice. "Hello there... Let me introduce myself. I'm
Eric Cartman!" He pointed at them with both hands. "And
have I got a KEWL business proposition for you! I want to
hire you to be my bodyguards. Three thousand dollars a
day!"
_____Reina gave a shake of her head to get some lengths of
her long dark hair away from her face. "And WHY would we
want to be bodyguards? No... Let me put another question
before that one. How do you know we would be effective
bodyguards?"
_____Moving surprisingly quickly for someone of his bulk,
especially for someone in a full business suit, Cartman
stepped forward. "I wanna hire you because you three LOOK
SO-O-O COOL!"
_____"Well yeah..." said Jimmy, looking at Reina--to his
right. "You do look pretty cool, Reina. Got a nice body.
FIRM and SEXY! Nice tits and cute ass..."
_____SLAP! Reina's left hand had move so quickly that
Jimmy didn't even see it coming. He rubbed his jaw,
forgetting that Reina wasn't that kind of girl. But Reina
really did look nice, especially in that outfit. VERY nice.
_____Leela mumbled something about being reminded that Jimmy
was a guy. And how guys act that way. Men!
_____Again facing the fat little boy, this time with a
smile, Reina looked at him. "You know what? You look
very familar, Eric Cartman--as if you are the real-life
version of something I once saw on television."
_____"Oh, I get it...." said Cartman. "You're just trying
to piss me off to test me! You may think that someone of
my age is im-mat-ure and un-able to par-ti-ci-pate in
business transactions." Cartman carefully enunciated those
words. "But you can TRUST me! I have MONEY!" He then
reached into the left pocket of his tailored dark slacks--
pulling out a thin stack of light green money. He
waddled forward, getting by Leela and her bike to get to
Reina.
_____Reina accepted the cash from Cartman... Much cash
for a teenager: Each bill in the little stack was a
five-hundred. It was several thousand dollars. Then she
felt something turn VERY cold in her right pocket.
_____At the same time, the fat little boy put on a pained
expression--that scrunched-up look on his face. "God-
DAMNIT!" he whined. He clutched his right pocket.
Something he had in that pocket was sizzling hot. "Screw
it, the deal is OFF! You're jinxing my MAGIC TOOTHBRUSH!
Keep the cash, you horse-humping bitches! Go screw
yourselves raw! Just stay the HELL away from me! Damn!"
He then waddled away to where the yellow taxi waited for
him--still in this parking lot.
_____Leela looked around, wondering if anyone else coming
out of school noticed. Or, if any teachers or school staff
noticed what just happened. They didn't notice.
_____Still holding the cash in her left hand, Reina rubbed
a place on her right thigh--right where her right jeans'
pocket was. Something she had there really DID become
very cold--freezingly cold.
_____"Gee, Reina. What'cha gonna do with the money?" said
Jimmy. "Not like every day a freaky kid rides up in a cab and
gives you about ten thousand dollars. Wait a minute... Is
that stuff REAL or play money?"
_____"Hmm... Let me see." Ignoring that coldness in her
pocket, Reina took one of the five-hundred dollar bills from
the stack she held in her left hand--held it to the sky to look
through it. "Yes, it's authentic cash." She counted out
two thousand dollars and gave that to Jimmy. Then she leaned
right on her motorcycle to give the same amount to Leela--who
quickly pocketed it. And indeed, some kids nearby DID
notice.
_____Not that Reina minded. If anyone tried to move in on
them, she could literally kick their asses. Yes, she had
aspirations to mastering both her studies of English and
martial arts.
_____As Jimmy fondled his cash, Leela had sense of mind
enough to ask Reina a question. "Say... Reina, what
just happened with you and that fat little boy?"
_____After sliding some cash in her left pocket and some
in her right boot, Reina sat up on her bike. She stretched
out her right leg as so she could reach into that pocket.
She pulled out a small, green-bound Christian Bible. THE
NEW TESTAMENT was written on it--gold letters. And it was
covere with some frost.
_____Leela leaned left to look closer at the small green
Bible. She saw faint emenations of condensing water vapor
coming off of it. "That's creepy! Hey... I thought your
religion was that Japanese religion... Shin-something."
_____"I do follow Shinto... A bit," corrected Reina. "My
father would hate me if I didn't. But reading the Bible
helps my grades: This school's teachers think within
Christian contexts, and so reading the Bible helps me see
things their way. It is pre-emptive action for better
grades.
_____"But, that is enough talk of myself. The bank
closes within the hour, and I wish to see the looks on the
bank tellers' faces when I make such a massive direct
deposit!"
_____That said, she put on her red helmet. She started the
engine of her customized, turbo-charged Kawasaki. A hearty
thrumm of the motorcycle's engine, and she sped out of the
school parking lot--skillfully weaving between leaving
cars.
_____"Hey, wait up!" Leela put on her own helmet, then
turned on her motorcycle and sped to catch up with Reina.
That, and she wondered why that Bible had frozen up--and
why that creepy little rich boy had something burning in
his pocket?
_____Jimmy soon followed on his motorcycle. His thoughts
were on the cash he had.