Chapter 39
Jamie looked at Abby in surprise. "You're considering turning down the offer even after you have your degree?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm not sure I want to be what Phillip calls a 'policy wonk', Jamie. I know I said something earlier about joining the Agency, but I'm not even sure about that. I just don't know. It's frustrating, because five years ago, I was sure that I wanted to get my degree in political science and go into a public policy job at a think tank like the Thornton Foundation."
"And now?"
She hesitated.
"Princess, I already promised I wouldn't laugh."
"I know you wouldn't. I think I want to be a writer."
"What kind of writer?"
"A writer that writes books for little kids. I've been babysitting since I was twelve, and about seven years ago, I saw these big purple stuffed toy hippos in a toy store in Lincoln when we took Larry to UNL to start college. We went to look for a birthday present for Sammy, the youngest, who was turning three, because there's not much selection in Alliance unless you order from a catalog, you know?"
"Sure. So you and your mom were shopping for the perfect present for a three-year-old and you saw these big purple hippos."
"Right. I fell in love with them on the spot. They were really expensive, though, and I didn't have enough money."
"Did you ever get them?"
"Yes. It took me months of saving, but I got them."
He snapped his fingers. "Well, da -darn. I thought I had the perfect gift for you, and you already went and bought them."
"I got them about six years ago. Anyway, I started making up stories about them to entertain the kids I babysat for, and one of the moms heard me telling Hugo and Henrietta stories – that's their names, you know – and told me I should write kids' books telling some of the stories."
"Did you?"
"Well, yes, but they're just homemade, you know?"
"Kids' books have to have pictures. Do you draw the pictures or does someone else do them?"
"I do them."
"Sounds like a good idea to me."
"Yes, but Jamie, I have to be practical. I can't support myself doing something like that. I have have another job to pay the bills."
"Yeah, I hear you. I knew a lot of people at Pratt that are artists, but right now they're working at other jobs to pay the bills. Most of the guys in the photography program are working for commercial studios, photographing people or scenery or even food."
"Food? Oh, you mean like for advertising?"
"Sure. So, what would you do to pay the bills while you tried to see if you could make Hugo and Henrietta into the next children's book success story?"
"I'd like to work in a bookstore or maybe a library."
"Then go for it."
"A library job requires a master's degree."
"Get a master's degree. Can you do that at UNL?"
"No, I have to go to Omaha."
"Go to Omaha. I looked at a map. Omaha is 185 miles straight shot up Interstate 29 from Kansas City. I can do that in about two and a half hours in the Beemer and it won't even break a sweat. Can you afford it?"
"I think so. I've been on scholarship all this time, and I've been saving my money. I could get a job to help pay the bills, too. I won't ask my parents for money, and I don't want to go into debt."
"Princess, you can do anything you want to do, and I defy anyone to tell you that you can't."
His cell phone rang; he checked the number and said, "It's Lee. What's up, Lee? They did? Wonderful. Very interesting, but we thought it might be something like that. Does she need to do anything? All right. No problem, we're just at the park talking about the future. Thanks for letting us know. See you in a bit."
He put the phone away and said, "They caught your attacker, and as we suspected, he was paid to jump you. He said he just intended to scare you, nothing more."
"Then he should have jumped out and yelled "Boo", because I honestly thought he was going to…." She broke down in tears and Jamie gathered her into his arms.
"It's all right, Princess," he soothed. "We got him, and you're safe. You're safe, and sometimes it's best to cry."
She snuffled a bit longer, took the handkerchief he offered her, and wiped her eyes.
"Better?" he asked gently.
"Oh, yes, thank you, Jamie. I guess we'd better go back."
"No hurry. I have to talk to Lee about this job, but I'm thinking that I want to go out there and talk to Brauer, the guy that's leaving, before I give Lee my answer."
"Of course. Would you fly or drive?"
"Oh, fly, and probably in the next day or two."
"Would you be willing to…oh, but you wouldn't have a car."
"Princess, of course I'd have a car; I have to rent one to get around Kansas City. I just meant I wouldn't take my car because it would take too much time to drive out there. What's going on in that busy mind of yours?"
"Well, if you were willing to drive to Omaha, my family might be willing to drive in from Alliance."
"Sounds kind of lopsided to me; they drive seven hours and I drive less than three. How about if I drive nine hours and they don't drive at all?"
"Nine hours, all the way to Alliance?"
"Sure; why pass up a chance to see Carhenge?"
"Are you serious?"
"About Carhenge? Absolutely."
"James King, you are the silliest man I have ever met."
"Yeah, but I'm so nerdy I'm cute."
"Yes, you are very cute."
They shared a quick kiss and she put her head down on his shoulder. "But seriously, J-Man? You'd go out there?"
"You bet I would. Look, it's interstate all the way to Ogallala, right? So I can set the cruise at eighty and just go."
"They might be able to meet you in North Platte."
"And then I wouldn't see Carhenge. Nope, I'm going all the way to Alliance."
On the way back to the house, Abby said, "I did all right with that creep, didn't I, Jamie?"
"You did great, Princess. I am very proud of you."
"That's good. I still think I should learn some self-defense moves, though. Do you think Kendra could teach me?"
"She's still learning those herself, but there's another woman that was in the same orientation class with her, Coretta Scott. She's Billy Melrose's daughter, a widow and an Air Force veteran. Because of her military background, she knows more about self-defense than Kendra does at this point. I'll ask her if she can give you some lessons at the Agency gym."
"I can get into the Agency gym?"
"Princess, it's on one of the unsecured levels, and besides, you're living in a family of agents. If you were a sleeper agent for a terrorist group, we'd have known it by now."
"You mean you had me investigated?"
"Yes. Lee did a full background check."
"When? He met me last Wednesday night and they let me move in that same night."
"We have our ways."
"Really? You just said that?"
"Couldn't resist."
She punched him lightly in the arm.
"Hey, stop abusing the hotshot federal agent, will ya?"
"What, you got a glass arm, J-Man?"
"I can see that you were raised in a family of boys, and even though a few more self-defense moves would be useful, I have no doubt that you can take care of yourself, Abigail. You can shoot a gun, I assume?"
"Oh, yes. My daddy made sure of that before he ever let me drive to Lincoln alone."
"Thought so, and good for your dad. What's his name, by the way? Now that I've known you for over sixty hours, I think I should know the rest of the family."
She giggled. "Yes, you definitely should, J-Man. He's Ray Kozal, Mom is Rosalyn Michulka Kozal, and the boys are Larry, Dan, Bobby and Sammy. Larry's twenty-five, married, and the mechanical trades teacher at the high school. His wife is Kathy, she works in the office at my dad's auto repair shop, and they have a baby due at the end of September, the first grandchild for both sets of parents. Dan is twenty-three, getting married in December to Beth Simcik, whom he's been crazy about since he was about fourteen, and an assistant manager at Mertzon's, a home improvement and hardware store in Scottsbluff. Beth is a nurse at the regional medical center there. Dan enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school, did four years, and got out, but he got an associate's degree while he was in the service and he was a logistics specialist, so he does most of the ordering for his store. Then there's moi, as Miss Piggy would say, and the two youngest are Bobby, he's twelve and Sammy, he's ten."
"Big gap between Larry and Sammy."
"Yeah, Mom thought they were done and then … surprise!"
"I'll look forward to meeting them."