"You should have seen her!" BeBop enthused, telling Blair and the others
about their adventure. "She looked that cop right in the eye and stared him
down." he glanced over at Blair, and ducked his head, "I don't mean anything
against your friend, bro, but the guy is HUGE and little ol' Jazz is just standing
there, cool as a cuke, giving him static."
"Don't think I could do that with any giant goombah who wanted to pulverize
me, BeBop. I wouldn't have been able to do it without Blair's help." Jazz said
and their guest looked puzzled. "You've been telling us all along that he's
a good guy, right? Well, a nice guy, who's built like that, he worries about
hurting other people. Probably has been told to pick on people his own
size too. I used that against him."
Blair nodded enthusiastically, unable to resist a good discussion of human
behavior."Jim normally wouldn't lay a rough hand on a woman, unless she
was resisting arrest or something. The fact that he grabbed you shows that
he's under a lot of stress, Jazz."
"Don't I know it? The look in his eyes..." She shivered, "I wasn't looking
forward to making him belt me one."
"What?" The anthropologist yipped, sitting upright with a grimace. "You're
totally off base there. There's no way he would have hit you."
"I know you think so, Blair, but you weren't there. You didn't see the look
on his face. And I was deliberately pushing his buttons. Had to, I figured that
hitting a woman would freak him out enough to make him let go." Jazz laid her
bowl aside and stood up, pacing the room thoughtfully. "What I can't figure
out is how he knew it was me. I wasn't singing or anything, so he couldn't
have recognized my voice.. and there's no way the cops got a good description
of me from that traced phone call." She looked suspiciously at Blair, who
shrugged innocently. With a sigh, she let it go.
When Sonata shooed them out for the night, Blair kept Jazz back a minute.
"I'm glad you got loose from Jim, Jazz. I know the secret is important to
your family."
"It's more important than anything..except maybe saving some silly grad
student knight in shining armor's life." She smiled down at him in the dim
lamplight and Blair laughed with her, then got serious.
"What I wanted to say was, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that he scared you, and
I'm sorry that I'm the cause of all this trouble for you guys."
"You just keep getting better. I'm sorry, too. I don't mean to keep
putting your friend down. "
"You should hear my mother. Naomi is rabidly anti-establishment, and
when she found out I was working with 'the pigs'..." He rolled his eyes
and was pleased when she giggled.
She ran a hand over her hair and shook her head. "You guys, you and
Jim, you're really close, huh?"
Blair nodded, and waited for the inevitable question, but she surprised
him.
"That's good. The family you find for yourself...is he more mellow when
he's not frantic over a missing roommate?"
Blair held up his hand, index finger and thumb about an inch apart. "A
little. I'm working on him." and they laughed again.
"Well, keep it up. He looks like he can use all the mellow he can get.
Goodnight, Blair."
"Sweet dreams, Jazz."
Blair was definitely feeling better by the next morning, getting up with
Sonata's help and moving around the little room, taking care of his
own personal needs. For the first time, he went past the curtain and
discovered that the next room was large, with a few smaller rooms like
his branching off of it. The interior looked like a space age room, all
stainless steel except for the concrete floor. A big pot of stew sat almost
constantly on the back burner of the stove, it smelled wonderful as he
sat at the long table and sipped the mint tea Hush had brewed.
Her four year old twins were playing with battered dolls on a braided
rag rug, their small yellow heads bent close to each other, and Hush
was sewing at the other end of the table. She didn't speak at all, except
when she had offered him the tea in a whisper, but her gentle smile
was warm and friendly. Fascinated, he watched as a small shirt took
shape in her skilled hands, one straight seam after another.
When Charlie came in from one of the recesses, she smelled like
sunshine and wind, and a leaf was caught on her long white braid.
She went immediately to the stove and warmed her thin hands at
the burner in use , then poured her own tea and added a generous
dollop of honey to it. Carefully stepping around the little "house"
the twins were creating, she sat down next to Blair and spoke to
him in her honest, unvarnished manner. "I think the warm weather
be aheadin' out, these next few days, Best be thinking on getting you
back, don't want you getting sick from being hurt and drenched in
that cold rain we get."
"If Sonata will agree, I think so too." Jazz said from the entrance
of another room. "We can't wait much longer, Blair."
He nodded, and Charlie smiled her gap toothed grin at him. "Sounds
more harsh-like than we mean it, boy. Yer welcome, an' we don't
regret you being here one bit. I'll miss seeing ya in there, an' talking
with ya, but you got other people missin' ya too."
Putting his cup aside, and moving slowly because of his wound,
Blair hugged the elderly woman, which pleased her greatly. He
could tell, because she stood up and ruffled his hair, then headed
back out without a word. In only a few days, he had learned that
Charlie disliked sentiment, and had no patience with obfuscation
of any kind. She was very much an Elder in her family.
"We'll need to arrange a meeting place with your friend, because
Sonata's going to want you to go to a doctor first thing. I don't
want you to have to walk too far, if Jim can pick you up." She
Jazz groaned. "Which means I'll have to call him again. I
don't know if I can do it." And she leaned against the table in
exaggerated distress.
Blair got a mischievous glint in his eye. "Call him at home. He
won't be expecting that."
"You think?"
"Jim really is Mr. Routine. If you've been calling him at work, I'll
bet he won't have bothered to set up a home tap. Even if he has.."
"I won't be on long enough for it to matter." She gave him a speculative
look. "You're helping me catch him off guard."
Blair shrugged eloquently. "It's good for him. And, I feel like I need
to watch out for you too."
"You're a good friend, Blair Sandburg. I hope Jim Ellison appreciates
you."
"After this? I'll bet the House Rules are relaxed for a month." Blair
realized as he said it that, as charming as these people were, he wanted
to be back at the loft. He wanted to be back with Jim. To go home.
"Great. We'll get Sonata to give the okay, call your partner with
the plan, and get you the hell out of here." and the pair shook hands
solemnly. Then Jazz helped him back to his couch.
end part 12
about their adventure. "She looked that cop right in the eye and stared him
down." he glanced over at Blair, and ducked his head, "I don't mean anything
against your friend, bro, but the guy is HUGE and little ol' Jazz is just standing
there, cool as a cuke, giving him static."
"Don't think I could do that with any giant goombah who wanted to pulverize
me, BeBop. I wouldn't have been able to do it without Blair's help." Jazz said
and their guest looked puzzled. "You've been telling us all along that he's
a good guy, right? Well, a nice guy, who's built like that, he worries about
hurting other people. Probably has been told to pick on people his own
size too. I used that against him."
Blair nodded enthusiastically, unable to resist a good discussion of human
behavior."Jim normally wouldn't lay a rough hand on a woman, unless she
was resisting arrest or something. The fact that he grabbed you shows that
he's under a lot of stress, Jazz."
"Don't I know it? The look in his eyes..." She shivered, "I wasn't looking
forward to making him belt me one."
"What?" The anthropologist yipped, sitting upright with a grimace. "You're
totally off base there. There's no way he would have hit you."
"I know you think so, Blair, but you weren't there. You didn't see the look
on his face. And I was deliberately pushing his buttons. Had to, I figured that
hitting a woman would freak him out enough to make him let go." Jazz laid her
bowl aside and stood up, pacing the room thoughtfully. "What I can't figure
out is how he knew it was me. I wasn't singing or anything, so he couldn't
have recognized my voice.. and there's no way the cops got a good description
of me from that traced phone call." She looked suspiciously at Blair, who
shrugged innocently. With a sigh, she let it go.
When Sonata shooed them out for the night, Blair kept Jazz back a minute.
"I'm glad you got loose from Jim, Jazz. I know the secret is important to
your family."
"It's more important than anything..except maybe saving some silly grad
student knight in shining armor's life." She smiled down at him in the dim
lamplight and Blair laughed with her, then got serious.
"What I wanted to say was, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that he scared you, and
I'm sorry that I'm the cause of all this trouble for you guys."
"You just keep getting better. I'm sorry, too. I don't mean to keep
putting your friend down. "
"You should hear my mother. Naomi is rabidly anti-establishment, and
when she found out I was working with 'the pigs'..." He rolled his eyes
and was pleased when she giggled.
She ran a hand over her hair and shook her head. "You guys, you and
Jim, you're really close, huh?"
Blair nodded, and waited for the inevitable question, but she surprised
him.
"That's good. The family you find for yourself...is he more mellow when
he's not frantic over a missing roommate?"
Blair held up his hand, index finger and thumb about an inch apart. "A
little. I'm working on him." and they laughed again.
"Well, keep it up. He looks like he can use all the mellow he can get.
Goodnight, Blair."
"Sweet dreams, Jazz."
Blair was definitely feeling better by the next morning, getting up with
Sonata's help and moving around the little room, taking care of his
own personal needs. For the first time, he went past the curtain and
discovered that the next room was large, with a few smaller rooms like
his branching off of it. The interior looked like a space age room, all
stainless steel except for the concrete floor. A big pot of stew sat almost
constantly on the back burner of the stove, it smelled wonderful as he
sat at the long table and sipped the mint tea Hush had brewed.
Her four year old twins were playing with battered dolls on a braided
rag rug, their small yellow heads bent close to each other, and Hush
was sewing at the other end of the table. She didn't speak at all, except
when she had offered him the tea in a whisper, but her gentle smile
was warm and friendly. Fascinated, he watched as a small shirt took
shape in her skilled hands, one straight seam after another.
When Charlie came in from one of the recesses, she smelled like
sunshine and wind, and a leaf was caught on her long white braid.
She went immediately to the stove and warmed her thin hands at
the burner in use , then poured her own tea and added a generous
dollop of honey to it. Carefully stepping around the little "house"
the twins were creating, she sat down next to Blair and spoke to
him in her honest, unvarnished manner. "I think the warm weather
be aheadin' out, these next few days, Best be thinking on getting you
back, don't want you getting sick from being hurt and drenched in
that cold rain we get."
"If Sonata will agree, I think so too." Jazz said from the entrance
of another room. "We can't wait much longer, Blair."
He nodded, and Charlie smiled her gap toothed grin at him. "Sounds
more harsh-like than we mean it, boy. Yer welcome, an' we don't
regret you being here one bit. I'll miss seeing ya in there, an' talking
with ya, but you got other people missin' ya too."
Putting his cup aside, and moving slowly because of his wound,
Blair hugged the elderly woman, which pleased her greatly. He
could tell, because she stood up and ruffled his hair, then headed
back out without a word. In only a few days, he had learned that
Charlie disliked sentiment, and had no patience with obfuscation
of any kind. She was very much an Elder in her family.
"We'll need to arrange a meeting place with your friend, because
Sonata's going to want you to go to a doctor first thing. I don't
want you to have to walk too far, if Jim can pick you up." She
Jazz groaned. "Which means I'll have to call him again. I
don't know if I can do it." And she leaned against the table in
exaggerated distress.
Blair got a mischievous glint in his eye. "Call him at home. He
won't be expecting that."
"You think?"
"Jim really is Mr. Routine. If you've been calling him at work, I'll
bet he won't have bothered to set up a home tap. Even if he has.."
"I won't be on long enough for it to matter." She gave him a speculative
look. "You're helping me catch him off guard."
Blair shrugged eloquently. "It's good for him. And, I feel like I need
to watch out for you too."
"You're a good friend, Blair Sandburg. I hope Jim Ellison appreciates
you."
"After this? I'll bet the House Rules are relaxed for a month." Blair
realized as he said it that, as charming as these people were, he wanted
to be back at the loft. He wanted to be back with Jim. To go home.
"Great. We'll get Sonata to give the okay, call your partner with
the plan, and get you the hell out of here." and the pair shook hands
solemnly. Then Jazz helped him back to his couch.
end part 12