THE LEGACY – CHAPTER 20

The two young women headed towards baggage claim; it had been one heck of a week, and they were both glad to be back in Chicago. They were expecting Gary and Marissa to be there to pick them up, but only found Marissa when they got to baggage claim. They walked towards her, but before they could let her know that they were near she spoke.

"So how was the Big Apple, girls?"

They just stared at the blind woman for a second; finally Teressa asked "how in the heck do you do that Marissa?"

"Just talent" her foster mom answered "I've been practicing for years. Is that a new outfit Ruth, it smells"; Marissa took an exaggerated sniff "green".

Now things were just freaky "how could you possibly know that" Ruthie asked.

Marissa just bowed her head in laughter when Ruthie saw it, a little earpiece. Instantly she knew that Gary was in the crowd somewhere telling Marissa what was going on around her. "That's a cute toy" Ruthie said, waving at Marissa's ear. "Did Gary pick that up so you could help with saves?"

"Actually it was Toni's idea" Marissa answered "this was kind of the trial run for it. What do you think?"

"I think it's a great way to scramble everyone's noodle" Teressa replied with a grin.

"Are you two hooligans bothering this poor helpless blind lady" Gary said with a grin as he came up behind the trio.

For an answer, both Ruthie and Teressa turned and grabbed him in a pair of hugs, they had missed him. "Don't I get hugs" Marissa asked. The two girls immediately turned and hugged Marissa at the same time; then, as a group they went over and collected the girl's things.

The four of them chatted about what had happened in Chicago during the week that they'd been gone. By mutual agreement, they would wait and discuss the trip when they got to McGinty's. But once they got there, Gary asked the girls to go up to the loft, because he wanted to have a private discussion with them. A little perplexed, they walked in and sat down on his couch and waited for him to say something. "What I'm about to tell you doesn't go beyond this room, do you understand" he asked Teressa.

"Sure Gary, this is a secret, I understand that."

"Well, you know that paper I'm always carrying around"; at Teressa's nod he went on "well it's not an ordinary paper, its tomorrow's paper."

"What do you mean tomorrow's paper" Teressa asked. She and Ruthie had decided that it would be best if Teressa acted surprised, but not that surprised.

"I mean it's that paper that would be printed the next day, I find things in it that are going to happen, and change them."

"Ahhh, so that's how you do it" Teressa said.

"What do you mean" Gary asked.

"Well, I always wondered how you knew my dad was outside, when it was obvious that you hadn't seen him, and a couple of other things that never really got explained."

"Well, now you know."

"So who else knows, I mean I'm sure Marissa does and Toni, but who else. I don't wanna spill the beans to someone who shouldn't know."

"Good point lets see, Chuck and his wife, Meredith Carson, my parents and you're best friend there."

"Yeah, I figured something was up with Camden there, that was what caused that dust up you two had wasn't it. I wondered what had happened and why you two were so close after that; you're right now I know."

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Janet figured that in a past life she had pissed off a gypsy or something. That was the only explanation she could come up with for the shambles that her professional life had become; how in the heck had she been reduced to this?

She was now on loan to the features department, at least that's what the E-mail she was reading said. She shook her head, no way was she taking this without a fight.

With a thunderous look on her face she walked up to Meredith's door and knocked.

Meredith didn't need to look up to know who it was; she'd been expecting this visit as soon as she got her copy of the E-mail. "Come on in Janet, before you beat the door down."

"What the heck is this" the younger reporter practically screamed "some sort of punishment assignment?"

"No, it's an assignment, not an uncommon thing in a newspaper."

"But Features, what am I supposed to do in Features."

"It's Steve's idea of the week, they ask for letters from people telling about how someone helped them anonymously, just something out of the blue; and giving the person that was helped a chance to thank the person that had helped them. Some of the letters they'll print as is, but he wants you to interview some of the people, the ones with the really interesting stories and see if we can't track down the mysterious helper; find out their story and why they helped in the first place."

"Is this more therapy crap, something to help me get closure or something like that?"

"Nope, and honestly I wouldn't have given you this one because of what happened to you, no Steve actually requested you personally. It seems he values your interview skills."

"Really, I was requested?"

"Yes, you really were, now anything else to ask or say?"

"Am I still up here or do I get a desk in features for the time being?"

"Features; Steve wants you right in the middle of things, so try not to corrupt the entire features staff, please." Meredith says this last with a teasing tone and Janet laughs. She can't recall the last time she laughed and had almost forgotten how good it felt.

"Muy bien jefe, but don't think you're getting rid of me, I'll be back."

"I'm counting on it J, now get going."

After the girl left, Meredith took a deep breath; she had fought against this idea. She had pushed as hard as she could without it being obvious, and then she had pushed to have it come under Investigative rather than Features. She was afraid that sooner or later some smart cookie would see the name Gary too many times for coincidence and start looking where they had no business looking. That was why she didn't want Aguilera on the assignment; the girl was screamingly intelligent and would put two and two together quickly. Meredith had wanted some pension jockey on the assignment because they wouldn't push nearly as hard as the young Latina; but nothing had worked out the way she wanted it. She picked up the phone; Billy Flynn in the mailroom had been given the job of reading and sorting through the stories. Meredith was going to make sure that all of the letters came to her after that, so she could properly assess the best candidates for stories, after all, she was the Investigative editor. That way she could also make sure that any mention of a tall dark haired man or the name Gary Hobson never got to the Features Department. If Billy didn't want to play, she'd just remind him of the favors that he owed her. It hurt a bit calling in markers like that, but part of her job was to protect Gary and the paper, and that's what she was going to do.

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The talk about the paper was over, now it was time to talk about the trip. Marissa and Toni had brought up some snacks with them and the five were now comfortably settles in in the loft. "So how did it go" Marissa asked.

Teressa looked at Ruthie and then back at her foster mother, "it was intense and intimidating, and quite an eye opener."

"How so?"

"It made me realize why Camden is so picky about who gets her paintings; I've never met a more pretentious group of jerks in my life. They were all going on about the social commentary and political aspects of my work, what a load of crap. They just wanted to be near what they thought was the next hot thing; God it almost made me sick."

"Why didn't it?"

"Camden warned me about what would happen, if she hadn't I might have actually bought into the BS at least at first; but as thick as some of them were laying it on, I'd like to think I would have twigged to it.

"So, what was the best part of the trip" Gary asked.

"The food" both girls answered at the same time, laughing. "I picked up a couple of recipes that George and Tony might be able to use as well."

"You should have seen Camden" Teressa said "she would giggle and charm and flirt until they gave up the recipes for anything she wanted."

"I wasn't that bad, was I?"

"Tramp"

"Prude"

"Flirt"

"Shrew"

"Girls" Marissa cut in "I think we get the picture. Now does anyone want to tell me what the actual awards ceremony was like?"

"Well to begin with, our outfits did create a bit of a stir."

"Tell me you didn't take Camden's suggestion."

"Of course I did."

"So you both showed up in matching tuxes?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Could you please explain why again?"

"It kept the hitting down to a minimum, guys left us alone and girls thought we were a couple. There were a couple of persistent types, but mostly everyone talked about art and not some great party they were going to or some other way to proposition us."

"Plus" added Ruthie "it's a lot cheaper than buying a dress, not to mention the fact that we look way cute in tuxedos."

"True" Teressa added "we did look cute."

"Did you meet anybody" Marissa asked.

"At the reception, sure. There were a lot of artists and celebrities there; I think Woody Allen even showed up. And there were a lot of prior winners there, and we kinda got together and made fun of everyone else. That was a ball."

Ruthie remembered the time fondly as well. She had talked to some of the previous winners to find out what they were doing with their lives. Some owned galleries, one was a sketch artist for the police, several were teachers, either at colleges or high schools or giving private lessons (although the private lessons were a bit rare). She had gotten some ideas about what she could do in the event that the professorship fell through. What had struck her the most about her fellow winners though, was how normal they had all seemed. She knew the stereotype of the borderline psychotic artist, a stereotype that she had tried to fight against; but she had always wondered in the back of her mind whether or not she was unusual or the norm for what she did. It was comforting to be assured that she was about as normal as an artist could get.

"So what else did you do while you were there" Gary asked.

"Oh, the usual tourist stuff, we went to the Statue of Liberty and up the Empire State building, ate lunch in China Town. Did you know that Camden can order in Chinese, well Cantonese to be exact. We went to the flower district and the garment district and ground zero. Oh and we met the guy that gets tomorrows Daily News."

"You met who" Gary and Marissa said at the same time.

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Janet was going through the first batch of letters for her new assignment, or the 'Frozen Waste of Outer Mongolia' as she preferred to think of it. But it was her job, so she was going to do it to the best of her ability. Here was one about a lady that was gonna kill herself until some kid talked her down. Janet read through the letter, and then on her second time through, caught something, a name to be specific. The kid that had talked her down was named Ruth. Interesting, the girl thought, and she shuttled that letter off to one side. Later she found another from a mother whose daughter had been protected from a guard dog that had escaped its pen, and again the rescuers name was Ruth. That was odd, Janet thought, and set that one by as well. Then an idea struck, she went back through and looked at the letters where the person being thanked was an anonymous female. Janet looked at the descriptions and found one that described a young woman with curly brown hair. Janet sat back, not really believing what had just happened. Thirty letters had gotten through the screening process, and in one tenth of them the person being thanked was probably the same girl. Now just what were the odds of that? Then a smile, but not a pleasant one, crept onto the girls face, now that was one heck of a story she thought.

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"We were on our way to the Statue of Liberty, and had to take the subway down to Battery Park. While we were on the platform, there was a yell, and then this guy is pulling another guy up off of the tracks. Well everyone is watching the guy who fell, but we kept an eye on the guy that pulled him up, and as he was walking away, we saw him look at a newspaper, just like you always do Gary. So we followed him just to make sure."

Gary looked at Teressa, the earlier conversation replaying in his mind"so that's why my news didn't phase you much, you already knew".

"Yeah, I did Gary, but I appreciate you telling me anyway."

"So you followed the guy" Marissa said "then what happened?"

FLASHBACK

Ken Stephens had not had a normal day for almost two years now, not since he had found a copy of the Daily News on his doorstep when he was staying at that old hotel. It had taken him a while to come to terms with what was happening to him, but now he was actually starting to feel comfortable in his role as the quiet protector of New York. He had just pulled a guy off the subway tracks and had a couple of hours until he was needed again. Just then, two girls came up to him. They were a few years younger than he was, but they were cute and what's more, they were talking to him.

"Excuse me" the dark haired one said "we're visiting and were wondering if there was a good place for coffee that was near here?"

He thought for a second, getting his bearings and finally said "there's a place not too far from here, just three blocks over and two down, the coffee's good and the atmosphere is great."

"Thanks" said the blonde "do you want to join us?"

Ken looked at his watch "sure" he said "I've got time."

The three of them started off in the proper direction, chatting the whole time. He found out that they were both art students, here for some to do at the Guggenheim; the dark haired girl was named Ruth and her friend was Teressa. He told them that he ran a small business so he could set his own hours, which was true in the strictest sense. He didn't tell them that he had been the wunderkind at Chase Manhattan Securities until fate and an inconvenient newspaper had turned his life upside down. Part of him still resented the alterations that had been forced on him, but the rewards of his new calling made the changes worth it. They finally got to 'The Daily Grind' and found a table that gave them a bit of privacy. They both ordered lattes and he just got straight black coffee, but made sure that it was Jamaican Blue Mountain, and started to chat again. He was feeling pretty relaxed until Ruth asked him a question; "so how long have you been getting tomorrow's Daily News"?

To say that he was shocked was a gross understatement; consider the sun and call it warm, then consider his current state and call him shocked. A plethora of emotions flickered across his face until he was able to control himself; his immediate defense was to deny "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you do" said Teressa "that paper you put in your jacket after saving the guy on the tracks, it has tomorrows date on it, and you use it to help people."

"What makes you think something like that" he spluttered "that's the most absurd thing I've ever heard."

"Then do you want to show us the masthead and prove that it's today's paper" Ruth asked.

Sighing in defeat, Ken looked at the two girls and asked "how do you know about this" while pulling the paper out of his coat.

"My guardian, in Chicago gets tomorrow's Sun-Times" Teressa said.

"Oh" was all Ken said, but his brain was racing at a mile a minute. He had thought that he was the only person in the world receiving what he was; now he found out that there was someone else. The loss at realizing he wasn't unique was immediately drowned out by the notion that there was someone who might know a few answers about the thing he received. He listened as the two girls told him about Gary Hobson, and what they knew of the paper and his service to it.

"So let me get this straight" he said finally "this guy has a wife and friends that know about the paper and they help him with it? I didn't think that was allowed."

"Why not" Ruth asked "did you get an instruction manual with yours? The only thing I will tell you is not to use it for selfish ends, that's what happened to Joey." She then told him about the infamous 'Joey Clams' and how he was now in Dayton Ohio.

"So there are people that can decide that you don't deserve the paper and take it away?"

"That's what Gary told me" Ruth said.

They talked a while more before Ken noticed the time "dang, I've got to run, can I talk to you all some more later?"

"Sorry" Teressa said "this was pretty much our last free day, we've got stuff at the museum tomorrow and then back to Chicago."

"Here" said Ruth "this is the number for McGinty's, get your head straight and call Gary, he can answer your questions a lot better than we can." She handed over a small business card as Ken got up.

"Thanks for everything girls" he said "but now I've got to run".

"Bummer" Ruthie said as they watched him leave.

"Why 'bummer', Camden?"

"Well" Ruthie said, blushing a bit "he was kinda cute."

Teressa just looked at her friend for a moment, then she started laughing and said "you have the greatest timing in the world Camden, you know that don't you."

Ruthie grimaced at her friend "why do you think I said bummer, Walters?"

END FLASHBACK

"So you told the guy to call here" Gary managed to get out "why did you do that?"

"So he could do his job better" Ruthie said "and he might have information that you don't about who sends the paper out. Then again, it gives you someone to talk to in case you need to speak to someone who can totally identify with your situation."

Unfortunately Gary couldn't find any fault in her logic, but it still made him uncomfortable having the girls distribute information about the paper to someone he didn't know.

"So" Marissa asked "anything else happen that you two want to share?"

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Eventually Janet decided to go with a story about a widow that helped people in her neighborhood with their heating bills. It was a fine story, and the features people loved it, but she also kept the other three letters where no one else would find them. She was waiting for something similar in the next batch, then it would be more than just a story idea, it would be a story.