An hour had passed, and Pinoko was still thinking about the stranger she had met earlier that day. She stood on her stool, next to the stove, stirring a pot of curry. Largo sat next to her with the same worried glance. There were broth splashes all over the counter and floor thanks to her shaking hands.
"What if he's coming right now?" she muttered. "What if he does want to shoot me? What if the door isn't locked? What if he has a dangerous eight-foot-long pocket knife, too? What if-" A bowl dropped to the floor and shattered on impact. The pieces spread across the floor, even to the far corners.
Pinoko stared at the shards, thankfully unscathed. She let out a huff of relief and frustration, then hopped down from her stool to get the broom. Usually she didn't drop any dishes when she was upset; this was a bad sign. When it happened, she was surprised at how much of a coward she'd turned out to be that day.
The phone started ringing before she made it to the broom. Hoping it was Black Jack, Pinoko ran to the phone and quickly picked it up. "Doc, is that you?" she asked in between breaths, her voice filled with worry.
"Pinoko, why are you breathing so hard?" It was Black Jack.
She cleared her throat, then continued in a jumbled run-on sentence. "There's a guy that I saw at noon with blonde hair and sunglasses and he told me he would be coming here for some help and even though I told him you're not here he's still going to come and when he turned around there was a gun in his pocket and I know he's going to come and shoot me and please hurry home soon and-"
Black Jack interrupted her before she lost a vocal cord. "Pinoko." His voice was stern, yet calm. "I'm pretty sure that there's no guy that coming to kill you. I think you're overreacting."
"Overreacting?!" Did he just call her a drama queen? She was sure he was thinking it. "You call worrying about both your's and mine's health overreacting? What if he's going to come and you're not here to protect me? As my husband, you should know better."
The doctor sighed. "I'll be home in an hour. I just have to check on a few things. The stranger can wait for me, right?"
Pinoko didn't catch the sarcasm in his voice and cried, "Strangers aren't going to wait for you, Doc! They can come at any moment. I-" There was a loud thud at the door. Pinoko jumped, letting out a gasp of fright, and dropped the phone. She froze in her spot.
Thud.
"Pinoko?" No answer. "Pinoko!"
Thud.
Doc hung up the phone. But Pinoko didn't notice, as she was shaking and silent where she stood. Was it the stranger? Or Largo just hitting the door wanting to go to the bathroom?
Thud.
Then again, if it was a patient, she didn't want to keep them waiting. It was probably an emergency. Pinoko just prayed to God that it wasn't the stranger and hurried to the door. Trembling, she turned the knob and slowly opened it.
A tall man with blonde hair and sunglasses loomed in the doorway. In his hand was a shining silver gun.
"Hey, girly. I thought I'd come a bit early." He held up the gun, his smile gleaming and haunting.
Pinoko screamed and ran the other way.