Voyager Shadows: Poor little rich girl

Chapter 3: Communication chatter

Wisconsin, 1964 – Late night, two weeks later.

"Michelle, my belle…something, something, hmmm hmmm hmm hmm hmm…my Michelle…" Phineas crooned into the microphone. He adjusted his earpiece. "Hey, lady, pick up your communicator, I know you're there." He looked at the rectangular device in his hand and waited impatiently while an omni icon spun around. He finally he heard a 'cosmic' ring when her face appeared.

"Hello handsome!" She grinned.

"There you are, I've been trying to reach you all day."

"You know how administration is, sweetie. We're the slave labor just like you field workers."

"I don't buy that one, Ms. Top Aide to the Tribunal."

"Okay. But it is super busy this time of year. I'm up to my ears in paperwork. So, what's been going on? I got all the pictures of her, and that video of her singing out her window and cheerleading. They made me cry. She is so grown up! My baby is beautiful. Now give me all the details." She demanded.

"Hold on a minute. I expected you to call me every day when I agreed to the mission. I barely heard a peep out of you. Except a few texts to tell me you came up empty on Wisconsin crime statistics in June." Phineas said. "That's impossible. I think those statistics might be faulty because I got some interesting news from Kevin."

"Don't furrow your brow, it makes wrinkles. I'm dying to call you every second of the day, Bogg, but I can't do it while I'm at work. Remember, this is a clandestine mission? I'm doing everything I can to keep you off the radar. If anyone in OCC or the Tribunal discovers us, I'm toast."

"Toast comes in pairs, so I'll be too."

"Look, I can't use Headquarters' equipment. They monitor it like hawks. I have two sets of communicators. I'm on my personal one right now hiding under the covers."

Phineas grinned. "I wasn't going to mention the red negligee, but since you brought it up…"

"You're still so fresh. I'm a middle-aged lady, you know."

"Not from this angle."

Michelle swatted the screen and then went into business mode. "Okay, seriously, tell me everything so far."

"Natalie barely talks to me except to tell me where and when to drive her. She then proceeds to say I drive like a spaz. She never fails to remind me that I'm a square, a cheese head, and when she's really mad, a panty waisted rat-fink–that one I hate! Oh, and when she finally had a nice word for me and asked what I did for fun, she said that a Ken doll has more of a life than I do "

Michelle cupped her mouth to hide laughter. "Don't tell me you told her you read books?"

"What could I say to her? That I travel through time saving people and history from the wrong outcome? And Jeffrey got me in the reading habit, so I didn't lie. I said I'm a student of History and I gave her the usual – I'm an active man. I played sports in High School, champion swimmer, diver, dabbled in boxing and football. I play piano…she liked that. Your daughter is very musically talented."

Michelle sighed, remembering Natalie's childhood. "Yes, she begged for different lessons, cello, clarinet, piano, and if you ask her to, she can play the harp beautifully. It's her favorite. I forgot to tell you my daughter is quick with the barbs. That's all me. I'm sorry."

"But not as sorry as she'll be if she short-sheets my bed one more time or puts thumbtacks in the driver's seat. I ripped a pair of good pants yesterday! Kevin's a sport and reimbursed me. I never know when she's going to attack, but I'm patterning it out to every two days. Hold on."

Phineas bent low over the edge of the bed to double check underneath. Natalie deliberately spilled an ant farm two nights ago, but Phineas woke up to get a glass of water and saw them crawling around before he went back to sleep. He marched to her room and made her gather all the sand and ants under the threat of dead bolting her in her room every night. She had no clue what a deadbolt was but the very thought of it scared her.

Phineas popped back up. "Sorry, all clear."

"Now that junk she gets from Kevin. He can be a real practical joker. I think that's part of what made me fall in love with him so long ago, he reminded me of my father."

Phineas leaned on the bedpost and smiled. He still used a guestroom next to Natalie's bedroom while Barbara renovated the 'Chauffeur' bungalow. She said the bungalow would be done by morning and she was a little too ecstatic about it. Kevin didn't mind the guestroom arrangement because it gave Phineas ample opportunity to play babysitter and bodyguard – the unspoken job description on which they had an understanding.

Natalie kept attempting to sneak down the trellis and drainpipe outside her window. The first time Phineas and Kevin waited for her below. The second and last time she waited until her father went out with Barbara. Her shoe caught in the vines and she nearly fell off from the top. Phineas jumped into action and climbed from his balcony to help her. She kindly stopped calling him cheese head and pantywaist after that. However, he was still a fink. The next day she apologized and promised not to call him that since he didn't tell Kevin about the accident and even fixed the trellis. Insulting him lost its charm.

"I don't think Kevin has time for jokes these days. Natalie's playing it cool and going to and from exactly where I drop her off. I've been doing some spy work for Kevin and don't see anything but the usual high-school hijinks. It's a lot of waiting around and donut eating. My waistline can't handle this mission anymore."

Michelle shook her head and giggled. Phineas thought it was cute, and very much like Natalie's laugh. "That's your fault. Pack some carrot sticks and fruits and nuts instead. Have a yogurt. So, what do you think of Spring Creek?"

"It's delightful, very attractive and extremely affluent. I haven't seen any minorities."

"And you won't unfortunately, not until 1975."

"Wow. That's progress for ya! And in some spots it looks like time stood still at 1955. That malt shop is terrific."

"Ahh, I miss Danny's! He was a doll, always gave me a freebie – coffee, slice of pie. There's not many places like his left by 1964."

"Probably not, and his egg creams are fantastic. I'll have to take Jeff here one day."

Michelle smiled. "You talk about that young man like he was still twelve-years old."

"Sometimes he is in my mind. But Jeffrey will never pass up an egg cream. Maybe I'll just bring him back a few."

"Have you heard from him lately?"

Phineas shook his head, his heart suddenly felt heavy. "No. He's got his hands full, and we kinda parted ways after an argument. He needs time to cool off. I guess we both do."

Michelle gazed at him sympathetically. "That's too bad, Bogg. You'll work it out eventually. I like Jeffrey a lot, he's one of the most honorable and determined Voyagers I ever met. He must get that from you."

"Thanks for the flattery. Jeffrey was always that way. Even when I met him, the kid put me in my place a million times. I give him a lot of credit for not picking up the bad Bogg influences."

There was a lull in the conversation and Michelle broke the ice.

"And how about the rest of the lovely Powers household?"

Phineas chuckled. "Babs wants to jump my bones every chance she gets. She turns everything into an innuendo. I have to stand completely still around her. It's embarrassing because she even does it in front of Kevin. He doesn't pay her any mind. I'm beginning to feel like Joseph with the wife of Potiphar."

"Just make sure you run like he did when she rips your garments. I told you she was up to no good."

"No, you said she was a gold digger, not a tigress."

"Is there really much of a difference? What about my husb…I mean Kevin?"

"Kevin is very down to earth. He's a chess master, so that makes him clever in my book, and he picks his battles carefully. We've played Tennis two or three times and he whipped me at that too. But you can slice the strain between him and Natalie. They barely talk except to argue over nonsense, her friends, and stuff from the past that she'll bring up out of nowhere. As you can guess, dinners are pleasant. But other than that he's barely home."

"Poor girl. She has so much resentment in her." Michelle mused.

Phineas scratched his head but kept silent. He didn't want to tell Michelle what Natalie said about not attending her funeral. He hoped one day Natalie would explain why.

"Well, anyway, sometimes Kevin doesn't even come home from the office and Babs will go out to meet him and…err, never mind that." Phineas cut off when he caught her expression darken.

"No, it's fine, Bogg. They're husband and wife and at least she doesn't neglect him…so, you mentioned that he talked to you about crime, what's going on back there?"

Phineas quickly changed into his pajamas as he explained. Kevin feared a small gang of hoodlums that traipsed around Wisconsin looking for kicks and causing trouble. They hadn't done anything blatantly violent yet, but the threat was in place. Kevin worried because some naïve rich girls joined up with them. Kevin felt it was only a matter of time before Natalie found out through the grapevine and she and her friends dared to meet them.

"…so, I promised I'd look out for these stooges and let him know what Natalie's up to." Phineas concluded. "But I also told him he should have more faith in his daughter. She's pretty responsible for a sixteen-year-old girl. And she might be a brat to me, but she has a kind heart to others."

"How do you know?" Michelle asked, but couldn't contain her pride in Natalie.

"I carefully observe. Yesterday was the kicker. I took her to an orphanage all the way in Milwaukee. She announced that she wanted to go right after breakfast. Kevin was happy; he even gave her a three hundred dollar donation check. Babs was upset for half the day over that, because she drank herself into a tizzy."

"How nice. I guess that three hundred could have paid for another spa treatment and fur coat. Never mind her, Bogg."

"Sorry. So Natalie donated boxes of her toys and childhood clothes you had stuffed away. She even played and sang songs with the kids. We had fun."

"That would have been a perfect time to bond with her Phineas."

"I tried, Michelle. In the orphanage she was a different girl. We sang duets, and acted out a puppet show. We even acted out a fairy tale. She played Rapunzel and I was the woodsman." Phineas laughed inwardly. They also acted out Sleeping Beauty and Phineas hesitated too long to kiss her awake. Natalie discreetly yanked his collar and planted a huge one on him. She didn't speak of it afterward, but for the rest of the day she turned beet red whenever he looked at her.

"The kids were thrilled and Natalie loved it. I think she was shocked that I went inside with her. But during the car rides she slept most of the way and coming back she read a book and didn't want to talk. But I'll get to her yet, I promise. I see many good qualities in her, Michelle. She just needs some direction."

"Now I understand why you chose to go two months earlier. If I know my daughter, she's already warmed up to you; it's what you represent that keeps her at bay. You're still Kevin's employee and he still pays you to do the things you do. But now she probably sees beyond that."

"I hope so. But even if she's never my best friend, I'm still here to save her life."

"Exactly. Did you get a name for the gang? I can do some data checks; see what sort of mischief they caused. Sometimes those dumb gangs were just a flash in the pan. They never amounted to anything and the police dropped charges and expunged records."

Phineas yawned. "That's what I'm hoping. They're called the Hot Devils. Original right?"

"Extremely. At least we know what they're about."

"Yeah, if I get any names, I'll let you know. I gotta go. Tomorrow I have to drive Natalie to school extra early for cheerleading practice, that girl is a real paper shaker! You'd be proud."

"Paper shaker? Phineas, you're picking up the slang. Neat-o!"

"Yeah, I have to sit around and watch until she goes into the school. It's kinda cute, since all her friends are watching me."

"You cad! I can just see you now, slowly getting out of the car and leaning on the hood, observing with a pair of shades. It must put their pom-poms in knots."

"Ha! Maybe. But I don't fancy watching girls half my age no matter how cute they are. I actually had to run this sicko guy off the school grounds for being a peeping Tom. The school officials were very grateful."

"You always were the cavalier. Thank you for that. Okay, I'll get back to you soon with the gang news."

"Great, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Bogg."

Phineas clicked off and put his communicator under his bed in the far right corner. He kept it on him at all times during the day, so there was no chance of the maid finding it. He checked his window latches and then peeked out to the right. Natalie's shades were drawn and a small nightlight illuminated her room. She never slept in complete darkness.

Kevin said that after the plane crash Natalie had terrible nightmares about her mother, and she even claimed she saw her standing in the room on more than one occasion. Natalie put it out of her mind because the visits stopped after that first tumultuous year. Phineas didn't ask Michelle about it, but the answer was obvious to him. She didn't reveal herself to Natalie, but at times she literally watched over her.

Tomorrow was another day to try and reach out to Natalie Powers, and Phineas was more determined than ever to do so.

~Oo~

Michelle just closed her eyes to sleep when her communicator buzzed. She checked the name and nearly flew out of bed. The message was sent from the Tribunal briefing room. The text read:

"We have found major discrepancies in the Shadow Data base involving your daughter Natalie Powers. It will behoove you to come to my office at once and explain. I'll be waiting."

Michelle's knees knocked. Only Councilman Garth used a word like 'behoove.' She dressed as fast as she could and texted Phineas.

"Tribunal investigations. We must end communication now. You are on your own! KEEP HER SAFE."