Chapter 27
"The Human Side of Lockerbie"
Soon, it was Christmas Eve…a day filled with excitement for the birth of Christ and for the children, the excitement of Santa Claus coming down their chimneys with gifts for all the girls and boys of the world. But it seemed all of that was taken away when Pan Am Flight 103 fell on Lockerbie, Scotland just three days earlier. Still, Psyduck and I along with the rest of my crew were determined to make the best of a bad situation.
"I got this for you, Psyduck," I said, taking a gift wrapped present out of the suitcase and gave it to Psyduck as we sat in a small coffee shop not far from the town hall. "Just a little something to help you whenever you get stressed."
"Psy?"
Taking the present, Psyduck opened the gift wrapping and revealed a set of walkman headphones that I managed to buy the night before we were sent to Lockerbie.
"You put it on like this," I said, smiling as I put the headphones on Psyduck's head. "Then, you play this."
Pressing the button of the walkman, I watched as Psyduck took in the music that was playing on the walkman. Just for once, I wanted to see others being peace and tranquil, even it was with my own Pokemon partner.
"Ah, Lucy," said a voice and I turned to see Farmer Jones and another man with him. "Anyone sitting here, lass?"
"No, help yourself, Mr. Jones," I remarked, gesturing him and his friend to sit down. "And you must be…?"
"Frederick, Farmer Frederick," the man said, shaking my hand.
"Nice to meet you. Psyduck, say hello to Mr. Jones and Mr. Frederick."
Nudging him gently, Psyduck acknowledged their presence while still listening to his new walkman headphones.
"He gets anxious a lot and gets explosive headaches," I chuckled, as Psyduck took a deep sigh. "Part of his powers."
This made the two men chuckle.
"Merry Christmas Eve, by the way, Lucy."
"Thank you, Mr. Jones."
I looked around and I couldn't help but notice that this small coffee shop was a lot more crowded than it would usually seem to appear. In fact, I could see some of the same relations of the victims sitting in here.
"We're making a little extra effort to make them feel calm," said Jones. "Just anything to help them cope in any way."
"What exactly are you doing?" I wondered.
"Providing hot meals, coffee, a place of warmth," answered Frederick, taking a sip of coffee. "Our parish priest is having the children's choir sing carols in the town square, trying to bring a little spirit here…Christmas spirit."
Suddenly, I then turned around and noticed a young girl of 4 years old crying and from the looks of it, she wasn't a resident.
"Poor lass," sighed Jones. "Lost her ma in the crash. She was a passenger."
Taking a deep sigh, I turned back around just as a Hondour came in with it's owner and sat down at the table across from us.
"Where is she from? The girl's mother?"
"A rumor says that many of the passengers were bound for several states in the United States: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Some were even from New England," explained Jones. "In fact, I have a brother that lives in America."
"Whereabouts?"
"Rhode Island, Providence. In fact, he personally knows two of those students from that Pokemon Academy in Israel that died"
"Have you talked to him, Mr. Jones?" I asked, taking another sip of coffee.
"Not since last night. In fact, I was planning to go to America to spend Christmas with him and his family, but that wasn't going to happen."
"And I was going to care for his Growlithe."
It was then that I decided to change the subject to something a little more upbeat. The fact that there was a human side to this whole situation was more than confirmation that Lockerbie would become more known for.
"Are there any families who want to stay here for the holidays?" I asked as Jones and Frederick looked around and noticed an older looking man sitting by himself that I immediately recognized as the man who cried loudly after I left interviewing Agatha, the woman who was cutting away the clothes of the dead.
"He might," said Farmer Jones. "Agatha saw him cry over his dead daughter. He calls himself Raymond Alden of New York."
Looking over, I began to get a sense that Raymond Alden was someone who was probably one of the most affected by the bombing. It seemed that the body he saw was the body of his only child or so it seemed to be.
"Why is he staying here?"
"He wants to return home with the body of his daughter and his editor-in-chief. He runs a publishing firm in New York and his daughter was the heiress. The authorities are keeping the bodies because there might be a criminal connection to them."
"A criminal connection?"
"From Russia, is what we are hearing," said Farmer Frederick. "More rumors are coming out that a Team Rocket agent who knew them was part of the group that oversaw the bombing."
I knew that I needed to talk to Mr. Alden because if there was any criminal connection towards his daughter and his editor-in-chief, I was going to be the one to find out. However, there was another more pressing issue.
"Her Ladyship is coming here today, ya know," said Farmer Jones. "The Prime Minister."
"I know that," I replied. "I've actually got to be there when she tours the crash sites."
Both farmers noticed the anxiety I had inside of me.
"Is everything all right, Lucy?" asked Farmer Jones.
"Sorry," I said, nervously taking a sip of coffee. "It's just that this is the first time I've met a world leader and…who knows what following the British Prime Minister will entail for my career?"
Knowing that I needed to go get changed before she arrived, I got up from the table and took Psyduck by the wing, much to his shock.
"But remember this, Lucy," warned Farmer Jones. "The Prime Minister is only a servant of her majesty, the Queen. She is to be treated no differently than you or me."
"Thank you."
So, I left the coffee shop and dashed back to the town inn where I needed to shower, change and await the arrival of the Prime Minister. Of course, there was also the matter of Raymond Alden, the publishing magnet. If he knew someone that was part of the bombing that killed 270 people, then there was no better time to come clean than now.
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