Amateur Hour

A Shield, an Anchor, and a Pair of Kitchen Shears

Ted

While Nina packed things for herself and Raven, Ted made phone calls. The first was to Guy, who seemed to be unaccountably relieved that he was on his way. The second, to New Canaan. Liam was out of the office, but Janice was manning his desk phone.

“The generators arrived an hour ago, and the extra gas,” she replied, in answer to his first question. “Liam and a couple of the maintenance staff are figuring out how and where they want to set them up.”

“How’s the rest of it going?”

“Any lawn furniture we had, is up, and stacked away. The kids had it done, in thirty minutes. Kitchen staff has the extra non-perishables, in hand, and the drinking water.”
“Are the kids calm?”

Janice laughed. “Hardly. Most of them see it as a grand adventure, in the making, and they’re a bit excited. I’ve had to reassure a few, and quell some of the stories going around about deadly hurricanes of yesteryear. We mean to keep the gym and library open, until lights out, but we’re going to show movies, in the refectory, for students who are too wound up to sleep. Will Nina be joining us? I made the offer, but she didn’t seem too enthusiastic.”

“Nina’s going to Arizona, with me.”

“I see.”

Her voice said she didn’t see, at all, but she was refraining from comment. He was wrong, on the last point.

“Will she be safe there?” Janice asked.

“Yeah, I think so. She’ll be next door to me, and next to Guy, if I can arrange it. And, she’ll have Raven. I’m not going to start anything, until tomorrow, so no one would have any reason, at all, to bother her.”

“Plus, I’ll have my bat,” Nina joked, entering the living room, with her rolling suitcase.

“Are you sure you and Raven wouldn’t feel… more comfortable, here?”

“It’s all right, Janice. We’ll be fine. Lord knows, we’ll be dry. I’ll call you, when we’re settled, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Remember what I said, about worrying making you crazy. You have enough, on your hands.”

***

Nina

The flight was pleasant enough. Raven, initially excited and anxious, at takeoff, soon settled onto the floor of the cabin, at Nina’s feet. She pawed at her ears a bit, when the air pressure changed, but seemed to be in no pain, and she settled, at last, into a doze.

Ted spoke little, engrossed as he was with work, on his laptop. He sat across the aisle, and paused only occasionally in his reading and typing, to give Nina looks that were mildly inquisitive. His ‘checking-in’ looks.

Nina, for her part, divided her time between gazing out her window, and pretending to leaf through her Smithsonian magazine. She was three issues behind, in her reading and browsing, and a plane trip seemed to offer a good opportunity to catch up. However, she found herself staring out the window, more and more, drawn away from the pictures and topics in her publication.

She knew Janice had to be wondering why she had agreed to come with Ted, rather than accept the offer to hunker down with her and Liam, at New Canaan. It was a good thing Janice hadn’t gotten a chance to ask the question outright, because Nina would have been hard pressed for an answer.

41,000 feet in the air, Nina pondered the question, herself. The best answer that she could come up with, was that, while Ted might have changed (or at least, revealed a side of himself that she hadn’t known existed), she had changed, as well.

Nina Past would likely have fled the house, in the wake of Ted’s revelations. Nina Present had asked him to leave, and what’s more — been certain that he would. It hadn’t been fear that had motivated her, or anger, alone, but a need to gather her own thoughts, and come to terms with her own feelings.

In this, Ted was less changed than she. He had always treated her like a fragile thing. At the same time, he’d respected her, in his own way. He’d always been there, to protect her, but had never discouraged her from taking acceptable risks.

Glancing across the aisle at him, Nina smirked. She’d bet the house that he hadn’t counted on Janice, and her influence. Still, during their days apart, he hadn’t spoken a single word against her friend, though his own relationship with her was scuffed, if not dented.

If Ted was Nina’s shield, Nina was his anchor. If he had drifted off course, it was because he hadn’t utilized her. To be fair to him, she hadn’t been a sturdy helpmeet, in their early days. She’d been willing to settle for being a shadow of a wife, doubting her own powers to be more.

“Something, wrong, Sweetheart?”

Ted’s voice broke into her reverie, and she realized that she was still studying him.

“Nothing. I was thinking about getting a soft drink. Want one?”

“I’ll take a tea, if they have any.”

Nina nodded, stepped over Raven, who rolled lazily over onto her side, and walked to the mini fridge, in the rear of the cabin. “I could make coffee,” she called back, having spotted the coffee maker.

“Tea’s fine, thanks.”

In the fridge, she found a ginger ale, for herself, and a bottle of tea, for him.

“Thanks,” he smiled at her, when she handed it, to him. “Not queasy, are you?” he asked, eyeing the ginger ale.

“Just thirsty. Anything too sweet or salty gives me a touch of heartburn, lately.”

“You were staring at me, pretty hard, just now.”

“I was thinking about my role, in all of this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that some of it is my fault.”

“None of what I’ve done, is in any way your fault.”

“No,” she agreed. “You made a bad choice, and that’s not my fault. But if I hadn’t been so… weak, and fragile, you wouldn’t have been so incensed, by Gordon’s actions. You might have trusted me, to keep my head, and keep myself safe.”

“Protecting you, is my job.”

“Anchoring you, is mine,” Nina countered.

“You always have, Sweetheart.” He thought for a moment, then continued, with his own thoughts, using her analogy. “I suppose the flaw isn’t in the anchor, but in the chain. The chain was weak, and unreliable. It’s as much me as it is you.”

Nina considered, then nodded. It seemed about right, to her. “We’ll have to forge a new one, from scratch, if I’m the anchor you want.”

“Never doubt it.”

***

Ted

“I can’t pick you up” Guy said. “I’m in the middle of a crisis, here.”

“What’s happened?” Ted demanded.

“Hermann’s wearing her best red tie.”

“Shit!”

“My sentiments, exactly. I’d be happy to crack her over the head, and tie her up — especially the cracking her over the head part — but that seems a bit overt. I have kids keeping an eye on the endangered kids, while I’m watching her, as much as I can.”

“Safety in numbers. Smart. So much for getting you alone, for a confab, though.”

“I know. We could be totally screwed.” Guy expelled an exasperated breath.

“I can help,” Nina offered. “If you ask for Mr. Ramirez to show you around, as a personal friend, I could monopolize this Dr. Hermann, for a similar tour.”

“We’ve never met, in person, Nina,” Guy interjected, but since when am I ‘Mr. Ramirez’?”

“Just go with it, Guy,” Nina replied. “It’s simpler than pretending, in front of this Dean, that we have met. What do you two think?”

“I think Liam isn’t the only one, who married a genius,” Ted answered.

“Works, for me,” Guy said.

“Hang tight, then,” Ted told him. “It shouldn’t take too long, to rent a car.”

“Hope I’m close enough, to see the look on her face, when the boss shows up,” Guy chuckled. “Gotta run, now. Class starts, in five.”

“Last one, for the day?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll be there, as soon as we can.”

***

“You think you’re up for it?” he asked Nina, when they and Raven were situated in the rented SUV.

“Ted – ” she scowled.

“Just checking. I know you’re not comfortable with complete strangers, and something tells me this one gives off a bad vibe.”

“I’ll be fine. Just don’t be too surprised, if you see me channeling Janice.”

Ted laughed, but it wasn’t without admiration. “You couldn’t pick a better person, for the task.”

“I know. I’ll swoop in, friendly and full of questions. Of course, Raven will be with me.”

“Naturally. I’m the boss. She’d do well, not to look cross-eyed, at Raven.”

The road rolled out before them, flat, and seeming almost pointless, except as an indicator of how to get from one point, to the next, and where it cut a passage between the dunes. Ted could almost as easily have driven across the hardpan, itself.

“Harsh country, isn’t it?” he asked a few moments later.

“It had its own kind of beauty. Lean, spare, a bit desperate. It’s the spinster sister.”

That was the thing about Nina, he mused. She was occasionally at a loss for words, but never when it came to aesthetics. She was right. The desert was the spinster sister to the voluptuous environment, they were accustomed to, but there was a subtle beauty, to it.

*******

Steph

Steph was actually relieved to see that the gated community had a warm body at the gate. She’d been a bit worried that they might have to contend with a barrier that required a code, or a card key. Better, still, the warm body was that of a bored kid, twenty years old, tops.

The kid gave them the once over, pausing to leer slightly at Kayla, yawned when Steph rattled off the address, and waved them thorough.

“Was that too easy?” Kayla asked.

“About typical. He’s got a baton, and a hat, and a little tin badge. Maybe it gets him laid, when he hits the bars, with his fake ID.” She shrugged. “Security in places like this, is mostly for show. It’s cameras, that we have to worry about.”

“It’s the next right,” Kayla said, staring at the GPS on her phone.

Steph made the turn, and drove past the house, into the cul de sac, and back toward the end of the street. She parked it, one house up and across, from their target.

“You’ve got us crossing?”

“I want the car facing in the right direction, and on the right hand side. No, don’t grab a box. We’re ostensibly here, to pick up. I looked the boxes over, but I don’t want to risk dropping one that might have our address hiding somewhere, on it.”

“He knows —”

“I know he does, but the cops don’t. Never leave evidence.” She pulled two pairs of black neoprene gloves out of the top pocket of her vest. “Or fingerprints,” she added, holding a pair out to Kayla. Before donning hers, however, she took the time to bundle her light brown hair into a twist, and secure it, with her ball cap. Kayla followed suit.

“I didn’t have any pepper spray,” she remarked.

“Probably just as well. It’s effective, but it can also blow back at you, if you’re not careful. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Steph reached up, to make sure her dome light was off. “Don’t close your door.”

“Did you remember the scissors?”

“Right here.” Steph patted the larger pocket, below the top one. The shears were heavy enough to pull the vest down, on that side, but the weight was reassuring.

The women got out of the car, leaving the doors resting against the latches, and proceeded to cross the street.

“We might as well be on stage,” Kayla muttered.

Steph was inclined to agree. The streetlights were bright, and plentiful. On the other hand, the houses weren’t too close to the street, so the chances were good that the back yard would be dark enough.

Julio didn’t have a fence around his back yard, but he did have a very low hedge, a recent planting of young bushes. It was roughly a foot and a half tall, and they were able to step over it, easily. Nothing moved, either in the back yard, or inside the darkened house. Steph faded back, against an oak tree, letting her night eyes kick in.

“You think he’s gone to bed, already?” Kayla asked, in a low, near whisper.

“I think he isn’t home, at all. It’s not just dark; it feels deserted. Guess we’re going to have to wait.”

Side by side, they took a knee, in the deepest shadow of the yard. The minutes dragged.

“Someone’s going to wonder about your car, sooner or later.”

“Later, most likely. It’s in an ambiguous spot. One neighbor will think I’m visiting the other.”

“Will Julio recognize it?”

“It’s a silver Prius,” Steph shrugged. “It’s not like it’s Guy’s Mustang, or that sporty number you drive. He’ll pass it, to turn into his driveway, but hopefully, he won’t clock the Alabama plate, since it’s facing the other direction.”

She took her eyes off the house, for a moment, to look at Kayla. Her face was dim, in the shadow.

“A little uncertainty is good for you,” she teased. “Besides, if he’s not home, now, the chances are better that he’ll let Stanley out, when he gets here, so there’s that.”

Kayla nodded, shifting her pose, a little. Steph understood — she was starting to get some fatigue in her muscles, as well. Before she could do more than stretch her neck out, a little, the back porch light blazed.

As one, she and Kayla recoiled further into the gloom. The back door opened, then the screen door.

“Go on, you little pendejo,” Julio said. Stanley wasted no time, trotting down the steps, as Julio retreated back inside.

Stan sprinkled a shrub, and started to sniff the ground, but stiffened, suddenly. Beside Steph, Kayla stiffened, also. The dog had caught her scent, and was bounding in their direction.

He pulled up sharply, three yards from where they were whining, pacing, frustrated. He’d reached the perimeter of his ‘fence’. In a moment, he’d be barking, Steph knew.

Kayla was already moving, toward her dog, heedless of being in a spotlight, now. Steph had no choice but to follow, with the shears. Kayla might get the collar unbuckled, but cutting it would be faster.

Stanley went mad with joy at the sight of his mistress, jumping and capering. He also began to yip, joyfully.

“Grab him, and hold him tight,” Steph ordered, in a low voice, just above a whisper. Kayla did, and she managed to get one blade of the shears between the dog and the collar, without perforating Stan. With a single, hard snip, the collar separated, and Steph pulled it away. She gave Kayla a little shove.

“Go,” she urged.

The back door opened.

“Go!” Steph pushed harder, and urged louder. They’d been spotted.

“What the fu — Stephanie?!” Julio roared, in disbelief.

Steph gave Kayla yet another shove, that caused her to stumble, before she got her feet under her, to run, clutching Stanley close.

“The dog is Kayla’s,” she said, as Julio closed on her. “But this is yours,” she flung the collar, at his face, before wheeling to flee, herself.

She was snagged, from behind, and dragged nearly off her feet. Julio had her, by the collar, of her vest.

The irrelevant thought: Vests don’t really have collars, flashed through her mind.

“Bitch!” Julio spat.

She stumbled, but turned to face him, wrenching the garment from his grasp. She turned — straight into a backhand blow, that sent her staggering, to one side.

“I’ve always hated you,” he growled.

Steph steadied herself and grinned, swollen lower lip bleeding.

“Of course, you have, Julio. I’m not like you.”

“I was so close, to being rid of you, for good. It was perfect, but I counted on your pride.”

“What the actual hell are you talking about?”

“The school, you stupid bitch! I had it all set up for you to be swallowed, in a single gulp. Like that girl, Guy found. Where do you think I got the idea?”

A cascade of thoughts began to fall, in her mind, and she had to shut it down. This was no time to be distracted. Julio was more unhinged than she’d ever imagined, and she was alone with him.

Tension tightened her fists, and she was startled to realize that she was still holding the shears. They were now in her left hand, her off hand, but they were better than nothing.

“Why, Julio?” she asked, quietly now.

“You ruined everything. Guy was mine. Oh, not like you’re thinking, you whore.” Julio began to advance on her, slowly, not that there was much of a gap to close. “He was my creation, my best tool, and you ruined him.”

“You didn’t create Guy,” she smiled. “God created him, and Guy added his own finishing touches. He never belonged to you.”

He was on her, in a rush. This time his hands closed on the front of her vest.

Kayla’s right. It smells just like Guy.

Steph tightened her grip more on the heavy scissors, feeling the handles bite into her palm. She brought her left hand down against Julio’s right arm, with all her might.

The scissors didn’t bite as deeply, using her ‘stupid hand’, but they bit deeply enough for him to release her, with a roar of outrage, in order to paw at them.

Steph would swear, later, that she never felt the ground under her feet, as she bolted across the back yard, leaped the low hedge, in stride, and raced for her car. Julio wasn’t far behind her, grunting a bit, and panting, but not roaring. Even he had sense enough, to avoid rousing the neighborhood, it seemed.

It had been a while since Steph had run, but not so long that she had forgotten how to breathe properly, in order to make the most of her oxygen intake. As she neared the car, she saw her door fly open. Blessing Kayla’s presence of mind, she all but dove in, slammed the door, and hit the starter.

Julio’s feet hit the middle of the pavement, even as she hit the gas.

“Steph! Hurry!”

“Chill out. He’s not going to chase the car.”

“He might, in his car.”

“I know what I’m doing, Kayla.”

Steph made the expected left turn, at the end of the street, turned immediately onto the next street, to the right, executed a three-point turn, and pulled off to the side of the street, dousing her lights.

“You don’t think he knows this tactic?” Kayla demanded.

“Settle down. You’re making Stanley nervous. Sure, he knows it. But he also has a habit of underestimating people. He has me pegged, for a runner, now. He’ll chase me, for a couple of miles, before he figures it out. And, there he goes,” she nodded to the streak that was Julio’s car, as it flew past them.

Steph fastened her seatbelt, pulled her pack of cigarettes from the console, and lit one. “Of course,” she resumed, “he could be on his way to urgent care, to have his stab wound dressed. You might want to plot us a course home, that doesn’t go the same way he was going, all the same.”