CHAPTER 12
“Honey,” Bob complained, “I'm too big to fit in the tea cups. I mean, we just got here. Can't we...”
Donna Johnson put her hands on her hips and pouted, “baby I've always wanted to ride those things, ever since I was a little girl.” Bob took his turn on the Tea Cups. When they were finished he was kind of glad that he did because, had he not, he would have never seen what he did. Part of that did not surprise him but, part of it was quite shocking. Bob said nothing. They had just reached the island, it was night, the lights were fascinating the kids, and more important, they were all hungry. Bob set his over sized family up on a breezeway table where they could get an over sized meal. As usual, he found himself having to stick with something he could grab on the run. This time it was a large pretzel. Princess Island did not seem to know how to do anything in small doses.
Bob came to rest on one side of a totem pole looking thing and he knew who was leaning on the other side. Bob didn't bother with announcing his presence or even asking the questions that you would normally expect in such a situation. Instead, he just said, “you know, I always figured that between doing what we do, and raising a real family, there were going to have to be things that got cut out.”
“Doing what we do?” Garcia almost laughed, “you mean selling used cars?”
“Funny,” Bob did not laugh, “no I mean I figured if I wasn't working then I might actually get to sit down and eat some real food for a change.”
“Life got a funny way of working out, don't it bro,” Garcia said with a snicker.
Bob did not snicker, “so where is she?”
“I could ask you the same question,” Garcia replied from his side of the post.
“So,” Bob nodded, “Barbara really did send you.”
“Dude,” Now Garcia looked around the pole at his partner, “she was doing it for you man. She wanted you and Donna to have a good time. Not feel like you were some kind of security force. Look Bob, out of everybody where we work, you bout the only one with a normal life. Everybody kind of wants to...”
“Ok Gar,” Bob nodded, “I can buy that part. Even if I can take care of myself. What I don't get is, what's the deal with Betsy fucking Ross?”
“We'll talk about that later,” was all Gar had to say on the matter. “It's complicated.”
“Where is she,” said Bob, getting back to his original thought.
Gar did too, “where's Shannon?”
“She's fine Gar,” Bob said defensively. “She's with some kids her own age.” When Gar looked around the pole, this time, he was more than a little disturbed. Bob held his ground, “what? You think she wanted to sit around and baby sit the whole time? It's cool man, Donna set her up with these other kids. Donna knows them, knows their parents. You know, they all come into the bakery. Shannon's probably safer with them than she is with us. We're the ones people are always trying to kill. Give me a break, I'm not Tony and Amy.”
“All right bro,” Garcia nodded in agreement, “you got a point there. This better not come back and bite me the ass though.” The two bumped knuckles and then parted company. Betsy popped out of nowhere, not fives seconds later. She had a big smile on her face and put her arms round Gar. It didn't work. Garcia asked her, “you saw, didn't you?”
“Well,” Betsy kept her smile, “yeah I did. So what? He's your friend. Why wouldn't you want to talk to him?”
They began strolling into the crowd and Garcia thought about what he wanted to say. Finally he told her, “I just don't want this getting around the station. I don't think you do ether, do you?”
“Wouldn't be my first choice,” Betsy replied. Then she thought about it and said, “it's our business Gar. I can't help it if all your friends hate me. I got to admit though, if I'd known what I know now, I might not have done all that stuff.”
“Really?” Garcia seemed genuinely surprised. “You know, I have been curious. How the hell did Jake talk you into all that, anyway?”
She seemed embarrassed and on a down note she told him, “it wasn't hard, really. It sounded like fun. He said he would help me with a second job, a few other things. He was kind of cool. I don't know... I mean...” They walked along in silence for a minute and then she mumbled, “I didn't know the price was going to be this high.”
“What price?” Garcia almost asked in passing. He had not really even expected an answer but, it caught Betsy off guard. She actually stumbled over her words and did not get anything out that was really coherent. Garcia became uncomfortable at that point and he suggested, “let's ride something. I don't know when I'm going to be able to afford this place again. I want my money's worth.”
Why did it take that long for her decide to say anything? She looked like she was putting some serious thought into riding something. Then Betsy broke out with this huge grin and became very lively. She grabbed Garcia by the arm and began pulling him along as she said, “you are absolutely right. We need to definitely get our money's worth out of this place. Live for today because there might not be a tomorrow!”
Garcia was not quite as enthused, “you should try working where I do.” He was even more squeamish when he saw the line they got in. Garcia was not particular fond of Haunted Houses and, the only good thing he could say about it was, they had shelter when it started to drizzle. Otherwise, the line snaked along too slow for Garcia and, that became particularly true when he saw who was standing in an adjacent line. Shannon saw him back and she gave him a serious 'eat shit' look. Garcia huffed in frustration and then said, “am I your friend or not?”
It took a minute before Shannon decided to reply, “remains to be seen.”
“I'm not following you little one,” Garcia told her. “I didn't even pick this ride.”
“I don't believe you,” Shannon told him without looking his way.
“Come on girl,” Garcia shot back with resolution, “I somehow got in another line, for the same ride, and had it timed so we'd wind up right next to each other? Now how does that happen, Shannon? You all the time about being treated like an adult. Why not pay me the same courtesy?” Then Garcia realized something, “what kind of line you in anyway?”
Another girl in the little gaggle of teens was more than happy to reply, “we get the back stage tour! My Dad got us special passes.” Then an obvious thought struck the kid, “hey, you're Shannon's friends. Slide over here. Half our party split when the rain started.”
Now Shannon gave her new friend the same stare she had been reserving for Garcia. The word escaped her gritted teeth, “Maggie!”
Garcia even backed off, “I don't know kid. I mean...”
Maggie added, “you'll get in the ride faster.”
“We're there,” Garcia grabbed Betsy's arm and they slid under the divider into the other line. Now Garcia did perk up because Maggie seemed to know her business when it came to Princess Island. The line really did move faster and Shannon was just going to have to live with it. She did so by not talking to Garcia at all. She even kept her back to him most of the time but, otherwise, tried to pretend everything else was ok.
Betsy found it awkward and, she was very thankful that at least this Maggie girl was actually being nice to her. The girl even got quite chatty when she found out Betsy was an American. The questions that followed were sometimes hard to follow, like the big one being, “is America near Earth?”
Betsy kind of held her breath before saying, “sometimes.”
Shannon had no qualms about busting bubbles this evening, “it's on Earth. That's the planet.”
Maggie was confused now, “I thought Earth was a star? Dad is always pointing it out every time we go out on his boat. Now I'm not stupid. You can't see a planet from here.”
Garcia tried to smooth it over, “we got our fair share of Earth people hanging out where me and Shannon live.”
That made Maggie even more giddy, “oh! Are you guys family?”
Again, Garcia borrowed Betsy's solution, “sometimes.”
Shannon was still grumpy, “Maggie, do I look like a Texan?”
Garcia decided to rub it in, “sometimes.” Betsy lost it with the laughter at that point. Gar was wondering if Shannon was going to go for a swing of the old fist but, they reached the turnstile, for the inside of the ride, and the teenager just, thankfully, gave up. When they finally got in a ride bucket, Garcia and Betsy took one for themselves. Only then did Betsy show some concern about the little incident. It left Garcia having to explain and, he suddenly realized he couldn't. All he could say was, “you got to be from here to get it. I should have kept my mouth shut. The girl is already pissed at me.”
Now, just before the bucket jerked its way along the track, and into the darkness, Betsy rapped herself around his arm and kissed him on the cheek, “I think what you're doing is really sweet. Wish somebody would look out for me like that.”
Garcia's first instinct was that he wanted to confront her about listening to his conversation, with Shannon, back on the boat. Then he thought about that last part and, Garcia was wondering if this girl had just said what he thought she did. Suddenly, he really felt like keeping his mouth shut and, fortunately, the ride pretty much made that a requirement. When it was over, he figured it was for the best. He also realized he had not paid much attention to anything they flew right by during the ride. Then came Maggie, along the departure ramp, and she was waving for Garcia and Betsy to follow. They did and found themselves waiting with a park employee who smiled too much.
When the guy finally spoke up, the speakers that were built right into his park uniform shirt, were way too loud for the space they were in. Gar was happy to hear the guy was not going to be their guide for this little behind the scenes tour. He told them, “you guys get a special treat. One of our chief engineers is going to give you a special tour. Let's give a big warm, Princess Island, welcome to Roderick Murtaugh.”
That guy smiled too but, thankfully, not as much as the other one. He was also not wearing a uniform but, looked more like he belonged in an office proper, even if the guy had his jacket missing and sleeves rolled up. He talked like they were all kids and had very expressive eyes as he explained, “the first thing people always ask me is, how do we do it? Well, we create those images you just saw, with holograms. How do we do that? It's as easy as air.”
Days as a Schizophrenic (Poem)
Decant
It's Hurting Again
