Chapter 8


The screen door screeched open and then made a slapping noise as it closed. Tony had heard it a billion times and paid no more attention this time than he did the last.  He was squatted down on the porch, watching the breakers out on the water, and in deep thought. At the moment it was the only real place that Tony was willing to let his mind go. Everything else just seemed too messy.

Then, whoever came out that door, poked him with a very pointed, hard toe, shoe. Tony snapped up to standing and with a red face he turned around, ready to lash out, until he saw who it was. Tony went from mad to confused, “Leslie?” Then it occurred to him, “you had an interview today, didn’t you?”

Leslie Tatersall was all smiles. She was also fixed up, in a short white dress with high heels, and Tony approved. His face began to smile, “you clean up good.”

Leslie broke out in giggles, “well it looks like there might be some serious surfing in my near future.”

“That’s great,” Tony said with joy as he gave the girl a hug. He was still patting her on the back as they broke apart, “so Barbara hired you?”

“Well,” Leslie was a little less joyful but, not by much. “not exactly but, she said that I have a place here. As soon as she gets more money in her next budget she’s going to see about getting that position opened.”

Tony winked at her and said, “that means she’s going to hire you. Trust me, when that woman wants something done she’ll get it done.” Tony quickly changed the subject, “so what’s on your agenda for the rest of the day. We got some serious breakers out there right now.”
Leslie held her smile but, Tony could see a different answer in her eyes, “well you know, I still have to make rent this month. I, kind of, went back to my old job after the Roby sank. I have to tell you, it wasn’t easy getting a slot on that old tub in the first place. Finding another merchie is going to be next to impossible.”

Tony shrugged, “why’s that? I thought those freighters were always screaming for help.”

“They are,” Leslie said drolly, “but that doesn’t mean they’ll hire. Even if you didn’t have to kiss Canadian ass just to get on one, a lot of those boats are crewed by extended families. Even the ones that aren’t, like Roby, they’re not hiring right now.”
Tony nodded and only had one word to explain it all, “Germans.”

“You got it big boy,” Leslie replied, “if they decide to wreck the colony, well, who’s going to need extra mouths to feed, know what I mean? It’s not just the ships that aren’t hiring right now, it’s everybody. That’s how I wound up at my old gig.”

Tony leaned up against a support post with his arms crossed. He shook his head in recognition and said, “yeah I heard. Bounty hunter right? How did some…” Tony backed up and rephrased the question, “how did you get into that line of work in the first place?”

“You mean,” Leslie quickly came back with, “how does a petite little blond, that looks like the girl next door, run in those kinds of circles?”
Embarrassed now, Tony bit his lip and then replied, “well I wouldn’t have exactly put it that way but, since you did.”

“I’m from Doris Island, Tony.” She did not act in the least bit embarrassed about it, “you think it’s rough on this island, you should get over to Doris some time. On Doris, if you want lunch you know it’s going to come with three fights and the check. It’s the only place I know where the cashiers actually take your money and then mug you.”

Tony laughed, “well I’ve been there a few times now. I don’t think it’s quite that bad.”

“Ok,” she bounced her head, “maybe I’m exaggerating but,” she made a pinch with her fingers and developed a cute little voice, “only a little.” Tony laughed and took her word for it. Then Leslie reached into her purse, glanced at her phone, and slapped Tony on the arm, “time to get back to work. Don’t worry big guy, I know I’ll be seeing you.”

As Leslie walked back towards her car she looked up and saw two faces looking down at her from the ops center windows. She waived at them. Amy and Danni both waived back. They also both watched her walk out to her car and drive away. Then Danni grabbed a roller chair that wasn’t broken and plopped down in it. She took a deep breath and then asked Amy, “so what do you think of her?”

Amy was still at the main console. She was practically stabbing the little incons, on the computer screen, with her nails. She did not look at Danni and, in fact, had said very little to the girl since she first came up here. It was hard to avoid a direct question so Amy just mumbled, “I really haven’t.”

Danni let it go and just sat there watching Amy do whatever it was that she was doing. Danni suspected that it was not work. There was nothing about what Amy was doing that looked like more than just an excuse. So Danni finally said, “so why don’t you go out with us again? You had a good time, right? I mean before the Germans arrested you, right?”

Amy did not sound enthused, “I don’t know Danni. I mean, I been thinking about trying to finally get my townhouse in order. I got a lot of un-packing to do and…”

“And,” Danni said with a little remorse, “you really don’t want too. Not your scene?”
That made Amy stop what she was doing. She put her hands on the counter and leaned forward. She dropped her head for a moment. She pushed some strands of hair out of her face, took a deep breath, and then she replied, “it’s not that Danni. I’ve just been really busy lately.”

Danni put her hands behind her head, “so that’s why you don’t ever call me any more?” That seemed to have hit Amy in a spot that she did not even know existed. Danni could tell by the girls reaction that she had not even thought about it. It was probably why Amy had a hard time giving an answer. It was because she really didn’t know.

Shannon saved Amy the trouble of having to do it. The teen came out of the back hall, grunting. She was sliding an unusually full storage box across her newly buffed floors. She saw Danni and Amy just sitting there and watching her. With no small amount of sarcasm, Shannon said, “thanks but I got it.”

Then Danni got up and went to help the kid but, Shannon responded to the gesture by stopping and then sitting on the box. She crossed her arms for good measure and made it plain to Danni that she was not going to budge. Danni then blew the kid off and went back to her chair.

Shannon waited for both of them to get settled back in to a routine of pretending the other one was not there. Then Shannon said, “you three need to just get a room and then get it over with.”

Both heads snapped around and, at the same time, Danni and Amy said the exact same thing, “what?” It was not a matter of confusion either. Shannon could see they both knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Oh come on,” Shannon told them. “Amy, you’re pissed at Danni for kissing Tony. Danni, you’re pissed at Amy because she dumped him. Then, let me see, you’re both pissed at Tony because he’s Tony. Is that about right?”

Amy turned back to the console and pretended to go back to work, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Danni just shrugged and easily replied, “well I’m not pissed at Tony.”

Amy followed that by saying, “Shannon, you have a very filthy mind young lady. You should know better. I don’t know where you get these things.”

Danni decided that the conversation was going into waters she that she would rather not. She pointed to the box and said, “what’s in there?”

At that moment, Bob and Calvin came strolling up the stairs. Danni was never more happy to see them. Then Bob saw Shannon and pointed at the box, “is that the jack?”

Danni almost laughed and then said, “you literally have a jack in the box?” Then she decided to shove in a little knife of her own. It was only fair after all. She leaned forward and with a mischievous smile she said, “I heard his name was Ricky.”

Shannon’s face grew red and she ran off down the stairs saying, “shut up!”

Bob was confused, “what’s wrong with her?” Then he walked over to the box, opened it, and pulled out a car jack, “there it is.”
On the other hand, Calvin stood right where he was and sternly told Danni, “knock it off already. It was bad enough before you got started.”

Danni pretty much ignored Calvin and then asked Bob, “what do you need that for?”
“My car,” Bob replied as he walked back towards the stairs, “I’ve got to take a tire off and then hide it up at the hangar with Chuck.”
Danni blinked, “you’ve got to what?”

Calvin snickered and said, “ever since he got it back, he’s been having trouble with the insurance company.”

“Yeah,” Bob replied as he walked back to the stairs, “we sent the bastards their money back but, they said it wasn’t enough to buy the car back from them. They want another thousand dollars. I told them to sit and spin and now they’re trying to repo it.”
As Bob walked back down the stairs, Danni just waived, “good luck with that.”

Calvin cleared his throat and then handed Danni the paper he had been holding. Danni looked at it and only shrugged. When Cal got the paper back he noted, “well you guys were out this morning. Sure you didn’t use the card for something, like, say, maybe a strip club?”
Danni felt comfortable enough. She leaned back in her chair, put her arms over her head, kicked her feet up on the counter, and then said,

“Gar paid the cover and we all bought rounds. Sorry Cal, but, that’s a little pricey, even for a show bar.”

It appeared as if Calvin was genuinely disturbed. He did not seem surprised though when he said, “that’s what I was afraid of.” Then he asked, “is Jake back yet?”

Amy never looked their way but, she did raise a hand and say, “he called a little while ago. He said he was on the way back.”

Cal just grunted as he headed back down stairs towards his reports, “hope it was him.”

Back in the commissary, Cal had only been sitting for all of a minute when the screen door opened. He looked up expecting to see a certain individual but, he saw two people instead. Neither one of them was who he was looking for. Cal wanted to ask a specific question but,

Norm actually asked the very same question instead, “where’s Jake?”

“Um,” it took Calvin a second before he recovered from the confusion. Then as he looked at the little brunette in the business suit, he realized something. Calvin then answered, “should be here any minute.”
Norm led the little girl right towards the barracks hallway. He seemed both busy and in a hurry. As he did he told Cal, “when he gets here, send him right back to Barbara’s room.”

Calvin stood up and now asked the question on his mind, “did you go somewhere?”

Already out of sight, Norm called back, “yeah, the hospital.”

It was obvious that he was way down the hall at that point. Cal was kind of irked when he yelled in that direction, “well I hope you’re feeling better!”