by Cara Adams
David made himself a sandwich for a snack and went straight to bed after finishing work on Tuesday, the first night they were going to find Galen’s photogenic building. He figured five solid hours’ sleep and he’d be good to go all night. He set his alarm for midnight, and when it woke him he showered and dressed warmly. He guessed hiking around the streets would keep him from freezing, but sitting and waiting for dawn he might get really cold, so a fleece shirt, two sweaters, and a coat, two pairs of socks, and thick work boots. He made and ate another sandwich, grabbed a bottle of water from the Carnal Connections kitchen, and headed out to the parking lot carrying his coat, gloves, and scarf.
Diane was standing beside Galen’s car, her hip resting on the trunk. He grinned at her. “Great minds think alike,” he said. She’d done almost exactly the same as him. She was wearing boots, and under her red sweater he could see a blue collar, indicating she had a second one underneath. Draped across the trunk of Galen’s car was a long, fleece-lined waterproof coat, a bright-red scarf, and a beanie. Clasped between her hands was a large insulated mug.
Diane waved the mug at him. “Except I chose coffee instead of water.”
Galen was hurrying across the parking lot toward them with a camera bag slung over one shoulder and a backpack over the other. “I half expected you to both change your minds and stay in bed.”
“Nah, I’m used to not sleeping much,” said Diane.
Well, that was an interesting statement. Sometime tonight he must ask her why she didn’t sleep. Was she the kind of person who only needed four hours’ rest per night, or did she have to work so hard there was no time to relax?
They piled into Galen’s car, dropping all their gear on the backseat beside Diane, and Galen left the parking lot and turned toward the town.
“So how have you planned this voyage of discovery?” asked David curiously, only half teasing. It was a voyage of discovery. Not only would they be searching for just the right building for Galen to photograph, but also David wanted to learn more about these two people who were becoming part of his life.
“What I want is an old, semiderelict building that looks like trash at first glance, but when the viewer sees it with their inner eyes the architectural beauty overwhelms the decay.”
“I get it. Like an old person who still has a beautiful face because of their bone structure,” said Diane.
“Exactly. The architectural bones of the building are just as magnificent as ever, although it may be unpainted and crumbling into decay.”
“Do you have a list of possibilities?” asked David.
“I have a list of buildings that I think have potential. But until I see them at night, then again at dawn, I don’t know if any of them will work. There are only four obvious contenders here in town. If none of them work, I’ll need to go to a much bigger city. Somewhere the economic crisis hit hard. Detroit maybe.”
“It hit hard enough here. A hell of a lot of people lost their jobs and a bunch of businesses, good, solidly run businesses, not just fly-by-nighters, went bankrupt,” said Diane.
“I guess you’d have seen a lot of that in your work,” said David, turning in his seat to look at her. Not that he could see much. It was mighty dark right now.
David thought he saw a flash of pain cross her face when she answered. He could definitely hear it in her voice.
“A certain percentage of small businesses always fail within about three years. Someone starts the business without doing due diligence on whether there’s a need for the product or which suppliers or agencies he’ll use. Or the person simply hasn’t gotten the basic skills to run a business. It’s not just a matter of doing the task or providing the service, there’s all the paperwork to manage, paying your staff, taxes, that kind of thing.”
David nodded. He’d never really thought about it before, but what Diane said was simply good sense.
“But if too many small businesses fail, the bigger businesses that are still successful but struggling a bit are also likely to get caught up in the disaster. If the person supplying your widgets goes bust, by the time you find a new supplier of widgets your production has ceased, your best staff have been poached by your competitors, and your clients are all flocking to your competitors, too.”
“Which is why I’m happy just working for myself and not expanding my business by taking holiday photographs down at the mall,” said Galen.
“Oh, I don’t know. If you wore those black leather pants and went bare-chested and carried a whip, I reckon you’d get a heap of people wanting their picture taken,” teased Diane.
David laughed. “Oh my God. What a picture that’d make.”
“Well, now, y’all are just teasing me.” Galen exaggerated his slight Southern drawl, and David laughed again. He was enjoying being with these people even if it was the middle of the night.
* * * *
Diane walked between the two men through an abandoned part of town. None of these buildings looked the least bit worth photographing. She was glad she was wearing heavy steel-capped boots. “Shit-kickers,” she’d heard some of the men at the community call them, and hell, if anyone attacked her she’d kick all right.
She’d tied her coat around her waist by the sleeves and her scarf was knotted around her waist as well. She wasn’t stupid, nor was she going to have loose, flapping clothing that an assailant could use to grab her and pull her to him. Still, she figured she’d be plenty safe with these two men. Unless a gang attacked them, of course. She shrugged. Life was to be lived, after all. And as a person who practiced BDSM sex, it wasn’t like she was afraid to step out of the safe, secure, conformist, “nice little woman” box occasionally.
They’d left the car at a twenty-four-hour parking garage, with Galen simply saying, “Let’s go.” Diane guessed he was psyched about the search, and since it was his project, she was happy to follow, and just look and listen. For her, tonight was about spending time with the men, possibly learning more about their characters.
She had no idea whether or not they’d ever form some kind of link outside the dungeon as well as inside it. Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t even sure if their alliance inside the dungeon would last more than a week or two. After all, she was older than them and carried excess weight around her stomach. They were both so incredibly handsome they could replace her any time they chose with a younger, prettier woman. She really hoped they didn’t want to end the relationship, but…well, whatever. She was interested to learn more about them, and a few nights of walking around town was an easy way to do it.
Galen led them down a narrow alley, walking in the absolute middle of it all the way. Diane hoped, really, really hoped, this was not the turf of some drug gang, but hey, she’d chosen to come, and that was it as far as she was concerned.
They emerged into a square, and immediately facing them was a huge old cinema. This must be their first destination.
Galen stopped, got out his camera, and fiddled in his camera bag adding lenses to it. Diane watched in silence. So far they’d hardly spoken. It seemed almost rude to talk when all the world was sleeping.
She and David stayed together and behind Galen as Galen moved from one side of the square to the other, looking through his camera, taking shots, moving backward and forward, then kneeling down and taking more pictures.
“Do you reckon this one will work?” David asked her very softly.
Diane looked at the building critically. It had definitely been beautiful once. Iron lace hanging from the porch roof and finials from all the eaves attested to that. But the proportions of the building didn’t seem quite right to her. As if there should have been another wing on the right side. “I don’t think so. It’s uneven. Not quite symmetrical,” she said, wondering if David would understand her.
David stared at her in the dim light then looked at the building again. Suddenly he nodded. “That side is bigger than the other,” he said, flinging his arm out and pointing at the left side of the building.<
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Diane nodded, still speaking very quietly. “It’s almost as if there was another piece on the right which has been demolished or maybe was never even built.”
They waited while Galen took many photos then packed his camera away and came back to them. “Time to move on to the second building. This’s not what I want.”
“Yeah, we already worked that out,” said David as they began walking.
“How did you know?”
“It’s not symmetrical. Not balanced,” said Diane.
“The left side is overweight,” clarified David.
Galen snorted. “That’s one way of putting it, yes. I reckon it was never finished as the architect had intended it.”
“Budget cuts, nineteenth-century style,” suggested Diane.
“Reckon so.”
Once again they walked silently through the town. It was easy walking, all downhill, but Diane came to the conclusion that it would, of course, be all uphill later tonight when she was tired. Oh well, too bad.
The second building was such an obvious fail Galen didn’t even take a single picture. Someone had erected a high wooden fence around the front of the building, totally destroying any hope of talking decent pictures.
They walked faster this time, with Galen constantly looking up to the sky. It still seemed completely dark to Diane, but she wasn’t the photographer here, so she pushed herself to keep pace with the men so they wouldn’t slow down for her. She wanted them to arrive with time for Galen to check the next building thoroughly.
This one had once been a fine mansion but looked to be a multifamily house at the lower end of the scale now. At least no one had fenced it in or cut the side of it off. Diane sat on the sidewalk cross-legged, hoping her coat would provide enough insulation so that the concrete didn’t freeze her ass off. No way was she going to complain, but her legs were tired, and she needed to take a break.
David stood beside her, but his gaze was on Galen, who was once again changing the lenses on his camera, pacing backward and forward, and taking huge numbers of pictures. Diane tilted her head up to the sky. It didn’t look like dawn was coming anytime soon, so she hoped they’d gotten here with enough time for him to do everything he needed to do. At least if this building was another failure there was still one more to check out tomorrow.
Although right now she was looking forward to catching a few more hours’ sleep. But she knew she could cope on only four or five hours’ rest per night almost indefinitely, if she needed to. She’d done that for years working her way through college. Her parents had paid her tuition for her, but her accommodation, books, and living expenses she’d paid for herself waiting tables at night and working as a bookkeeper for a small business on weekends, all while studying full-time. It hadn’t been easy, but she’d done it and was grateful for the love and support of her family through those years. At least it’d meant she hadn’t begun her working life with enormous college loans to pay off.
She jumped to her feet as Galen began to walk into a side street, and she and David hurried after him. Once there Galen again began his pacing and snapping pictures. Diane was tempted to sit down again but was afraid if she sat for too long her muscles might stiffen up, and she had a hell of a walk back to where they’d parked the car.
Finally Galen came over to them. “You’ve been very patient. This one has potential. The dawn should appear from right behind the peak of the roof, which will be ideal. I’m going to pick the perfect place to take my opening shots, and then I won’t be able to move much from that spot,” he explained.
“Fair enough,” said David.
For a while it almost appeared as if Galen intended to stand on the road. It was a small side road, but Diane didn’t think that was a good idea, as sooner or later some traffic would come down it. Eventually he settled on a spot with his back to the road and his feet still on the sidewalk, facing the peak of the roof. Then he bent down and drew a chalk outline around his boots, stepped to the side, and sat down on the sidewalk, placing his camera bag and backpack on the ground beside him.
“Oh, good. I’m looking forward to sitting down myself,” said David, catching Diane’s elbow and walking back to Galen.
It was the first time that night that David had touched her, and electricity shot through her body at the sensation of his fingers on her arm, even through two sweaters. She joined the men, carefully skirting the outline of where Galen needed to stand.
“We just got done in time. Likely only half an hour, forty-five minutes until I need to start shooting,” Galen said, unzipping his backpack. He handed each of them an apple and an energy bar then pulled out a thermos of coffee and three paper cups. “It’s black, I’m afraid. I need to stay wide awake.”
“Black is how I like mine, anyway,” said David.
“I only finished my own coffee a bit ago, but thanks,” said Diane.
It felt strange to be sitting on the sidewalk in the city at four thirty in the morning, having a picnic, but it was fun, too. They talked casually about the things they’d seen, but Galen’s gaze kept returning to the sky. Long before Diane had noticed any change in the degree of blackness surrounding them, Galen was standing on the place he’d marked, camera in hand.
David collected their possessions, slinging the backpack and camera bag over his own shoulders, and Diane scrambled to her feet to stand with David, out of Galen’s view.
Diane watched Galen at work. His attitude now was more intense, more pressured, his hands moving quickly, his body twisting and turning this way and that, aiming for the very best effects of the light very gradually appearing behind the old house. Then Diane saw it. The light reflected off the roof, casting a glow about the building yet throwing other areas into shadow. For a mere instant in time the building was stunningly beautiful. Then the light moved and it was merely attractive. By the time dawn was complete it was a dirty, old, neglected multifamily house once more. But Diane’s heart was pounding. She’d seen what Galen had envisioned. Galen had never even seen the building before, but his artistic spirit had known there would be that split second when the building was once more as it had been in its prime, an awe-inspiring structure. The man was incredibly talented and blessed with vision as well as ability.
She wasn’t worthy of him. She was just an ordinary woman with a slightly fat stomach, older than him—older than both of them—human, not shape-shifter. How could a real relationship ever develop between such a brilliant man as him and so very ordinary a woman as her?
Chapter Four
Physically David felt a bit tired, but mentally and emotionally he was alert and excited. It’d been amazing to watch that old house come to life as the light struck it in just exactly the right way then to see it fade and age as he watched it, gaining one hundred years in as many seconds.
“Will you need to go back tonight—tomorrow—for more pictures?’
“I won’t know for sure until I’ve downloaded all the ones I took tonight and checked them in Photoshop, but I don’t think so. I reckon I got what I wanted.”
“It was amazing. I’ve never seen anything as surprising as the way that house changed as the light hit it,” said Diane.
David kept asking Galen questions. He wanted to understand everything about the big man’s work.
They were almost back to Carnal Connections when they saw a lot of vehicles and a crowd of people outside the movie studio. “What’s going on there today? Are they shooting an outdoor crowd scene or something? I didn’t think the advertisements were ready for general filming yet,” said David.
“They aren’t,” answered Galen, turning onto the movie studio access road.
But Nicholas did seem to be filming something. He had one of the portable cameras on his shoulder and was panning it up and down the front wall of the main studio building. There were only two buildings here, both of them large. The indoor studio and offices, which was what everyone was looking at, and one large storage barn and work area.
Da
vid followed Galen across to the crowd, and Diane walked beside him. As he got closer he could see between people and it became obvious there was writing on the studio wall. That was strange. If the wall had been painted as a backdrop for a film, that he could understand. But writing? Unless it was supposed to be a sign for in a film or something. But then why was everyone standing around? Nothing made sense, even when he got close enough to realize the words were just graffiti, not product names or anything like that.
“As soon as the police have come here and written their report we’ll just scrub it off. It’s no big deal,” said Nicholas.
“Yes, it is a big deal. It means kids are out here vandalizing things, and we don’t want them here. In particular, we don’t want them near our land. What are kids doing all the way out here anyway?” grumbled Larry.
“And what if they decide to slash car tires and smash windows next time? Don’t these vandalism attacks tend to escalate?” asked Kurt, one of the older men.
“Graffiti artists graffiti. It’s what they do. You’ll be scrubbing their writing off your wall day in, day out until they’re caught,” added Frank. He was also older, but he was a panther. How did all these people get here so fast? When did this happen?
David was walking around, listening to what people were saying, when the police arrived.
“I don’t recognize that tag. Do you, Diaz?”
“Nope. They’re newbies.”
“Could it be the rogues are back again?” asked Larry.
“If it’s the men from the ram raid it’ll be easy to catch them,” said the other police officer.
People laughed. David wasn’t so sure. The stupid ones were already in jail. If this was the work of Drew and Charlie, he rather thought they’d be damn hard to catch. But still, how likely was that? It must just be bored kids with nothing to do.
