by Riley Moreno
But the Nissan stops for him. And he approaches the window to see a young woman getting out of the car before he has time to peak his head in. “Hold on!” She gets out her phone and takes a snapshot of Darren.
“Eh! What are you doing?”
“I have to double check something with somebody. No worry. No worry.” But Darren is worried. After those rebels hand-fed him a beating, there’s no point to give-in now and he thinks there’s no time to discard and heads back into the bushes.
“Come back!? I’m waiting for her to reply.”
Darren was half-way in there...but he’s coming back out. She could be Lee. “And who’s she?”
“I’m sure. She...yes....that’s it! Darren. You’re Darren! And I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why?”
“Angelina gave me a message to skirt the area for a man named Darren. Vague description of you. But...I can tell an outsider the moment I spot one. I’m so glad I found you before the rebels did.”
“Where have you come from?”
“I’ve come from Shandi town. A couple of rebels reached and were gossiping about a guy trying to hide and who had escaped from them. They asked a few folk because, well, they hate strangers as you must know. When they got to me, I knew that Angelina would like to know why they were asking for a stranger named Da-wen? She got up and told me to take my Nissan and search for you pronto! I’ve explored for the last 3- hours. This was the last straw before I was about to give up. Oh! And I’m Sandy.”
Sandy’s the bubbliest that Darren has seen when it comes to women out here. It’s not her smile because there’s none on her face. And he can’t actually say that she has much to be happy about in terms of appearance: big googly eyes that seem to be leaking, uneven lips and a nose on diet is what she has on that yellowish skin of hers. Her hair’s shoved underneath a headscarf and is frantically gasping for air as it pressed down into her temple and will leave a line running across.
And her clothes favor to big and no figure. But Darren can see if she was to really care...then she’d be on par with Angelina. But that’s what’s Sandy’s allure; not caring when the times call for young men and women to think of what the future holds, and not what to wear -and the makeup and image to plaster their bodies with.
“I can’t express how nice is it is to come across a friendly personality.”
“Yeah. We can’t stay around here though. I’ll need you to talk with Angelina because she’s messaged me that she wants to speak with you. So, we should get into the car and I’ll drive up that way until a direction is served.”
“Sounds like I can work with that.”
In the Nissan, Darren has to clear the seat from empty almond rappers and bottles of water. He places it upon the back seats and sits back down; closing the door. Sandy is already speaking with Angelina, “Ok. Well, he’s here so I’ll pass him onto you.”
Darren takes the mobile phone, he’s not quite sure what brand it is. “Hey, Angelina?”
“Hey Darren, I’m glad you’re still alive. I ... I didn’t know what to think when the rebels arrived without you.”
“I managed to slip away.”
“I’m glad. Peacock is a cock for true.” Sandy heard that and sniggers. Darren grins at her for catching onto a good-old-joke. “The sanctuary was a mistake. I didn’t know they were planning to knock it down and re-build there. I think they want to generate apartments and more house. Who knows? Anyways, I wondered where I should send you for protection? And I think it might be better for you to go back to the motel in Torbelli and wait there for me and Hona. The owner wouldn’t say anything to the rebels. And they wouldn’t go in there because she’s a religious lady.”
“Is there nowhere else?”
“It would give you a chance to meet up with Lee again. My father said that she was up at the pony ranch. And if you were to head back there now, maybe she would be passing the motel and stopping there for her things. My father said he had to keep some of her luggage there.”
“I’m going to call her after I’m done with you.”
“So, you will go back to the motel and wait for me?”
“Yeah,” Darren says no more.
“Good. Do not leave. I’ll be there after I sort some things here. Sandy should have some food. I know you’re hungry.”
When Darren hangs up, Sandy is offering him a bagel and salmon with some white cheese. “Eat up!”
“Do you mind if I call Lee? I... I need to hear her voice and know that she’s ok.”
“Girlfriend?”
“Uh ...” Darren withdraws into himself for almost saying yes. “A friend of mine. Partner. Uh...”
Sandy smiles at Darren’s low-key blushing. “Call her. Torbelli is 10 – miles by car, and I’m sure you have a lot to say?”
Darren had the window down and his thoughts in a knot. He tapped Sandy’s phone on the hood. He hadn’t called her yet after more than 4-miles covered and two bagels devoured with some water flushing and crushing it gently.
“Would you like me to call her?” Darren chuckles at the way Sandy just comes out with a random suggestion. He likes her driving. But that proposition is a car crash!
“And would you know what to say?”
A smirk, “No. I have no idea who she is, or who you are. But I guess she means more than a partner to you? Feelings ... it’s what I sense you have.”
“That obvious?”
“Hmm. If you haven’t spoken to her in a while it would be best to just phone her to see if she’s alive and breathing. She could be trying to call you.”
“That’s what’s stopping me. Her not picking up. And me not knowing why?”
“I’m very confused.”
“I can’t face a voice message or dead phone. I need to hear her voice.”
“Then call, Darren. And stop playing 21-guesses.”
“Would you call me then? I’ve tabbed the number in so it’s only to press the green phone icon.”
Sandy holds out her hand and takes her own phone, “I’ll do it for you.”
“Thanks.” Darren uncomfortably adjusts himself in the seat. And waits for Sandy to press that phone to her.
“Ok. Here goes.”
Darren’s nervous, like when he once proposed to a girl who told him no - nervous. When a hood-rat was following him home - nervous. When he spoke to Henny who proclaimed that he would get fired - nervous. And him sitting in this seat and waiting for Lee to pick up the call is bringing him back to when he wanted to kiss-her-nervous. Yeah, it’s not what he loves to undergo, but right about now, all he wants to do is –
“There’s somebody picking up ...”
Sandy offers the phone to Darren as he hears the voice of Lee communicating “Hello...hello...who’s calling? Henny, is that you? It must be. Who else calls me on a private number? Hello...hello.”
Sandy quickly fires, “don’t let her hang up!”
Darren snatches the phone but apologies to Sandy for doing so, and then says, “Lee, it’s me.”
“D... Darren?” He’s never heard her voice sound so shrill and empathetic in his life. For the first time ever, she sounds like a woman whose heart has been mended and born again all in one. It doesn’t change in intonation when she carries on. “I was literally on this horseback wondering where the hell had your ass got to? I’ve been calling your phone and all I got was this phone is unavailable. You had me knocking on death’s door and asking for a refund!”
“I think the same can be said for me. But deep down I knew you’d be ok I suppose. I uh ... I sure as hell have plenty I need to talk to you about.”
“Same here. Do you have a meeting point? I’m just about reaching the bottom of Torbelli and was going to head back to the motel.”
Sandy smiles. And Darren answers, “that’s where I’m heading now. I’ll see you there then.”
Lee’s just about to hang up. “Le ... Lee?” She hangs on though.
“Yeah?”
“I uh ... I wa
nt you to know that I missed you.”
“Sure.” And with that, she hangs up. Darren passes the phone back to Sandy.
“I think it would be better to tell her again in person.” Sandy tries to delete Darren’s lack of enthusiasm for keeping his hopes alive.
“With Lee, you can never tell what current she’ll be blowing with. I think I’m just attracted to torture.”
“Is that what she makes you feel, torture?”
“I’m no hopeless romantic. Neither is she. But Sandy, when you meet her, give me an inkling of what you think with one of your fingers to indicate if I’m blind or if she feels anything for me at all from 1-to-10.
“I do not understand you?”
“I want you to tell me if what I heard on the phone was somebody who’s in love with me? Or just feeling relieved that I’m ok?”
“Oh!” Sandy nods continuously. “This I can do for you as well. How nice for me to make a new friend. I like strangers who come out here. Well, some of them. Like the journalist who was so sweet and nurturing for my passion of wanting to photograph rare butterflies. She said I should pursue my dream. And if I was willing, she’d teach me a thing or two with her camera she had stashed away. I was meant to meet her one evening.”
“And what happened to this journalist?”
“She said that she was being followed by the organization. And that soon they would get rid of her for disobeying. She said men back home are involved in this plot. And she wants to expose it all and make sure that people out here don’t crumble because of it.”
“What plot?”
“New currency introduction scheme.”
Darren twists his neck out the window. “And did she know any of the names back home?”
“She had taken notes. But the motel that she stayed at was...hmm...I think in Shandi town? I know she would want me to talk to polite and normal strangers like you. She said that...they would soon be sending out people to try and cover up the story. And they would be...what’s the word...um...using detectives ... regular ... oh ... I can’t remember.”
Darren faces Sandy. She blinks at him, “Have I said something useful for you?”
“Using detectives. That’s definitely useful.”
...
Lee didn’t know what to do with the steed when she reached the motel dirty and in need of a shower. She brought him to the back where she saw an unused hitching post. Pity there was no saddle to tie him against.
The horse seemed ok with the surroundings and just stared back at Lee, who patted him on the nose and thought carrots would be a nice treat if she could get some? Then she enters the hotel and sees that the owner isn’t at the reception desk, and a sign is on there that says: no guns or leave!
It would’ve been nice to see that there before. Oh well, Lee thinks. And waits at the desk for at least 5 – minutes before realizing that on the wall in very small writing is the message: out to lunch! “Great!” Lee huffs out her frustration and thinks to take a seat when she hears somebody coming down the steps and drops her hand in the pocket where her pistol lies. She needs to clean her babies. But if they needed to be used again, they’d do the nasty deed.
“Is somebody waiting?” The man comes through the door that leads to the stairs to the upper level. There are no elevators around here. He takes one glance at Lee and retreats behind the door. “You the one who leave dead body in room!”
Technically it wasn’t me, Lee wants to articulate. It was Darren. And he saved my life. Another nice line to give to this scaredy-cat, but she needs to be polite and wants to rest before he sees him. You know, freshen up. Smell nice. Get her hair ... oh god ... she walks over and pushes open the door – the man goes sailing back with a slight bumpy-bump that hits his front teeth. The easily opening door has a windy swing
“Shit. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You see the photo?”
Lee does see a photo of herself. She walks over to printed copy “You guys have printers out here?” She forgets that this place has some technology going for itself. But in other ways, it’s a little backward in that department. “If seen, please report to ...” Lee squints at the name, “please report to Timothy... that gimp.” She returns to the man whose front incisors are still feeling the pain.
“I only want to get my things and wait for a friend. You know...uh...Hona...Hona says to come here and wait for him. And then his daughter to, will come.”
“Hona says this?”
“Yes. I have to stay here for safety. If you could just let me wait in my room and pack my belongings, I would be gone soon.”
“You promise me, that Hona and Angelina are coming to collect you?”
“I do. I do.”
“The owner will be here in one hour. She said that Hona calls and ask for you and Da-wen to stay put. Even with picture on wall, she says.”
“I need to thank her some other time.”
“Your room has been untouched since murder happen. Nothing has been touched. I not say a word.”
...
The first thing Lee did was shower and use the gel that she had packed. She soaked her dreads and rang them dry when done. She didn’t have much in terms of cuts or contusions to clean, but marks left over from the men she had fought had ruptured her capillaries and had become reddish-evidence that they wanted to finish her.
When she got out, she grabbed the cream towel and wrapped it around her wet body, then brushed her teeth rapidly and spat out that toothpaste, before gurgling and rinsing her mouth. It was nice to feel clean again. And she’d lost count on how long she’d been in the bathroom self-grooming.
Her neck, temple, calves, and shin got the attention they deserved, and she made funny faces in the mirror to exercise those facial muscles into freedom. It was Lee’s way of getting rid of all that tension that was creeping not only from the past events but from seeing Darren in the last few days that neared a week.
So much had happened during that time. So much learned, and no reason for her to believe that her growth as an individual hadn’t matured in that time. The latest and greatest confession was learning about Toro and admitting that Darren might just be right about his snaky personality.
That was the biggest burner needing to be smoked by them both. She wondered when Darren would get here? If he would ring first? Lee would suggest that they just spend the night in her room and let Angelina and Hona, who would be back the next day, arrive and they’d be off. She wanted so badly to sleep.
She blinks the baby-blues away and walks out into her room, “Darren!” He’s sitting on the bed with nothing to say and gazing embarrassingly at Lee wrapped in a towel. He has a bottle of water in his hand that he was just about to drink, but that’s frozen and he can’t tear himself away from Lee with wet dreads and a shocked expression. “You were about to send the tooth fairy over here from losing my teeth! And my...my heart has never skipped and not started like that before. Am I still alive?”
“You ...” Darren gets up and nearly spills some of the water. “You sure are.”
“The hell...how long have you been sitting there?”
“About um ... 10 – minutes ago.” There’s no clock for him to check so he just estimated.
“And you didn’t think to knock on the door and let me know that you had arrived?”
“You were enjoying that shower. And to be fair, I almost fell asleep on this bed. I haven’t slept in a while or been able to just... plonk myself down and recuperate.”
Lee checks him over; Darren’s been through a few wars and has come back worse for wear. If it wasn’t for Lee showering, he’d think the same about her. “You look like shit, Darren.”
He sits back down on the edge of the bed. “You have no idea. Them rebels really wanted to ...” his pause has Lee remembering that she’s half naked and her chest area isn’t exactly an A-cup. “I’m no predator.”
“Hmm. You just can’t help gazing at the area that happens to show some of my breasts?”
Lee contemplates that. “I strangely feel comfortable.”
Darren’s eyes light up with flabbergast blabbing away, “Wow. Lee Coil is comfortable with another man seeing her partially naked. Is this a change of person? Has been out here given Darren Webb a chance to see what lies underneath that towel?”
“Don’t get fresh!” But Lee’s smiling and holding her hands out for a hug. “Would you come over here and hug me, please. You're alive. And that means more to me than nudity.”
Darren takes his time to walk to her, “this is all too much!”
Lee tuts away his playfulness and meets him half-way. They stop. Gaze into each other’s eyes. And then burst out into laughter. “I think I’m onto something out here.” A hug, in Lee’s definition of the word, is to get close enough for her to hear what she has to say. “The source ... the one who’s been pestering my life and trying to see me dead is none other than Bennie, Darren.”
Darren’s mouth opens, but it’s hard for him to concentrate. He wants to hug Lee for real. His fingers are crushing into his palms. “It explains a little, about what Sandra said in the car.”
“Who’s Sandra?”
“A friend of Angelina.” Darren wants to kiss her. Grab her chin, reel her in and tell her that he’s missed her.
“Ok.” Lee lowers her head. Darren wonders why?
“I think it’s rounding up to the fact that we’re out here as decoys, Lee, for a certain someone to get his money-ladder-on. And Camilla was trying to expose that organization who wanted to shut her up completely. If we find that diary of hers or notebook that should be hidden. Then we get some names that she was searching for.”
“I’m impressed, deputy. And I’m guessing we can find that in Shandi Town?”
“Exactly. Shaka might be on that list...and we could be pointed his way.”
“Hmm.” Darren reaches out and touches Lee’s face. She stares him away. “Don’t do be doing that soppy shit.”
