by Mac Flynn
"Need to use me as a stepping stool?" I suggested. He jumped up and easily grasped the tiny bit of string, which he then dragged down with him along with a flight of narrow wooden stairs. "I stand corrected, and flabbergasted. How'd you learn to jump so high?"
"I eat my Wheaties every morning."
"With jumping beans?"
"Beans and I have an agreement to disagree with each other, so we're not on speaking terms." He led the way up the creaky old stairs, and I paused when I peeked my head over the floor. We were under the peaked roof of the building, and judging by the thick layer of strata over the shroud-covered furniture and boxes a scientist could carbon-date the building to the age of Really-old. The only sign of life was a path leading from the staircase to a door in the middle of the single long room. Garrison stood beside the door. "You've gone too far down the rabbit hole to turn back now," he teased.
"Maybe this bunny wants to keep all its feet," I quipped, but I went over to him.
Garrison grasped the knob, but gave me a stern look. "You can come up here as often as you like, but don't tell anyone else you're up here."
I jerked my thumb over to the ladder. "Then you might want to close that thing, because I don't know how."
His serious face was transformed by a sheepish grin. "Oh, right." He scurried over, closed the ladder, then scurried back and slipped on his serious expression. "As I was saying, this is a secret that needs to be kept between us, otherwise I might lose my job."
I crossed my hand over my heart. "Till death do us part."
"I think you're mixing up your promises."
"Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear." We performed the age-old ritual of the pinky swear, and he turned back to the door. "I have to keep this locked from the inside in case somebody good at jumping roofs does get up here." He unlocked and opened the door.
The exit led to a flat patio that faced east and ran along the entire length of the building. It was five feet wide, and there wasn't any railing at the ends so any slip so there was a sudden drop with a quick stop at the bottom. I had a healthy respect for heights, so I kept two feet away from the edge, but Garrison stepped right up to the edge as confident as a man with a death wish.
He held out his hand to me. "There's nothing to fear but fear itself, and the view is wonderful from here," he encouraged me.
"Fear doesn't have to worry about falling over the side of a five-story building," I countered.
"I'll catch you if you fall," he promised. I looked him up and down, and decided his scrawny frame couldn't catch a cold much less my-ahem, shall we say ample weight.
"I'm quite happy hugging myself to the wall in the hopes of not falling to my doom," I assured him.
He sighed and shrugged, but there was a grin on his face. "All right, have it your way, but what do you think of the view?" I opened my mouth, but he held up his hand. "Other than the drop," he added.
My mouth snapped shut and I glanced around for a serious appraisal of this hair-raising high-rise. There was tar paper beneath my feet, the crumbling slant of the roof at my back, and in front of me rose the sun over the city in a scene that took my breath away. The glistening lights reflected off the metal roofs and shining windows, and created a forest of brilliance that nearly blinded me. "I think I need sunglasses," I quipped as I lay my arm over my face.
He laughed. "It is pretty bright, but I've been on a lot of rooftops in my day and this view can't be beaten."
I raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing on rooftops?"
Garrison sheepishly grinned. "Would you believe inspecting the architecture?"
"No."
"Former chimney-sweep?"
"Nope."
"What would you believe?"
"Pervert."
Garrison snorted and shrugged. "Very well, a long time ago I was a pervert."
"A long time ago?"
"We won't get anywhere in this relationship if there isn't any trust."
"Because there isn't. You're keeping secrets, I'm keeping, well, keeping to myself." My life wasn't exciting enough to have lies, much less secrets.
"Well, if we can't have trust we can at least have this place." He held up his arms to the patio. "Come here anytime you like, and if you can't find me I'm usually up here getting a breath of fresh air." A garbage truck passed down below us. "Or at least what constitutes fresh air for a city."
"That's nice of you, but I don't think I can reach the string," I reminded him.
A strange smile slipped onto Garrison's face, like he knew a joke I didn't. It was probably a fat joke. "I'm sure with practice you'll reach it, but let's go down to my apartment and I'll see what I can make for you."
Chapter 5
I followed him down into the basement, but paused at the laundry room door. It was mummified with police tape so I couldn't look inside, but I still remembered every detail of that mess. Garrison stepped up beside me, and glanced between the door and me. "I hope you haven't had any nightmares from the experience."
I shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I think I dreamed about that guy who saved me, but he didn't seem so friendly in my dream." I looked over to him. "You think the police will find those guys who attacked me?"
Now it was Garrison's turn to shrug. "If they go to a hospital they might be found, but the gang members might know that and try to treat themselves. You said you thought one of them looked familiar?"
For a change of expression I nodded my head. "Yeah, but I'm not sure. Is anyone missing in the building?"
Garrison's lips pursed together and he glanced at the stairs we'd just come down. "Truth be told I think I might know the man you're talking about."
My eyes widened. "And did you tell the police? Did they search his room?"
"Neither happened. I just have a hunch so all I did was knock on the door to see if he was there."
"No answer?" I guessed.
"No answer."
"Shouldn't you tell the cops? They might be able to get a warrant."
"I'll remember to do that, but first wasn't I going to get you something to open that hatch?" he reminded me.
"Yeah, and you still haven't told me what it was," I pointed out.
"I'd rather show you." He led me into his apartment and gestured to the table. "Have a seat while I look for it. It shouldn't take too long to find it." He disappeared into a side room, and I sat down in my usual chair. I admit I hadn't read a dictionary for a while, but after fifteen minutes he stretched the definition of 'too long' too far. All that time I heard terrible sounds of boxes falling, glass shattering, and yelps of pain.
"Do you need help?" I called out to him.
"No, just fine," he shouted through the door. There was another shattering of glass. "Just, um, rearranging some things." I cringed when something heavy slammed into a wall and he yelped. What was worse than the noise was the silence that followed that last yelp. I stood and hurried over to the door, and gave it a knock.
"You okay?"
"Ask me that tomorrow," came the groaning reply.
I opened the door and looked into a ten by ten space that more resembled a war zone than a storage room. Everywhere I looked were fallen wood crates and ones stacked as high as the ceiling teetering on the edge of making somebody's day very bad and painful. There was a broken mirror off to one side with the shattered remains on the filthy floor, and a dresser leaned against the wall with its drawers half slid open. In the midst of the chaos lay Garrison, or at least his leg. It stuck out from beneath a box and twitched every now and then.
"I think whatever you're doing could use a lighter touch," I commented
"Less words and more helping," came the muffled response.
I sighed and dug my way through the debris and carnage to him, where I tried to lift the crates. While I wasn't the strongest girl of my size I knew I wasn't a weakling, so I was surprised when I couldn't even budge a box. I don't know how he wasn't crushed beneath those heavy things. "What the hell are in these things? C
annon balls?"
If that single leg could have tapped its foot, it would have. "Just try to push them off," he advised me. I pushed and groaned, and added a few more sound effects before I managed to get most of the boxes off him. The last one on top of him was as light as a feather, but I still had to help him move it before I saw his pale face and heaving chest.
"You look like death warmed over," I told him.
"That explains why I feel like I have one foot in the grave," he quipped with a weak smile. I helped him up and pushed him toward the door.
"Let's get you warmed up so Death doesn't mistake you for his next client."
"But I didn't get your stick," he lightly protested as I guided him over to the kitchen table. I plopped him down in his chair and shoved a used but empty coffee mug in front of him.
"Tell me what it is and what it looks like and I'll find it myself while you get yourself some coffee," I suggested.
Garrison sighed and clutched the cup between his hands. "I was trying to get you a wooden stick with a hook on the end so you could grab the ring on the hatch. The last time I saw it was a couple months ago, and it was at the very back of that room."
"And it hasn't been heard from since then?" I teased him.
"Not so much as a bark from its wood."
"I admit I deserved that one."
"Definitely."
"I could abandon you in your hour of need."
"You could, but you won't."
"Why not?"
"Because I know you, and I know you're not the type of person to abandon others."
I raised an eyebrow. "That sounds suspiciously like stalker talk."
"I merely observe people. It's a hobby of mine," he corrected me.
"How about you change your hobby to brewing coffee and make us up some while I go solve the case of the missing stick?" I suggested.
"All right, but don't look in any of the boxes," he ordered me. You can guess what happened next. It's not that I wanted to snoop in them. Okay, I did want to snoop in them, but it was all an accident. Sort of. Kind of. All right, I'm lying about that, too, but it started out innocent enough. I walked back into the war zone intent on saving my missing comrade, Mr. Stick, when I happened to glance at the last box I'd pulled away from Garrison. The lid was slightly open, tempting me like a candy bar on a store shelf. Before I could stop myself I'd reached out and opened the lid a little further. Couldn't see anything. Then a little more. Still couldn't see anything. I gave up and flipped open those flaps to find funny dried flowers.
I pulled one out and got a good look at it. It was a purple color and had long, thin petals, usually five, that surrounded a thick center part that held the pollen producer. When I sniffed it there was a nice, faint, flowery scent to it, but nothing out of the ordinary. I turned back to the crate and rummaged through the whole thing, but all I found were more of those dried flowers.
"Looks like he has one healthy hobby," I muttered to myself.
"Did you find it?" Garrison called to me.
"One sec, I'm just revving up my chain saw to get through some of this mess," I shouted back. My curiosity wasn't quite satiated, not with those heavy crates sitting there mocking me with their closed lids. One of the bottom ones that lay on the floor had a broken corner, so I leaned down and peeked inside. All I saw were weights and dumbbells. "Just another healthy hobby," I whispered.
"I try to keep myself fit," came a voice right behind me. I jumped, high-fived the ceiling with my head and spun in midair to find Garrison standing right behind me. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a very mad, scary look on his face.
"A-and you do a, um, a great job," I complimented him as I looked over his thin, non-muscular frame. He wasn't amused, so I gestured to the flower box. "You have a very nice collection of dried petunias," I added.
He didn't crack a smile. "They're wolf's bane," he corrected me.
"Oh, um, well, they're very pretty."
"Is there anything else you snooped through?"
I hung my head. "No," I whispered in a voice full of remorse. I really shouldn't have been looking through a guy's personal stuff, especially after he specifically told me not to.
"Then if you're through snooping then maybe we can find that stick," he suggested.
I lifted my face and showed my expression of surprise. "You still trust me enough to give me the stick?"
"I believe in second chances," he replied, though the next words came out in a whisper. "Goodness knows I've needed them."
I smiled and gave him one of my bone-crushing hugs. "I won't let you down again!"
"But could you let me go?" he croaked.
"Oh, sorry." I let him go and scrutinized his appearance. "For a guy with such heavy weights you sure can't handle much."
Garrison nodded at the open flower box. "It's the flowers, I'm allergic to them," he told me.
"Then why are you keeping them around?"
"In case someone else is allergic to them."
"That is the weirdest explanation I've ever heard."
"I'll wear the badge with honor, but how about we find that stick? It should be against that far wall between those piles of crates." He pointed to where he was referring, and I saw two towering stacks of crates.
"You mean between those dangerous, leaning towers of crates?" I asked him.
"Yep."
"Are you trying to kill me?"
"Nope."
"Well, if I don't make it at least put some of those pretty flowers on my grave."
"No problem."
"You have a lot of faith in me."
"Just obeying your final request."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
I rolled my eyes, and meandered through and over the maze of mess to get at the twin crate stacks. Sure enough between them, behind a couple of large maps covered in red ink, sat the legendary Stick of Hookerness. Get your mind out of the gutter. I grabbed the stick, swam my way upstream back through the mess and came out the other side battered and bruised, but not broken. I raised the stick above my head and gave a maniacal laugh. "Success!" I cried out to my companion.
"The mess isn't that bad," Garrison protested. I froze, whipped my head toward him and scowled. He nervously smiled and held up his hands in front of him. "Or maybe it was."
I grinned and lowered my weapon. "So where's that coffee?"
"This way, just be careful with that-ouch!" I'd accidentally swung the stick a little too close to him and bopped him on the head.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know it would reach you! Are you all right?" I stepped toward him with the weapon still in my hand and he stepped back. "That looks like a bad knock. Let me see it," I pleaded with him.
"Put the stick down," he ordered me.
I leaned it up against the wall next to the door and dragged him out of the room to his chair. I plopped him down in his seat and before he could protest I was on top of him. If I were naked I don't think he would have protested at all, but seeing as I was fully clothed and poking at a nice egg growing from his scalp he wasn't too thrilled with my attentions. "You're making it worse!" he yelped.
"Only because you're not holding still," I protested.
"I can't help it, my body doesn't like pain."
"I'll toughen it up."
"Even if it kills me?"
"Better you than me."
"I think I've heard enough to want another nurse, or a sedative."
"Is there a hammer around here?"
"On second thought, skip the sedative. Just kill me now-ouch!" I knocked his noggin hard, but this time on purpose. He cupped his hand over his bump and glared at me. "Mind if I get a last request?"
"You can't request to live."
"Actually, I'd like one last cup of coffee. It should be ready by now." Sure enough the sound of the percolating precious elixir of life finished in the coffee machine, and I fetched a mug for both of us.
I set the cups down in front of our chairs and sat down. "How a
bout we call it a truce?" I suggested as I stirred coffee into my sugar. I wasn't too thrilled with the taste of coffee, but I loved any excuse to add sugar to a drink.
"Agreed, but on one condition," he replied.
I raised an eyebrow. "What sort of condition?"
"You can't tell anybody what you found in that room."
"You mean about the dry flowers and weights? Why would anyone care about that stuff?"
He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "Let's just say some people would be very interested to know my hobbies."
"You have some strange enemies," I commented.
Garrison looked straight ahead at his door and nodded his head. "That I do, and I'd rather they not find out too much about me." I leaned across the table and gave him such a careful scrutiny that he leaned away. "What?"
"Are you a dealer in the black market for weights and dried flowers?"
He choked out a laugh and some of his coffee. When he got a hold of himself he was all smiles. "You're a very strange girl, you know that?"
"So I've been told, but you can't believe everything everybody tells you."
"If enough people are telling you then maybe you should start listening to them."
"Nah, what do they know? They're just my boss, coworkers, psychiatrist, talking dog, and random stranger."
"I'm starting to see a pattern."
"Pattern?"
"Yes. Everybody who comes into contact with you has the same opinion as me that you're very unusual."
"You said weird earlier."
"One must be more diplomatic around a serial weirdo."
"Coming from the guy with a storage room full of black market gym equipment?"
"I bought them all."
"Off who? Your dealer?"
He chuckled and drained his coffee mug. "You have the wildest imagination. I noticed hints of it since you've been here, but I never would have guessed you were this funny."
"So. . .so you really think I'm funny?" I asked him.
Garrison smiled. "Why wouldn't I?"
"You did just call me weird," I pointed out.
