by Amber Lynn
We made our way all of two blocks before we saw a sign that said Vida Grocery. The very short distance served as the first clue that it was going to be very hard to get lost in the town. Having not met any of the townsfolk yet, I was reserving judgment on whether or not that was a good thing.
"How much you want to bet that's it?" I asked Nate.
"I don't know; it might be a spa, maybe we can get you a bikini wax," he retorted.
He was full of laughs, usually about topics he shouldn't be joking about. We pulled into the empty parking lot and got out.
"Looks like a normal grocery store from here. I wonder if it has geothermal floors like the house. You might have to keep me from petting them." Nate wasn't the only one who could tell a joke and mine was obviously far superior to his.
A woman with long brown hair and matching eyes immediately greeted us as we entered the store. She wore a light blue V-neck and a pair of skinny jeans with some cowboy boots over the jeans. She was also sporting a nametag that said "Kathleen".
"Howdy," she said with an exaggerated drawl. "We don't get a lot of visitors out here. You folks passing through?"
"Nope, we're moving into the house at two-thirteen Main Street. We just got to town and thought we should pick up some groceries," I explained.
"Oh, you must be the new couple who's going to be working out at the tank," she said without the accent.
"That would be us, I'm Peggy and this is my boyfriend Sean. You seemed to have lost your accent there, do you really have one?" Clearly she didn't, but the outfit matched what she was going for, so I wasn't one hundred percent sure which accent was fake.
"It's great to meet you guys. As you can read on the nametag, I'm Kathleen, but you can call me Katie. As for the accent, it's something we all do around here when we meet strangers. We don't want them to know anything different is going on here, so we talk like we expect normal ranchers do."
"You know ranchers in the south might, and I stress the might, talk like that, but I'm not sure about up here in Montana," Nate piped in. "I know a couple of farmers, and they have no accent at all."
"Well, I don't think any of us have ever been on a farm, other than the bio farm at the tank, so we just go from what we've heard on TV and in the movies."
"I doubt most people passing through notice the difference," I said, trying to reassure her that the accent was okay. "So, we're here to get some groceries. Anything special we should know before we hit the aisles?" I asked.
"You'll learn fast we do things just a little different around here. With the tank so close, the community benefits from a lot of the projects they're working on."
"Oh, like my geothermal floors and the windows in the house?" I asked butting in before she could finish her thought.
"You've got it. The windows are some new UV tinting stuff they're working on. The floors aren't actually geothermal. It's another project they've been working on. Phil Handley is in charge of it. Make sure to never piss him off because he has a master control and has been known to turn the heat up when he's cranky. I know absolutely zilch about the sciencey stuff. My husband works at the tank in the AI lab, so I'm just a tagalong."
That was interesting information to learn. I'd thought everyone in the town was centered at the think tank. That didn't make a lot of sense as I considered it more, because someone had to run whatever businesses the town boasted. With the small number of residents, I didn't think we'd find much more than the store.
"I'm supposed to start at the AI lab tomorrow. Maybe I'll meet him," I said.
"That's right; Hank mentioned that was where you'd be working. You'll have a great time. Almost everyone in that section is really nice. You have to watch out for Ettie, though. She can be really hard to get along with."
"I should've brought something to take notes with." Nate was the talker between the two of us, so I was surprised I'd been able to get more than a single word in. I swore he loved to hear his own voice. To get him involved, I asked, "How about in security? That's where Sean will be working."
Finally taking over a little, he said, "Yeah, I want to know who to keep my eye on and who'll be the most likely to hang out with me to watch sports."
She laughed. "Well, in a town of mostly geeks, who never leave their lab, you have about two options for sports. Both of them just happen to be on your security team. The first one is Tom. He's a nice guy, but a really loud drunk, so if you do watch with him, forget the alcohol. He's been here about five years and is as sweet as can be any other time.
"The other person who's sporty is Anne. She's a tomboy of sorts and loves anything a person can compete in. As far as the rest of the spooks, that's what everyone calls security, I've never had any issues. I imagine you'll get along fine."
She looked Nate up and down, like she was evaluating what she'd just said and nodded. I didn't think the way Nate looked had anything to do with how he'd get along with others, but I didn't bother telling her to get her eyes off him. I would, of course, been doing that via my Peggy persona, because the Avery one didn't care. Okay, maybe she cared a little.
"You're a wealth of information, Katie." Nate fidgeted with his neck a little, like something was making him uncomfortable. The thought only made the smile I'd plastered on my face a little more sincere.
"Yeah, you'll find out quickly that I'm the town gossip. No use in hiding it.?Everyone else spends all their time working at the tank and I get rather bored. There are only two other wives who aren't smarty pants and they've banded together in disliking me. They were here before me, and evidently never graduated from high school with their clique-like attitudes."
"I can understand having to find something to fill your time. After I get all settled into life here, we'll have to spend some time together. I tend to be afraid to talk to new people, but you've made me feel so comfortable. I'm starting to wonder if there's some happy gas being piped through your air system."
I was a little suspicious that I hadn't hid behind Nate while he did all the talking. It was a well-known fact that I wasn't cut out for undercover work, which meant it was important for me to keep my mouth closed.
"I wouldn't say happy, but we are piloting a calming gas. Right now it's just dispensed via an air freshener canister. They're testing it for hostage situations. Just think of how easy it'd be to talk people down when they're calm," she answered.
"I knew it. I'm never this talkative. It probably doesn't seem to you like I have been, but believe me, this isn't me. I'm going to have to remember to spend very little time here, because I don't like not having control of my emotions."
"Where can I get a stockpile of the stuff?" Nate asked, only to receive an elbow in the side from me.
"Nowhere, buddy, and you better get the thought out of your head or you're going to be in the doghouse." I turned to Katie and said, "So how about we get this grocery shopping done. I'd like to get back to where my emotions will let me yell at him like he deserves."
Katie laughed. She seemed to be predisposed with a perky outlook and that didn't mesh well with my general "I hate everything" view of life. I had no doubt we wouldn't exchange phone numbers after my mission was over.
"Sure, we can hook you up. Usually when customers come in, their stuff is waiting for them and they just pay. When you get home, you'll have to take a closer look at your fridge. The computer in it allows you to select the things you need. Then when your list is complete, you hit done and it gets sent to me. Give me about five minutes and your order is ready. Here, hand me that list and follow me."
I gave her the list and we got a better look at the store itself. I imagined Nate, being the super spy, took in everything around us, but I'd focused on Katie. I wasn't exactly sure what I saw qualified as a grocery store. I counted ten aisles with three shelves on each side of the aisles. Each of the shelves had a conveyor belt underneath it and all the conveyor belts led to the single cashier stand in the front of the store.
"It's good you don't have anythin
g too exotic on your list. We keep things pretty simple here, especially since they're trying to engineer perfect food at the tank." She went to a computer screen and started hitting buttons. After each button I heard the conveyors throughout the store start up and before long our food made it to us.
"It's like a giant vending machine," I said, watching it all work.
"Yeah, it kind of is," she replied. "Most of the brainiacs, no offense, don't want to waste their time with something as mundane as grocery shopping, so they built this contraption one weekend."
"This is going to take some getting used to. I love meandering around the store, deciding what sounds good for dinner. Now, I'm going to have to actually make lists. I know I did today, but that was just because we're starting with nothing and I didn't want to forget anything."
"Don't worry, you'll get used to all the weirdness that comes with the town before you know it. I've been here three years and couldn't imagine doing things normal." She was already putting the groceries in cloth bags. "That'll be $74.25."
Nate took out his wallet and gave her a hundred dollar bill. Her eyes widened a little at the sight of the green paper.
"Wow, actual money. Don't know when the last time I saw that being used. Everyone around here just uses plastic. Hold on, I'm going to have to run back to the safe. Since it's never used, I don't have any cash up front here."
She skipped off to the back. Literally, she skipped, like she was playing a game during recess.
"I'm not going to like it here, am I?" I asked Nate.
"No, you probably aren't. Just think what a good learning experience this will be, stepping this far out of your comfort zone," he replied, grabbing my hand and giving it a little squeeze. "Katie seems nice though."
"I refuse to make my opinion known on that subject until I'm far away from the calming gas. That's just messed up using it on unsuspecting people."
"Aww. My little butterfly doesn't like being a guinea pig. Don't worry, sweetie, I don't either. I'm not sure there's anything we can do about it while we're here though, so store up all your frustration and you can take it out on me later."
"Oh, I know what I'm going to do. Screw artificial intelligent robots, I'm making me a pill that will erase any effects the atmosphere around me is causing." Take that crazy smart people.
"Your field is computers, Peggy, I don't think that just transfers over to the chemical makeup of our bodies. I know you're brilliant, but I think there are some limits to your brilliance."
"Have you seen our library? Give me the night and I'm sure I'll know everything I need." Just as I finished speaking, I saw Katie returning, so I squeezed his hand to indicate the discussion was over, for the moment.
"Here you go," Katie said with a big smile as she handed Nate the change.
"Thank you," he replied, putting the money back in his wallet. "So, how do you explain all the uniqueness of this place if you do get a visitor?"
"Oh, I just tell them with only seventy or so people in town I have a lot of time on my hands and built it during a week I had no customers. It's good that no one has ever asked me to describe how I put it all together. My answer would probably be lots and lots of duct tape."
"Duct tape is the answer for everything," I said, apparently there was one thing we could agree on. "I'm pretty sure people would believe you."
"That's probably true." Nate agreed. "Honey, why don't we get these bags out to the car and head home?" He started grabbing a few of the sacks. "It was really nice meeting you, Katie. We'll have to get together for supper or something when we get everything settled."
"That would be great. Let me know when is good for you."
I picked up the rest of the bags and we headed outside. Once they were all in the Suburban, and we buckled ourselves in, we began the long trek back to our temporary home. Wait, hold on, I blinked, how did we get to the driveway already?
"How long do you think we have before the effects of the gas wear off?" Nate asked as we pulled in.
"All I know is it won't be soon enough. As soon as I feel like smacking you again, we'll know it's gone." I really hoped the coming days didn't bring us more opportunities to be guinea pigs. After being there for only a couple of hours, though, that hope was hanging on by a thread.
CHAPTER 4
Hello fridge, how are you today?
