He snapped his phone shut and disappeared around the store's south wall just as a black guy came running around the north corner of the store and headed straight for the woman as she stepped out of the store.
Something glinted in his right hand and I saw he had a box cutter as I ran to intercept him. When he tried to grab the woman's purse, she locked onto it and kicked at him as she screamed like a banshee. He tried to cut the purse's strap, but by that time I was behind him.
I yelled, “Hey!” and he spun to face me without letting go of her purse.
Holding the cutter between us, the guy yelled, “Just back the fuck off, motherfucker!"
The woman flailed at him and tried to yank her purse back. He swore again as he shoved her against the closed doors. She slipped and fell, but she wouldn't let go of her purse. I took advantage of the moment to kick his knife hand and the cutter bounced off the glass doors and flew toward the gas pumps.
Without letting go of the purse strap, the guy swung twice at me and missed both times. On his third swing, I managed to grab his arm and kicked the back of his right knee hard.
As he started to sag backwards and sideways, I got a grip on his collar with my left hand and tried to pull his head down at the sidewalk even faster, but he yanked his right hand free and managed to get it under his head before it hit.
There was a loud snapping sound and the guy yelled in agony, then he rolled away from us clutching his right wrist, scrambled to his feet, and hauled ass around the north side of the store.
I tried to follow to see where he went from there, but he was just too damned fast; he disappeared between some houses half a block away and I headed back to the store.
There must have been a cop car in the area. They showed up before I got very far, cuffed me and questioned me, then put me into the back seat of a cop car and drove me back around to the front of the store.
They left me in the car and went into the store, where they talked a few minutes before they brought the woman out.
When she saw me, she yelled, “What the hell?! I told you the guy was black! Does he look black?!” Pointing at her arm, she yelled, “This is black, dammit! That's the guy who tried to help me!"
I was let out of the car and uncuffed, then taken into the store with the woman, who wanted to sit down. The cops took some notes before one answered his radio, then told us that they'd be bringing another guy for us to look at in a few minutes.
This time they had the right one. Because of his broken wrist they didn't handcuff him, but they had him in the caged back seat of another cop car.
As the woman ranted at the guy in the car, a cop turned to me and asked, “That's definitely him?"
I answered, “Yup, that's him,” and they eventually took him away after taking the woman and me back inside the store for more and different paperwork.
After another half an hour, the cops seemed to have enough to work with, so I gassed up my car and drove away in search of a restaurant.
The IHOP's parking lot was full. Good for them, bad for me; I don't like crowds. I continued up US-19 and passed another half a dozen restaurants for the same reason. By the time I'd passed Wendy's, I'd decided to head home and open a big can of soup.
Donna was sitting in a lawn chair on my front porch when I pulled into my driveway. Tiger was sitting on Donna's lap. Both remained seated as I got out of the car and approached them.
Tiger bellowed, “Hello, Ed!” and I returned his greeting, then said to Donna, “Hi, there. I'm going to scrounge up some dinner. Are you hungry?"
With a shrug, she replied, “That depends. What's on the menu?"
Opening the front door, I said, “Whatever we can find in the kitchen. I was just going to open a can."
She thumbed at the side of the yard and asked, “Did you know someone parked on your lawn?"
"Yup. Her car died. I took her to work at six."
Moving through the doorway, Donna asked, “At six? Where does she work?"
"A dance club. She's a stripper."
Donna had been about to pull a chair out from the kitchen table. She froze and snickered, “You're kidding, right?"
"Nope. She dances at ‘Legends Two'. I stuck around for her show. She's really pretty good. Maybe as athletic as you."
Looking her up and down, I said, “Hey, come to think of it, you're between jobs right now. I could put in a good word for you if you wanted to give dancing a try."
Giving me a frosty look, she said, “You mean ‘stripping'."
"Well, that may be part of it, sure, but..."
"Get real. And point me at the food."
I silently pointed at the fridge first, of course, then opened a couple of cabinets to display boxed and canned goods.
After a few moments of pawing through my supplies, she turned to face me and sighed, “How about we order a pizza?"
"Any preferences?"
"No anchovies. Everything else is okay."
"We could go pick ‘em up. Might get ‘em faster."
"You're that hungry, huh?"
"Starving."
She nodded. “Me too, really. Okay. Pick up's good."
Chapter Fifty
After calling in the order, I headed for the bathroom, where I took a leak and washed up as I gave some thought to what might lie ahead for the evening.
To tell the truth, although I found Donna very attractive and interesting in many ways, some things about her personality put me off the idea of including her in my personal life.
She seemed to be the ‘all or nothing’ type. It was highly unlikely that she'd be willing to share me with Toni, and Toni had priority.
When I left the bathroom, I found Donna sitting on the couch with Tiger. They looked up at me as I passed on my way to the kitchen for my coffee, but neither of them spoke.
My coffee was old and cold. Perfect. I perched my mug on the edge of the sink, keyed up a field screen, and called Toni.
When she answered, I said, “Hi there, I just called to...” and bumped my coffee mug to make it topple noisily into the sink. Turning the field screen so she could see the situation, I said, “Gee, lady, you make me get all flustered."
Toni laughed and asked, “Yeah, sure. What's up?” Pausing, she added her usual, “Besides you, that is?"
Donna appeared in the kitchen doorway as I answered, “Aw, you know me too well, I guess. I was just wondering if Tina's still going to be there on Wednesday."
Laughing again, she said, “No, she'll only be here until tomorrow morning. You'll have me all to yourself ... Unless your new friend wants to play, too?"
Silently shaking her head ‘no', Donna raised her hands in protest and headed back to the living room.
I pulled up a keyboard at the bottom of the display and quickly typed, ‘Called you while she's here ... ’ and hit the ‘return’ button to end that line.
"Sorry, ma'am,” I said, “But I kind of don't think so. She walked away when you said that."
Shrugging, Toni said, “Well, it's her loss."
Typing again, I finished the first line with another that read, ‘ ... to let her know where my priorities lie.'
Nodding, I replied, “Oh, yes'm, I very much agree, of course."
Toni's eyebrows had risen as she'd read my second typed line. I wiped the display and said, “Well, that's about it, I guess. See you Wednesday, milady. Be ready for lots of personal attention, as usual."
With a big grin, Toni answered, “You just bring it on, mister! I can handle it. See you then, Ed. Bye!"
When I echoed, “Bye!” she tapped her ‘off’ icon.
Letting the field screen dissolve, I retrieved my coffee mug, rinsed it, and made a fresh coffee, then walked into the living room. Tiger was back on Donna's lap.
She looked up as I rounded the couch and asked, “Was I supposed to hear that?"
Pausing before I sat down, I replied, “You already knew I'm booked for Wednesday. Is there some reason you shouldn't have heard it?"
/> With a small shrug, Donna said, “No, I guess not.” With a dismissive little wave, she said, “Never mind. Let's go get those pizzas."
Tiger asked, “May I come?"
"Sure,” I said, “Saddle up."
He hopped down and headed for the bathroom as Donna eyed me and stood up. When Tiger returned a few moments later, we trooped out to the front porch and I called the flitter down.
Donna asked, “The flitter? We aren't using our boards?"
"I was thinking we could have dinner above the clouds, unless you want to come back here to eat."
Looking up at the faint, scattered clouds visible in the moonlight, she shook her head.
"No, above the clouds will be fine.” Turning to look at me, she said, “That call to Toni ... Ed, would you prefer that we just be friends?"
"I'd prefer that we be whatever we decide to be. I won't dump Toni, but while she likely wouldn't mind me playing with you, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want me playing with her."
Meeting my gaze for a moment, Donna nodded and said, “You're right about that. Let's go get those pizzas,” then she followed Tiger through the flitter's field.
The pizza shop was located in a tiny strip mall in which half a dozen stores shared a small, crowded parking lot. I had the flitter hover above the first row of cars.
"Um, Ed...” started Donna, “What are we doing?"
"Waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
Pointing at two people leaving the coin shop a few doors from the pizza place, I answered, “I just want to go in and get pizza. I don't want to appear out of nowhere on the sidewalk or use my board while there are people in the lot."
The real estate office beside the pizza shop sported a ‘Sorry, We're Closed’ sign. Once the lot was clear of foot traffic, I had the flitter lower me to the sidewalk in front of it.
For all my caution, I hadn't noticed a woman in the back of the office. She glanced away from her computer screen as I landed, returned her attention to the screen, then froze and looked up again. Her gaze was somewhat stark as she studied me. I gave her a questioning look. She shook her head slightly and turned back to her screen.
Once I had our two boxed pizzas and a small stack of napkins, I stepped back outside and—just for the hell of it—returned to stand in front of the real estate office's glass door.
The woman looked up again, recognizing me from before with a slightly dour look as I gave her a grin and called up a platform field that lifted me a foot off the ground.
Her eyes got big and her mouth fell open. I added a foot of altitude. She groped on her desk and found her glasses, put them on hurriedly, and started to get to her feet.
Holding the pizza boxes flat on my left hand, I gave her a little wave and boosted myself upward to step aboard the flitter, where I stood at the edge of the deck and watched her fumble with the door's lock, then dash outside.
From her seat by the console, Donna said, “I was wondering what you were doing."
I turned to see her looking over the side at the woman, who was scanning the sky in vain.
As I set the pizzas on the deck by the console and sat down, I said, “Just messing around."
"Uh, huh,” Donna said, “You were just messing with her head, you mean."
Shrugging, I admitted, “Maybe a little."
Turning to look at me, she asked, “How did you do that?"
"Flitter, take us up at one hundred, please. Donna, have you signed on with 3rd World yet?"
Giving me a narrow look as she accepted the napkins I offered her, Donna sighed, “Ahh, don't sing that tired-assed song at me again. It was just another field trick, wasn't it?"
Flipping open the top pizza box, I held it up for her to take some as I replied, “You got it."
"So why can't you tell me more about it?"
"Same answer. You don't work for 3rd World."
As I picked up a slice of pizza, she asked, “Can you at least tell me what else you can do?"
I picked some burger bits off my slice for Tiger and asked, “Geez, lady, aren't you sufficiently impressed yet?"
Her mouth full of pizza, Donna lifted her lip in a semi-sneer to mutter the word ‘jerk.’ Chewing and swallowing, she asked, “Why can't you drop the bullshit and just tell me?"
Nibbling at my pizza, I answered, “Well, now, that would pretty much blow any remaining shreds of mystery right out of our relationship, wouldn't it, ma'am?"
Eyeing me with another narrow gaze, she said, “Yeah, that was the idea. I'd like a can of tea, if you don't mind."
As I reached for the cooler, she amended her order with, “No, make it a beer. See? You drive people to drink."
Fishing a couple of beers out of the cooler, I said, “Sorry ‘bout that,” opened the bottles, and handed her one.
Donna sipped her beer, set it down, and nibbled pizza as she looked over the side.
Swallowing a bite, she asked, “How far up are we going?"
Around a bit of pizza, I replied, “Hadn't thought about it. Let me know if you start getting nervous."
She stopped in the middle of another sip of beer and gave me a droll, ‘oh, fuck you’ expression and a roll of her eyes.
Shaking my head slightly, I took a sip of my beer and said, “Well, then, don't say I didn't warn you. How high do you want to go? A hundred miles or so?"
Freezing in mid-sip, Donna asked, “You're kidding, right?!"
Turning to face the console, I said, “Flitter, let Donna know when we reach one hundred miles, please,” and took another bite of pizza as the flitter answered, “Yes, Ed."
Tiger finished his burger bits and I picked some more off the pizza for him as Donna eyed me and whisperingly stated, “You aren't kidding."
Meeting her gaze, I answered, “Nope."
For several long moments we simply stared at each other. I'd begun to wonder what could be on her mind that would take so long to process when she looked away, set her pizza down, and stood up.
After another several seconds of staring at the world below us, she turned rather stiffly to face me and put a hand on the back of one of the flitter's seats.
Donna's knuckles turned white as she gripped the seat and asked in a flat tone, “Why?"
"Why what?"
Her gaze narrowed. “Why dinner in fucking space?” she growled, “Why the elaborate charade? ‘Having a pizza and going for a flitter ride'. C'mon, Ed, what's this all about?"
I put some more burger bits down for Tiger as I answered, “It's about pizza and a flitter ride, Donna."
"A hundred miles up? You expect me to believe that?"
"Believe whateverthehell you want, lady. Instead of asking ‘why?', ask ‘why not?'. A hundred miles in any direction is no big deal to the flitter."
Chapter Fifty-one
Donna continued staring at me in silence as I took another bite of pizza and called up a music list on the console. I thought of asking Donna what she might like to hear, then decided to let her come around on her own and poked up ‘Would I Lie to You?’ by Annie Lennox.
Annie has a great voice and the music had a good beat. I settled back in my seat and put my feet up on the console, then looked at Donna.
After a moment, she sat down and picked up her drink, then reached for her pizza. The song had finished before Donna spoke again.
"Sorry,” she muttered around some pizza.
I nodded. Tiger had finished the last of his bits and an after-dinner bath. He jumped up to my lap, where he arranged himself like a tree leopard along my outstretched legs.
"Flitter,” I said, “Put Music Channel chart on, please,” and looked at Donna. “Unless you'd rather use the jukebox, that is."
She shook her head and nibbled her pizza. I poked through the list of channels until I heard Elvis singing ‘Return to Sender'. Hm. Channel 825, “Solid Gold Oldies". Okay. Things don't have to be brand new all the time.
Tiger angled his head to make his chin more available for scratching. Don
na snickered softly and Tiger cracked an eyelid to regard her for a moment.
Donna said, “Most guys I've known were dog people."
I glanced at her, but no reply came to mind, so I shrugged, said nothing, and continued ruffling Tiger's fur as The Dave Clark Five song ‘Glad All Over’ started.
Sighing, Donna muttered, “Okay, I get the message."
Looking up, I asked, “What message?"
Shaking her head, she raised a hand as if to stop me and said in a rather irritated tone, “It's pretty obvious you don't want to talk to me."
That made me chuckle, “It is, huh? How's that?"
Again shaking her head slightly, she replied, “No, never mind. I'll just sit here quietly and try to enjoy the ride. I won't bother you anymore."
After a moment of studying her as she sipped her drink, I asked, “Do you want to head back down now?"
Stiffening, Donna asked, “So now you want to get rid of me?"
I sighed, “Well, you aren't exactly having a good time, are you? What else could we be doing?"
Oh, hell. I realized it even as I said it, dammit; in her mood, she'd infer that I meant we could be...
She snapped, “Just what the hell did you mean by that?"
Yup. She'd inferred. Oh, well. Enough. End of my patience and end of discussion. Fuck it all.
"Flitter, take us to Donna's house, please. Normal speed."
We immediately plummeted and Donna shrieked as she got a grip on her seat and stared over the side. Seconds later, our descent slowed and we settled to hover a few inches above Donna's yard.
Donna unfroze after a moment and turned to look at me, her eyes tracking over my legs, Tiger, and up to my face.
I met her gaze. “End of the line, ma'am. All ashore."
She sat staring at me for a time, then stood up, grabbed her backpack, and asked, “What about my board?"
"What about it? You own it. Have a good time with it."
"What if I have a problem? Or a question?"
"Call me. Or call Linda and she'll get hold of me."
Her gaze became almost a glower as she asked, “You're saying you may not answer the phone if you know it's me?"
3rd World Products, Inc. Book 7 Page 29
