by Sarah Lotz
We knew what Paul was, course we did. And I don’t mean about him being gay. What people do behind closed doors is their business. I’m talking about him being a bit of a luvvie, wanting to be the centre of attention. He told us he was an actor straight away. I’d never heard of him, though he said he’d had a few roles on telly in the past, guest ones, you know. Cameos. Must have bruised his ego, not getting where he wanted to in life. Reminded me a bit of my Danielle. She was much younger than him of course, but it took her a while to decide what she wanted to do, tried all sorts until she went in for that beauty therapy. Just takes some people longer to find their way in life, doesn’t it?
Before Paul started to behave… well… before he started becoming a bit more withdrawn than usual, he used to irritate Mel a bit. He would talk for hours at the meetings if you let him. But when we could, we tried to help him out with Jess. It wasn’t always easy; we’ve got our own grandchildren to take care of as well. Our Gavin, he’s got three little ones, but Paul was a special case. He needed all the back-up he could get, poor bugger, what with the press at him all the time and the other side of the family–bad seeds, Mel called them–giving him all that grief. Gavin would’ve stepped in if that family had mucked about at the memorial service. Gavin’s applying for the police next year. He’ll make a good copper, they always do, them that’ve seen the other side of the law, so to speak. Not that he ever got himself into real trouble.
That snooty neighbour also did what she could. Right snobbish she was, but her heart was in the right place. She saw off one of those paparazzos by throwing a bucket of cold water over the bugger. Fair play to her for that, poker up her arse or not.
When the Discovery Channel was planning that special programme on Black Thursday, just after the findings were released, the producer approached me and Mel to be talking heads on that show, wanted us to say what we felt when we heard about the plane going down. It’s horrible to think about it now, but before we lost our Danielle, me and Mel used to love that air-crash investigation show, the one with that American investigator, Ace Kelso. Wish I’d never seen it now, of course. Mel turned the producers down flat, so did Kylie and Kelvin. They’d got together by then. Kylie had lost her other half in the crash and Kelvin was single, so why not? Sure, he was that much older than her, but May–September relationships can work, can’t they? Look at me and Mel. She’s seven years my senior and we’ve been going strong for over twenty years. Kylie and Kelvin were planning an August wedding, but they’re talking about postponing it now. I told them, we need some joy in our lives, don’t let what happened to little Jess put you off.
That’s when I should have realised something wasn’t right with Paul for definite. When he said he didn’t want to be part of the Discovery show, I mean. I’ll say this for him–he didn’t try to put Jess in the spotlight. Opposite, really. But in the early days he wasn’t shy about appearing in front of the media. First couple of months, it was like he was always on the morning shows, sitting on the couch talking about how Jess was coping. And no, I don’t think that gave the press the right to pry into his private life and hound them like they did. You’d have thought after what happened to the People’s Princess, they’d have learned their lesson. How much blood needs to be spilled before they’ll bleeding well stop? I know, I do go on, but it makes my blood boil.
As for Jess… she was a real sweetheart. Absolute treasure. Gave you the impression she was wiser than her years, which wasn’t surprising seeing what she’d been through. Never stopped smiling, never complained about the scars on her face. Right sunny disposition; it’s amazing how kids can bounce back from things like that, isn’t it? I read that biography, the one by that Muslim girl who was the only survivor of a plane crash in Ethiopia, and she said how none of it seemed real to her for years. So maybe that was how Jess was coping. Mel couldn’t touch that book. Nor could most of the 277s. Kelvin says that even now he has to get his mates to screen what’s on telly before he can watch it. Can’t see anything about airplanes or crashes, or even watch any of them police procedurals.
And no, there was nothing bleeding strange about Jess. I’ll go on the record about that. Bloody Americans and their lies about those poor kids. Made Mel apoplectic. And it wasn’t just us who thought Jess was fine, was it? We would have heard from the school, wouldn’t we? Her teacher’s a no-nonsense type of woman. And her psychologist and the bloke from the social never saw anything untoward going on, did they?
Last time I saw Jess I was on my own. Mel was off helping Kylie choose a wedding venue and Paul was in a pickle, said he had a meeting with his agent. I fetched her from school and took her to see the horses down the lane. I always asked her how she was doing at school, I was a bit concerned that maybe she’d be facing bullying and that from the other kids. Jess’s scars weren’t bad, but they were still there and you know what kids can be like. But she said no one ever made fun of her. Tough little cookie. We had a nice time that afternoon. When we got back to the house, she asked me to read her a book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She could read well herself, but she said she liked me to do the voices of the characters. She thought that book was funny, couldn’t seem to get enough of it.
When we heard Paul arriving home, she smiled at me, just the most lovely smile, reminded me of my Danielle when she was little. ‘You’re a good man, Uncle Geoff,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry your daughter had to die.’ I always think about that whenever I think about her now. Brings me to tears.
Chiyoko and Ryu (this exchange took place three months before their disappearance).
Message logged @ 13.10, 25/03/2012
RYU: Are you there?
Message logged @ 13.31, 25/03/2012
RYU: Are you there?
Message logged @ 13.45, 25/03/2012
CHIYOKO: I’m here.
RYU: I was worried. You haven’t been silent for this long before.
CHIYOKO: I was with Hiro. We were talking. MC is out so we have the house to ourselves for once.
RYU: Has he spoken about the crash yet?
CHIYOKO: Yeah.
RYU: And??????
CHIYOKO: He says he remembers being hoisted up into the rescue helicopter. He said it was fun. ‘Like flying.’ He said he was looking forward to doing it again.
RYU: Weird.
CHIYOKO: I know.
RYU: Is that all he remembers about the crash?
CHIYOKO: That’s all he’ll say so far. If he does know anything else, he’s not saying. I don’t want to push him too hard.
RYU: Has he spoken about his mother yet?
CHIYOKO: No. Why are you so interested anyway?
RYU: Of course I’m interested! Why wouldn’t I be?
CHIYOKO: I’m being too hard on you again, aren’t I?
RYU: I’m used to it now.
CHIYOKO: Ice burns from the ice princess.
RYU: Chiyoko… when he talks through the android, who do you look at? Hiro or it?
CHIYOKO: Ha! That’s a good question. Mostly Hiro, but it’s strange… I’m so used to it now. It’s almost like it’s his twin. Yesterday I found myself talking to it as if it was alive when Hiro left the room.
RYU: RYU:!!!
CHIYOKO: I’m glad one of us is laughing. But the way I’m reacting to it, forgetting that it’s not actually alive, is exactly why Android Uncle made his surrabot in the first place.
RYU: ???
CHIYOKO: He wanted to find out if people would eventually start treating androids as if they were human once they got over the uncanny valley feeling. Now we know that they will start seeing them as human. Or at least ice princesses will.
RYU: Sorry, I was being dense.
RYU: Hey… Did you see that interview where he said that sometimes, when people touch the surrabot and he’s miles away, working it remotely, he can feel their fingers on his skin? The brain is a strange thing.
CHIYOKO: It is. I wish I knew why Hiro will only talk through it. I know he has a voice, so he’s capa
ble of speech. Maybe it gives him an emotional distance, although in this house we are all emotionally distant ha ha.
RYU: Like cameramen who can film horrible scenes without turning away. Yes. I think you are right about the distance.
CHIYOKO: Listen to this: I asked him if he wanted to go back to primary school today.
RYU: And?
CHIYOKO: He said, ‘Only if I can bring my soul.’
RYU: His what?
CHIYOKO: It’s what he’s started calling his surrabot.
RYU: You need to keep that quiet. Especially as Aikao Uri is in the news again with her crazy alien theories. You don’t want to give her any ideas.
CHIYOKO: What is she saying now? Did she mention Hiro again?
RYU: Not this time. But she really does believe she was abducted by aliens. There’s a cool clip of her talking about being probed on Nico Nico. Whoever made it has intercut it with scenes from E.T. It’s very funny.
CHIYOKO: She’s as bad as those religious Americans with all their fourth child stuff. It stirs it up again. All the attention. The silt settles, and then someone pokes a stick in the water and it becomes cloudy.
RYU: Ha! Very lyrical. You should become a writer. I could illustrate your stories.
CHIYOKO: We could have our own manga factory. Sometimes I think… wait. There’s someone at the door. Probably just a salesman or whatever trying their luck.
Message logged @ 15.01, 25/03/2012
CHIYOKO: Guess who that was?
RYU: I give up.
CHIYOKO: Just guess.
RYU: Captain Seto’s wife.
CHIYOKO: No. Try again.
RYU: Aikao Uri and her alien friends?
CHIYOKO: No!
RYU: Toturo in his cat bus?
CHIYOKO: Ha! I must tell that to Hiro. I told you I let him watch My Neighbour Totoro, even though MC said I mustn’t in case it upset him, didn’t I?
RYU: No! You didn’t tell me. And did it upset him? Or his android?
CHIYOKO: No. It made him laugh. He even thought the part where the girls’ mother is in the hospital was amusing.
RYU: That kid is seriously weird. So?? If it wasn’t the cat bus, who was it?
CHIYOKO: It was the American woman’s daughter.
RYU: Σ(O_O;)!!Pamela May Donald’s daughter?
CHIYOKO: Yeah.
RYU: How did she find out where you lived?
CHIYOKO: Probably got it from one of the izuko support group members. But it’s not impossible to find from other sources. The magazines are always saying that the house is near to Yoyogi station, and there are those pictures of it on the Tokyo Herald website.
RYU: What is she like?
CHIYOKO: I thought you saw her when you watched the memorial service?
RYU: I mean what sort of person is she?
CHIYOKO: At first I thought she was a typical foreigner. And in some ways she is. But she was very serene, quiet, dressed conservatively. Greeted me as if she knew of my status as Shinjuku’s Number One Ice Princess.
RYU: You let her into the house????
CHIYOKO: Why not? She’s an izoku like all the others. Not only that, I let her talk to Hiro.
RYU: Hiro or Hiro’s soul?
CHIYOKO: Hiro’s soul.
RYU: You let him talk to her through the surrabot???? I thought you were angry with her?
CHIYOKO: Why would I be angry?
RYU: Because of what her mother has caused.
CHIYOKO: That’s not her fault. It’s the stupid Americans. And she looked so lost when she arrived. It must have taken courage to come all the way from Osaka to see him.
RYU: Something’s not right. The ice princess would never normally behave in such a manner.
CHIYOKO: Maybe I wanted to hear what she was going to say to Hiro. Maybe I was curious.
RYU: How did she react when she saw Hiro’s soul and realised she’d have to talk to him through it?
CHIYOKO: She just stared at it and then she gave it one of those self-conscious bows Westerners do when they’re trying to be polite. I could hear him giggling through it straightaway. He was hiding behind the screen in my room with the computer and the camera. I was impressed that she didn’t scream or freak out.
RYU: And what did she ask?
CHIYOKO: First of all she thanked him for agreeing to talk to her. Then she wanted to know what they always want to know, which is, did her mother suffer.
RYU: And?
CHIYOKO: And Hiro said yes.
RYU: Ouch. What did she say to that?
CHIYOKO: She thanked him for being honest.
RYU: So Hiro admitted that he’d spoken to her mother?
CHIYOKO: Not exactly. He didn’t really give her any straight answers. I thought perhaps that she was going to start getting really frustrated, but then Hiro said, ‘Don’t be sad,’ in English!
RYU: Hiro can speak English?
CHIYOKO: Auntie Hiromi or Android Uncle must have taught him some phrases before the crash. Then she showed him a photograph of her mother, asked him if he was sure that he’d seen her. And again, he said to her, ‘Don’t be sad.’ She started crying; real weeping. I was worried that this would upset Hiro, so I asked her to leave.
RYU: Chiyoko, it is not my place to say… But… I don’t think you should have done that.
CHIYOKO: Thrown her out?
RYU: No. Let her talk to Hiro’s soul.
CHIYOKO: I didn’t ask your opinion about that, Ryu. And anyway, I thought you were in love with the Americans?
RYU: Why do you make it so hard for me?
CHIYOKO: It’s not fair of you to make me feel guilty.
RYU: I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty. I was trying to be your friend.
CHIYOKO: Friends don’t judge each other.
RYU: I was not judging you.
CHIYOKO: Yes you were. I don’t need that from you as well. I get it all the fucking time from MC. I’m going.
RYU: Wait! Can’t we at least talk about this?
CHIYOKO: There’s nothing to say.
Message logged @ 16.34, 25/03/2012
RYU: Are you still mad?
Message logged @ 16.48, 25/03/2012
RYU: _|7O
Message logged @ 03.19, 26/03/2012
CHIYOKO: Ryu. Are you awake?
RYU: I’m sorry about earlier. Did you see I even sent you an ORZ?
CHIYOKO: Yeah.
RYU: Are you okay?
CHIYOKO: No. Mother Creature and Father are fighting. They haven’t done that since before Hiro came. I’m worried they’ll upset him.
RYU: What are they fighting about?
CHIYOKO: Me. MC says Father has to be stricter on me and make me go back to free school. She says I have to be made to work on my future plans. But then who will look after Hiro?
RYU: You’re really attached to that kid now.
CHIYOKO: I am.
RYU: So… what do you want to do with your life?
CHIYOKO: I’m like you; I never look further than a day ahead. What are the choices? I don’t want to work for a corporation, become a slave for life. I don’t want to do some dumb freeter job. I’ll probably end up living in a tent in the park with the homeless. MC would be happiest if I got married and had children and made that my life’s goal.
RYU: Do you think that will ever happen?
CHIYOKO: Never!!!!!! I love Hiro but the thought of having the responsibility for someone else’s life… I will live alone and die alone. I’ve always known that.
RYU: You’re not alone, Yoko.
CHIYOKO: Thanks, Ryu.
RYU: Did the ice princess just say thank you????
CHIYOKO: I have to go. Hiro has woken up. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
RYU:
PART SIX
CONSPIRACY
MARCH–APRIL
Lola Cando.
The last time Lenny came to see me, he was spitting mad. Second he got to the motel he drank a double bourbon straight down, then another.
Took him a while to calm down enough to tell me what was going on.
Turned out that Lenny had found out Dr Lund had organised a rally for Mitch Reynard in Fort Worth. Some sort of pro-Israel, ‘Believers Unite’ convention, and it burned Lenny bad that he hadn’t been invited to speak at it. And that wasn’t all of it. After he did that radio show–the one where that New York DJ ripped him a new one–Dr Lund had sent a publicist down to see Lenny. The publicist (who Lenny described as a ‘jumped-up two-bit lackey in a suit’) told him that he wasn’t to draw too much attention to himself, and to let Dr Lund and Flexible Sandy spread the news about Pamela’s message their way. Lenny was also pissed that Dr Lund didn’t want him involved in searching for that fourth child.
‘I’ve got to find a way to convince him that he needs me, Lo,’ he said. ‘Pamela chose me, me, to spread the word. He has to see that.’
I wouldn’t say I felt sorry for Lenny, but Dr Lund cutting him off, hijacking his message, you could see it made him feel like the unpopular kid at school. And I don’t think it had anything to do with money. Lenny said his website was bringing in donations from all over the world. You ask me, it was pride more than anything.
Dr Lund may have cooled towards him, but Lenny’s message was catching on like wildfire. People I never thought of as religious were going and getting themselves saved. Couple of my johns even went and did it. Some of them, sure, you could see they were just doing it as insurance–in case it did turn out to be the truth. Didn’t matter that the Episcopalians and even those Muslim leaders were saying there was no reason to panic, people really started believing it, you know? There were just all these signs happening all over the world–signs of plague, famine, war and whatever. That puke virus and the foot and mouth disease were getting worse, and then came that drought in Africa and the big scare when the North Koreans threatened to test their nuclear weapons. That was just the start. Then there were all those rumours about Bobby’s grandfather and that robot stuff that was going down with the Japanese kid. It was almost as if every time Lenny’s theories were shot down by someone, up would come another sign that backed them up. If you’d asked me back when I first met Lenny if he could have caused such a stir, I wouldn’t have credited it.
