by Smith, Skye
Bruno joined them on the balcony. "First rule of living way up here, is that it is a long way down to pick up milk. You want anything, please put it on the list in the kitchen. If you are heading back to the house, please phone ahead to see if there is anything on the list for you to pick up. " He smiled at her with his gold crowns.
"Bruno love, please bring up a bottle of bubbly and some glasses and join us in a sunset." When he was gone, she told Maya. "He has the only guns in this house. He is a pro. No risk of accidents, and no one will ever take them off him." She handed her a business card. "This is the security company, and that is the password to identify yourself with. This is your key." It was a slide card, like the ones used in motels.
"What a difference from Vancouver. I used to yell at the guys because they were in the habit of going out without locking the front door."
"It's not my preference. The insurance company demands it. Sometimes I think half of my income is sucked away by the cost of my security."
"She doesn't mean me," Bruno said putting the wine down. "I have my pension, so I work for just room and board. She's right though, and it's not just her. How much do you think all that nonsense at the airports costs?"
* * *
* * *
Karen, Maya, and Judith, one of the PR women from the movie company, sat in the loading lounge watching the TV show they were about to make an appearance on. The hostess of the show looked about the same age as Maya but she talked in words and intonation like a pre teen. She was just finishing the interview of a rapper who looked like a father's worst nightmare.
This was a teenage music station, and this young woman’s talk show was viewed by the very audience that Karen's film was trying to reach. "Let me do all the talking," Karen told Maya, "You just cross your legs like punctuation marks while I speak, and make sure that when I laugh, you laugh, and laugh so that you jiggle your boobies."
Karen was in stilettos, designer jeans, a white blouse, and a bolero jacket. Maya was in her school girl costume from the movie. There was a commercial break and they were escorted into the interview set. Maya sat there like a doorknob, crisscrossing legs and smile jiggling, while Karen and the hostess bantered back and forth like old friends.
With less than a minute left, the hostess actually asked Maya a question. Something harmless about working on loction. She answered safely, and then looked at the camera, always a dangerous thing to do, which was why she had been told to look at the hostess. She pointed at the camera and asked, "Who's out there? Are there any young girls out there?"
"Lots," chuckled the hostess. She gave a sign to the control room. She had seen people freeze up on camera before. That might be what was going on here.
"Hey out there," Maya smiled, waving to the camera, "I've been spending a lot of time dressed like this lately. The other day when I was in a park, a creepy old man came up to me and did creepy things to me. You know how he knew where to find me? My Fadebook page. I didn't have the security set up right, and anyone could see my stuff, even creeps.
You know how I fixed it, 'cause you know it's, like, real confusing to set it up right. Simple, there is this guy who lives on my block that I usually never talk to because he's like a total geek, but he really knows computers. I went up to him and I smiled, and I asked him if he would set up my security for me. It took him, like, minutes.
If you don't want to be hassled by creepy old men, then maybe you should smile at one of the geeks in your class and like, get him to set up your security for you."
The 'on the' air light went off. Maya looked over to the hostess and asked, "Did that all go out over the air?"
"Yeah, you made it. Thanks to both of you for coming on the show. If you hang in the lounge till five, I'll come and say goodbye. I still have to do the wrap."
When the hostess opened the door to the lounge five minutes later, she witnessed Judith tearing a strip off Maya.
"How dare you! Karen told you not to speak. This is a promo for a movie, not a roast of a major corporation. Who knows how they are connected to the sponsors. Who knows what will happen now? You stupid bitch! Do you realize that now I must spend the rest of the day in the company's legal office explaining what you just did?" Judith looked around and saw the hostess and changed her tone to sweetness and light. "I'm so sorry about that. She's a fool. What can I say?"
"Hey, like, I have no problems with what she said," the hostess said. "There may be some heat from the sponsors, but hey, it needed to be said. I wish I had thought of it."
"It's okay, Maya," soothed Karen, "it could have been worse. You could have gotten tongue-tied and blown the message. At least you only mentioned one corporation. Maybe legal can patch it up with them."
Judith started to yell at Maya again, but this time the hostess told her to cool it. "She has the same problem as Karen and I. A lot of creeps want to play grab ass with us, but at least we get paid for brushing them off, and at least we have security guys watching out for us. Those kids at home may be wide open, so cool it. Maya, what did this creep do to you?"
"Well, you know those dog collars that they use to train dogs not to bark, the ones that give electric shocks? He pulled me down to the ground and put one of those on me, but it was one that he could control like, with a remote. Then he kept shocking me until I agreed to do ,like, anything he wanted."
"Jesus!" Judith said.
"That's a new one," said the hostess. "Bastards! They should round up those kind of guys and throw them off a cliff. What happened? Tell me to shut up if it's none of my business."
"I don't know. Maybe his collar backfired or something, because the next thing I know he is having a heart attack and I took the collar off and ran. He died. I never told the cops what he did. I didn't stick around."
"Jesus!"
"Bastard!"
"Justice, instant Karma."
Maya watched the hostess's face. It was all empathy. "So you had something like it happen to you?"
"Yeah," she replied, "in Cancun on holiday last year. My last night, like before an early flight home, this guy grabs me and throws me into his car and drives me out into the bush and does me, again and again. Then he drops me back at my hotel. I didn't tell anyone, didn't call the cops, I just dragged my sorry ass onto the plane and got the hell out of there.
When I got home, I read on the web that there are lots of guys who work that same number all along that coast of Mexico. They talk to tourists all friendly-like to find out when their plane leaves, and then they just wait for the night before and then do them, or rob them. No one ever complains to the police. Like why would they? Even if they caught the guy, you wouldn't be hanging around waiting to ID him or to testify. Sometimes it's a bitch being good-looking."
* * *
* * *
"Hey hon, I saw you on TV." Maya's mom's voice sounded like it came over the telephone from the moon, not just Northern California. "That outfit you were wearing. This movie you're in isn't porn, is it?"
"No, Mom, I told you , it's a vampire movie. They even put surgical tape over my nipples so they wouldn't show through my blouse. It's like, for teens and families."
"I used to do that when I had that job at the bank. Saved me having to buy a bra."
"So Mom, did you get the receipt for paying the taxes?"
"Yeah, it got done. No penalties. Thanks, sweetie. Now that you are back in California, when are you going to visit?"
"It's still a long way from Albion to LA."
"Tell me about it. How can you stand it down there?" asked her mom with typical Mendocino smugness.
"They are paying me to go on talk shows. Or at least they were. The bosses are all talking about firing me, so I'm just sitting around the house."
"Firing you. What for?"
"My talk about computer security."
"Oh I didn't get that. How can some creep find a girl just because of their computer? Wouldn't they have to have the computer with them? Is that why you are in trouble? Did you blow
the lines?"
"No, it's because I mentioned the name of a big company. Everyone down here lives off the money from advertising. They cover up when someone says that big companies are bad."
"Hey, gotta go, love you babe. Take care." Buzzzzzz.
Maya looked at the phone in frustration and then put it down. Her mom had grown up in an era when long distance was expensive. She was always so fast to hang up.
She went down to the kitchen just as Bruno was leaving to go and pick Karen up in Hollywood.
"Don't sweat it, Maya. I watched the show. You did right. Ask any cop in LA. They'll tell you. There are a lot of weirdos in this town."
"I'll come with you to pick her up, wait while I get my purse."
"You sure? It's rush hour."
"Hey, it's all new to me. Besides, how else am I going to learn my way around?"
* * *
* * *
For four days Maya hid up in the hills. Karen, meanwhile, was frantically busy catching up to the life she had left here, and being pulled a hundred directions by decisions left unmade while she was in Vancouver.
On the fourth afternoon, she was still waiting for a call from the company to see if she was on or off the talk show scheduled for tomorrow. When the call came through, she had just finished throwing a paper airplane off her balcony to see how far it would go. She didn't see it land because she was running for the phone.
"This is Bob from Legal, is Karen there?"
"Not right now. This is Maya. Can I take a message?"
"Yeah, you'll do. We got hold of PR over at Fadebook. They had seen your scene."
"Are they angry?"
"Not angry, but they want something in return for not being angry."
"So I'm fired, right?"
"Actually, they want you booked into some geek show they sponsor. They want you to give your spiel, and then have one of their techies show the geeks in the audience how to set the security for little girls. I guess they've been getting lots of questions about it. They figure if they show the geeks, and the girls follow your advice, then it's all good."
"What do they need me for? There won't be any young girls watching, just a bunch of geeks."
"Yeah, right. Are you really that dumb? It's going to give the show its highest ratings ever. Every geek in America will be tuned in to watch you jiggle. Isn't that what you want, for every geek in America to know how to turn on security in Fadebook?"
"I'm not going on alone. Karen has to go with me."
"That's what we told them. They said it was okay for her to plug her movie. You onboard, then?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Right, then I'll get PR to book it. They'll get back to you. I'll also tell them that you are back on the promo tour. Big time back. I want you to do that spiel on every show."
* * *
* * *
"I thought you were supposed to be sick," Karl said coming up behind Erik at the computer. "Why aren't you in bed?"
Erik blew his nose, yet again, "Just checking something out."
"Cardiomyopathy," Karl read the web page over Erik's shoulder. "Isn't that what causes sudden death in athletes? Yes," he pointed halfway down the screen, "that's what it says there. Have you been having heart pains?" Suddenly he was worried. "I thought this was just the flu or a bad cold."
"Not me. See that? Sudden Death Syndrome. Emma told me about it."
"Emma was here?"
"Yes, she came over to tell Maya that the guy on the beach trail was infected with toxoplasmosis. She's trying to convince the Faculty of Medicine to pick it up as a lab study to see if it leads anywhere. You know, follow the connection of sudden death caused by a new kind of cardiomyopathy due to cardiac toxoplasmosis."
"What are the chances they will pick it up?" Karl asked.
"She says pretty good." Erik snuffled. "It would piggy-back on the work done in the same field for Chagas disease, you know, that disease in Mexico that is spread by the kissing bug."
"I don't buy it. From what Maya told me about her, uh, experiences, I think the toxoplasmosis may have something to do with the psychosis but not the deaths. There," he pointed to the screen again, "is where I would put my money."
Erik read the sentence, "During ventricular fibrillation, numerous chaotic electrical discharges to the chambers of the heart (400+ per minute) result in no blood being pumped." He blew his nose and thought. "No way," he snuffled, "that would have shown up in the autopsy."
"What if instead of 400 a minute there was zero. Immediate flat line. That's how she describes it. They just stop. Everything just stops. Anyway, get back into bed, you're shivering."
"I've moved into Maya's room until I'm over this. We don't need both of us sick."
"Erik, she's gone. It's back to being just the guest room." They looked at each other and sighed. "Yes, I know. We blew it."
"By the way," Erik wiped his nose again. The skin on his nostrils was getting really sore. He hated that. "Emma said she would come back after you got home."
"Oh shit," Karl looked at the ceiling and sighed again. "Now she knows Maya is gone, she's going to try me again. What is it with women that they think gay relationships are only ever temporary?"
"Don't be so conceited. I know why she's coming back. She thinks that Maya killed two other men before she left town. A wheeler-dealer mining stock promoter, and that guy that died sitting in his Bimmer. He was the head of a munitions conglomerate. She says the medical description of the heart attacks fit, and the guy in the Bimmer was attending a function that Maya attended. You know, the one that got all the press."
"Go to bed."
"No, just get me a blanket. I've got to finish something on the computer."
"You're finished. You've looked up cardiomyopathy. Go to bed."
Erik closed that window and opened another as he sniffed. "This is what I was really working on. I got Karen's public appearance schedule off the movie company site, and then I have been combing LA papers for coincidences."
"What kind of coincidences?" asked Karl as he walked to Maya's, that is, the guest bedroom to get a blanket.
"Like this one. This guy was a key backer for Hollywood's porn industry. Sudden unexplained death that has been called a heart attack. Found sitting in his car outside an awards ceremony. Sound familiar? Guess who was also at that awards ceremony?"
Karl came back and tucked an old blanket around Erik, and then looked over his shoulder at the news page, and then at Karen's schedule. "And you assume Maya was with Karen?"
"Duh, they are promoting the movie. Karen is the star and Maya is the jiggling bait," said Erik slapping Karl's hand away from the mouse. "Don't touch it. It's contaminated."
He clicked on another tab in the browser. "How about this one? Federal representative. Despite numerous claims by young women of indecent acts, he keeps winning the seat because he is from the right party. Sudden death, probably from a heart attack, get this, in the executive washroom at the grand opening of a new family amusement park. Guess who else was at the opening?"
Karl came close to read the article. "I guess it's possible."
"Possible. For her it would be dead easy." Erik put on a falsetto voice. "Oh sir, why sure I'll give you a kiss. Take me somewhere where we can be alone. Close your eyes while I caress your neck and kiss you." He went back to his normal voice. "End of Sir. Even if it doesn't work for some reason, so what, she gets groped. It's not like she is in the broom closet with some serial killer. Sir is so-called respectable, moneyed respectable."
"So you think she is stalking these guys?" Karl pondered.
"Stalking them, ah-choooo." Erik pulled the tissue down from his nose and groaned. "The studio has her on Karen's arm dressed in a mini-kilt and braless. These guys will be licking their eyebrows trying to get her alone. Her biggest problem will be choosing the worst bastard from the many."
"That's scary. We have to bring her back. She could get hurt."
"She could get caught. What if she gets carr
ied away and does it in front of a witness, or does two at one event? The coroners and the cops will be all over her."
Karl swore. "She conned us with the Poli Sci game. She wanted us to give her a list of targets. Stupid me gave her the formula for targets. A bad guy who would be replaced by a good guy."
"Merde," Erik said, mimicking Maya. "I gave her a name. That late night talk show host that is always promoting the war party, and justifying all the oil wars to dumb Americans. What's his name? Rich Lumbar."
"I hate that guy," Karl howled. "What a right-wing, born-again fascist prick. But he's just a TV celebrity. Why choose him?"
"Because on every show now, he is pushing for the rebuilding of the US nuclear arsenal, you know, to keep America safe from all those booga-booga bad countries that kicked out American oil companies."
"Well, the good news is that he is in New York and Maya is in L.A."
"No she isn't. She is in New York with Karen. I just got an email from her. You know, blah blah blah shopping blah blah clothes, blah shoes, girl stuff. She sends you her love. No mention of her aura. No mention of porn backers or representatives."
"She's in New York," Karl held his hands across his eyes. "Well, at least there are no psychopaths in Wall Street, or in the UN, so I guess I shouldn't worry about her. Jesus, what are we going to do?"
Erik didn't answer while he was clicking the mouse. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed."
"Good. That's exactly where you should be," Karl scolded.
"And setting an alarm for midnight so I can watch Rich Lumbar. According to Karen's schedule, guess who one of his guests is tonight?"
* * *
* * *
MAYA'S AURA - the Refining by Skye Smith
Chapter 19 - Three years earlier in Manhattan, New York
"This is stupid. I'm not going on," whispered Maya so that Rich Lumbar's assistant wouldn't hear.
