Twenty Three
Leonora had been wandering aimlessly around town, and not happily, but it wasn't until she found herself directed back towards the Burger Joint that she really began to wonder about it. All of the questions she'd had earlier that morning returned to her mind with a vengeance. She seemed to be of two minds. At least two. One mind had decided to go back but couldn't say why. Another mind kept making itself up to stay right where she was until she understood everything. Yet another was satisfied to at least be pointed in some direction. From the outside, she looked like a slapstick comedy routine, lurching this way and that, stopping and starting, turning around. Her act caught the attention of a driver of a delivery van passing by, who pulled over to the curb beside her. Leonora looked over to see the broad smiling face of the driver, who said,
"Hello?"
"Hi,” Leonora sheepishly replied, suddenly becoming self-conscious.
"Going somewhere?" the driver asked, and this time Leonora burst out laughing.
"Could be,” she replied, "if I could figure out where that was."
"Well, hop on in and I'll take you wherever,” the driver suggested, and Leonora considered it. The van was a fairly old model, originally a dark brown that had been unsuccessfully painted over with a lighter shade of mud. Across the side a poor stencil job in blood red proclaimed "Double Dee-liveries.” Something about the vehicle appealed to her, as well as the driver, a short, thick dark woman who later introduced herself as Ruby. The kicker for Leonora was a golden retriever who popped its head out of the back of the van and gave her the friendliest drooly grin. Leonora hopped on board and gave the dog a good scratching behind the ears.
"I could use some help,” Ruby told her as they drove away. "If you don't mind a little labor. I can pay you. It's just this delivery I have to make. Kind of large and little awkward. Ledge here ain't no help with it. Course she's only a dog."
"What was that name?"
"Ledge,” Ruby laughed. "I call her that because she's always perching on places too small for her. Never falls off, though. Don't know how she does it."
"Sure I'll help,” Leonora asked the earlier question. "I'd be glad to."
It felt good to be moving with a purpose, actually going somewhere for a reason. Even the little black box that was nested against her belly seemed to hum with its own sense of vigor again. The job itself was a bit of a pain. Leonora couldn't guess, and Ruby couldn't tell her, exactly what was in the large, oddly shaped crate, but it took four hands and two backs to maneuver it out of the truck and into the garage of the grateful recipient, who gave them each an extra cash bonus as he rubbed his hands together with unseemly delight. They were glad to get away from there.
"That was it,” Ruby told her. "I came all this way for that. Now I guess I'll be heading home, after I take you wherever you want to go."
"Where's home?" Leonora asked, stalling. She was hoping that Ruby's answer would give her an idea of some destination.
"Oh, a little old place nobody ever seems to have heard of,” Ruby said, "town called Wetford, Arizona."
"Wetford!" Leonora gasped. "You're kidding me, right? How did you know what's where I live?"
"You do?" Ruby was surprised. "No way. What part of the town are you from?"
"Not from there originally,” Leonora told her, "but I live right down by the abandoned train station. Work around there too at a warehouse called Ledman Storage and Pickup."
"Ledman Pickup?" Ruby laughed. "You work there? Oh my gosh, that place is a legend! How long have you been in there?"
"About a month,” Leonora admitted.
"Well no wonder,” Ruby replied. "Any longer and we would've met before this. My boss goes down there often enough. The place is a regular treasure trove for us. We get a lot of business out of it."
"What do you mean?"
"What we do,” Ruby replied. "We're sort of a rescue angel service for lost deliveries. My boss, the double dee of the name, she's got a knack and a talent for finding things. What she does is find packages that go missing in transit and the other way around too, she'll find the destinations for the packages that got lost. We find the rightful owners, get in touch, offer them a range of services. If the price is right, and the urgency too, then I'll take it myself. I go around most of the west and southwest on special cases. Otherwise we mostly use other shippers and pocket the profit. Ledman Pickup, man, that place is a graveyard for boxes and stuff. She's always finding things there, hiding under those shelves, stuck in those corners. Junior and Rolando, you know those guys, right?"
"Course I do"
"They don't give a shit,” Ruby said, "They'll let us take whatever we find. Hell, they're mostly the reason things get lost in the first place. Them and the idiot supervisors they always seem to get."
"I'm the idiot supervisor now,” Leonora admitted with a smile.
"Sorry,” Ruby said, "no offense. Nothing personal, you know, seeing as we never met or I never would have said so."
"Oh, you would have!" Leonora told her. "It's exactly what I was. The idiot supervisor! I didn't give a shit either. Now, I don't know why, but now I feel different. Can I go back with you?"
"Sure thing,” Ruby said, "glad to have the company. If you're going where I'm going, it sure makes it easier! Hungry, though? I'm kind of hungry. Saw a Burger Joint on the way to the highway."
"Oh, God,” Leonora told her, "Anywhere but there"
"All right,” Ruby agreed. "Anywhere else it is"
Twenty Four
Kandhi was still sitting at a table in the Burger Joint when the ugly brown van rolled by. She glanced up at it, thought, 'hey, that looks like Leonora Wells sitting in there', before returning her attention to the pink lemonade she was lingering over. A few sips went by and then she thought, 'why am I sitting here when Leonora Wells just went driving by', and that thought was quickly answered in her brain by the idea, 'it couldn't be. She's coming back here.'
“Oh”, she said to herself, and returned to her beverage. A few more moments passed before she asked herself another question.
“Why would Leonora Wells be coming back here? She was just here and she left! Did she forget something?”
“She's supposed to be coming back here”, the little voice in her head repeated, and then Kandhi grew suspicious.
“Hey You”, she quietly murmured, “are you keeping secrets from me?”
“Um, I'm not allowed to say?” the You feebly replied.
“That does it!” Kandhi jumped up. “Frickin' Ginger MacAvoy! It's got to be. She's been sneaking around my back again. Well, I've got a surprise for you, Ginger MacAvoy. And you too, You!”
She pulled the You out of her pocket and hesitated.
“Wait a minute', she told it. 'First I want some information. About that van. Double Dee-liveries. Arizona plates. 006-DDX. Thanks. Got it. 4226 Hanson Avenue, Wetford Arizona. Wetford, Arizona? Holy!” and with that exclamation, she poked a bent paper clip into a teensy hole in the side of the universal personal device, and turned it off.
“So much for you, You!” she declared as she set foot on the sidewalk outside. “And you too, Ginger MacAvoy”, she added.
Kandhi made straight for her car and decided she could do the nine hundred miles or so by morning.
“What's the difference?” she thought. “It's all I have been doing lately anyway. But this time, no frickin' You to be spying on me. It's all just me. Me and the radio for a change.”
It actually felt good to go without that stream of constant data, that instant information, that knowing of whatever she wanted to know at a moment's notice. She didn't have to have a thought in her head, just the wide open road, the plains, the mountains, whatever there was out the window.
“I should do this more often”, she told herself as she made it through western Nebraska, into Colorado, down towards Arizona, and all the way, straight as she could, to the very place she'd started out just a couple of long days before.
Twenty F
ive
It was five in the morning and Leonora Wells was still awake. She had slept a lot during the long ride south with Ruby. They switched the watch, four hours apiece, waking and driving, or sitting and dozing. They chatted a little in between, enough to know they were getting along fine. Ledge sat on the knees of whichever of the two was in the passenger seat, and mostly slept as well. The drive seemed to go fast, and then she was home, in the middle of the night, standing in the living room and marveling at the cleanliness of her apartment. It was like elves had come and done it for her.
“It's a new world”, Leonora declared with a smile. She had pretty much guaranteed herself a new job with Double Dee-liveries. All she had to do was show up in a few hours and introduce herself to the boss, Ruby's girlfriend, Dawn Debris. After that, she'd start right in, finding homes for lost packages. It just felt so right. There was such a need, and she had just what it took. She was sure of it. There would be destinations. There would be steps. There'd be process and order and she would be in control. Nice and tidy. And doing a public service too. What could be wrong?
There came a knock on the door. Puzzled, Leonora went over and opened it to see a puffy, pasty, pink-haired, nose- and ear- and lip-pierced woman standing on the landing.
"Leonora Wells?" the woman asked.
"That's me,” she replied. "What can I do for you?"
"My name's Kandhi Clarke,” the woman said, producing an official looking badge of some sort. "I work for W.W.A. Incorporated out of San Francisco. I believe you have something that belongs to us. I've come to claim it if you don't mind."
"If I have something of yours, you're welcome to it,” Leonora said, and stepped back, gesturing with her arm for Kandhi to come inside. "As you can see,” she continued, "I don't really have a lot of things, and I doubt that any of this stuff is what you're looking for.”
"It's something that looks like this,” Kandhi said, pulling out her universal personal device.
"Oh!” Leonora exclaimed. "You've got one of them too? What is it, anyway? I've just been lugging this thing around,” and she pulled the Nupie out of her overalls pouch and showed it to Kandhi.
"I'm sorry,” Kandhi told her, "I'm not allowed to say. It's a matter of national security.”
"Okay,” Leonora replied. "I know a thing or two about that,” and she handed it over. Kandhi grabbed it and stuffed it in her pocket.
"Would you like some tea or coffee?" Leonora asked. "You look like you could use something."
"No, no,” Kandhi said, "that's very kind but no. I've got to go. I just came for this.”
"Well, all right,” Leonora replied. She waited patiently for Kandhi to leave, still curious about the device, but not sorry to see it go.
"Does yours hum too?" she asked Kandhi, who shrugged and shook her head.
"That little thing can really sing sometimes,” Leonora went on. "Lately, though, it seemed kind of sad. I don't know. Like it was missing something it needed.”
Kandhi didn't say anything, but turned and walked out the door. Once back on the landing, though, she turned, and said,
"Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot"
"Why'd you travel all the way to hell and gone the past few days? I've been chasing you and chasing you."
"I’m sorry,” Leonora replied. "I didn't know you were. Otherwise I suppose I would've stopped. I can't tell you anyway. I don't know myself. It just seemed like the thing to do, I guess.”
"Huh,” Kandhi muttered, and then said goodbye and clattered down the metal stairs. Leonora shut the door, went back inside and made herself a cup of coffee.
Twenty Six
"I've got you now, my pretty,” Kandhi shouted at the little black box once she was safely inside her rental car. "And this time, you're not getting away."
She shoved it into the central chamber of her brand new carry-on and headed straight for the Phoenix airport. She didn't care about sleep. She didn't care about food. She had been driving and driving for so long now she felt just like a machine. Her You was still dormant and she wasn't missing the gadget one bit. She knew where she was going and she went straight there. This time it was all business. Returned the rental car without a hassle. Got through security, no sweat. Boarding pass, check. Wait for the flight, not a problem. Get to the gate, uh-oh. Trouble. National Security. Alert level raised. Apologies from the airline. No carry-ons allowed. All carry-ons must be checked at boarding. Not to worry. They will all be safely stowed below and returned upon arrival. No time to do anything about it. They were taking the carry-ons as you boarded, without warning, without time. She had to let it go.
“It'll be okay”, she told herself. “They'll take it straight to the hold and right back out again in San Francisco.”
That's what she told herself, but all throughout the flight she was worried. She nearly turned on the You again, but decided it wouldn't do any good. She didn't know about the proximity radio detector. Ginger hadn't told her about that back door contingency. It wasn't in the specs and nobody told her everything ever. How many times had she complained to Chris, to Tom. She needed to know. She needed to know every little thing. Griggsy! She'd never know what he'd put in there, what he'd done, what ridiculous, crazy, stupid, arrogant, pompous, jackass technology he'd gone right ahead and rammed into the thing's very registers, into its very fibers, into the permanent read-only fixtures of its central core.
Whatever it was, it was enough. Enough to put the notion into the head of a baggage handler that the brand new bright pink carry-on there, ostensibly marked for that very flight, was actually intended for a different airline entirely. The baggage handler felt such serious concern that he double checked the computer himself, and found it was true. The computer showed it was booked for a flight to Miami in twenty minutes time. The baggage handler hurried down the terminal hallway as fast as he could, so worried that the little carry-on would miss its flight and then be stranded there in Phoenix. Someone was going to miss it. He could make that person very happy and eternally grateful if only he just hurried it up. So he rushed. And he made it on time. And the last thing he saw was the cute little carry-on being flung into the belly of the jetliner that was destined to fly it straight into the glowing red sunset.
THE END
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Ledman Pickup (All Geeked Up) Page 9