by Teya Tapler
Emil, Mary and Peter rushed to Zander. Being the Anaconda team’s medic, Mary checked his vitals, then looked at Peter and Emil and nodded, “He’s alive.”
She put her hand on Zander’s chest where the ray had hit him. His leather jacket was ruined. The ray had left an inch wide hole with burnt edges. Mary quickly unzipped the jacket and tore the burnt T-shirt. What she saw confirmed her suspicion: Zander had a silver spoon hanging around his neck. A silver chain with distinctive honeycomb pattern was going through the middle of the apple blossom on the spoon’s handle. The spoon had protected Zander’s heart.
“Just a client, right?” Emil said, grabbed Zander’s shoulders and shook him before Mary could say anything. Zander opened his eyes and met Emil’s stern look. “You’ve a lot of explaining to do!” Emil said as the two of them hid in the small closet in front of Mary and Peter’s astonished looks.
When Emil closed the door, Mary and Peter looked at each other and shrugged. They had no idea what was going on, so they sat down, their backs against the wall and waited.
“What part of ‘she is just a client’ you did not understand?” Emil started after he closed the door. He wanted to shout but didn’t want to let the others outside the closet hear and see more than it was necessary at the time.
Zander was still dazed from the shock. He wasn’t hearing Emil clearly. What came to his mind instead, were the words of the tiny reader,
Find the thorn one, for your doom will be changed by her gift of a spoon.
The memories of the mission reading and the day when Evan gave him the spoon mixed in his mind with the burning sensation he felt when the ray from the pearls hit him. He still felt the ray’s power. To his astonishment that ray didn’t feel harmful. It felt warm and inviting and lonely. As if Evan had stretched her hand and touched his chest trying to calm him down and tell him that everything was going to be all right.
“You didn’t only hold hands.” Emil said. “Don’t lie to me, because I know where this thing came from. Their house is the only place where I’ve seen flatware like that. ” He brushed the spoon which was still hanging on Zander’s neck. In the badly lit closet Emil’s copper colored skin and bright green eyes made his face look threatening. ” What else d’you two do? Better tell me now because the scientists’ll figure it out sooner or later. You should know our rules by heart and I’ve told you that the touch and emotions can transition from one person to another. You saw what happened to the pearls when she was near them.” Emil went on and on. The closet was too small for his fury. “You know that we have to follow strict rules every time we go back. These rules exist for a reason. You do know that we are not allowed to get emotionally involved with anyone from the past because that may break the time and space continuum.” He took a deep breath and spoke slower. “So, tell me; what else d’you two do?” His voice sounded calmer but his face was turning red. As the team leader he was responsible for everyone and everything.
Zander had no right to keep any assignment related secrets from him. Yet, at the time it was a much better approach for Zander to simply not share. He looked at Emil and said quietly, “We kissed.”
“Just kissed, or kissed-kissed, or kissed and -” Emil continued asking for more details
“Just kissed,” Zander replied.
“Are you sure that was it?” Emil insisted.
“Well,” Zander didn’t want to tell more but he had to,” we hugged and kissed,” he said reluctantly.
“Just hugged and kissed?” Hearing the details made Emil think there was more to follow.
“She was only 17. She was only 17.” Zander repeated his statement and the second time it sounded as if he said it to himself, as if he was regretting she had been so young.
Emil looked Zander in the eye and said calmly, “I hate doing this as much as you do but I really need to know if you-”
“Nothing else happened.” Zander said calmly looking back at Emil’s eyes. ”As I said she was only 17.”
Emil zipped Zander’s jacket up to his chin and said, “Let’s face the music then.”
Outside the closet professor Wilderness and her team were interrogating Mary and Peter about their pearls retrieval mission. When Emil and Zander showed Mary and Peter sighed with relief and referred the scientists to them. Professor Wilderness took Emil and Zander by the hand and dragged them to the control room.
“The two of you owe me an explanation.” Brianna was both upset from what had happened and under a lot of pressure from the politicians. Emil and Zander didn’t want to be in her shoes.
Emil spoke first. “He had a close contact with the subject who’d last touched one of the pearl and, we suspect, was highly emotionally involved with them.”
Having analyzed Mort’s notebook, professor Wilderness looked at Zander and asked as calmly as possible, “What type of close contact?”
“We just hugged and kissed. She was only 17,” Zander responded defensively.
“At the time we didn’t know the details about the pearls high sensitivity to human emotions.” Emil supported him.
Professor Wilderness turned to the flexi-threen in the corner and pressed a few keys on the virtual keyboard. She carefully inspected and analyzed the display before changing it again. The image on the screen transformed from a pie chart to a pivot table to a trend line. Then she turned back to Zander and Emil and said, “We need that person here. See that?” She twisted the display and made the spaghetti plot pop-up. The chart lines were dispersing in all directions. “Without her we won’t be able to destroy the pearls. Her influence on them is too high.”
Emil tried to say something but she interrupted him and continued talking. “Don’t worry about the crowd upstairs. I’ll handle them. Just bring that girl here.”
“Like a onetime visit?” Emil finally caught her to breathe and was able to interject.
“No, permanently. A onetime visit won’t suffice,” she said.
“But-” Emil tried to say something when she spoke over his words again.
“You wouldn’t have to do that if the close contact had been avoided. Now you have to be considerate about the timing and not interfere with the past because your actions won’t be protected by the pearls.”
Chapter 11
Evan looked in the mirror and smiled. The pixie haircut she adopted, after Zander cut her hair with the butcher's knife two months ago, was giving her a playful look and the black suit made her appear highly professional. She turned to check her reflection from the side, then wrinkled her nose and buttoned the jacket. It emphasized her thin waistline.
Next the knee high pencil skirt had to be combined with the proper shoes. Evan turned to Brittany and said, “What do you think; flats or medium high shoes?”
“I would say stilettos,” Brittany narrowed her eyes evaluating the potential impact of the high heels.
“Come on, Brit!” Evan smiled back. “You know first-hand that I cannot walk in these.”
“But you will be irresistible.” Brittany emphasized the last word.
“This is my first day as intern at Analysis4All. You know how hard it was to get selected. I don't want to embarrass myself in the very beginning. I won't be able to face those people after that.”
Evan had gradually turned into the geeky girls you cannot talk to about anything fun. Except that you still could. The fun and quirky side of Evan was still in there, kind of making her a more complex person than Brittany wanted. Brittany liked the fun loving Evan more than the computer professional side. Seeing for the first time that Evan preferred her geeky side irritated Brittany a little.
“Oh, oh, oh, look who’s talking now! We have Miss Shtuttgart, the organization freak, the top of the class computer science major, the beautiful woman dedicated only to her career.” Brittany said.
“Brit, stop it! I just want-” Evan started.
“To be perfect. I know.” Brittany finished her sentence then kicked the shoes with medium height heels to Evan. “These are be
tter. They will show off your legs.”
“That's what I was looking for,” Evan quickly put on the shoes. “I like it!” she concluded reevaluating her image in the mirror.
Now, Miss Evangeline Shtuttgart, go and show them what you can do! Evan liked what she saw. She kicked the flats under the bed, closed her wardrobe and started putting notebooks and pens in her black messenger’s bag.
“Are you coming to the party?” Brittany asked leisurely. She had rolled on Evan's bed and was now looking at the ceiling.
“What have you planned this time?” Evan asked
“Nothing special - just my 21st birthday celebration. It's going to be the biggest birthday party ever.” Brittany said with a dreamy voice.
“That’s almost six months away.” Evan replied.
“It’s actually only 128 days away.” Brittany smiled then continued stressing every word. “I'm giving you 128 days’ notice so that you can bring a nice guy to the party.”
“If you want me to bring Mitchell, let me assure you that we stopped dating eight days ago.” Evan said.
“I'll save you a seat at the singles table then.” Brittany laughed.
“This is going to be your birthday party not your wedding reception. Your wedding is in the spring,” Evan tried to sound indifferent.
“You didn't say whether you'll be coming or not,” Brittany insisted.
“Of course, I'm coming. I won't miss your birthday party for anything. You know how much I love you.” Evan replied while contemplating whether to pack the 70 pages or 120 page two subject notebook.
“You'll have to drive to Hamptoville on your own, then. Josh will pick me up after lunch that day.” Brittany said casually.
So typical for Brittany; she had finals coming up and instead was worried about her birthday party. Evan was positive that Brittany had already planned every detail. Why didn't she become an event of wedding planner instead, or maybe a real estate agent as she was the one to find that apartment after the explosion at their previous place.
“Is it going to be in your house?” Evan asked.” You mentioned your parents had renovated the basement but I'm not sure that all your friends would fit in there.”
“Josh's father said we can do it in the Country Club. There will be plenty of space for everyone. Josh’s father’s the best person in the whole world.” Brittany started to praise her future father in law.
Still staying with her back to Brittany Evan rolled her eyes. She had heard enough about Josh and his father in the past months. Josh's parents have always been rich. They were from the wealthy part of Hamptonville where everyone lived in mansions and had really long driveways. Even the streets looked like park alleys; there were no sidewalks or street lights to ensure better privacy for the residents and most of the houses were surrounded by high iron fences. Brittany and Evan were from the other side of Hamptonville, where the ordinary people lived among white picket fences or evergreen shrubs. Regardless of the weird population mix, the town had the best school system in Massachusetts and the one among the top five in the nation. The rich inhabitants were sending their heirs to the public schools instead. That's how Brittany's Cinderella story had started.
“Oh, I’m sorry I forgot,” Brittany’s voice softened.” I know you’ve bad memories of that place. It’s where Kevin used to live.”
“I’ll be okay,” Evan said still not looking at her friend. Years ago, what was now the country club, used to be the Thunder Gate Mill mansion where Kevin Mort lived with his father, where Evan was kidnapped and saved and then almost died and then got kissed by the love of her life. She wandered if she would be able to go there and have fun or at least pretend she was enjoying the party. But again, so much time has passed. She had learned to live with the slowly diminishing pain and the thought that everything could have been different.
It was June 25th, 2006, day 968 since Zander left for the first time. Evan was ignoring the recent, brief encounter with him when they met for a few minutes between the fight and the explosions in the Cambridge apartment. Their time together was cut so short that it …didn’t count, it didn’t matter that she had glimpsed at him.
Almost three years had passed since the day he left her alone and she had learned how to move on.
“Let me look at you one more time,“ Brittany sat up when Evan headed out the door of the bedroom. “Nope, I cannot add anything and shouldn't remove anything either. You’re simply perfect! Now go girl and show them what you can do, “Brittany pushed Evan out of the room.
***
Evan made it to the office successfully. The one hour extra travel time she left for the first day commute was more than enough and she showed up half an hour early. She entered the building and headed to the sitting area in the foyer. The gray leather armchairs were grouped by four around three square tables with white orchids on top. Magazines and newspapers were scattered to help decrease the pressure of the wait. Just like in the dental office where you can browse the gossip and fantasize about an exotic travel destination relaxing before the root canal procedure.
Evan sat down and put her messenger’s bag next to the chair. The four story building was housing the offices of ten companies, Analysis4All occupying the whole top floor. Trying to not get more nervous than she already was Evan focused on the people getting in and out of the elevator. It was hard to tell who might be part of the group she’ll be joining shortly. She was seeing a mixture of formally and casually dressed people greeting each other and chatting about the kids, the weather or their plans for the night. Watching strangers wasn’t going to help her spend the extra 30 minutes not worrying about the impression she had to make or what her first task was going to be. Evan pulled today's issue of the Boston Globe and started reading the main article on the front page.
Five minutes before nine o’clock, she got up, picked up her messenger bag and went to the Analysis4All office. The beautiful strawberry blond receptionist smiled and let her to the office of her new boss, “Cheryl, this is our new intern Miss Evangeline Shtuttgart.”
“Hi Evangeline, I am Cheryl Thomas, Director of the Business Intelligence Department here at Analysis4All.” Cheryl grabbed Evan's stretched hand and shook it too firm for a woman. Her jeans and long sleeve, loose fit T-shirt made Evan feel hugely overdressed and she blushed.
“Don't worry,” Cheryl said, “you’re very well dressed for your first day. You need to impress all of us from the very beginning. Then tomorrow, you can put on your sneakers and join the non-formal dress code we all love so much.” She took Evan down the corridor to a well-lit area with several cubicles. One of the eight desks was empty. The computer screen was dark. There was a notebook, a thick green folder, some writing utensils and a welcome chocolate bar next to the keyboard.
“This will be your place.” Cheryl moved the chair indicating that Evan could take the seat. “Here are your username and temporary password for the machine. After you settle down, check your email, I think you’re invited to the one o’clock kick-off meeting in the conference room. To prepare for the meeting you may read the materials in the green folder. If you have any questions let me know. My extension is 5822,” Cheryl smiled to Evan then looked at the other seven desks and raised her voice. “Hey everyone, this is Evangeline!” Cheryl continued and Evan felt obliged to stand up. “She’s our data analyst intern for the summer. Be nice to her. I’ll send the official memo later today.”
Evan felt seven pairs of eyes critically measuring her look and evaluating her intelligence based on her black, formal office attire. They must have noticed how overdressed she was. Not liking the attention she blushed and looked down. Even after years of cheerleading she was still just a shy little girl.
“If you have any questions, let me know. My extension is 5822.” Cheryl repeated, then patted motherly Evan on her back and left.
Evan sat down and turned on the computer. The monitor displayed the starting message sequence and splash screen for the initial load of the operating sy
stem then stopped at the username and password prompt. Evan typed in her login and temporary password then followed the change password directions on the screen. Once in, she started the email application. Yes, she was invited to the one o’clock meeting in the conference room and here came the announcement of her internship. Cheryl Thomas had written very nice things about Evan’s achievements in the college, explaining briefly the kind of work she would be doing at Analysis4All and ending with the offer for everyone to stop by Evan’s desk to say “hi”.
Wondering what to do next Evan opened one of the enterprise data warehouse requirements documents she found in the green folder and flipped the title page. The documents were scary thick with over 100 pages each. Reading them would fill the three hours till her first meeting. Evan focused on the first paragraph when she heard a low baritone behind her back, “Knock, knock?”
The voice sounded familiar and brought back bad feeling. Its timbre scared and startled her at the same time. She almost jumped in her seat, then slowly turned towards the voice and saw a smiling, tall, geeky looking guy with bushy eyebrows, who was still fighting his high school skin problems, leaning on one of the cubicle walls. The guy had a lanky body and the beige T-shirt fitted him the way it would look on a clothes hanger. He wasn’t threatening at all. It was just her nervousness and worry that she won’t fit in she had to be afraid off. Everyone else was friendly.
Evan smiled back and stood up to greet him properly. He met her stretched hand midway but his handshake was soft and loose and somehow reminded Evan of holding a dead fish: it was slippery and hard to hold on to.
“Hi, I am Oliver, but you can call me Ollie,” the loose handshake guy said. “I’m intern here too. I started yesterday and will be working on the data warehouse project as well. I heard you’ll be going to the one o’clock kick off meeting. I can show you where the conference room is.”
“Will there be enough time to read all these?” She pointed at the huge specification documents.