Connor had just escorted the last of the media teams out of the suite, and secured the door, while Grace ordered lunch from room service. The interviews had begun at nine A.M. sharp, and had continued non stop for the next three hours. Though it was a duty that she embraced with the acceptance of how important it was for her to be accessible for the success of the campaign, it was not a duty that she enjoyed. True, she did have an easy manner with the correspondents, and most of time, appeared relaxed and engaged. But the thoughts that ran through her mind still circled around the events of the night before. Many of the questions had been very direct about Mason’s comments about Allah. And though he had not briefed her on anything specific to say, they had discussed the foundation of those remarks before he had left that morning.
“He opened the door.” Mason had said. “When Bazir admitted that his own people had committed terrorist acts-”
“That’s not what he said.” She replied.
“But it is, Grace. More or less. The important point was that he admitted there was a problem, but offered no real solution. I just gave a clear and concise way to solve the problem.”
“But Mason, you can’t afford to alienate any segment of the population...not if you want to win.”
“Maybe you’re right.” He had finally said. “Maybe I pushed it a little too far.”
“What now? You can’t take it back now.”
“I’ll address it today. I’ve got two speeches before lunch and another at two. It will be fine.” He had said.
“They’re going to be asking me some very direct questions today.”
“And you will answer them. Very directly.”
“But answer them how? That you didn’t mean to blame the entire Muslim segment of the population for the deaths of Christians? That it was an accident? That you went a little too far?”
“Grace. Look, honey. If they ask...when they ask...just focus on the message. That stopping the extremist, regardless of their origin or religious beliefs is what is important. That all citizens should be able to practice their religions, or lack thereof, in peace.”
And he had been right. Every single interviewer had indeed tried to nail her down on what her husband had said. And in each case she had focused on the freedom of religion, and the dire need to stop the radicals from perverting that freedom into a violent cause. And it had worked. Other questions had followed, and the matter seemed to slip to the side. But even as the discussions had progressed beyond that issue, Grace had recalled the surprise, no, the fear, that she had seen in Reshmina’s eyes the night before. It was almost as if she had seen the devil himself incarnate. With that one look from her, Grace had felt shock, oppression, and the fear of death. She had said nothing more after the one question, and had not mentioned anything else about the comment the rest of the night, but Grace could tell. It had remained top of mind throughout the debate.
Connor opened the door for room service, and dutifully checked the cart, and searched the waiter before allowing him to enter the suite with their food. The young man seemed okay with the process. He smiled as he placed the covered trays on the small table in the kitchen, and his smile grew bigger as he realized the amount of the tip that Connor had given him as he accepted the receipt back from him. He quietly and graciously wheeled the cart out of the room. Connor set a place at the table for Grace, and then picked up his tray and moved it to the counter.
“Aren’t you eating?” Grace asked.
“I’ll wait for you, mam.”
“Don’t be silly. Your lunch will get cold. Go ahead. Sit down.” Connor hesitated, tray in hand. “Go ahead.” Grace said again. She crossed her arms. “I’m not sitting down until you do.” Connor hesitated another moment, and then finally stepped back to the table and sat down his tray. Grace seated herself, as he arranged his tray and sat down across from her. She smiled, nodded, and then draped her napkin across her lap. She lifted the cover from her tray, just as Connor lifted his lid.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how do you do it?” Connor asked, as he picked up a half of his sandwich and took a bite.
“Do what?” Grace asked, and took a bite of her own.
“This morning. All of that craziness.”
“Craziness?” She laughed, and took another bite of her sandwich. “This is really good.” He nodded, as he wiped his mouth with his napkin.
“All of those news hounds. Every one of them hanging on every word. It’s like they are just waiting for you to slip up, so they can pounce like a tiger.”
“Oh, they are.” She replied. “It’s kind of like a game for them, I think.” She took a sip of her drink. “What time do we leave?” He checked the schedule on his Smart contact.
“An hour and a half.”
“But I haven’t even packed yet.”
“No need. Your staff will handle it.”
“Are we flying?”
“No, mam. Convoy.”
“Convoy? Like military?”
“Yes and no, mam. More like a magic trick.” She glanced at him with a puzzled look. “Decoys, mam. Now you see it, now you don’t.” She nodded. A slim smile crossed his face.
“Connor,” She began.
“Mam?”
“Have you noticed...”
“Mam?” He asked. She hesitated. Should she ask what she had started to ask, she wondered. She had been about to ask him if he had noticed anything unusual in her husbands behavior. But she was unsure if she should ask, for a multitude of reasons. He had been assigned to her only for a short time, so he had not been around Mason long enough, really, to even know what his normal behavior was like. If she did ask him, it would only serve to make him watch Mason with some essence of suspicion. And did she really have any right to ask him. She hadn’t really noticed anything concrete about Mason’s recent behavior, had she? What she felt was more of a gut feeling that something was off. She shook her head, and noticed the time.
“Nothing.” She rose from the table. “I’ll be in the bedroom for a little while.”
“Yes, mam. I’ll knock when it is time to leave.” She nodded as she walked into the living area and picked up the VirtuaScape headband. She had promised Bradlie that she would join her in a new adventure today, and as she once again checked the current time, she realized she had another ten minutes before the session would begin. She entered the bedroom, shut the door, and arranged the pillows at the head of the bed. She sat down, and made herself comfortable, and gently placed the headband on her head. She closed her eyes as she activated the device, and right away she felt the now familiar sensations. Darkness enveloped her and momentarily the menu appeared. There were multiple options this time, but as instructed by Bradlie, she selected Jelly Whop. She had no idea what this could possibly be, but the name made her smile none the less. The menu zipped away, and once again she was in total darkness. A few seconds passed, and gradually the scene faded into view. Clear blue sky on a bright sunlit beach, with palm trees at the edge of a jungle.
“Bradlie!” She exclaimed, and ran across the sand to hug her granddaughter.
“Grandma!” They hugged, kissed, and Grace stepped back to look at her.
“What on earth are you wearing?” She asked, as she examined the pink camouflage jumpsuit. Bradlie pirouetted.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Bradley asked. “And your’s is too!” Grace looked down and was surprised to see that she wore a lavender version of the same design. She laughed.
“Okay, girlfriend. What’s this Jelly Roll about?”
“Jelly Roll?” Bradlie laughed. “Jelly Whop, Grandma. Jelly Whop!” She reached behind her back and seemingly out of thin air, with one quick motion, she suddenly held a large metallic weapon. Grace stepped back in surprise. The gleaming monstrosity resembled some type of futuristic rocker launcher.
“What in the world?” Suddenly a buzzer sounded. Grace spun around to see where the sound had come from.
“Hurry, Grandma. Get ready!”
“Ready for what?”
“Grandma, grab your Jelly Whopper!”
“My what?”
“Jelly Whopper!” Bradlie said excited, as she brandished her weapon. Her Jelly Whopper, Grace realized. She reached behind her back, just as Bradlie had before. Amazingly, she felt the weapon materialize in her hands. Even as she whipped it around, the knowledge of how to use the weapon flooded into her, as did the instructions of how to play the game. She pumped the slide on the barrel much like a shotgun, and charged her weapon. She beamed a smile at Bradlie.
“Locked and loaded, lil’ girl. Let’s rock this jungle!” Bradlie pumped her own gun with zeal. A bellowing deep voice began to count down from three. They both turned towards the jungle in a semi-crouch. The countdown reached one, and again the buzzer sounded. Fast tempo music began to play from the sky.
“Bonsai!” Bradlie yelled, and together they charged into the underbrush. “Go left, Grandma!” Grace cut left, ducked a palm frond, and rushed down the narrow path. She leaped over a patch of quicksand, just as a neon red circle appeared to her right. In the center of the circle was a giant sandwich, at least a foot across. Two slices of bread, waggling open and closed, providing just a glimpse of the brown smudge of peanut butter inside. Grace raised her weapon and fired. With a sound like a splat, the weapon kicked in her hands, and a glowing glob a grape jelly shot out of the barrel. She watched with amazement as the slices of bread opened just enough for the great glob to land inside the sandwich, and then smack shut. There was a sudden clanging, as her points were tallied, and then just as suddenly, the sandwich disappeared in a tiny ball of fire. She ran ahead, as she heard clanging from elsewhere in the jungle. Bradlie had just scored as well.
As she rounded a corner, her mind flashed back to a similar scene years ago. When she had held not some imaginary jelly weapon, but a real high powered weapon charged and ready to fire. Even as her eyes saw another sandwich target appear, she fought down the fear and emotion she had felt long ago, as she had sighted down her barrel, and ended another human’s life. Her breath caught in her throat, as the funny little sandwich bounced across the path. Deep breath, she thought, as she aimed, fired, and missed. The blob of jelly stuck to a nearby tree. She fired again, and once again missed. Suddenly the sandwich launched its own attack, shooting a volley of tiny marshmallows at her. She ducked, spun to her right, and came up firing. Two globs of purple goo sent the sandwich into oblivion. Startled by a sound behind her, she spun around, weapon raised. Coming up behind her was a giant man size banana. It had arms, legs, and the top was peeled back revealing a face. It swung a huge pretzel stick around in martial arts fashion, as it ducked, weaved and twirled towards her, making wild and crazy sounds. Grace was so astonished at the apparition, that she stood frozen, unable to move. From behind her, she heard the now familiar splatting sound, as two huge globs of red whooshed past her head, and slammed into the banana. The banana, flipped over backwards, and landed hard, splitting wide open. A white substance billowed up from inside it.
“Woo Hoo!” Bradlie yelled as she raced past Grace. “I saved you, Grandma!” She said as she stooped over the fallen banana, and scooped up a handful of the white cream. “Want some ice cream?” She asked, offering the white glob to Grace.
For what seemed like hours Grace and Bradlie ran through the jungle annihilating scores of sandwich targets, marauding banana men, and a few very vicious gummy alligators. Once Grace had been caught in a cotton candy snare, and had to eat her way free, while Bradlie, with jujitsu like moves, had single handedly fought off a herd of attacking animal crackers. Of course, when the final scores were revealed, Bradlie had easily won, leaving Grace far behind in the point count. They walked out of the jungle hand in hand, weapons slung over their shoulder.
“Strawberry jelly.” Bradley said. “That’s my weapon of choice.” Grace laughed.
“This was quite the adventure, Princess.”
“Yeah, it’s really cool!”
“Not your first time?”
“Oh, no! I play this a lot!”
“So what will we do next?”
“Don’t know, Grandma. There’s cool new stuff coming out all the time. We’ll see.” Grace laughed.
“Yes we will.” She bent down and kissed her granddaughter, and hugged her tight. “Until next time?”
“Yep!” Bradlie exclaimed. Grace stepped back from her and waived. As Bradlie waived back, the sunlight began to fade, and suddenly she was enveloped in darkness.
Chapter 10
VirtuaScape Page 9