by Rob Mclean
A sea of babbling voices surrounded him. All were discussing the implications of the currency change, but all John could think of was how it would affect Angela and her family.
Chapter 34
John was done in by the time his report was written and submitted. Hunger added to his woes by the time he was to leave for home.
He was just about to get into his car and head for home when he got a call on his cell phone.
“Hey bro,” he answered after checking the caller’s number.
“Um, this is Josie, boss.”
“Josie? From the nightclub?” John was surprised, but then remembered that he had also seen her at the university with Jarred, supposedly helping him with his Human Consciousness experiment. He wondered again if there was more to their relationship. He had meant to ask his brother all about it, but things had been so busy of late.
“Yeah, look its Jarred…”
John didn’t like the wary edge in her voice. “What’s up? Is he okay?”
“No, he’s been beat up…”
“Beat up? By who?” John wondered who his socially awkward and tactless little brother had offended now? “Is he alright?”
“Yeah, he’s okay…now. He’s stable. They want to do some scans and keep him in overnight for observation. We’re in the UCLA hospital, but it’s going to cost.”
“Yeah, okay,” John groaned.
“Hey, he wants you to bring him his laptop.”
“Sure he does.”
“They stole his i-pad.”
“Oh, okay…” Maybe it was just a regular mugging and he hadn’t offended anyone in particular, John thought. “Look, I’ll be right over.”
After getting a bite to eat from home, Jarred’s laptop and recharger, as well as a few toiletries, John arrived at the hospital almost two hours later.
John saw Josie first. She was on her phone, but gave him a wave as he arrived at the emergency waiting room. From what he could hear of her conversation, she was explaining to her parents why she wouldn’t be home for dinner.
He saw Jarred sitting in a wheel-chair nearby. His head was bandaged and dressings were applied to his swollen face. It brought a lump in his throat to see his brother in this state, but a he gritted his teeth to keep a broiling anger at bay. If he could find out who did this…
“Hey bro,” John said blinking back his emotions and trying to sound casual. “Had a big day out?”
Jarred gave him a ‘thumbs up’ and weak smile in return.
“You okay?” John asked, putting Jarred’s things down on the seat between them.
“Yeah, just dandy.” Another wavering grin, but John could tell that he was in pain. “They’ve just given me some meds. They want to keep me in for a while…” Jarred tried to nod towards the reception desk.
“Yeah, no probs. I’ll go fix the paperwork.” John said, patting his brother on his knee, glad of something he could do.
Josie sounded like she was arguing with someone on the phone, but it was in Spanish, so John couldn’t be sure. After a period of just listening and saying nothing, she ended the call with a frustrated groaning sigh.
As he filled out the admission forms, John couldn’t help but wonder again about their relationship. Surely something must be going on that he didn’t know about.
Josie came over to see John as he was handing over his credit card. He wondered how much longer the old currency would be good for.
“You are a good brother to him,” she said.
“Well, you do anything for people you care about,” John answered, hoping she might take his meaning.
“He’s lucky to have you.”
“And you,” John put his hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for being there for him.”
“Like you said…” A shy smile flashed across Josie’s face before she turned away to look at Jarred. He had opened up his laptop and was oblivious to their conversation about him. “I was at his lab, helping him with his, you know, experiments.”
John said nothing, but just raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Yeah, he’s doing something to work out compatible couples and we were supposed to be a baseline, something to compare other couples to.”
John smiled to himself. It didn’t look they were at baseline anymore.
“Except that we were doing better together than a lot of couples that were supposedly happy and in love.” A small smile twisted Josie’s full lips.
John didn’t like to remember how badly he and Angela had done in those tests. Jarred hadn’t minded telling him that Angela had done better all by herself. Judging by how things weren’t exactly working out with her, he had to admit there might be something to his brother’s experiments.
“At first I thought he was rigging the results, you know, trying to hit on me – I get pretty good at spotting that - but he was so upset that his experiment wasn’t working.”
She stole a look over to Jarred who was still engrossed in his browsing sessions. “You know, I really don’t think he ever considered the possibility that there might be something between us causing it.”
“Really?” John couldn’t help both his eyebrows rising or the surprise in his voice. “Is there?”
Josie swatted John playfully on his arm. “Don’t pretend to be so shocked,” she said mockingly. “He’s kinda cute, in a way.”
“You know that ‘cute’ means ‘ugly but loveable’…”
“He’s not ugly,” she protested, again looking at Jarred as he kept tapping away indifferently, “just not handsome, at least not in the usual way.”
“If you say so, he doesn’t do much for me.”
“Don’t be so mean. He’s different from most guys – and that’s a good thing – and he’s so smart. It’s awesome to hear him talk about things. There’s so many things he knows so much about.”
“He’s got absolutely no social skills, you know.” Like health warnings on cigarette packets, John felt obliged to tell her.
“And after all the smooth guys I’ve met, let me tell you, that’s also a good thing.” John noticed her cheeks reddened slightly. “Besides, I have enough social skills for both of us.”
“Us?” John asked. “Does he even know what’s going on?”
Josie laughed. “Does he even know I exist? Sometimes I wonder, but he did ask me to help, not some other girl, and I know I’m not ugly.” She gave John a beaming smile.
“But he’s so…” John fished about for a suitable euphemism. “Naïve?”
“Unsophisticated.”
“Clueless, more like it.”
“Open and honest,” Josie looked at Jarred with adoration as she spoke. “Without secret agendas, and after all the smarmy guys I’ve known, that’s a blessing.”
“Tactless and blunt, you mean.” Despite his protests, John could start to see where she was coming from. Jarred was no boy-band pin-up, but he was, like John, a decent, loyal, trustworthy guy. He would, one day if he eventually finished his studies and got a real job, bring home a good income, especially if his couples indicator experiment got some commercial traction.
“Please be gentle with him, okay?”
“Boss?”
“You’re his first girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Josie nodded. “They’re the ones that you foolishly open your heart for, just before they rip it out and claw it to shreds, right boss?”
John winced. It was uncanny how accurately she had described how he had felt about Natalie.
“And I’m guessing he’s not your first?” John asked.
“You got his gene for tact too?”
“Probably what got him in trouble today. Do you know what happened?”
“I can’t say for sure. I was not there. He had walked me to my car and it was only a few moments later I got a call from him. He wasn’t saying much, just groaning and stuff, so I went back to where his scooter was parked and found him there.”
John shook his head. It wasn’t much to go on.
“He s
ays some guy called out to him and when he turned around, all he saw was a foot in his face. I’m pretty sure he knows who did this,” Josie frowned, “but he’s saying he can’t remember anything more.”
John nodded. It was common for head injuries to have some sort of amnesia.
“Yeah, maybe it’ll come back to him later,” John said heading back to his brother. “If there’s no long term brain damage.”
“Let’s hope there’s not.”
“Well, unlike me,” John grinned, “he can probably afford it.”
The sound of Josie’s laugh lifted Jarred’s attention away from his laptop. John saw a fleeting frown that might be jealousy on his brother’s face.
“Hey did you hear about the one world currency thing?” Jarred called out.
Maybe it wasn’t jealousy after all, John thought, just his thinking face.
“Actually I have.” A quick look of disbelief on his brother’s face brought a grin to his own. “That’s old news. Where have you been all day?”
“Just lazing around, I guess.” John was glad to see that Jarred’s sense of humour was returning. The meds must be working. “I guess they’d have to tell you about it at work. There might be a run on the banks.”
It occurred to John that Eloise had never said that the news about the one world currency was confidential. She had implied it by only telling the squad leaders, giving them the impression that she thought them important enough to be in the know.
He had wanted to ring Angela as soon as he had found out about the new currency thing, but he was too busy with the report and thought it better to talk to her away from Eloise. Now he worried that he would be doing the same thing as Eloise, but really he was dreading calling her because he didn’t think she would take the news very well.
“The crazy thing is,” Jarred continued, “is that even though they all agree that we should have one, they can’t agree on what to call it.” Jarred rolled his eyes and continued unabated. “The ‘Terran’ is the most popular, but there’s also the ‘Dey’ – an acronym of the Dollar, Euro and Yen…”
John and Josie looked at each other and smiled.
“Good to see nothing’s changed,” John said.
“Huh?” Jarred gave him a puzzled look. “What do you mean? This is gonna be really huge.”
Josie laughed and gave him a hug.
“No really,” Jarred persisted, “it’ll make it a whole lot harder for your girly-friend to live here anymore.”
The smile fell from John’s face. He had suspected as much, but to hear it from Jarred somehow made it more real. He figured it was about time he gave her a call.
“Hey, we’re just stoked that you’re okay, bro’.” John ruffled his brother’s ginger hair, before pulling out his phone. “I’ve gotta give that girly-friend a call.”
Chapter 35
Angela sat numbed, listening to her parents arguing after they all had heard of the news of the new one world currency.
All the implications of all the anti-religious nations adopting a single world currency made her worried and confused. She would normally turn to her parents for their advice on things like this, but today they seemed just as frightened and dismayed as her.
They never used to argue in front of her before. With all the things that had changed in their previously orderly world, it was little wonder that had changed too.
Things were getting harder for them on a daily basis. By the sound of her father’s soft rasping voice, they all knew his illness wasn’t getting any better, and they were both getting older and crankier. But not least, the Alien AntiChrist thing was making things impossible for everyone.
Could it also be that maybe they didn’t see her as a little child anymore and should be included in family discussions?
Her father, Geoff, was all in favour of moving to Utah as soon as they could. He argued that it was inevitable that they would have to move someday – the Alien AntiChrist and the sycophantic government, backed by big business, were making sure of that – and that his health wouldn’t let them put it off for too much longer.
Her mother was indignant. She was all for hunkering down and toughing it out until Christ returned. She argued that to move would be doing exactly as the AntiChrist wanted. She let it be known that she felt fleeing would be publically showing a lack of faith in the Lord, but she did say that it was only her own feelings, not any guidance she had received from the Lord.
Angela prayers for direction on this or any other matter lately hadn’t been answered either. She knew it was silly, but it almost felt as if the Lord had been inundated by all the recent prayer requests.
She could see both points of view. Her father’s practical approach made sense, but her faith agreed with her mother. It was as if the parts of her that were from her mother were battling with the parts of her that were from her father in a feud that made her feel as if she were being pulled apart.
“This money thing seals it, Clarice,” her father said with a finality that rang true with Angela.
Clarice bit her lip, but a moment later her retort escaped. “This is just the sort of thing we should have been preparing for. It says in the Bible that we should have a month’s supply laid up in store for just this sort of emergency.”
“We don’t know how long this’ll go on for…”
Angela didn’t see anything changing for the better until Christ returned and according to the Book of Revelations, even with all the things happening now, that still could be years away. She remembered reading that no-one knows when that would be, not even Christ Himself.
“The church will help us,” Clarice said without conviction.
“The church may be moving as well.”
“To Utah?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care.” Geoff said. His gruff voice then softened as he reached out for his wife’s hand. “I don’t care where I die, it doesn’t matter to me. All I care about is what happens to you and Angela after I’m gone.”
“Don’t talk like that…”
“No, I have to. I want you both to be in a safe place after I’m… gone.”
Angela felt her eyes filling with tears. She turned away and tried to think of something different. She didn’t want to think about a life without her father in it. They all knew that day was coming, but she had always hoped it was far away. She now had to admit that it wasn’t. Although she didn’t want to face it, she could see how her father had to.
“I think,” he continued, “that being in a religious area, amongst like-minded people will be the better choice.”
“Where they can control us better,” Angela heard herself say.
“We’re being manipulated either way,” her father replied gently. “We just have to pray that it is by the right power.”
“I don’t like it,” Clarice said, “I see it as running away, but if it is what you want…”
“Yeah, and if it all goes wrong, it’ll all be my fault.” Geoff waved away her protest before she could voice it. “But I won’t be around to blame for very long, will I?”
“Long enough to hear me tell you ‘I told you so’,” Clarice said wiping away her tears.
“Be worried if you didn’t,” her father replied cradling her hand in both of his.
Angela put her arms around them both and dragged them into a group hug.
Her phone sounded from the coffee table. She was going to ignore it, but her mother had already broken away and was half way across the room.
“You should answer it, dear,” she said picking up Angela’s phone and squinting as she read the caller’s name.
“It’s your nightclub fellow,” she announced. “Why doesn’t he call the home phone?”
“Why don’t you answer it and ask him yourself?” Angela snatched the phone from her mother before she took up her suggestion and headed off to her bedroom.
“Hey, what’s happening?” John’s voice sounded distant, hard to hear amid the background noises of wind and passing car
s. “Did you hear about the new money?”
“Yeah, we were just talking about it.”
“And?”
“And what? Looks like we’re going to have to move away?” She let him hear the anger in her voice. She didn’t want to be forced to move and she blamed the Alien AntiChrist and all his supporters, which included John.
“Away? Where to?”
“I don’t know. Utah, maybe, or one of the religious areas.” Then, just because she was feeling annoyed, she added, “or maybe South America.”
“You sure?”
“No, of course not, everything’s so…”
“Messed up, yeah, I know.”
“It’s all because of the Alien AntiChrist, making out he’s so helping us, but in the end, it’s us, the religious, who are being hassled.”
“Have you ever considered that you might be wrong about the Alien envoy? You know, the one world currency thing makes sense if we’re going to be trading with other planets…”
“There are no other planets. It’s all a big lie put about by the biggest liar of them all.”
“Speaking of which,” John cut her off, “do you know where your friend Zeke was this afternoon?”
“Zeke? How should I know?”
“Well, he was at the MacArthur Park event the other day…”
“I told you, I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“And he showed up at a church closure I had to do in East L.A.”
‘A church closure?’ the thought horrified her. ‘He says it as if it were a little convenience store going out of business, not a place of holy worship. He just doesn’t get it,’ she silently fumed.
“And you think I’d tell him where you’ll be?”
“And now Jarred is in hospital.”
“What happened?”
“Someone beat him up.”
“And you think it was Zeke?”
“Just trying to eliminate him from the very short list of suspects.”
“Why would Zeke do anything like that?”
“Well, Jarred did mouth off at your friend’s engagement party and I’d reckon your ex would be the vengeful type to hold a grudge.”