Dark Side of the Moon

by V R Tapscott

  I guess I’ll just put it out of my head and forget it, for now.

  I did find myself wondering how Bailey and Olive were getting along on their trip to Las Vegas. I hoped they wouldn’t find it all too boring. I’d planned it as best I could to let them do as little as possible in terms of having silly errands. After all, they were basically on a silly errand for me, might as well make it painless.

  Next morning, or it was nearly noon actually, Bailey sent me a text letting me know that she and Olive would be staying in Vegas a week or so. Apparently, Bailey had won a substantial amount of money and they wanted to look around Vegas while they were there. Since I’d bought the house there for that very reason, I thought it was an excellent idea. Plus, after the initial loneliness, I was rather liking the feeling of having my house to myself again. She did send a rather cryptic text though, too. “The bitch arrives in three days.” I sent her back a reply saying “I thought you weren’t coming home for a week” but, apparently she didn’t think it was funny enough to warrant a comeback. At any rate, I didn’t hear from either of them that week.

  I was lying in the front yard on my most comfortable lounger, in my teeniest red bikini, when I heard a car in the driveway. I lay there for a bit, ignoring it, assuming it was the mail. However, pretty soon I heard the ding of the front doorbell. I hopped up and scampered over to grab my coverup - it really is a TEENY bikini - and went to answer the door.

  Laney was at the door! She had a slightly trepidatious look on her face, but forged ahead anyhow.

  “Good morning, Jane. How are you today?

  “I’m wonderful, Laney!” I gave her a big hug, which after some hesitation she returned.

  “Is Bailey here?”

  “Nope, no Bailey, no Olive. I’m here alone basking in the sun, as you can see from my less than businesslike attire.”

  Oddly, she seemed to relax a little and said, “Oh, well, that’s fine. I have things to bring in, am I staying here or in a hotel?”

  “Actually, neither, honey. You’ll be staying at Bailey’s house. We decided since you’d be working with her quite a lot, and she spends so much time here it would be a natural for you to room with her! She’s very fun, I’m sure you’ll have a great time.”

  She replied faintly, “Thank you, yes, I’m sure I’ll have fun.”

  “Let me get some clothes on and I’ll take you over to her house so you can get unpacked. Bailey won’t be home for a couple days, so you can get the lay of the land and maybe spend a day on the beach.”

  “Thank you, that would be fine, Jane.”

  “Come on in, have a seat in the kitchen, and I’ll be right back.”

  I galloped down the hallway and grabbed some clothes and jumped into them. I was looking forward to spending some time with Laney and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get to know her, just the two of us.

  I went back out to the kitchen, Laney was sitting, looking out the window. She seemed enthralled by the view.

  When she saw me, she remarked, “I don’t see a lot of grass and trees back home. Most people don’t have those, since water is so expensive. Using it to keep a patch of decorative lawn alive is really not worth it in most cases.”

  “Yup, I can definitely see that. We’re pretty much in the middle of the desert here as well, but with a lake of our own we have enough water to waste on luxuries, I guess.”

  She said quickly, “Oh, I don’t mean it’s a waste, I just mean it’s not worth half your month’s salary to have a lawn. I love having a little patch of grass. Daddy’s always been willing to pay some extra to keep a little speck of lawn at our house, and I’m grateful for it, when I see most people’s front yards made of bits of scraggly grass and weeds.”

  I nodded. “Coffee? Tea?” With a smile, I added, “I have Pepsi Max as well.”

  She grinned. “Daddy’s gotten to you, I see. That’s a good sign.” She eyed me speculatively. “So, what do you see in him?”

  “Rich old man, nice house, decent money ... “

  She gaped at me, then shut her mouth nearly with a snap and nodded. “Sense of humor too, I see.”

  “I like to think so.” I put my hand out to shake, “Jane Bond”

  “Laney McDaniel. Nice to meet you, Ms. Bond.”

  “Likewise, Ms. McDaniel.”

  “So, was it Max, tea, coffee? Or ... I suppose we have water if you’re one of those people. I guess we have water, anyhow. Did you know that our water here in Chelan is so pure they have to put additives in it to bring it down to standards? At least that’s the urban legend I heard, and I like it, so I’m making sure it gets passed on.”

  Laney sat and looked at me for a bit. “I can see why he likes you. You’re not what I expected, for some reason.”

  I shrugged. “Well, I’m not ever sure what people expect, so I just plan on being me. Who do you plan on being, Laney?”

  She seemed taken aback by the question. “I don’t know. I guess I’m still making plans.”

  I nodded. “That’s an excellent answer.” I leaned in. “But you never did tell me if you wanted something to drink.”

  She broke into laughter. “I’ll take the Max, it starts to grow on you. And if I asked for Coke, I figure that daddy would have a coronary - even from this distance.”

  I pulled a cold Max out of the fridge, got a glass and some ice and gave it all to her. I figured she had to do some of it on her own.

  “So, what are you expecting to do here, Laney? How much did Bailey tell you?”

  Oddly enough, she blushed a little. “I ... um.”

  “Didn’t Bailey go through the job description, expectations and salary with you?”

  Finally, in a rush of words, she said, “I pissed Bailey off and she walked off without saying anything but that if I got here in five days on my own, I had a job. It was my fault, I was being a bitch. She even told me I was being a bitch.”

  I sat and looked at her a bit. “It’s pretty tough, isn’t it? Having to be cold and hard, when you really just want to curl up and die. And then when the only other person you truly care about runs away and leaves you alone. But you can’t let him know how much you’re hurting.” I put my hand on her hand across the table. “I’m sorry, Laney.”

  For just a moment she was vulnerable, but then the stone walls went up and the steel gates came down and she was cold and tough again.

  “Sometimes you just have to be a bitch, Jane. And sometimes you know when to bow down to the inevitable, and a full year’s tuition is enough to put up with anything.”

  I looked into her eyes, but found only coldness there. I nodded. “Fair enough. We’ll be opening a detective agency. Bailey and I don’t know much about computers, especially about what goes on behind the scenes. That’s what we want you to assemble for us - a computer system that can be taken care of by general contractors, once we have you put it all together. It will likely require you to work long days and long nights, but I think we’ve paid in advance enough to assure your willingness. Your budget will be essentially unlimited, but Olive has a talent for discovering creative bookkeeping. And never ever lie to her. She will know. Trust me. Other than that, I’d prefer anything you bought to be locally sourced, but I’m fully aware of the impossibility of that. After all, we went to a location in New York for our conference equipment.” With that, I handed her one of the carbon cards and went to get Threepio to carry her luggage to Bailey’s house. Over the next few days, I saw her carting things in and out. I saw her leave in Threepio very early one morning and come back late that evening, stuffed to the gills with boxes bearing names like HP, Dell and IBM. And things started to come together, at least as far as I could tell. I mean, it looked very techy, and in the end, I trusted her.

  I received a reply from Cai Shun in my email. He’s as charming in email as he is in person, and he says he’s looking forward to meeting with me and I should consider where we should go to showcase the area. And the apples. He seems a bit obsessed with apples, if yo
u ask me, but maybe they don’t have them there like we do here. I’m putting together a list of places to go, and I thought I’d visit a few in the next few days. I offered a seat to Laney, thinking she might want to go with me and get acquainted with the area, but muttering something about Bailey, she said that she’d rather just work on the computers. Bailey must have really made an impression on her!

  I’m going to take Mister Shun to Karma Vineyards - it’s one of my favorite places and the view is just amazing. Another one I want to make sure of visiting is Fielding Hills Winery. They have a seating area that looks out over the entire valley and it’s another amazing view. If we get a chance, we might go take a look at Cave B Winery. It’s near the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. It’s another one with stunning views. I’m not much of a wine drinker, but love the food and views!

  The little town of Cashmere is chock full of apple orchards, and I happen to know a small orchardist. I’ll get her and her husband to take us around their place. As I mentioned, it’s too early in the year for there to be much in the way of real apples, but seeing the little apples making their way into the world is a pretty cool thing as well.

  Bailey and Olive came back at the end of the week, and after a terse confrontation with Laney in the first few minutes, I guess they all settled who the big dog was, and everyone was comfortable with that. The computer systems continue to grow, but really all I see when I look in there (behind the closed, locked door) is black racks with black computer faces and lots of twinkly lights. I figured out why they call them racks, too. It’s torture just standing in front of them, especially in the cold wind that the air conditioning makes. I shiver just looking at it, but Olive seems as thrilled as Laney. Of course, some of it with Olive is a near giggle-fit when she looks at the “beyond antique” equipment. I ignore her.

  The days fly by, and I find time to sneak off to the beach with Bailey a few times, lying in the sun pretending we don’t have a care in the world. The nice thing is, at this juncture we really don’t.

  At some point though, all good things must come to an end, and next week Cai Shun will be here and finally I’ll get to find out what exactly it is that he wants. Because I know he wants something. And I’m also not sure why I’m finding dread in his coming here. Perhaps it’s just the unknown. Perhaps it’s fear of having to make a decision on whether to tell him about Olive and the rest of Kit’s story. Because, like it or not, that’s why he’s really on the way. No matter what bit of information, what olive branch of hope he’ll offer, he’ll be expecting to get something from this trip, especially since he never really got even his curiosity assuaged last time.

  And unfortunately, I know I owe him.

  He’s arriving on Amtrak in Wenatchee. I plan to meet him and drag him home to Chelan with me. I’ve banished Bailey and Lacey to Bailey’s house so I can have him to myself. Likely I’ll slave over breakfast the next morning (I hope he likes omelettes since it’s the only thing I can cook reliably) but we’ll eat someplace in Wenatchee that night, since the train arrives from Seattle between 8:30 and 9:00pm. I hope he doesn’t have too much of a retinue, as even taking Threepio we’ll only have enough seats for six or seven people. If there are a number of people with him, we’ll probably drop them off at the Marriot and let them fend for themselves. I do get a chance to giggle a bit at thinking of Bailey’s idea of Burger King. But, in the clear light of day, it actually might not be that bad an idea. Of course, I’d be thinking more of EZ’s Burgers than Burger King.

  Of course, all this may go by the wayside if he has a limo waiting, an itinerary lined up with a list of places to visit, and a hotel all picked out.

  Tomorrow night. I’ll know tomorrow night, and I’m on pins and needles even if it all turns out to be my imagination and he really is just here for some apples.

  Friday morning dawned perfectly, with blue sky and the promise of hot but not blistering heat. The train doesn’t get in until around 9pm but I decided to head to Wenatchee early and do some yard saling. Yard saling is an interesting psychological concept. On the one hand, you’re looking for junk - looking through other people’s junk and picking and choosing what of their junk you want to make your junk. But over and above that, it’s a chance to sneak in and judge them on their taste, get a good look at the inside of their garage, critique their landscape choices and of course, see if they’re doing a better job of upkeep on their house and grounds than you. Plus, the added bonus of seeing someone else growing exactly that kind of plant you know would look attractive in your yard. Or, alternatively, seeing that what you’d intended to buy would be hideous in five years. In other words, completely legal and above board spying on the neighbors. I love it! I spent a couple hours, got a couple books and a couple silly things that I thought Bailey and Olive would enjoy. I did manage to find an old Dilbert book for Laney, but I have despaired of finding anything to crack that frozen exterior. That first day when I saw a glimmer of humanity in her has never returned, and she’s frozen even harder.

  Later in the afternoon I picked up some snacks at WalMart and went down to the Amtrak depot. I love trains of all kinds and so had a nice afternoon sitting in my little foldup chair, reading my book, eating my snacks and watching trains go by. Wenatchee has the distinction of being one of the funnels that most of the train traffic in Washington State goes through, so it’s a great place to watch trains. Bulk oil trains, long container cars filled with Chinese stock for Christmas or next summer for all I know. Train cars full of automobiles, and I really had the luck this time, as I saw a couple of shiny green Boeing 737 airplane fuselages going through. I guess they make them back east somewhere and ship them up to Everett for final assembly.

  And I got more nervous as the day went by. Finally, 8:30 came and my Amtrak app told me that the train was on time, so it should be here at about 8:50. I stood and looked down the tracks and I could see the big single light as it rounded the corner, coming toward me, coming right at me, sailing past me - as the brakes came on and the engineer did a perfect stop with the passenger cars for this area right at the platform. The attendants put the little yellow metal step out and people began to file out. Most of them just for a smoke break, but Wenatchee has a decent train travel interest and there were quite a few getting on and getting off.

  And then I saw him, his distinguished head standing out from the rest. He was coming down the steps and out the door, then looking around to see if anyone was there to greet him. I’d expected him to have at least an assistant or two, but oddly enough, he was completely alone.

  When he saw me, he grinned. “I was expecting a large black limousine with a neat trim driver and sign with my name spelled incorrectly on it. Instead I have Jane Bond, in person.”

  I smiled back at him and said, “Well, I figured you might be sick of royal treatment by now, so you just got me, instead.”

  To my surprise, he came over and hugged me. “It is well to see you, my friend. I am happy we’ve met again.”

  After my initial shock, I hugged him back. He’s a very huggable person.

  “I was rather hoping to meet the estimable Threepio, and it seems that might be the case, lacking the long black limousine.”

  “You are amazingly astute, mister Shun. My friend Bailey told me you might be tired of unctuous politicians and I should pick you up in person and take you to Burger King. She was kidding about Burger King, but seeing you here looking so human, how would you feel about a genuine American burger?”

  “It would be a pleasure, Miss Bond. I can’t think of anything I’d rather have at this moment. For the most part, state dinners serve you the same sort of food that you eat when you’re at home. Everyone seems to forget that perhaps you’ve tired of everyday fare.”

  I smiled. “Sounds like a plan, Threepio’s sitting in the parking lot, and EZ’s Burgers is on the way home. I had made the assumption you’d be staying with me in Chelan. I hope that wasn’t presumptuous?”

  “Actually, Miss Bond, I�
��d hoped to try the American custom of ‘couch surfing’, if I have the term correct?”

  I actually laughed out loud. “Mister Shun, you are so much different than I was expecting. But I hate to disappoint you, I have the guest room all made up and ready for you. Couch surfing won’t be necessary!”

  The nice thing about living in small towns is that airports, bus lounges and train depots are correspondingly small. Threepio was parked about 15 feet from where Mister Shun debarked from his train, so it was a short walk. We tossed in Cai’s surprisingly small amount of luggage and closed the van’s barn door. We both got buckled in and I cranked up Threepio and we backed out of the lot, turned and made our way to the main street and headed out of town.

  We stopped in at EZ’s and got two magnificent Tillamook Cheese and Bacon burgers and sat in their parking lot, dripping into our napkins. I became Jane, and he became Cai and by the time the huge burgers were gone, we had established a friendship. We sat and watched the remains of the sunset and headed to Chelan in the dark, chatting on the way.

  “Are you really here for the apples, Cai?”

  “Oh, absolutely! I have a passion for apples. I’ll make sure I have some Red Delicious apples, they are such an American tradition.” I could hear the twinkle in his eye. “Of course, I like the wines too, and I expect you’re planning on taking me to visit some of the local cellars.”

  “You can’t really visit Washington Wine Country without having wine, now can you? It wasn’t that many years ago that grapes in Washington were practically unheard of, and now you see them on every rocky, sandy knoll. It’s perfect weather and soil for grapes - who knew?”