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“I’ve lived in this city for three years now and I don’t think I’ve ever felt safe.” She mindlessly stabbed at the Chinese food on her plate as she stared over Isiah Rowe’s shoulder and beyond, more thinking out loud than conversing, a segway from whatever mindless topic they had been discussing before. Isiah had noticed she was prone to doing that, going from one topic to another within the blink of an eye. He found it endearing. They were in his apartment, eating takeout while the sound of rain outside mixed with Ray Charles on the stereo. “Felt safe how?” he asked, reaching for his glass and taking a sip as she shook her head clear and looked back to him, seemed surprised that he spoke, that he heard her thought. “Oh, well, you know,” she looked to her plate, kept stabbing at her food, “just going out alone at night.” “I think you’d find that with any city.” “I guess,” she sighed. “You’d just think that with everything this city has that it’d be safer. This kinda Utopia, you know?”
A Bugs Life download “I guess it’s just that I’m not from here,” she continued. “I’m not a city girl, I guess.” “Well, even us ol’ ‘city folks’ don’t get entirely used to it.” Isiah gave her a smirk and she returned it. “Yeah,” she said with another sigh. “But maybe things’ll change. They’ve got that Engine robot thing now.” She winced when he mentioned it. “That doesn’t make you feel any safer, does it?” “I don’t know,” she said, “just, I don’t know, you read science fiction about robots gone bad and I just can’t get past that, you know?” Isiah smiled inside. She read science fiction. He was in love. He was already intrigued by her. He wouldn’t have been here if he wasn’t. But it wasn’t her looks (which were a bonus) or that she seemed to be interested in the same things as him. It was her mind. Beyond the smarts. She was complicated. She was troubled. She was, on some level, a headcase. And Isiah could tell, could feel it, could read it. “What about the other heroes?” Isiah asked. “Like Millennium Man or Silver Shadow?” “They’re OK, I guess,” she said with a shrug. “I kinda wonder about those people though. Like, what’s in it for them?” “What do you mean?” “I mean, what would you do in their position? If you could fly or lift a car over your head or something? It’s kinda like politicians. I don’t trust them.” Isiah laughed but stopped as she looked hurt. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m not laughing at you, I just, I guess I know what you’re talking about.” “What am I talking about then?” “Is it genuine? Is it selfless? Or is there something they’re trying to gain from it? Right?” “Exactly,” she said, brightening up. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be money or even power or anything. Publicity hounds and all.” “But they aren’t all publicity hounds.” “Well, no, but I just… I don’t know. I take it all with a grain of salt.” “So does that mean you think there are more science people out there?” “What?” “Well, if the ones we know of, Millennium Man, Mysteria, the others, if they’re the publicity hounds, the questionable ones, do you think there are others out there who aren’t so open but are helping out?” “I don’t know. I mean, I guess so.” “So shouldn’t that make you feel better about things? Safer?” “Well, there are bad ones, too.” “True.” “I don’t know. I just worry too much.” “Well, we all have our things we worry about,” Isiah said, grabbing his water again, taking another sip. “What do you worry about?” “Me?” She nodded. “Well, I worry about you, I guess.” She laughed and shook her head. Isiah could see that she was blushing and smiled. “I’m serious,” he said. “You yourself and others too. I don’t like to see folks so worried. So I worry about them. Which doesn’t help things. It’s pretty self defeating.” “You’re such a martyr.” “Nah, just Catholic guilt, I guess.” “Is that what keeps you up at night?” “That and other things,” Isiah said. “Just have a lot going on up here,” he tapped his head and smirked. “So what do you to about it?” “Warm milk, counting sheep.” “No, I mean the worrying so much about me myself and others too.” “Oh, well, I kinda take it one person at a time. I mean, like your worries, the not feeling safe and the like. I really can’t do much for that in the long run, but I can try and help you out in the short term.” “How’s that?” “Well, do you feel safe with me.” She smiled and looked away, blushed again. “That’s a yes?” “Alright,” she conceded. “So that helps.” “And that’s a start. And that’s where safety comes from, for you, for them, for everyone, here in Pacific City or out. It’s on an individual level, really. You can have all the heroes in the world around but you still don’t have that personal protection you really want or need. They can’t deliver that.” “I guess.” “But I know you, so I can try and help you personally. I know you’ve got all these other worries, all this other stuff bottled up inside. You’re kinda like me, you think too much so you worry about so many things and it gets to you.” “Yeah,” she said with a small nod, looking away from Isiah and through the table. They sat in silence for a moment and Isiah nodded to himself as he made up his mind and pushed his seat back, standing up. “C’mere,” he said, holding out a hand to her. “What? Where are we going?” She reached out and took his hand and stood up. “Just to the couch. I’ve got something that’ll help.” She stopped and gave him a look and a smirk. “Are you trying to make a move, Mr. Rowe?” “Not yet. C’mon.” He led her to the couch in his living room and motioned for her to sit on one end of the couch, which she did, folding her hands in her lap. He crouched in front of her and put his hands on top of hers. “You ever seen Office Space download 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea ?” Isiah asked. She laughed. “We’re going to watch a movie?” “Well, we can later, but it’s just a reference. You know when that guy, uh, I forget his name, the main guy.” “Peter.” Isiah’s heart skipped a beat. She was an Office Space fan, too. “Yeah, Peter. And how he went to the hypnotist with his girlfriend?” “Fiance, yeah.” “Right, fiance. Damn, I should pay more attention. Anyway, after that he feels really good, right? No worries and everything.” “Are you going to hypnotize me?” “Not really, but that feeling he has, I can give you that. For a little while. I mean, long term and, well, you saw the movie, you know what happens.” “So the angry muttering guy at work is going to burn the place down?” “Maybe, but I can’t do anything about that.” “OK.” “OK, so close your eyes.” “You’re not going to grope me, are you?” “Maybe later. Just close your eyes.” She gave him that look again, smirked, but then closed her eyes. She didn’t really need to do that. It was just for effect. Isiah sat on the floor and crossed his legs, took a deep breath, and thought. The average adult brain has more than 100 trillion synapses. The mind uses these to communicate with itself, the body, move a leg, focus an eye, think happy thoughts. Isiah thought and let his mind wander, focusing on her, on her mind, on those synapses, firing at a speed of a few tenths of a millisecond, and he tried to find the right ones. The worry warts as they were. And he told them to shut up. The process took only half a minute, to his mind a lot longer, but when your mind works at a speed just a click above other minds everything feels like it takes longer than it really does. Isiah Rowe hated relativity. “And you can open your eyes,” he said and she did. “What did you do?” “I groped you.” She slapped him upside his shoulder and shared his laugh. “No, really, what did you do?” “How do you feel?” “I…” She thought about it, took a deep breath as she looked around the room, and then looked back to Isiah. “I feel really good.” “Then it worked.” “What worked? What did you do?” “A true magician never reveals his tricks.” She leaned forward, rested her body on her thighs, put her face close to his. “Never?” “Well, he can be bribed.” She pushed forward, pushed her lips on his, kept pushing, came off the couch and on top of him, and the bribing began. Anthology Two Presents… Escape from the Planet of the Apes divx Isiah Rowe: “Introduction” Short Circuit movie Leave a Reply |
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July 11th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Nice entry I like this one.