| Previous Post
---------------
Jane Tarzania was having a wonderful dream, Her & Mr. Darcy were having a lovely picnic down by Lake Winchester. The Menu comprised of cucumber sandwiches, assorted pastries, crumpets & a nice pot of Earl Grey tea. They were talking about many a thing, everything from the state of geopolitics & where the U.S. should fit into to who they thought should have won Dancing with the Stars. The only thing that was a bit annoying was this low thumping noise that could be heard every so often. It was nothing to bothersome but they couldn't figure out what it was. Accompanying this low thumping was another low noise, it was a noise that Jane recognized but couldn't quite place. It was a noise she heard everyday. It was.. was.. a.. a.. a car?
---------------
Jane opened her eyes & was a bit shocked that she didn't wake up in her bed. That is were she fell asleep last night. She was still in what she went to bed in: a grey t-shirt, a pair of drawn string sweatpants (The head of Tweety bird all over them, the heads had a variety of expression which repeated a couple of times all over the pants). On her feet were a pair of white tube socks. She sat up & began to look around. She was traveling down the interstate heading somewhere in a car she didn't recognize. Seated next to her on the bench seat was a shoulder olive drab messenger bag with a faded black hoodie piled on top of it, those items she recognized & seated next to it was someone she knew.
The person was looking out the window seeing the world past. She had black hair with a few light blue highlights scattered about. Her attire was comprised, starting from the floor up: a pair of black Chuck Taylor All-Star high tops (They had little white skulls spray painted on to them). On her feet were argyle socks. Her pants were a well worn & ripped in places pair of blue jeans. She had a grey short sleeved T-Shirt on. Under that shirt was a red & black long sleeved shirt. On her wrists were a few too many bracelets & a couple of wrist bands. A few of her fingers had some rings on them. Her black nail polish was cracked & chipped in places. On her lap was a black leather spiral bound book, the cover was devoid of text except for a piece of masking tape in the lower left hand corner that read one word: Front.
As Jane's eyes moved up, they were meet by the emerald hued eyes of the person sitting across from her. She smiled & said "Morning, sleepy head."
"uh.. Hi, Catherine." Jane said, paused & then said. "Where am I?"
"Well, your currently in the back seat of a sedan obtained by questionable means heading towards Destiny."
"Hey!" came a voice from the front seat. "I rented this car by fair & square."
"Oh sure, Mr. No Job." Catherine said as she rolled her eyes.
Jane looked up towards the driver seat & there seated was a person but that was questionable given that most of what Jane saw was hair, bright red hair done up in an afro like fashion. She did see an arm & a hand, the arm was clad in yellow fabric. In the the passenger seat she could see the back of a man's head, he had brown hair & was wearing a flannel shirt. Lying on the dashboard was a calico color hamster, it was basking in the sunlight coming through the windshield.
"Ronnie?" Jane asks.
"Yes?" The Driver replied.
"Did you do what I think you did?"
"What?"
"Did you Kidnap me?"
"Well..." Ronnie said as he began to stumble over his words. He wasn't come up with a very good explanation of what has happened while Jane slumbered.
Catherine placed a hand on Jane's shoulder & said "Ronnie wanted you to share this with you but you looked so peaceful sleeping we didn't want to wake you so we took you as is. Oh & one side note: when you sleep, you sleep hard. I thought a few times when we were moving you, you'd wake up but nope. You just continued to saw logs."
"Ok. But how did you get into my Apartment?"
"Ronnie had a key." She replied.
"Yeah. Remember you gave me one for use in emergencies when we dated."
"Kidnapping me for one of your adventures is not an emergency!"
"No. But you weren't answering your phone or your door. I though something might of happened to you."
"Thank you for your concern but what time were you at my apartment?"
There was a few moments of silence.
"Well?"
"I'm thinking!" Ronnie shot back.
More silence. He then said. "About three hours ago."
Jane checked the Car's clock, it read 8:15 am.
"Of course I wouldn't be answering my phone or the door before six."
"Yeah, I guess so. But, we were there for about an hour trying to contact you."
"So, you were up before dawn?"
"Yeah. With what were going to do: who could sleep?"
"I was coming off my shift, the guys were waiting for me in the hallway." Catherine said.
Jane gave her a weird look.
"Oh, you don't know what I do, do you?" Catherine said with a small laugh. "I thought I told you. I vaguely remember telling you."
"No." Jane said a bit puzzled. She also vaguely remembers something like that, too.
"I guess I didn't. I work part-time for the City of Goth Haven in the Morgue. I basically get paid to sit on my duff & make sure no one walks off with one of our stiffs without doing all the paperwork for it." Catherine said with a smile.
"ok." Jane said, now a little less puzzled but still perplexed.
"Plus, the Morgue has great acoustics. I can get a lot of practice on my axe." Catherine said with a giggle.
"Do you have a hand in the Autopsy process?" Jane asked.
"Nope. Not even a finger, never been asked. Seen a few since the Autopsy people are my same sub-floor. We're in the basement so I guess no one accidently wanders in & sees a guy getting cut open or something. I've have had a few people wander into the Morgue looking for the Bathroom, which is odd since we don't even have one on our floor, I have to go up a floor or two to use one. That kind of sucks since I'm doing the night shift & City Hall is kind of creepy at 2 am." Catherine rambled on a bit.
"oh. ok." Jane said.
"So, getting back on point: I met up with the guys, we talked. Well, Chad & I talked, Ronnie stood there. We head over to your place, got you after waiting around a bit & have been traveling towards Destiny ever since."
"Destiny?"
"Yeah. It's this small town down the highway a stretch." Catherine said.
"Why are we going there?"
"To see Saint Rick Clausen." Ronnie says with some reverence.
Jane got that puzzled look on her face again.
"Clausen is the central figure of Chrismahannaqwanza." Catherine said.
"oh."
There was a few moments of the group just riding in silence, then Jane asked "So, is this like visiting a Mall Santa?"
Jane has know about this holiday for awhile, at first it was cute but then it got kind of old & still is. Ronnie has never been all that forth coming with how one exactly celebrates the holiday, it seems to be just a random assortment of things borrowed from other holidays & some other stuff throw in. But, then that is Ronnie's typical M.O. in a nutshell.
"No. Saint Clausen is so much more then some person in a suit, he's.. he's... uh... I don't know. It's hard to describe. How to sum up someone who means so much." Ronnie said & then seemed to drift off.
The car also drifted for a few seconds before Chad grabbed the wheel & brought it back to where it need to be.
There was more silence. Jane watched the scenery zoom past, she didn't even recognize where she was. Then she wondered if Ronnie even knew where he was going, she had never heard of a town called Destiny.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jane saw Catherine open the book she had on her lap. It was a sketchbook. Catherine flipped the pages to about the mid point of the book, pulled a few pencils & an eraser out of her jacket. Then started to sketch some more.
Catherine could tell that Jane's eyes had wondered from the world outside to the world inside her sketchbook. She dusted the page off & held up the book to show her. The drawing was a behind 3/4th view portrait of Chad.
"wow." Jane said seeing the drawing.
"Thanks." she said & flipped back a few pages to another sketch, this one of Jane slumped over in the corner of the car with her eyes closed & mouth hanging open, some drool could been seen hanging out of her mouth.
"Umm..." Jane said. She wasn't sure if she liked that drawing so much. It was well done but she looked horrible in it. Then she wondered what she looked like. She was always a mess in the morning.
"Wanna look at the rest?" Catherine said as she closed the book & held it out.
Jane took the book & looked over the pages. All the drawings were well done & highly detailed. The subject matter ranged from landscapes to portraits to rough sketches & doodles. There were notes in scattered about the pages also.
Jane stopped at one of the portraits & pointed to him. "I met your father a days back."
"You did?"
"Yes. He came into the FMRC & wanted to meet with my Boss."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I hardly know anything about my workplace beyond what I'm directly involved in."
"How did you know he was my dad?"
"He introduced himself as Mr. Gillespie. With this drawing & it's caption: it confirms my thoughts."
"Why didn't you bring it up earlier?"
"I wasn't sure how to."
"ok." Catherine said, then paused for a moment looking at the drawing & then continued. "I'm not sure I like the drawing, I drew him from memory. I don't do that a lot, my memory can be... forgive the pun, Sketchy at times."
"I think all our memories can be at times. How did you learn to draw like this?"
"Well, I've always liked to draw but refined my skills when I majored in drawing in college. Well, I should say as one of my majors."
"You had more then one?" Jane said a bit shocked. Her one major almost killed her, so having two is just unthinkable.
"I majored in Art History & Drawing with a minor in Criminology & Forensic Science. I know it's an odd combo but my Parents wanted me to have something to fall back on & I've always liked that sort of stuff. I think it comes from reading a few too many Batman comics." Catherine with a laugh.
"Well, I hate to break of the Girl Talk but Destiny is just up ahead." Ronnie said as they past a sign that told them Destiny was accessible by the next two exits.
---------------
TO BE CONTINUED....
---------------
|
