CHAPTER 31: Things Hot Up

Jeremy Saint paced up and down the path outside of the Arts Centre in downtown San Myshuno. He checked his watch...a minute past 8pm. Would she delayed? Will she show up? Jeremy's heart beat faster as time ticked on and he couldn't see his date.

Then, emerging around the corner at a brisk pace, she came running: Barbara Dubois, Jeremy's date. Only last weekend had they decided to go steady and this was the first time they'd seen each other since then. They both smiled the moment they saw each other and ran towards each other for an embrace.

"You came!" said Jeremy

"Of course...you don't think I'm going to miss the Hijinks Festival with you!" she replied. "I'm starving, let's get something to eat."

"I know you love spicy food, Barbara, and I know a good little eatery just over there. Do you like Cajun?"

"I LOVE Cajun!"

"Come on, let's go!" they grabbed each other's hand and ran off to the vendor.

Jeremy and Barbara both sampled the Tagine and caught up on each other's news of the week. Soon they were joined by another person, a man.

"Excuse me" he said. "I require a place to sit so I can ingest this sustenance. As all other designated seating surfaces are occupied, may I sit at this place so I can eat this meal?"

"Erm, yes, that should be fine" said Jeremy, awkwardly. The man's over formal speech was jarring but it what was on the plate that caused Jeremy and Barbara to wince.

Jeremy noticed something unusual on the man's plate. "Erm, I think I can see something moving on your plate" he said.

"I know. They are hi-protein insects and worms; very nutritious" he said, taking a mouthful.

"Well, I don't know about you, Barbara, but I'm full...shall we head on over to the bar?" Jeremy said, wanting to get away from this strange man and his even stranger meal.

"I'm good to go" she said, pushing her plate away from her.

The two of them got up and went far away from the man to where music was playing and people were dancing.

"Shall we?" said Barbara grabbing both of Jeremy's hands and spinning him onto the dance floor. Jeremy did the Economy Shuffle whilst Barbara flung her hair back and treated him to a fine display of funky go-go dancing.

"You're good!" said Jeremy, feeling like he was stuck on a washing machine spin cycle. "But, phew, can we get a drink?"

"Sure" she said. They went over to the bar, got a couple of drinks and as this was the Humor and Hijinks Festival they decided to check out tonight's stand up comic.

"I'm having a lovely time" she said, leaning her head on Jeremy's shoulder.

"I am too" he replied, smiling.

"Yawwwwn, I'm getting tired but I don't want the night to end" she said, looking into his eyes.

"Well....it doesn't have to" he said nervously. "I mean, we could always head back to...." he didn't know quite how to end his sentence.

"yes?" she asked, expectantly.

"I mean, if you don't mind that is....but you could always come back....with me....to....my place" he said, gulping at the end.

"Great! Let's go!" she said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the subway station.

They paused outside of Jeremy's house. This was a big moment; inviting a beautiful woman back to his place.

"You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch" he said.

"Don't put yourself out on my account" said Barbara.

"Well...it's no trouble really"

"We can decide the sleeping arrangements inside" she said. Jeremy showed her in and led her to the bedroom.

"Here's the bed, bathroom's down the hall on the right, here you'll find a light switch..."

Barbara patted the space on the bed next to her. "Plenty of room"

"Well, as this is a first date" he said, nervously.

"Second" she corrected him.

"Oh...right. But you know a single man, a single girl together in the same bedroom..."

"It's 1966, Jeremy..."

"But are we ready?"

"Let's just snuggle"

"Oh, OK"

They settled down but within minutes both were fast asleep.

CHAPTER 30: Bad Trip

 

John Action sauntered into Precinct 13 headquarters and saw that old Sergeant Kitchen wasn't at the front desk. It was a woman officer, one he didn't recognise.

"Well hello there, I guess you're the new girl" he said to her.

"And I guess you're Action...I've heard a lot about you" she replied with a smirk.

"All good, I hope"

"They were more like warnings" she said. "Anyway, you can't stand around here trying to charm your way around your co-workers, Action, this lady's come in with a complaint" she nodded to a young hippie woman sitting, waiting on a bench in the reception area. Action wandered over to her.

"What's the problem, Ma'am?" he said.

"Well...it's..."

"my ex. He breezed back into town with some bad acid. Well, I told him I wanted nothing to do with it and threw him out but he still operated around Oasis Springs, selling his junk. Anyway, he quickly split the place and we've got a whole bunch of people having a bad trip, attacking passers by and causing trouble" she said, sadly.

"Bad acid: that's a bad scene, sister. I'll head over there, crack some skulls and get that junk off the street and out of the hands of those acid-heads"

Mirage Canyon, 11:17 am

The main street looked quiet, too quiet. Action's hand hovered over his .38 service revolver....just in case! He needed some information so he wandered over to The Solar Flare lounge; a classy joint most of the time although they were known to violate state hygiene laws from time to time. Action walked up the stairs to the lounge but although the doors were all open, no one was around. "Strange" he thought to himself.

He wandered over to the large windows that afforded an excellent view of the main street. From here he could observe any strange goings on without being seen himself. As he watched and waited, he noticed a violin propped up on a stand right next to him....he couldn't help but pick it up and give it a go.

He saw a fair haired lady of about 40 stagger down the street, rubbing her arm in pain. Taking this as a cue, Action put down the violin and ran over to her.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, is anything the matter?" he said to the lady.

"Yes...ow...I've just been punched by this weird young woman. She claimed I stole her bananas and that I was in league with the secret government so she just lurched at me and started punching me. Fortunately, she only hit me in a couple of places like my arm...there's no serious damage."

"Where did this happen?" said Action.

"Over by that small park area" she said, pointing to a grassy area that had a few benches. "Look! There she is! The woman who hit me!"

Action looked around and saw an enraged looking young woman pulling a man doing yoga off the ground and hitting him over the head. He ran over, his hand still hovering over his service .38.

"Freeze right there!" he shouted. The woman looked around terrified, the man staggered over to a nearby bench.

"Oh my God, what have I done?" she said, wild eyed.

"You're Jonesing from a bad, bad trip, lady" said Action. "Now you're going to come with me and tell me all about where you got that acid from"

Action called for some back up and the lady was bundled into a squad car to take back to police HQ. Action took a moment to grab a coffee and have a brief work out to keep his muscles toned. Sergeant Kitchen entered the recreation room and walked over to him.

"Good work out there, Action" said Sergeant Kitchen.

"Just doing my job, my way" replied Action.

"Anyway, we're processing that lady plus a few other freaks who've taken some of that same batch of LSD. Oh, and the Chief wants some progress on those robberies. We're still holding Aurora Ahmed; the Chess Bandit, someone needs to interrogate her"

"And that someone would be me, right?" replied Action, downing his coffee.

Down in the cells he went to fetch Ahmed and take her to an interrogation room.

"I've said all I got to say in front of your colleagues and my lawyer" she said.

"I know" Action replied. "I'm not interested in you...I want to know who your fence is"

Action took her to an interrogation room and sat her down. "We've got you for the Jade statue job, you're going down but if you want to avoid hard time you'd better co-operate and tell us who your buyer is"

"I'm not a fink!" she replied. "You've got nothing!"

"We've got witness statements, we've got your fingerprints on that chess board and you left enough clues to fill a ship" said Action.

"So what if I did touch that chessboard? Plenty of people play chess"

"We know your signature style, Aurora. Now this is pretty open and shut....WHO'S YOUR FENCE?" he said, pounding a fist on the table.

Ahmed started to sweat and wilt under the pressure. "OK, I did have a fence...but I never met them, I swear. But I know it's a woman: Even though she wore a mask I could tell by her voice and body shape the fence was a woman. I don't have a name or contact number; they always contacted me"

"That's a start" said Action, making notes.

At the end of his shift he headed home for some chow. As he sat with his grilled cheese sandwich watching Mr Ed on TV he heard a knock at the door. Looking through the window he could see a very attractive young woman dressed in red and white standing outside.

"Hi, can I help you?" he said, opening the door.

"Oh, hi, I'm Katharine Bowie from the Mirage Canyon Citizens' Association" she said.

"Of course you are" he replied.

"And on behalf of our members I want to thank you for helping our little community out in tackling the junkie problem on our streets"

"Just doing my job, my way, Ma'am"

"And we're very grateful, Officer Action" she said, coyly.

Action smiled. "I'm off duty now but would you like to come in for a drink?" he said.

Katharine smiled and said "I thought you'd never ask"