A new day dawns for our intrepid heroes.
Ingar stretches like a slowly convulsing piece of amputated tissue, and then erects himself, much like one of those "impossible to knock over" dolls. He looks out through the windows and says to no-one in particular: "Another day, with fresh possibilities."
Chris Wilson’s To-Do list:
1. Get ad rates from local media- DONE!
2. Look for staffers-?????? Maybe??
3. Call food suppliers for bids
4. Call Brunswick see if they know where the last mechanic crew is.
5. Have place cleaned and light maintenance done
6. Place ads to fill out rest of staff
7. Interview applicants
8. Open!!!!!!!!
In a hasty scrawl are:
9. Have chunk of building removed from parking lot
10. Exorcism?
11.INGARINGARINGARINGARNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12. Prove dogs cannot talk
13. Buy new shoes
14. Find who tortured little girl
15. Kill them
16. Slowly
17. Join Chamber of Commerce
On the back of the to-do sheet is some more writing. Chris likes to write down his dreams whenever he can and last night’s was a good one about how to discover the secret of it all. In sloppy fevered handwriting are the ingredients for this: "A portable Stonehenge, two beefsteak tomatoes, a coven of rapping witches, 400 meters of bungee cord, a baseball umpire (home plate) and 6 goats." Unfortunately how these are supposed to used has been blurred by water droplets, probably (hopefully) sweat, that has caused the ink to run. Only the last line can be made out: “Void where prohibited.”
"Portable Stonehenge? How much would that cost? Where could I set it up?" He mutters to himself as he leaves the office and heads to the front desk. He is dressed in bright pink silk pajamas with a black velvet smoking jacket hanging loosely from his skinny frame. On his feet are the type of leather slippers that you need an invitation to buy. The kind of slippers a person gets fitted for and is grateful for the opportunity to pay a lot for the privilege.
He sets the paper down, takes out a pipe, lights it: "So, how did everybody sleep?"Samuel Dart yawns and stretches. The smell of the army cot and wool blanket reminds him of his `better` days in the military. So too does the pain he feels all over. His muscles, his head and especially his stomach. "Hey, when chow guys? I'm starving."
At the mention of out for breakfast, Marda hops out of bed, grabs Teddy with what in human terms would be a chokehold, and surgically grafts herself to Tata.
Leo finally rouses from his fitful slumber. It takes him a moment to figure out where he is. How the hell did he end up falling under his cot? He extract himself from the musty nest and scratches his head, bemused. He gets to his feet and pokes around the kitchen where he slept to see if there is anything that can be used to make breakfast, but that seems unlikely to have happened by miracle since they checked last night. Then he remembers the riot of produce and foodstuffs on The Ramble.
"Hey, I'll go shopping for breakfast if someone comes and helps me carry the food!" he answers Sam brightly.
Sam jumps out of bed as if the crusty drill sergeant had just came crashing through the door. "Sure, Leo, just let me throw my duds on and we'll be out the door." He proceeds to put on the colourful clothing loaned by Chris the night before.
"Yikes!" Leo exclaims, rubbing his still sleepy eyes. "No wonder I was having nightmares last night! Did you have to summon that outfit through a satanic ritual? We were warned by C&I that was illegal on the island... Too bad my stuff is at the hotel, I could have lent you the perfect shoes to match the duds."
He's not speaking very loud, of consideration for those of his companions who are either still slumbering, or trying very hard to talk themselves into going back to sleep. Carefully, he picks his way out among the scattered makeshift beds. Fortunately, the bowling alley is a big place, perfectly capable of housing a couple of hundred people at least, so it hardly feels cramped with a dozen or so.
At the sound of voices and people moving about, KK wakes up and begins the new day by lieing still and listen to the sounds around him. What would be the best move right now? Oh yeah. Answering the call of nature. He quickly gets up from the bench which he's been camping on, and makes it over to the men's room. While he's there anyway, he washes his face as well. This goes without incident, save for the fact that KK notices that he could sure use another anti-inflammatory and pain killer. And another Shiavit. Shiavit... mmmmmmmmmmm.....
Harvey gets up from his cot, stretches, and looks over the sorry state of his remaining clothes. He then walks over to the front desk, picks up the telephone and calls his hotel. "Hello, it's room 114 here, I've had to stop over with some friends. I'd like you to send someone up to my room, grab me a sweatshirt, some pants, clean underwear and socks, a toothbrush and paste, that should do it. Send it over to me at..." He pauses. "Hey, anybody got the address of this place?"
As he passes Woofard curled up on his collapsed cot, Leo can't resist. He pulls a rubber ball out of a pocket and gently sends it rolling until it stops millimiters from the akita's nose. "Here, Woofard, here boy!" Leo whispers with a wicked grin. "Wanna go walkies? I'll buy you a latte..."
A single brown eye opens. It closes. No movement. It opens
again, and regards the object next to the tip of his nose. Woofard's
other eye opens. His head comes up. He looks slightly confused.
He looks at his paw, and sighs. "Walkies, yeah, great Mr Comedian.
I dunno that I'd drink a latte, after that damn beer I drank, who knows
what a latte would do." Woofard looks at Sam's outfit, as he rises
from his makeshift dog bed. "Good Christ on a flaming popsicle, Sam.
I've got better taste than you, and I can't see colors... for which I am
currently thankful."
Although still staying aggravatingly close to Sam, Marda does look towards the girl with curiosity. She turns to her walking companions and asks, "Why's she tied up like that?"
At the sound of the little girl's crying, Leo forgets about taunting Woofard. He straightens up and makes his way back towards the quieter spot where she has been tucked. As he does so, he murmurs in answer to Marda's question: "I think she's been hurt and she needs to stay immobilized while she heals, Marda." He frowns, a bit confused. He hasn't had a good look at the wounded little girl yet, and in fact he thought this might have been part of his dreams last night. Well, apparently not. "It's like when they put a broken arm or leg in a cast, except she must have hurt something you can't put in a cast, like maybe her hip or back," he adds in a small whisper.
He approaches the bed where the little girl is crying. The sight makes him sad. "Hey there, honey, don't cry," he says gently, kneeling his gangly form by her bedside. "It's OK to miss school when you're hurt. Dr. Bennett is really nice, she'll give you a note to bring when you're well enough to go back. Besides, when I was a kid I was always happy to miss school!"
He murmurs all this in a soothing, everything's-gonna-be-all-right tone, trying to distract her a bit from crying. "What's your name, sweetie? This here is Marda, it looks like you two are almost the same age. That guy there, he's a clown and his name is Sam. I'm Leo, and I'm an acrobat. What's your name?"
The small child stares at Leo, round eyed. "I'm not s'ppost ta talk ta strangers," she says, and then pauses before continuing: "I gotta go ta skool."
Leo nods. A wise attitude, he thinks. He looks closely at the girls' face; it's clear that she's been through a lot, perhaps beaten. At least she stopped crying for now. "Well, not talking to strangers is a good idea," he agrees. "But you're hurt and you can't go to school right now. Do you know your parents' phone number? Maybe we can get them on the phone and you can let them know you're here. They must be very worried."
He glances at Sam at his side, hoping for some sort of explanation of the little girl's condition and presence. Then again, maybe she's another victim of the pinsetter...
Wooofard follows along after Leo. He comes forward with a wide doggy yawn, and opens his mouth to ask Leo something, but suddenly notices that the little girl he is talking to is not Marda. He changes what he was going to say and instead says "Woof."
Sam puts his hand on Marda's head in a double effort to show affection and to pry her off of his waist. At least one of her arms is busy with Teddy, he thinks to himself. Tata leans over and whispers to Leo. "Some bunch of bad asses threw her out of a car last night into the parking lot. They worked her over pretty good. I couldnt see much but maybe Chris or Ben know more... buncha sick b$#%$# did this."
Leo stares blankly at Sam for a second or two, processing the information. As the meaning seeps out of Sam's statement and finally coalesces into its full ugliness, Leo's fair skin flushes and his teeth clench.
"Ah," he says in a voice that is amazingly steady. He looks back at the little girl and his eyes soften again with sadness.
Ingar ambulates towards the small group gathered around the Victim. Carrying himself with as much dignity as is possible when one is a freak of nature with a Frankenstein's Monster's gait and wearing a black plastic bag over one's torso. In a hushed voice, he calls out: "Good morning, everybody. Sam, Leo, if you would care to step over here, I would be much obliged."
At the psychiatrist's appearance, Leo feels something run up and down his shoulder blades, and a fleeting memory from last night's weird dreams seems to hover for second. He shakes his head. Uneasily, he follows the invitation.
Ingar inclines his head and upper torso towards the two men, and whispers conspiratorically, his breath reeking like a lime-strewn mass grave: "In the night, I let the girl undergo a certain kind of hypnotic treatment of which I am proficient. I was able to help her share her experience and purge her own mind of it." He runs a thick tongue over his moist lips, before continuing: "Her name is Victoria Moss. I have also been able to glean certain facts regarding her assailants."
Leo freezes for a second, all wariness about Ingar forgotten. He works his jaw again, trembling with contained rage. "Good," he says, still in his deceptively calm voice. "I'm all ears, doctor."
Seeing as nobody is responding to his cheerful morning greeting, Chris shifts mental gears and asks the menacing, murderous mind mangler "Spill it Squidman, I want to find these bastards pronto! Dig?"
Throughout all the explanation, Marda looks very concerned, although she is still holding tightly to Sam with the free arm. She also looks confused. "Tata," she asks innocently, "what's school?"
Victoria begins to sniffle. Then to cry. "Lemme go! I gotta go ta skool! I won't tell anybody! I promise! Lemme go! Help!"
Woofard decides he'd rather be turned inside out and mailed to Antarctica than be going off with Dr Cthulhu. He stays with the kids... even though he is getting that creepy vibe from Marda again. Then the new girl starts to cry. He wants to say something, but knows he shouldn't. What can he do.... He rolls his eyes as he realizes the only thing he can do.... He smiles to himself thinking if he'd done this a back when, they'd probably have thrown his ass in jail. He looks at the crying girl, and gave her a rapid series of gentle schlurps in the face.
Harvey finishes up on the phone, making sure the hotel knows where to send the courier and what stuff to send over. He joins the group around Ingar and says "Well, I said last night we should go after these guys, I still feel that way. Let's find them and make sure they haven't got some other kid there with them, they did this once they'll do it again."
Ingar tries to convince himself that "Squidman" is a term of endearment, a sign of jolly cameraderie. He grins a big, goofy, insecure smile, with a lot of menacing, self-assured teeth. In response to Chris and Harvey's statements, he murmurs through his slightly panicked smile: "Dear friends, might this not be a matter better discussed in greater privacy?"
"Ingar's right" says Harvey. "This isn't for public consumption, where can we talk?" Harvey continues to be blissfully unaware of anything particularly odd about Ingar,wondering briefly to himself if Ingar is known for his love of seafood.
Chris looks around at the near empty confines of the bowling alley, his head moving back and forth eyes scanning for evesdroppers. "Um, sure..more private..where?"
Leo nods grim agreement to Harvey and Ingar's suggestion. He glances at Chris. "Your office, maybe?" he suggests. "Or we can all step out and try a cafe."
"M M M My ah ah ah fice?" bleats Chris who had a sudden and unwelcomed mental picture of being in a small, enclosed place with Ingar. His mental defences yet again prevent the truth for overly bothering Chris but not everything can be suppressed. "Why don't we just move to the end of the lanes... Actually geting away for a bit might be good. Who all is coming and who watches the kids?"
Leo nods. "All right," he says.He turns and looks at the two little girls, both in sorry shape, and shakes his head sadly. "Woofard seems ready to take care of them for a minute or two," he comments while the Akita gives Victoria the old-fashioned face wash. He glances back at the Norwegian Menace. "Doctor Forne?"
"Help!" screams the little girl. "Help! Help! Win! Wiiiin!! MOMEEEEEEEEEEEE!! HELP! HELP!" Her cries turn into an incoherent shriek of terror and she begins thrashing desperately against the restraints.
Horrified, Leo momentarily abandons the reluctant conversation of the ominous Dr. Forne, and runs back to the little girl's side. With a confused mixture of alarm and gentleness, he tries to pat her down to a measure of calm. He gives a semi-panicked look to Woofard,but sushes and mumbles to try to calm the little victim down. Woofard gives Leo a look that seems the equivalent of a shrug. He sits watching the mayhem take place.
"Now, now, sweetie, you're OK, Victoria, you'll be fine, hold on... Sh, sh... Calm down a bit and I let you up, but you gotta settle down, Vicky or you'll hurt yourself... Sh, sh..." He cranes his neck to look over his shoulder, hoping that Ingar will bring his professional (if unsettling) skills.
Victoria stops struggling, and stops screaming, but continues to regard Leo with fear and apprehension. Woffard's big, slimy tongue doesn't seem to be calming her much either. "Lemme go!" she cries. "Lemme go. I gotta go ta skool! I'm not supposed to talk to strangers! Lemme go!"
Chris just stands there watching the drama. he has no experience with children and has no idea, short of sedatives, as to what to do here.
Dr Forn in the meantime ponders whether something went wrong last night, but determines that this is probably a sane, normal reaction to waking up, strapped down with a lot of weird men and one equally weird hound surrounding you. He teams up with Leo, telling Victoria that she has been hurt and must be careful, but everything is going to be well. Hiding in the under- and over-tones of his speech is an old, wordless melody, once used to calm apelings under a less friendly sky.
Samuel Dart walks over to those crowded around 'screaming brat #2' and says "Whatever you do, dont release those restraints. I saw some pretty weird s&^% last night and dont need 'little miss possessed' here to turn me into liquid human." Tata reaches down and pats 'screaming brat #1' on the head and smiles as if to say "I would never say such a thing about you..."
"Really, Samuel, that is no way to talk of a traumatized child" Mr. Weird Sh_t admonishes, then resumes his gentle warble-talk to Victoria.
Woofard looks over at Sam. He looks at the little girl again, and then walks over and sits beside Sam. Quietly, he says, "What are you talking about? What's the story with the banshee on the board?"
KK picks this moment to step out of the men's room. Looking about, he sees that something seems to be going on again, but as it's still unclear exactly what it is, he decides to approach the owner of the establishment. "So, what's going on here?" he asks Chris.
Chris takes a puff of his pipe and then waves the stem in the direction of the Wailing Girl. "You mean this right in front of us, or are you asking more of a metaphyisical question?"
"Right here, right now", KK replies, trying to put as much weight behind his words as Ben does. "Who's that girl, and why is she tied up like that?"
Chris puffs a couple of times: "Her name is Victoria, she was abused, raped and then dumped in the parking lot. Doctor Bennett doped her up strapped her down and left. She said she would come by to check on things, so I guess we wait on her before going for breakfast."
Long pause, giving KK time to ponder this.
"I want to find out who did this so I can go have a talk with them."
"So, do you have any clues yet?" KK asks.
"Apparently E-E-E-Ingar has more information but he wants to talk it over somewhere else," Chris says, shrugging.
"Oh yeah, that tall guy? He's a really weird looking person, even for this island. What do you know about him?" KK continues mercilessly.
"He is Norwegian, He is NOT a vegetarian and he is very interested in the brain. In fact while we were outside he wondered aloud about what blood type you are."
"Oh geez. I don't even know what blood type I am. Maybe I should have that checked out before I end up bleeding to death in a hospital, cut up badly by kiddie gangsters," KK thinks out loud. "Nah, why bother? If they catch me, I'll never make it to a hospital anyway," he concludes after a second of thought. Then his gaze wanders back to Ingar, and he admits that "He does look creepy though. What exactly did he say about my blood type?"
"It was during the unpleasantness with Ben. In-Ingar commented on your scent and then said something like 'I wonder if he is AB negative? So sweet, so sweet.'" Chris's pipe goes out and he spends a few moments relighting it.
"Good thing he didn't drain me while I was asleep then. What was the 'unpleasantness' with Ben?" KK asks while looking around for the big guy.
"You mean you were asleep all night?" <pause> When I got up to use the can at about three AM I saw Ingar standing over you and you two seemed to be having an intense conversation." <puffs on pipe> "I could be mistaken though. Oh, and ask Ben about what happened, he really needs to explain his actions himself." <puff puff puff>
"Oh yeah?" KK replies in a slightly suspicous tone. "I must've been talking in my sleep then, because I sure as hell don't remember having any conversations in the middle of the night."
"Hmmm, okay. Maybe I didn't see that then." Chris shrugs.
"What are you smoking anyway?"
"'Mongolian Rough', it is a hothouse grown tobacco that is fertilized using a liquid protein bath. I have some left if you would like to try it."
"No thanks, I see enough strange things without that stuff," KK replies. "I could use some breakfast though. And some antiseptic for my nose. And more Shiavit. Maybe we should go shopping."
Harvey joins the group now gathering around the screaming child, commenting "you know, whether she likes it or not she has to go to hospital. It's fine tying her to a board in case of spinal injuries, but unless she gets x-rays and proper treatment we might as well have left her in the road. Anybody willing to help me take her there?"
"I gotta pee," says Victoria to Leo.
Leo sighs. "All right, Victoria, I'll undo the buckles on this thing, and I'll show you where the restroom is. Meanwhile, you think you can tell me your parents' name and phone number? Or your address? I'll take you to a phone and you can call them, if you remember the number. OK?"
"OK," responds Victoria.
As he speaks, Leo starts undoing the fastenings on the backboard and loosening the blanket snugged tight around little Victoria. He takes great care not to jostle or bump her, afraid to hurt her. "Oh dear," he says with some consternation, "uh, Vicky, I think you need fresh clothes before you go to school or home. Yours are in bad shape. What's left of 'em. We can get you something after you've gone to the bathroom."
Leo understates the matter: Victoria has no pants (they were cut off and are currently lying in the parking lot). She could also do with a sponge bath.
Ingar says, "Harvey, correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall that you told us to keep the girl's back absolutely immobile?"
"Absolutely immobile, that's right. We need to get her to hospital. I sympathise that she feels bad and that peeing oneself is humiliating but a life spent unnecessarily confined to a wheelchair is bad too. Somebody please help me get this girl to x-ray, in the meantime bring her a bucket and a blanket to put round her. Otherwise if there is a sponge I can give her a sponge bath if she has to go where she is. Nobody does her any favours acting like she's ok. She may well not be."
Harvey moves toward the girl and tries to stop Lee untying her.
With sorrowful eyes, Leo abandons his efforts and leaves Victoria to Harvey's ministrations. "I'm sorry, Vicky, Harvey here is a doctor and he thinks you may have hurt your back. I can't let you up."
He steps back, expecting the normal reaction -- tears and screams; as he moves past Harvey, he grabs the doctor's elbow and bends to murmur in his ear: "Why the hell do you want to take her to a hospital now? You called Dr. Bennett yesterday, but you feel getting the girl to a hospital is crucial 12 hours later? I think you may want to take a look at the hospitals first... This island is WEIRD. I'll go scouting woth you, if you want."
"I messed up" replies Harvey, "I guess I was tired and not thinking. The fact I got it wrong then though is no reason to continue the error."
"Engar!" Goodness says in the general direction of the hulking psychologist, while staring out the doors of the bowling alley. "I'm going outside for a fag. If ye've aught to say aboot th' bastards tha' gave yon bairn a kickin', speak up! We've nae got all day ta be aboot it! Step intae me office, an' anyone else who wants tae be about givin' some sick gits their what for with him!" With that, he steps out through the doors of the bowling alley and into the parking lot.
Woofard, looks after the guy, trying to figure out what he had just said. He finally decided that it was something about kicking the crap out of whoever was reponsible for that poor girl. He had no stinking clue what had happened, or how these clowns he'd been hanging with were involved, but if there was one thing he hated: it was child abusers. He knew he'd have to be careful if he wanted to say anything out there, but he really needed to know what the Hell was going on here. He went over to the door and waited until someone else went through, and then slipped out with them.
Leo looks sadly at Victoria, but it seems she is too upset (or rather, traumatized) to go along with his suggestion to call her parents. Or perhaps they don't have a phone? Or she has no parents? Agent Goodness's words catch his attention, and although he detests smoke, he starts following Goodness to his "office", eager to hear Ingar's information.
"It looks to me like she needs a sponge bath," says Harvey, "could you get me some damp cloths and a bowl of warm water? Oh, and a sponge would be helpful I guess." Harvey shakes his head at his own stupidity, and hopes that he hasn't caused any permanent damage by not responding sooner.
Leo looks quite unhappy with the order. "Sure thing, doctor, just let me get my cute little '"Hot Lips" Houlihan' outfit on and I'll be right back," he grumbles. But he does walk away towards the kitchen area to get supplies, then on to the Dangerous Restroom. "Don't go too far, I'll be right with you," he calls to Goodness, Ingar, and company as they make their way out for a war council and smoke.
After a few moments searching, Leo returns with what seem to be some torn up shirts and a bowl of cold water (the hot water doesn't work in the bathroom, and the closest he can find to a sponge is one of those toilet scrub brushes). After handing these off to Harvey, he heads out the door, allowing Woofard (who has been waiting patiently all this time) to exit with him. Amazingly, Leo neglects to taunt Woofard in any way about "wanting to go walkies." He must be really distracted with Victoria's fate... Absent-mindedly, he politely holds the door open as he would for someone carrying packages. Then he makes a bee line for Goodness and Ingar.
Harvey rolls his sleeves up, dips the torn bits of cloth in the water, and begins to administer the bath. As he does so he watches for signs of further injury or damage which he has not yet spotted. He shouts after the departing Leo, "Fill me in on Ingar's story later, yeah? I'm going to stay with the girl."
Since KK is mildly interested in what's going on, he decides to follow everyone else outside. If nothing else, he's a few steps closer to Kanga Burger and the wholesome breakfast they could provide him with.
Ingar says: "I guess we can talk outside, I really think Goodness should
hear about this. I will fill you in later, Harvey." Having said this,
Ingar moves over to the door with dignified awkwardness, and steps outside.
Fortunately, he remembers to open the door first. He goes outside with
every intention of giving a fairly accuarate portrayal of what information
he gleaned from his session with Victoria, without drooling, droning, nor
in any other way molesting his fellow travellers or blaming them for his
personal problems...
As he walks into the parking lot of Rick's Bowling Palace, a.k.a.
Bilge Bowl, Leo notices little Victoria's pants, still lying where they
were discarded during Dr. Bennett's examination last night. And as
he has just had the dubious honour of finding out, Victoria could sure
use some clothing for the lower half of her body, if only to dispel some
of the humiliation she must be feeling.
"Be right back, I'll get these to Vicky," he says to his companions, pointing at the clothing item. He walks over to the small pants and picks them up, then walks back towards to the bowling alley. He examines the pants for damage.
Goodness pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one, taking a long drag, before glancing back towards the boling alley and noticing that while he has been followed outside by a circus performer, a low-life, and a dog, he has most specifically NOT been followed outside by a large, weird, norwegian psychologist.
"Bollocks," he mutters to himself, before turning to the others. "Wha' in the name of Saint Dympha, holy patron of nutjobs 'n fruitcakes, has gotten inta tha' boy? He's been mopin' aboot like a great pile of half-baked haggis all in a tizzy since last night. He's just nae the sweet n' cuddly plush Engar doll we've all grown tae know and luv!"
As Leo scoops up the pair of pants from the parking lot (and a sadly sliced, stained, and pretty much unwearable pair of pants they turn out to be) a small piece of paper flutters out of one pocket to land once again on the asphalt of the parking lot.
And at that moment, the deformed and huge shape of Ingar wobbles out the doors of the bowling alley.
"Aboot bludy time!" mutters Goodness. "D'ye think we have all day Engar? We've got perverts tae give a kickin' tae! Now tell us wha' this big secret ye've uncovered might be!"
Leo unconsciously does his bendy-straw/paperclip act as he retrieves the fluttering piece of paper. He fervently hope this might help him identify Victoria's parents. He gives a guilty sidelong look to his companions, then with some trepidation about this flagrant breach of privacy and a mental apology to the little girl, he carefully unfolds the piece of paper that was never meant for his eyes.
The piece of paper is folds several times, so is actually quite small. Opening it up, Leo notes that it appears to be part of a sheet of regular paper that has been cut down, apparently to be used as scratch paper or drawing paper. One side is marked with a drawing, done in red crayon.
From an examination of the other side of the piece of paper, it appears to have started out as part of a piece of stationary. The following bit of letterhead remains.
Sunshin
8427 Dry
Great Me
Leo scratches his head for a moment, looking at the both sides of
the piece of paper. Then he slowly approaches Ingar, Goodness, Sam,
KK, and Woofard. "Well, the pants are pretty much shot," he comments,
holding up the ruined item of clothing. "But there was this piece
of paper in the pocket, chances are she picked it up yesterday. It
might be worth checking what that place is, maybe we can get some info
about... the guy who has to pay for this. Or guys."
He looks at it again, thinking. "Great Men. I haven't been there yet, I hear it's worse than Four Points for burger. When we go back in I'll check the phone bok for a complete name and address. I'll check for 'Moss' too, you said that was her last name, right, uh, Ingar?"
Anyone who wants to take a look at the paper is welcome to. Leo look at Ingar and continues: "So, well, what's the word on the rapist?" he asks, fighting teeth that seem to insist on clenching every time he looks at Ingar. For some reason, he also feels the urge to run behind the dunpster across the street. Almost without thinking, he pulls a couple of aki bags from a pocket and starts juggling them one-handed, in something like the same automatic manner Goodness pulls out a cancer stick and lights it.
Sam glances around Leo's pretzel thin body to look at the note and notices the address. He stands for a moment pondering and listens to how the others are commenting. Then abruptly, he turns and heads back toward thedoor of the bowling alley. All the time mumbling the ingredients he needs to make a nice homemade explosive. He goes into the utility room of the bowling alley and starts searching for some of the reqirements.
Chris, who has no experience with kids and does not desire any, steps outside with the others. he is still wearing his bright pink PJs and his velvet smoking jacket. "We need to talk about what we are going to do here. Who wants in on finding and hurting the bastards who did this?"
His stomach rumbles loudly. "I'm going to head over to the dairy and get some juice and pastries, anyone want to come with or want anything?"
"I'll go with you," KK says after hesitating for a second. While staying and listening to Ingar's story might satisfy some of KK's curiosity, somehow it seems more important to go with Chris and make sure that it's Shiavit he'll be getting.
Dr Forn looks gravely at each member of his audience, before giving a smile, meant to be re-assuring, to no-one in particular, takes a deep breath, and finally speaks: "As aforementioned, the girl's name is Victoria, Victoria Moss. She was abducted yesterday, on her way home from school. A man, whose appearance she does not have any clear memory of, approached her, asking her to help him take a sick dachshund to the vet. She followed him, and someone threw something over her head so she couldn't see. She was thrown into the trunk of the car, driven around for quite some time, growing increasingly nauseous and scared. After that, she was taken out and subjected to the abuse which she now bears the marks of. I have neither seen anything similar since I left home." Ingar flinches briefly, his face set in that 'whoops!whatdidIsayoutloud' grimace, and adds quickly: "I mean, I have not had any opportunity to watch the news since I left Norway."
"Anyway, those commiting the abuse were numerous, male, and had strange, metallic faces. Furthermore, there was a continual din from some kind of machine in the background, but she did not see the device making the noise. Afterwards she was thrown back into the car and then thrown out where we found her." Throughout his monologue, Ingar's voice has for once been able to stay at a soft baritone, contrasting oddly with the terrible tale he tells.
Chris ducks into the building for a moment and comes out with his knife. Even though it is literally a few seconds walk across his own property to the dairy Chris does not want to go even that short a distance unarmed. "Okay Goodness, you're the private dick do you have any ideas about who these freaks are? While you think on that I'm going to get some near-food."
He sets off, presumably with KK coming along.
Leo ponders for a moment, trying to absorb Ingar's revelations. His train of thought momentarily derails on the question of how well the words "Ingar" and "Revelations" fit together, and a cold, cold shiver runs up his spine. But he brushes the stray thought like pesky insects and returns to the matter at hand. It is difficult at first to assimilate the cruelty of the story.
"Metallic faces?" he finally repeats, latching on to the unusual detail as if the insanity of it could explain the sordid mystery. "What could she have seen... Welding masks, maybe?" He looks down at the piece of paper recovered from Victoria's pants. "Well, maybe this can be a starting point. Did any of you get a look at the car that dumped the kid yesterday?"
An idea strikes him. "Say, Woofard, this is not a dumb-ass joke this time... Can you do the tracking dog act? Can you pick up the bastards' smell from Victoria's clothes and maybe recognize it later? I know, that sounds disgusting, but..." He shrugs expressively.
Woofard looks back towards the small group. He had been staring down a nearby alley way for a little while. He looks to Leo, "Hunh? Oh, yeah. I could give it a shot. I've got a feeling it's gonna piss me off though. It might give me far too good an idea what happened to that poor kid.... but I'll do it." He looks back towards the alley. "Umm, I don't want ta alarm anybody, and normally it's nothing I'd worry about, but in this place... anyway, there's somebody... or something, crashing around in that alley. Do we want ta be worried about that?"
Leo grimaces. "Normally, I'd say there's always someone rummaging around anyway, but it might be a chance to pick up clues..."
KK and Chris head off in search of breakfast. As they pass by the alleyway leading behind the bowling alley, there is a yelp and a shuffle.
"Let's see if those two will stop or just go on for coffee," comments Leo, crossing his arms and watching the scene.
Chris groans and unsheathes his his blade. He looks into the alley and advances a half step. He realizes that he might just be fighting in his best slippers and robe and takes one half step back. He says in an aside to KK "Ya know I've got a suppressed MP5 at home that would be perfect for these little situations, of course home is seven thousand miles away....."
There is a convient pause as a Kanga Burger wrapper tumbles across the alley in a moment of cinematic perfection.... which is then perfectly ruined by the thin, unshaven face of man peering up over the corner of the dumpster through crooked, cracked, glasses. A pickle-slice is stuck to the side of his face.
Chris yells out "Hey! That dumpster is radioactive medical waste only! You best watch out!"
'Brilliant!' He thinks sarcastically to himself. 'That was one of the all time tough guy lines! You best watch out? Move over Arnold, Chris is in the house!'
KK takes notice of Chris stopping, and turns his head to gaze into the alley.
From where they stand watching in the parking lot of Rick's Bowling Palace, Leo comments to Woofard, Ingar and Goodness, groaning: "There you go. Another weirdo. It had been hours since anyone had been wedged in a pinsetter, appeared in a toilet stall, or been dumped in the parking lot. I guess we were due for a naked man rising from a garbage been like Venus on the half-shell..."
He shrugs. "Well, maybe Chris can start making money selling discard clothes like those he loaned Sam. No, wait, I take it back -- I wouldn't take money from this guy right now if he offers it. It would definitely be dirty money." He scratches his head, glances at the others. "OK, how about I go check the phone book," he sighs.
With this, he starts walking back to the bowling alley, intent on checking
the partial address in Great Men, and looking up the Moss name.
'Of all the times,' Thompson thinks to himself, 'I have ever need a cigarette this island is taking the cake....' He pushes his glases up on his nose a bit to try and get a better look at the speaker, still not lifting more than his head out of the dumpster.
"Uh..." Chris drawls, "no, I just gave my last spare to a naked guy crawling out of a manhole, you're just a bit late."
"Damn...." Thompson mutters, looking down into the refuse for something that might be fashioned into clothing.
"Just what are you doing in there?"
"Preparing for the Spring Formal obviously...." he snaps back, "no... look... I... it's been a very long day... that last clear memory is from C&I..." He begins to stand, a makeshift skirt of plastic bags around his waist. Then JUMPS out of dumpster with a squeel, falling top over tea-kettle onto the street below. Thompson mutters something about the god-damn rats.
From his vantage point, Woofard starts to laugh, but manages to turn it into a choking cough. Dogs do not laugh in public. Dogs do not laugh in public. But whatta goober. He decides to hang about awhile to watch the show. Slowly his thick curly tail begins to wag.
"I have an idea" says Chris with a smile, "you tell me your story and I will buy you some breakfast type food things at this fine dairy" he points to the cinderblock wall on the other side of the alley, "and, AND I think I can scrounge up clothes for you. What about it?"
Looking down the alley through the smeared lenses of his glasses, Thompson stands there in his plastic diaper and regards the man. A beat passes. "Deal," he says just as KK begins talking.
"Strange with all these naked people popping up around here," KK mutters. "But at least this one doesn't need a doctor," he adds a little louder, while giving the unclad alley-dweller a once over. "Right?"
Thompson's hand rubs the back of his neck. "No, thank you perfectly fine... nothing a bagel, some gin and a cigarette won't fix." And he begins walking towards them, one hand making sure the bags don't blow away.
"Fine, fine." Chris leads the other two to the front of Arne Frank's Dairy opens one of the two heavily frosted swinging doors and gestures the others to enter before him.
Thompson smiles slightly and walks ahead into the dairy, hands on his hips... just in case.
Chris, KK, and Thompson walk across the parking lot towards the doors of the dairy. To Chris's practiced eye, the place looks rather quiet (it normally attracts the local clientele rather heavily). Upon arriving at the narrow, wooden door the trio spots a sign hanging from the doorknob.
"CLOSED DUE TO HEALTH CODE VIOLATIONS"
-Al Amarja Department of Public Health
The Strangely Silent Ben seems to be sleeping through the incident without problems, but both Ingar and Marda find the wailing of Victoria to be rather disturbing. Chris debates the relative merits of exiting the bowling alley and leaving Ben unsupervised, versus staying and experiencing the potential of both Victoria AND Marda wailing.
Marda tosses and turns a bit trying to reconcile herself to the noise, but even while appreciating the professionalism of Victoria's delivery, shefinds it makes things much more difficult, if not impossible, to concentrate on the problem at hand, which, for all of those who have forgotten at this point, happens to be Teddy's currnet and gnawingly frequent absence. However, Marda's experience in these matters generally center on being the giving end of the performance rather than the receiving, so she finds herself at a loss.
To find a solution, the other little terror in the room goes on a grand tour of empathy. How does Tata deal with problems like these? No, he just grumbles, complains, and finally gives in. How did the Bad Men deal with it? No, statements involving the words "bullet" and "brain" are going to sound hollow coming from her. How did the Doctor deal with it? Eureka!
Marda looks in the Lost and Found box behind the bar, and while no pocket watches are to be found, she does find a small yo-yo, which should do just as nicely. Walking up to Victoria, she begins to swing the watch as a pendulum beginning to talk very slowly, incidentally thickening her accent. "You are getting ferry ferry slippy, your eyes are getting ferry khevvy. You are slowly slipping into a dip slip. Stotting at your toes, you begin to get aslip. Up your legs and body and arms up to your head. At the count of thrih you will be aslip. Vwon, two, thrih!"
"That's nice" says Harvey, "but I'm not sure this little girl feels like playing right now, she's been hurt by some bad people. Why don't you run off and play with the bowling balls?"
Marda turns to the adult, glaring. "I'm not playing! I'm inducing a relaxed state! Now go do something useful, like find Teddy!"
Harvey reflects on his relationship with his own daughter, had it been this difficult? Other than her being born again after the divorce with her mother, he hadn't let her go that astray, had he?
Victoria stops struggling (much to Harvy's relief) and stares at Marda. "Can I see your bear?" she says after a moment.
Harvey stops. Looks again at Marda and says "OK, I'm totally wrong. Thank you." He continues trying to bathe Victoria.
Marda gives an 'I told you so,' look to Harvey. She then remembers Teddy's recent propensity to disappear. She looks back in desperation at her bed to find, miracle of miracles, Teddy is there! She runs to him at top speed and grabs the stuffed animal, crushing him to her at pressures approximating that of the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Overjoyed, Marda goes back to Victoria and presents the bear. "This is Teddy. Teddy, this is, uh, uh..."
About that time, Sam stalks back into the bowling alley, and starts rummaging around, looking for ingredients to any recipes that he can recall. There are lots of things and lots of steps to follow but at the moment he is just scrounging to see what he has and what he needs.
Minutes later, Leo reenters the bowling alley. Harvey and Marda are near Victoria - Harv apparently trying to give the girl a sponge (or rag) bath while Marda and Teddy help. Sam is over at the maintenance closet, digging around through the cleaners and chuckling. Ben is still lying on one of the benches with his jacket over his head.
Leo walks over to the counter, pulls out an Al Amarjan phone book, and begins flipping through it. There are 106 entries under "Moss" in the Al Amarja phone book. Since none of them list an address, it is impossible to determine whether any of them live in Great Men. There is an ad under "Day School" for someplace called the Sunshine Creche and Day School. The address is 8427 Dry Tears Avenue, Great Men Barrio. The telephone number is 782650.
Leo jots down the full address, then begins dialing the number.
*RING*
*RING*
*RING*
*RING*
*RING*
*RI - *
"Good morning. Sunshine Creche and Day School. This is Norman. How may I help you?" The voice is male, british, and cockney.
"Hello, I'd like to speak to the school director about one of your students, please." He looks around to see if anyone has followed him, and gestures at anyone who seems interested, pointing at the phone book.
"I'm sorry, the director is not available at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?"
Leo grimaces. He wishes to hell he had an inkling of who may have... hurt... Victoria. Who says it's not the director, or this Norman, or both? "Maybe you can help me, Mr. Norman," he says slowly.
"Norman is my first name," replies Norman. "Norman Souster."
"One of your students is here, she was wounded late last night. She's being seen by a doctor, but she can't make it to the creche today. And I'd like to reach her parents to inform them. Her name is Victoria Moss."
"Ah," says Norman.
"She's very distressed about missing school."
"Yes, I understand. I'm very sorry to hear that." says Norman. "Very sorry. Victoria is one of our best students. What can we do to help? Is there anything we can do?"
Mensonges, Leo thinks.
There is a very slight pause, and Leo's eyes narrow. "Yes, thank you, Mr. Souster," he says in his nicest, most earnest voice. "Can you contact Victoria's parents and tell them she's being taken to D'Aubainne General Hospital? Or if you prefer I can call them myself if you'll give me their number." His hand is clutching the phone book like a blunt weapon.
"Yes, certainly," says Norman. "I'll call them right away. Thank you. Have a good day!" *CLICK*
Leo pulls the phone away from his ear and stares at it blindly for a moment. Finally, he carefully replaces it on the cradle, then puts the phone book back in place with great care, and steps out of the office.
He gestures to Harvey and walks over to Sam, nudging the American to get his attention. "Guys, there's a rat," he says in a low voice. "I picked up Victoria's pants outside, and this piece of paper fell out of her pockeet." He proffers the item.
"I looked up the address and I found the Sunshine Creche and Day School, 8427 Dry Tears Avenue, Great Men Barrio. I called and asked to speak to the director, but the guy who picked up, a Norman Souster, said the director was out. I let him know Victoria was being seen by a doctor and I asked him to call her parents, but..." He shakes his head. "I'm getting a very wrong feeling. I don't think he was surprised to hear the call, and I think he was lying about something. Sam, you remember the Goon of Doom's trial at the airport? I can generally tell when people are lying. This guy was. Also, it took about six rings before he picked up the phone; I'm wondering if there's trouble at the school."
"Let me just finish up with the wash and I'll be right with you" says Harvey. "Once we have Victoria here in hospital I think we should pay a visit, taking Goodness with us."
"Yeah, well, I think we should be very careful where we take her," say Leo in a hushed voice. "And maybe leave someone with her until we find her family." He glances across the room at Victoria, who has finally -- momentarily? -- stopped crying to answer Marda. "I've heard a number of things about the island's hospitals, and I'm increasingly inclined to believe them..." he continues. "Why don't we check with Dr. Bennett too? Anyway, now that I've told the creep on the phone we were taking her to D'Aubainne General Hospital, I'd like t look for another place instead."
He considers asking Victoria again for her parents' phone number, then decides to wait. No need to get her upset if she's quietly talking to Marda.
Sam keeps thrashing around in the backroom. Leo can hear him mutter in agreement at times -- or is he just commenting on something usefull he has found? Finally, Leo hears a loud AH HAH! Sam then steps out of the room with a 50 cm piece of 4" cast off iron drainage pipe and says, "I only hope the door is locked when we get there." He then steps back into the room and continues his shuffling and muttering.
"Great," sighs Leo. "Now we'll have a great big mean length of
pipe to beat them with, and no idea who to beat up." He shakes
his head again, then heads back out to talk to Goodness & Co., hoping
to talk to someone halfway sane -- a faint hope at best in this crowd...
To Be Continued...