Hero Stalker

Part Two

The second the hospital’s automatic doors closed behind me, the heavens opened and rain drummed down on the parking lot. The body odor of two hundred people washed over me. August heat and large crowds never made a pleasant mix. Even Mayor Hollis had sweat circles forming under his jacket.

“And now it’s my pleasure to introduce Doctor Julie Carlisle, whose research in nanotechnology is pioneering the way towards non-invasive cancer treatments!” Hollis stepped aside, and an older woman walked up to the mike. The cloud of grey hair billowing around her head made her look like the grandmothers you saw in cookie commercials. Her predecessor, Doctor Bell, had accidentally turned himself into a giant slug and attempted to eat a city bus.

I took advantage of the momentary pause in speeches to hand off the camera to Valerie. “What took you so long?” she hissed.

“Darryl.”

She rolled her eyes. “Gloria, don’t blame other people for your failings.”

Right. I’d forgotten. In Valerie’s mind, Darryl walked on water.

In the front row, a woman with a shaved head was tearing up as Doctor Carlisle recounted how her sister’s death from childhood leukemia had driven her into cancer research. The snap of Valerie’s camera caught more than a few people’s attention. It was digital, and the noise was just a sound effect. I should have remembered to mute it before handing it over.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Valerie pointed at a platter of China rolls. Bits of Peking chicken stuck out of the centers. “Usually the kitchen staff screws up when I’m not there overseeing them.”

The bits of chicken looked exactly like bits of chicken. “Love them.”

She pulled a tray of China rolls out from beneath the table. Needles strained in his bag, panting as he tried to get hold of the food. “Here. Go over to the shopping center across the street and hand these out at Whole Foods. I’m trying to reach a more upscale demographic.”

Our Lady’s Will bordered Orignal, the richest neighborhood in Bayton. “Aren’t those the ones we were taking up to the children’s wing later?”

“Yeah, but I was thinking I’d cut out early and get my nails done, so they’ll just go to waste. You’ve got a way to head back to the shop without me, right?”

Three buses and a whole hour, dragging along the empty tray. “Yes, but—ma’am, people might not be shopping right now. It’s raining cats and dogs.”

“Whole Foods has a roof.” She pushed the tray into my hands. The rolls smelled of sesame seeds and soy sauce. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and Valerie’s Frankenstein sushi were starting to look like real food. Part of me decided to step right outside, devour the tray, and sneak food samples at Whole Foods until I’d blown a suitable amount of time. The other part of me remembered that I’d gotten promoted from working counters to Valerie’s personal assistant because the last girl who had the job got fired for snacking. Promoted in title, at least. I was still making minimum wage.

Valerie fished a garbage bag out of her purse. “Here. You can use it as a poncho. Try to keep the rolls dry. You’ll be fine.”

I dropped my old flip phone off at the coat check to stop it from getting soaked. An old lady smiled apologetically at me as I walked the shiny automatic doors, an opaque black garbage bag with holes ripped in it covering my twenty dollar blouse and forty dollar skirt. Mom had stopped paying for my clothes when I’d gotten my first real job. This outfit had been a major splurge. At Target.

Mom also charged me rent. Which was fair.

Bethany, the first storm of hurricane season, had arrived and was throwing a party in the streets. Water fell in sheets, striking cars like a drummer on acid. Sirens and screeching tires rang in the surrounding streets. Thunder boomed. To my right, women and children ran across a public park for the safety of their cars.

The second I stepped outside, water poured down the back of the hole I’d ripped and my blouse was toast. What a way to spend a Friday. I bent over the tray to cover the sushi. Whole Foods lay across the six lanes of Wilson Parkway, in the shadow of a tall brick building labeled Sherman Scientific.

I seized a break in the cars to dash into traffic on my wobbly high heels, bent over the tray. Horns honked. One bastard without his headlights on served and sent a jet of water flying over my legs.

I hopped on a median and tried to catch my breath. The pouring rain did nothing for the heat. My pointed heels sank into the muddy grass with a squish. I’d spent a good portion of my life planting flowers in traffic medians, since it was one of the few acts of volunteer work I could do without needing to talk to people. Even by median standards, this one was bare.

“Gloria! Gloria!” A battered yellow Honda pulled up besides me, spraying rainwater. I recognized the purple ‘fro in the driver’s seat and dove inside, keeping the tray level.

“Now I know how Noah felt,” I muttered. “What brings you all this way?”

My best friend, Annabelle Truman, stepped on the gas and laughed. “I wanted to wait for the mayor when he came out. Ask him some questions for my blog. But most of the parking’s full, and I didn’t want to steal spaces from sick people.” A waitress in the afternoons and a freelancer journalist/blogger by night, Annabelle lived for a shot at the story that’d earn her a full-time reporting gig.

“Could you drop me off at Whole Foods?” The tray perched at an awkward angle on her dashboard. The wet sushi had slid out of the neat little circle Valerie’s chefs had arranged it into.

“The fuck you want with Whole Foods?”

“Valerie wants me to pass out free sushi.”

“How does she know if you pass out the sushi or not?” She glanced at the tray, her thick hoop earrings swinging around her face. “When does she expect you back?”

“Soon.”

“How soon?”

I frowned. “I love you, girl, but I’m not gonna wait in the rain to harass the mayor with you.”

She grinned. “Who said anything about the mayor? We've got a villain to stalk.”