As Told by Rosemary's Angry Phone

Chapter 6 - Secret Coalition

Rosemary stood silently outside Jim's door. She bent down, and whispered at me. "How do you know this Helper will help us? What do I say to Jim? 'Hello! I was wondering if I could borrow your phone for a moment? There's a little person like being who lives on it, and I think he could really help the little person in my phone. Not to trouble you though.' He is going to call the hospital and have me committed."

"Hush. It will be fine. Remember the code to say. There were rumors flying about, that upper management was watching this quadrant. That they had put a special Helper here somewhere. I'd bet your favorite...sorry the 'other Rosemary's' favorite pair of shoes, that the Helper we are looking for lives here."

"What if you are wrong?"

"Well then at least you get to see Mr Dreamy Eyes again. I sent DEx, Jim's Helper, a message to see if he'd be available to talk. I've got a feeling he just might."

Rosemary tucked a stray curl behind her ear, then knocked on Jim's door. She took a deep breath and tried to relax.

Jim opened the door. The sleeves of his button up work shirt were rolled up. His blue necktie was loosened. He smiled a little as he looked behind him and closed the door, with the two of them in the hallway. "Hi Rosemary. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Sorry to bother you. Um...Fish fingers and custard."

Jim's kind blue eyes narrowed a bit. "I'm sorry. Come again?"

Rosemary gulped. She looked down and fiddled with a button. "Fish fingers...and custard?"

I started to spout off ones and zeros in an automated voice. "01000110 01101001 01110011 01101000 00100000 01100110 01101001 01101110 01100111 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100011 01110101 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01100100."

"Shhh!" Jim looked quickly around the corridor. He grabbed Rosemary around the shoulders and brought her into his home. With his foot he shut the door. One hand held onto Rosemary's shoulder, the other quickly locked and bolted the door.

Jim turned back to Rosemary. He led her into his lounge and pushed her to sit in the nearest chair. Arms crossed, he stared down at Rosemary. He glanced at me, then back up again. "Alright, who sent you? What do your superiors want?"

"Um...no one sent me. I have no superiors. I needed some help, and my-I was told you might be the one to ask. Plus you said if I needed anything to come by."

Jim squat down in front of Rosemary. His brows knit together as he rubbed his jaw. "Rosemary...I did some digging. You really did suffer from a horrible head injury, and don't remember much of anything going on in your life right now. But I need you to tell me who sent you to me. You can trust me."

Rosemary bit her lip as she looked into Jim's eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't think it's safe to tell you that. I don't trust too many people these days."

A small dimple formed as Jim smiled and stood up. "Okay, you've passed. Hand me Cece please." He held out his hand.

Rosemary's mouth dropped, her eyes widened. "What do you mean 'I passed'? Passed what? How do you know Cece's name?"

"Just hand me over Rosemary. It was a test."

Rosemary gave me to Jim. "I don't understand."

Jim's lips twitched, his eyes crinkled behind his glasses. He took me over to the sofa and sat down. He was careful as he placed me on the coffee table, next to his phone and laptop. "I'm sorry Rosemary. This is incredibly sensitive information here. We had to see if you would tell someone about Cece. You didn't, so you passed."