Concrete Summonings

THE NEXT NIGHT

Given Janet's advice earlier about avoiding the gaze of weirdos, she wondered if she should be sitting out here by the curb in front of her father's apartments, but on the other hand she wasn't about to make Janet wait for her to come all the way down the stairs and out into the front. She was too nervous and full of anxiety about what was going to happen tonight. After her experiments in freezing dethawed meat she was hardly in the right mindset to get any sleep today, considering everything. She just lay in her bed, looking up at the ceiling. She heard her father come in and out of the apartment twice, and he was gone now. She hoped he would not come back as soon as Janet pulled up. She knew they were adults and they could be civil to each other, but the thought of what happened last time made her want to avoid that kind of situation again by a mile, even if it wasn't likely to happen again.

Janet's car finally pulled around the corner, and Maybelline stood up. Janet was rocking her aviator sunglasses and looked like she hadn't slept that much today also. When she got in, she said nothing. And Janet said nothing. Until about two blocks down the road, and Janet said,

"All right... Here's how this is going to work. If things went the way I would have expected, our buddy Vance should have told his doofus master we're going to meet him at the B & H construction site tonight at midnight. Except- we're going to be there early. And if I'm to assume correctly, so will he."

"Ok." Said Maybelline. "So... is there any sort of plan when we get there?"

Janet shrugged. "Well, first we have to go by the questing board because Ms. Florence said she needed something from me. Other than that, we stay alive and kick his ass. Also, we make sure we have a way out if things get hairy. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. I know he'll have a thing or two up his sleeves, and I still have my refractory devices. You're welcome to them if you like."

Maybelline thought how she still referred to them as 'refractory devices' was funny. She was smirking on the inside underneath the sea of nerves. "I think I'm fine." Said Maybelline.

Janet nodded, put the car in gear and stepped on the gas. Maybelline could feel sweat developing in her hands and underneath her armpits. Underneath her fear and nerves, she heard a small voice say, Man I'm sure glad I wore deodorant today...

***

It took about fifteen minutes to the questing board from her dads' apartments, and already a block away, at the light, they saw something suspicious. Ms. Florence was not there, but a person in a black coat with a hood, most likely a man from the way he stood up against the wall like he was. Something about this was odd to Maybelline on a bunch of different levels and was raising feelings of caution in both of them.

"Who is that?" Said Maybelline.

"No idea." Said Janet. "We're going to loop around a couple of times and see if he does anything."

They did just that. And each time they passed they looked at the man for any indication of a threat. He had a cool, non-threatening demeanor to him, but that meant nothing. He also looked as if he understood they were staring at him as they passed by him those two times. Maybelline felt a familiarity with this guy somewhere. But not the same dark gooey vibe as the grocery store guy they were about to rumble with. It was still suspicious, though.

"All right," Said Janet. "I don't know who this is. But I'm certain it's not our gentleman caller we're out for right now. But whoever he is, I'm pretty sure he's waiting for us. I'm going to pull in. Don't get out or do anything until I tell you but be ready. Got it?"

Maybelline was in full battle mode, to her own surprise. She figured all those nerves had to go somewhere, and the lizard part of her brain with the fight or flight mechanism kicked in just like that. This made her feel good to know just how prepared she was for this sort of thing, but it didn't ease the reality of danger anymore somehow. She nodded and gave a firm 'yeah'.