Bob, the Invisible Dragon Page 13

  D-T scoured the area pretending to mop but looking for Doc. He was nowhere to be found. He could have used the bank of elevators to go up and see the warden. D-T went back to the big meeting hall, all the time mopping but only scattering debris on the floor from one place to the next. Pretty much what he always did. Perhaps Doc was here to visit another prisoner. Double-Tom found it hard to focus; tomorrow, he could be returning to Clearwater. He'd enjoy that. He'd teach some people some things tomorrow.

  He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned.

  "Is your name Double-Tom?" a voice said. "Also known as Wescott."

  D-T saw the visitor pass first, the white hair second, and the pinky-ring computer being held high in the air third.

  "Are you Double-Tom?"

  "Can't talk," D-T croaked.

  "No matter," Doc said. "I recognize you from some posters that I've seen. I'm recording this conversation because I want it to be clear that I am not talking to you about your upcoming trial. I simply asked you to identify yourself."

  This wasn't working out the way that Mr. Stu had said it would.

  "Turn and face the visitor gate."

  D-T did. He was pretending to be hoarse, not deaf. A giant aboriginal woman was standing at the gate staring at him. She was in full regalia; obviously a very important person. Probably a chief. She stood the same way that Wanda did. That would make her a bossy woman. Used to ordering people around. This bossy woman was leaning on a huge bow.

  Doc stepped to D-T's side and pointed his index finger at him.

  The chief nodded her head, pointed the tip of her bow at D-T, and nodded strenuously again. Then she turned and hobbled away.

  D-T realized that she had just identified him. He wondered if having a limp would make it possible for Mr. Sam to remove her as Doc's witness. The reader should appreciate that putting the words Double-Tom and smart together would be like putting the words slimy slug and stampede together.

  When D-T looked up again, Doc had left the building.

  # # # # # # # #

  Lucas landed in the woods as he usually did and was moving quickly towards the fence where Candi always sat. He had some things to say to her about taking all of his money. Her voice interrupted the speech he was rehearsing in his mind.

  "Lucas. Help me."

  In the woods. A flash of pink. Lucas saw Candi struggling with some big dude.

  "Lucas. Please."

  Lucas pushed his way through the brush. Candi was trying to stop the guy from leaving. He was bigger and older than Lucas. Still a teenager though.

  "Hey! What are you doing?" Lucas called out.

  "I'm trying to leave the woods. Red skirt here is trying to stop me."

  "I gave him a lesson, Lucas. He won't pay me."

  "Is that true? She tutored you?"

  "That's not what I'd call it, but yeah she did. What's it to you?"

  "Then you gotta pay."

  "Who's going to make me?"

  That was not a good question to ask a guy who had spent two hours working on the big bag and was still in a hostile mood. The big dude took a wild swing at Lucas' head. Lucas ducked, responded with a hard right to the ribs, and followed that with a hard left to the ribs. Lucas was surprised at how soft the human body was compared to a big bag full of wet sand. Ribs crack easily, apparently.

  Negotiations ended quickly. The big dude made a full payment to Candi plus a tip for refusing to pay. And he wouldn't be bothering her again. Candi said he was off her class list for good.

  # # # # # # # #

  "I'm sorry you spent all your money, Lucas. But I told you what the price was and you did agree."

  "I spent three weeks swinging a hammer to earn that money, Candi."

  "What do you want, Lucas? I have to pay my bills."

  "I want my money back."

  "Didn't you just beat up a guy who refused to pay me? Isn't that what you're doing now? Refusing to pay me for something that we both agreed to?"

  On that, Candi was certainly right. Teachers can be real smart when faced with unruly students.

  Lucas realized that everything she had said was right. He had agreed to the price. He turned around and was walking away when Candi said, "But."

  "But what?"

  "You did help me out just now. And I do appreciate what you did. How about I give you a longer look this time? Same price."

  "Nope. I want my money back."

  "How about I pay you for protecting me instead?"

  "How would that work?"

  "Some of my students are kind of rough. Some are like that other guy and don't want to pay. What am I supposed to do? I'm just a young teacher. They're stronger and bigger. I don't have anybody to help me because I'm self-employed."

  "Do they hit you?"

  "No. I stop arguing if they look like they will. I can't be hit in my face, Lucas. I wouldn't be able to work. I couldn't speak if they broke my jaw."

  "What would you want me to do?"

  "Be with me when we agree on the price of the lesson. Make sure the student pays. Get the money first. Protect me if they become unruly. You'd be like the school principal. Keeping order."

  "I never went to school. What's a principal?"

  "The boss of the students and the teachers."

  "I'd be your boss?"

  "Not really. I'm my own boss. But I'd pay you."

  "Flat hourly rate?"

  "No. I never know how busy I'll get. How about I give you 10% of what I earn."

  "20%."

  "Done."

  "When do I start?"

  "Now. The kid coming towards us won't cause any trouble. All you have to do is look scary."

  "I can do that."

  "You can't watch me teaching though, Lucas. Private lessons, you know."

  "OK."

  Back to the Table of Contents

  Chapter 21

  It was 10 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in mid-April and Granny was getting ready for her mid-morning break. Everything was in place at the prison for today's drama presentation. It would be just Stu and D-T talking before supper. Stu said that D-T was working up to something. Could be a confession.

  The hot chocolate was hot; the marshmallow froth was frothy; the soft chair awaiting her was soft; the footrest was in place – resting on its feet. Granny sank back against the seat cushion, cradled the hot mug in both hands, felt the warmth, and smelled the delicious aroma. As she was about to take the first sip, she heard a tentative tap-tap on the door.

  Not again. "Come in," she called out.

  The door opened a sliver and a young face appeared.

  "Winnie," she said and held up a hand in an order to Stop right there! Granny put both feet on the floor, sat up straight, put the mug of steaming chocolate on the table next to her chair, and said, "Come on in. There's hot chocolate on the stove and fresh cake on the counter. Help yourself."

  "Thanks, Granny. What kind of cake?"

  "Spice."

  "Yay!"

  Surely, this isn't about sex. She has no boyfriends in sight. But she's been hanging around Momaka. Did Winnie find out about her and Stu and she's here to pry?

  "What's up, Winnie," she said confidently. The hot chocolate was too far away for her to spew it into the air.

  Winnie took a nibble off the corner of a small piece of cake. "This is very good, Granny."

  "Thank you, Winnie."

  You can often learn a great deal about a child by how they cut their cake and eat it. And when they thank you. Girls thank as they're eating; boys thank afterwards. Sometimes.

  "Granny, I was over talking with Doc. Did you know that he's in a lot of pain?"

  Granny struggled to get out of her chair.

  "I didn't peek into his head, Granny. Honest. It's right there on his face."

  Granny hop/hobbled into the kitchen, grabbed the hot chocolate pot, emptied her mug into the pot, and had Winnie empty hers as well. "You carry this," she said to Winnie. "Come on." Then Granny was hop
/hobbling to the WZBN offices as fast as she could manage, her big bow forgotten.

  Doc was bent over in his chair, both hands clasped together. Granny put the still hot pot on his lap, lifted his hands gently and placed them in the pot. "Sometimes, hot liquid helps," she said in explanation to Winnie who was no longer there. A minute later, both Winnie and Momaka were rushing through the door. Momaka had a flat container in her hands.

  # # # # # # # #

  "This is only temporary," Momaka explained. Winnie had six needles inserted into each of Doc's hands.

  "Two more?" Winnie asked. "Here and here?"

  "Might work."

  ...

  "Winnie's treating the inflammation," Momaka explained. "But that's going to come back. We won't know how long a treatment will last until we see how Doc's body reacts. Then we can make a schedule. For now, let's plan on two treatments a day. Morning and night at 8?"

  "I... "

  "Shush," Granny interrupted. "You're going to have the treatments."

  "I can do mornings," Winnie said.

  "I'll do evenings."

  It was decided. Doc managed to get one very short word into the discussion.

  "You cost me a fresh pot of hot chocolate," Granny said after she kissed the top of Doc's head.

  # # # # # # # #

  It was noon on the same day. Lucas was sitting on the wooden fence, a computer game flashing through his mind. He was playing one of the many Star Trek battle variations that were on the Internet. Candi was tutoring one of her students. There'd often be a little rush at the beginning of the noon break. Her next student was leaning on the fence, waiting.

  Lucas and Candi had established a routine. Candi would take the student aside, find out what test the student was studying for, and would quote a price. Lucas would collect the money and hold it for her. If she were unsure about the student, she'd wink at Lucas and he'd stay alert in case she needed help. There had been no wink on this kid, so Lucas was playing his Star Trek game. At the end of the day, they'd settle up. Candi was tutoring history during the evenings, but that was in downtown Surrey. She'd conduct ghost tours and take men through the dark alleys of the city teaching them where ghosts were buried. Lucas had offered to help, but Candi had turned him down.

  Sometimes when they were waiting for customers, Candi would offer Lucas a free peek or a grope. Lucas wasn't much interested. He was steadily advancing up the kill-ladder on his game. Plus every now and then, somebody would be obnoxious towards Candi and Lucas would get to teach him a lesson on being polite. That was more interesting than what Candi with an i was offering.

  # # # # # # # #

  That same day, after dinner, D-T and Mr. Stu were leaning on their cell bars. "Thhst. Thhst. Thhst. I wish they'd let us have tooth picks," D-T said. He was trying to suck something out of his teeth. "Thhst. Thhst. Thhst."

  "That's rather annoying, you know."

  "Tough." D-T chewed off a sliver from a long fingernail and used that to go poking between his teeth instead.

  "That's even worse."

  "Double-tough. The food is bad enough, I shouldn't have to taste it twice."

  "I had roast chicken with orange sauce. Rice with sautéed onions. Fresh strawberries. Whipped cream. Big piece of chocolate on the top."

  "Hamburger soup. Easy on the hamburger. Heavy on the soup."

  "My heart bleeds for you. Really."

  "I was hoping that I might be able to persuade you to take my case. This Wolf guy is not doing anything."

  "What's he not doing?"

  "Trying."

  "He might be getting paid off. There's lot's of money in this case. Is your ex-mother-in-law wealthy?"

  "She was dirt poor when she was my mother-in-law. The tribe had a sawmill operating the last time I saw them. That might have given her some money."

  "Did the lawyer kid tell you why she is so hot to fry your eyeballs?"

  "Apparently my wife and this guy from Barriere had had a long affair. They connected up with each other whenever I was out of the camp. They even had a kid. A girl. My wife told me it was mine."

  "That's bad. Gives you a motive."

  "I never knew about them."

  "You should stick with that story. It'll work."

  # # # # # # # #

  "So if you were taking my case, what would you do?"

  "Help you kiss your ass goodbye."

  "That's it?"

  "Did you want me to pat you on the head and tell you It's going to be OK, Snookums?"

  "They're going to fry me?"

  "They'll dip you in eggs and add some cracker crumbs first, but yeah, they're going to fry you. You know that they have a witness. She picked you out. She's a chief of some kind. She's going to be believable. Doc's going to have her perfectly rehearsed. I still can't figure out why he's involved in this case. That doesn't make any sense."

  "I saw you with your niece. She's not your niece."

  "Sure she is."

  "Do you have many nieces?"

  "As a matter of fact, I do."

  "All aboriginal?"

  "Some. Two are white."

  "Your Japanese bosses aren't too happy with the care and attention you devote to developing friendships with young girls."

  "Says who?"

  "Says the report your Japanese girlfriend tried to give you when she came in to see you."

  "She's not my girlfriend. You can't strong-arm me into defending you. B.C. is trying to strong-arm me into turning over on my bosses. I can't be strong-armed. Not by the province of B.C. Certainly not by you."

  "I'm not threatening to reveal your preferences for young nieces if you don't take my case. I'm offering to introduce you to more nieces if you do take my case."

  Back to the Table of Contents

  Chapter 22

  "Granny, I need to talk with you." Winnie had just finished her early morning arthritis treatment with Doc. It was near the end of March and he was still in pain. Momaka and Winnie had increased the treatments to four times a day, and that had helped, but not much.

  "Let's go for a walk." Granny knew that Winnie had bad news and didn't want Doc to hear it. She forgot that Doc was a doctor. He already knew.

  "I've been researching on the Internet and I found a source of medication for arthritis," Winnie began. "It gives pain control. It doesn't cure the arthritis, but makes it bearable. One pill, six hours of relief. I'd like to buy some for Doc."

  "Where can we find it?"

  "Surrey, probably."

  "When do we go?"

  "Seventy or eighty years ago would be good."

  # # # # # # # #

  Their departure wasn't as quick as Winnie had hoped it would be. First, she had to explain how they'd be able to buy something in the past when they didn't have any money from the past. Then she had to explain why people would willingly give her money. Then she had to tell them where the pills would be. Then they had to wait while Yolanda and Hank discussed relaxing the parental controls on the sling that would allow Winnie to TiTr. Also, the controls on Patella's sling would have to be relaxed.

  "Granny should probably be invisible while I'm working with Patella," Winnie added. That lead to another discussion because the time they had decided to visit was 2013, for crying out loud. Crime was rampant back then. Plus cameras were everywhere. It wouldn't be good to have their picture taken on a 2013 camera. "That's why Granny should be invisible," Winnie said. "She's noticeable. I'm just a kid."

  "With a big, black wolf," Hank said.

  "Dog," Winnie replied. "Lots of dogs were on the streets in 2013. I checked. I saw plenty of them in old documentaries."

  By the time they had everything settled, it was too late for them to go that day. They'd go tomorrow.

  # # # # # # # #

  Winnie set up a blanket on an empty space on Granville Street in Vancouver. It was a big city and Granville was the city's busiest street. Lots of beggars were asking for help.

  "I didn't realize how big
downtown Vancouver was," Granny said. "It's all underwater now."

  "That's why I thought it was better to be here than in Surrey. If we do get caught on a camera, the storage tapes probably wouldn't have lasted through the tsunami."

  Winnie finished her preparations. She had a space to sit on the blanket and room for Patella beside her. A cap was open on the ground in front of them where people could drop their money. A big cardboard sign taped to the wall behind her said: Ask my dog a question. $1 donation if she answers correctly.

  "I'll be on the roof of the building opposite you."

  "I'll raise my hand in the air two times if I need you."

  "Beg politely."

  # # # # # # # #

  An hour later, Winnie had already emptied her cap twice and stuffed the money bills into her jeans. She left the coins where they were. The crowd around her knew the rules. Ask a question that the dog would be able to answer by tapping her paw on the ground. One tap meant yes, two taps meant no. The dog would tap three to ten times for numerical answers but she'd only tap for those numbers. Any question that had a numerical answer bigger than ten wasn't allowed because it would take too long for Patella to answer. The person asking the question had to write the answer down on a piece of paper, fold it, and pass it to another person in the crowd before asking the question. When Patella answered the question, that bystander would look at the printed answer and say if she was right or wrong. So far, Patella had not missed a question. Winnie had added a line on her sign saying "$10 for a very hard question." All the bills thrown into the cap for the last twenty minutes had been $10 bills.

  The current customer was working out an algebraic equation on his piece of paper. "You have to calculate two correct answers," he said to Patella. "Both numbers will be positive. Tap out one of the numbers and growl. Then tap out the second number. Donors were now talking directly to Patella believing that she understood English. Winnie just sat on the blanket and looked at the questioners' faces when they wrote the answer on their piece of paper.

  "Correct, both times," the spectator said and there was a huge roar from the crowd. A ten dollar bill fluttered into the cap and others threw some money in too.

  "Does your dog know anything about medicine?" A man in a blue suit asked.

  "Ask her yourself," Winnie said.

  The man turned around and wrote on his paper so that nobody could see, including Winnie. He passed the folded paper to a neighbour and asked. "How many forms of arthritis are there where joint pain is primary?"

  Winnie looked at the man; his face was blank. He smiled at her.