Chapter 5: Interlude

Vertebrae popped audibly as Victor turned his head from the left to the right to remove a crick he'd developed during the past couple of hours, looking over resumes from some local Limestone County journalists. All in all, not a bad lot; he'd found 15 potentials out of 22 people he'd interviewed.

"Hard day?" someone asked behind him. Victor turned to find a young woman who could easily win Miss Black America if she were of a mind to enter. Smooth skin the color of chocolate mixed with peanut butter was spread evenly over a set of dangerous curves clad in blue jeans and a tight T-shirt. Beneath her multi-braid ponytail which came down to the back of her neck, her eyes sparkled with intelligence. He could tell without even reading her mind that she was appraising him with equally high marks.

"Been busy." he replied at last. "Finally take some time off and I find a line longer than my list of applicants."

"You some kind of executive or something?"

"Not yet, as far as I know." Victor replied. The woman laughed. "I'm Victor."

"I'm Shanice" she replied. "I'm a self-defense instructor."

"Well, I'm a copy editor who works as a part-time recruiter when my vacation days run out." Victor responded. Shanice laughed again. "At least you don't have to deal with all the forests of paper, right?"

"Not unless you count handing out lethal-weapon certifications to my graduates." Shanice said. The conversation continued pleasantly until it became Victor's turn at the ordering window. He ordered a chicken tenders meal and a catfish meal, both with mashed potatoes, cream gravy, corn on the cob and biscuits. He let Shanice pick out her own drink, but paid for both meals. She gave him a shrewd look as he picked up their order. She let him get away with the light chauvanism as they walked to the convertible.

Victor suddenly sensed a powerful hatred from nearby. He handed the meals to Shanice and whirled in time to catch the fist that had been aimed at the back of her head. The man whose fist he held had a driver's tan and a shaven head, and was dressed in boots, overalls and a flannel shirt with rolled-up sleeves. Victor tried scanning the man's mind, but withdrew in disgust after only barely grazing the surface thoughts. This man's rage was fueled by hatred and the sight of mixed-race flirtation.

"Leggo me!" the man demanded. Victor drew the man's arm behind him to the hammer lock position.

"Not before I give you a little lesson in race relations, asshole." Victor snarled. He placed his free hand on the man's bald head and began to focus his power, and that head began to change color from merely tan to almost as black as a human could be. Eyes shifted from ice-blue to solid black. Facial features shifted from Caucasian to Negroid in a matter of moments. As a final punishment, Victor caused the bigot's penis to shrink three inches. He released his prisoner, and merely blocked the incoming punch which was quickly delivered. The bigot staggered backwards in shock at the sight of his hand. The man went through the full cycle of discovery, first examining his hands, then peering down his shirt, then looking in a mirror. His girlish squeals satisfied whatever vindictive desires remained in Victor.

Shanice stared at her would-be assailant in shock. Victor deftly guided her to the passenger seat of his car and placed the meals in her lap. They were nearly a block away when Shanice remembered she'd left her car in the Jim's parking lot.

"My ... my car..." she stammered, grappling with the events of the past couple of minutes.

"Got it covered." Victor replied. The car appeared in the rear view mirror. Shanice blinked at it for a moment, before taking up an examination of the styrofoam boxes containing their lunch as she searched for a handle on the moment. Shanice's car dutifully parked itself in the space next to them at H.E.B.

"Wh ... what are you?" she asked after a short mental battle.

"I'm a guy who saved an alien's life and found out that not everybody says 'thank you' in the same way." Victor replied. He let her mull that over for a while. When she finally looked up, the confusion and turmoil were gone, and replaced with intrigue.