Chapter 308

Men, especially young men do not like to be embarrassed. They will sometimes run headlong to their deaths, just to save their stupid pride. For that reason, if no other, I was careful after the newscast. I checked the parking lot cameras carefully before I allowed Sylvia to leave. If my bike rack had been stronger, I would have insisted that I drive her and the scooter home.

Even before she left the house that night, I had Sylvia respond to the Housewives invitation. I agreed to the cocktail party even though it would do nothing for me personally. It was strictly business and that was depressing since it was not the kind of business I wanted to be involved with. I did realize that I owed the creators. Since I was brought up believing I should pay my debts, I accepted the sour with the sweet and signed onto the project.

After she finished that, I gave her a quick lesson in how to use a stun gun and gave her mine. I explained that it was only good for one man, one time before it needed to be recharged. I also explained, "If you were still there when he comes out of it, he will most likely kick your ass. My suggestion is to do it, then call the cops, or run like hell and then call the cops."

After I saw her safely off with a promise to call when she arrived home, I sent a message to the controller ... How would you feel about me taking Sylvia along to the housewife's party. I can control her and she will cleanup really nice.

I knew that they could see everything I saw At least for sure when I didn't try to cloak it somehow. They were not dummies, they knew who was who without captions.

Let us check it out with the case officer, was the replay. It was pretty much the reply I expected, since I was learning that the controllers had no real authority. In the very old days, they would have been telephone operators or alarm monitors.

I got the call from Sylvia twenty minutes after she left me. "I'm home mum," she said with a laugh.

"Now that is kinky. Not only because you called me mom but because you did it with a British accent. We could probably get a series on showtime." I said it with a smile she could probably hear, if not see. "Now lock your doors and I will see you around noon."

During the next morning I didn't even answer the smart phone at all. Instead, between breakfast at Helen's and my trip to the mall, I drove to Wal-Mart. I bought a throwaway phone. I figured that if I was going to pay a secretary, she could deal with all but my most personal calls. As I was headed back to the Downtown house, after my mall walk, I made a detour by the park. As I rode the bike through slowly, I noticed a couple of Hispanic women with their children.

I would never have done it before, but that morning I rode the bike to where they sat on the bench and said, "Good morning ladies, are you about ready for Christmas?"

They had no idea who I was and were understandably shy. Still they smiled when I smiled. I rode away thinking it had been a pleasant morning all in all.

I had an hour before Sylvia arrived or I probably would not have spoken to the geek from the park at all. He just showed up at my back door. "What the hell do you want," I said into the intercom.

"I just wanted to say thank you," he replied without a lot of emotion in his voice.

"You are welcome, but I wish you hadn't gone to the TV people. You are just going to make it worse for us both." I said.

"How is that going to make it worse," he said.

"Before you did that, they could lie about what happened, now everyone is going to know they got their ass kicked by an old lady. They are going to be looking for some payback. Kids are like that."

"I wasn't," he said.

"Okay, it's for sure that bullies are like that," I corrected myself. "When you are a tomboy you get shit like that all the time from the boys and the girls."

"Hell come on in they may be watching the place. If you could find me. they can as well." I pushed the electric latch so that he could enter.

Once he was inside I took a good look at him. He was just too damn clean for my taste. The men I usually hung out with were guys who worked on cars, or tossed other guys off buildings for a living. From mobsters, to anti terrorists, I had screwed or been screwed by them all.

However, geeks I could count on an amputees fingers. But I had to admit that my geek was cute in a nerdy way. He had the pallor of either a vampire, or someone who spent their days playing video games. Either way he wasn't my type, but since I didn't know Sylvia's type yet, I decided to let him hang around until she arrived.

"So are you a vampire, or do you stay locked in a dark room with a computer?" I asked. I could see his curious look. "You have no color at all. You are as pale as a ghost."

"I see, yes I do spend almost all my time indoors. I am sort of a computer consultant." he said.

"Ah super geek," I suggested.

"Something very much like that. I created a computer game that is featured on Amazon.com." he said simply.

"Really what kind of game is it?" I asked.

"It's a real time simulation of the battle of Gettysburg. The player can play against other players in his living room or online. It isn't a reenactment the player can change the outcome, if he can outwit his advisory. His decisions can only be made based on information that would have been available to the generals at the time."

"I would rather have been a line soldier than a general," I said.