GC: Correspondence From the Goddess #10: Suspicious Meetings in Cafes

[mrnelson007 at gmail.com]

Wow. Lydia has managed to do ten of these letters so far. That seems rather impressive… but if we’re being honest about it, this is basically all she does. She sits in her bedroom 24 hours a day, looking at the Internet and staying away from everyone - myself included. Oh, don’t get me wrong, now that she’s feeling better, she emerges a bit more often… but it’s just a brief foray until she retreats. This isn’t really unusual for her. She’s been antisocial her whole life. It’s frustrating, though, since I haven’t been able to talk to her much lately.

- Elana

Oh man. Double digits. This is a milestone, ten weeks in a row. And I even managed to remember what day it was ten times so I could make sure to upload it at the right time.

Okay, no. That last part was a lie. I fucked up on number 7 and had to rewind back from Thursday to put it up on time. But as far as you know it was on time, so it still counts.

You know, this is kind of an aside, but I’m feeling wanderlust. It’s a big universe out there and I should go take a look some more. I’ve got plenty of places to explore, and I’ve even toyed with making my own new universe and letting it get started so that I can go check on it later once this one gets boring. Probably in a few billion years or so.

Right then. Anyway, I should really talk about the stupidest thing I ever did with this whole problem.

We headed up Third Street in silence. I could feel Elana glaring at me the whole time, frustrated that I wouldn’t listen to her. Believe me, sis, I wish I had, but it’s too late now…

I clapped my hands together, trying to snap her - and mostly also myself - back to the matter at hand. “So, let’s go over the plan one more time, alright?”

“Um… you go home right now and forget this stupid idea before you get in all kinds of trouble?” Elana asked as she looked over at me. “Seriously, I don’t know what you expect is going to happen, but… You’re going to get in some serious trouble.”

“Really? Is it serious? I had no idea!” I smirked, rolling my eyes at her. “Alright, well, seriously this time. …see what I did there?”

“Yes, yes, lovely. I am going to go across the street to the store and-”

“No! No, no no, nononono.” I sighed again, glaring at her. “Geez, El, are you trying to get me in trouble? I swear. Look, you can’t help me from across the street, now can you?”

“How am I supposed to help you from in the cafe, either?!” She seemed frustrated. Not a surprise, really. Elana was many things, but a superspy was not one of them.

“Look, this way, at least you’ll be there in case something goes wrong. Although it would have been a lot easier if you had been willing to dye your hair or something so they can’t recognize you.”

“And who exactly do you think you’re dealing with? Some super-spy group or company that knows everything about you… but wouldn’t figure it out if my hair was suddenly blonde? Really?”

“Alright, well, I can see you’re not going to be any more help. But at least we’re going to be in a public place so they can’t do anything too stupid. Now get in there.”I said, pointing at the door and glaring at her. Maybe the glare was a bit harsh, but I really was not in the mood to deal with her at this point.

“Fine. But don’t blame me when this goes bad. I tried to warn you.” She let out a sigh, then headed inside. She did, at least, have dark glasses, and a book she could hide her face behind. Swear to God, El, if you wind up getting absorbed in that book without actually keeping an eye out for me…

Gritting my teeth, I went around the block, taking about half an hour to get back around to the cafe. None of the stores were interesting, or I would have killed more time. But, at any rate, I had made them wait long enough. Time to head inside.

“Lydia Devin.” The same voice from the night before spoke. I turned my head, and sitting at a table right near the entrance was a woman only a few years older than me. Probably mid- to late twenties if I had to guess. She was an attractive blonde, the type that made it easy to imagine she got her job for what executives would call “interpersonal skills” rather than anything actually useful, coasting through her life with the top two buttons of her blouse undone until sagging set in and using Botox to keep that going as long as she could. Still, that didn’t automatically mean she was an idiot. There was something about her that indicated an intelligence to go along with the good looks. I wasn’t sure what gave me that impression exactly. Maybe it was a lot of things. She seemed capable enough on the phone. We didn’t talk that much, but it was clear she wasn’t working from a script. The way she presented herself in the flesh, it was clear that she had a brain in that head of hers, maybe even a good one.

Next to her was an older man, probably in his 50s. He was clearly out of shape, with a solid gut contained by a professionally-tailored suit, and he was just one “lighting a cigar with a hundred” away from being the stereotypical evil executive from a cartoon or something. His hair was salt-and-pepper, but definitely heavy on the salt side, neatly cut in a pure business fashion.

Both of them were just staring at me, and suddenly I felt like this was a terrible idea. I was in over my head, even though I wasn’t really sure why. I was staring back, and part of me wanted to turn and run. I just had a really shitty vibe from all this. But, I didn’t give up, I didn’t turn away. It was hard to say why. I guess I was feeling overconfident. In spite of my anxiety, I didn’t want to show weakness, or something.

So I went ahead and sat down, looking across the table at them. I gave them my best steely look, trying to look confident rather than anxious. I’m not sure it worked. Actually, I’m pretty sure it didn’t. They both looked rather unimpressed, giving back looks that were a lot better at actually being disinterested.

The man spoke suddenly, the first time I heard him say anything. “Your sister should hear this too.”

“Huh?” I blinked, then did my best to recover that blank expression. “You really should have said something, before you called me here. I would have invited her too.”

“Oh, please.” The woman pointed over at Elana, sitting at a table in the corner.

Well, she wasn’t reading, at least. That had been my biggest concern at the time. But, oh no. She found a way to top that in uselessness. She was staring at us. Not stealing glances. Not using the book and just peeking over the top. She didn’t even have it open. She just had her hands on it, leaning forward and just… watching. Wow. Way to be fucking sneaky there, El.

Sighing, I gestured for her to come over. At first she just blinked, pointing at herself and trying to pretend she didn’t know me. “Oh, come on.” I groaned, standing up and walking over. “Look, miss Superspy, you did a shitty job, so let’s just talk to them now.” She looked hurt, but I stand by that assessment.

We stood, walking back over to the table and sitting down again. I looked at them both once more, and then over at Elana. She seemed very uncomfortable around them, and that certainly wasn’t helping my confidence any. Fuck it. Time to lie, I can totally do that.

“Alright then.” I said, hands on the table. “Let’s talk.”

- Lydia