The Sunshine Dame of Doom (11 page)

“I don’t understand.”

“You see, they don’t allow in their precious little paradise anyone who doesn’t meet their high standards of purity and behavior. And the pariahs end up here, either doing the hard work, or surviving whichever way we can.”

Susan needed some moments to digest all that.

“This is absurd!” She said, almost dropping the coffee. “This can’t be right!”

“It is, honey.”

“Then you have to do something about it!”

“Oh, many people tried. They all vanished in thin air.”

Susan frowned.

“They want the town to grow, so they search for new people outside the walls.” Tess continued. “And the privileged ones are taken to Uptown and the unprivileged unlucky bastards are loaded into trucks as refugees and presented to the so called Center of Refugees, another name for fascist party. And in most cases, the lucky ones don’t know about the destitute ones.”

“Surely not!” Susan agreed totally outraged. “But it seems the destitute ones know about the privileged ones.” 

“Some of us do. Anyhow, you got the picture I guess. Folks in Uptown live like queens, while people in Downtown work hard and even supply them with everything they need.”

Susan’s eyes sparkled by hearing that.

“Then, that’s it!” She said. “Stop working for them. They depend on you, right? Go on a strike, make them sweat, fight for your rights!”

Tess lowered his neatly trimmed eyebrows and shook his head.

“What?” Susan asked.

“I fear for you, honey.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you. And it’s people like you that vanish in the haze.”

“What do you mean vanish? It’s right about time for you to elaborate on that.”

“It’s pretty much self explanatory. Those who make trouble disappear, simple as that.

“Disappear how?”

“I’m not sure and it’s dangerous to talk about it, even in private. Rumor says they are downgraded from employees to slaves. The Gingerbread Dam and the power plant are off-limits. Nobody knows what goes on in there. It’s still better to work like a dog for a salary than for loaf and water. They have dreadful ways to keep us on a tight leash. Those who vanished never came back.”

Tess shifted position near Susan and tenderly held her hand between his.

“Why you did this, Sue?” He asked. “You’re in terrible danger now!”

“I don’t think so. Nobody up there knows I’m down here.”

“Those two uniformed nincompoops who chased you almost found out.”

“Yes and I think I met them before.”

“Really? When?”

“About three hours ago, still in Uptown. I was on my way here.”

“Be extremely careful with those types, my dear. They’re our local Gestapo, you know.”

“They stopped me alright, even tried to be nice and all. They also told me this zone was not safe, still plagued by drifters, lamebrains, zombies, whatever.”

“Well, they would say that of course, to keep you from coming here. But I can see you’re too brave for your own good.”

“So, this area is secure, right?”

“Oh, even more secure than Uptown. Actually, this perimeter and the one around Gingerbread were the first areas they walled. They depend on the power plant to have electricity and on us to have the rest. It’d be stupid to let such important places unprotected. Don’t worry. You won’t see lamebrains in here, not dead ones at least.”

“I got to go now.” Susan announced.

“Oh no! I’m not letting you take any more chances! There’s a curfew going on, and in this very little time we’ve been together, I grew fond of you.”

“I appreciate very much all you did for me, but I still got things to do.”

“No, you don’t! You’re going back to Uptown, forget you’ve ever been here and live a good life.”

“I can’t, especially after everything you told me! Besides, life up there is not for me. I need excitement, do something with my life. I can’t just be an angel playing harps on some cloud.”

“It’s better than becoming a drumstick in some hell.”

“I told you I’m not in danger! Nobody there knows I’m here.”

“Then let’s use this to our advantage. Tonight, you’re sleeping in the restaurant. I have a room on the back. It’s the only place to be. There’re a couple of hotels around, but you’re not going to like them, unless you don’t mind sharing the bathroom with cockroaches.”

“Thanks! Tomorrow first light, I’ll be out of your hair.”

“That’s for sure, only not in the way you think. I serve two restaurants in Uptown. Six o’clock sharp, two of my trucks will go there with supplies and you’ll be in one of them. When they arrive, my men will find a way to sneak you out safely, and that’ll be last you’ll ever hear from us and this place.”

“I appreciate you trying to protect me, but sorry, no can do.”

“You sleep over it. And don’t bother locking the door. Believe me, nobody here is a threat to you.”

“Maybe, I’m the threat.”

“Smarty pants!” Tess said pinching her nose.

Six o’clock in the morning, but Susan rejected each and every proposal to be in any delivery truck.

“Sorry, I still have some errands to do in Downtown.”

“I’m begging you, darling!” Tess spoke with hands together like an angel. “You’re such a good girl. Please, tell me you won’t do anything stupid.”

“Acting stupid makes life worth living.”

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with. Listen, you got a good thing going on up there. And the world is changed now. Don’t ruin everything only for nostalgic notions of conscience.”

“Nothing can ever be good without freedom of will.”  

“There will be cops patrolling the boundaries between Downtown and Uptown. If you just waltz in there, you’ll be in serious trouble.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I really doubt that.”

Susan tenderly involved Tess’ hands in hers.

“Thanks for everything you’ve done for me.” Sue spoke. “I’ll repay you as soon as I can.”

“There’s nothing to repay, dear. I just don’t want anything bad happening to you. Please be good.”

“I will.”

Tess embraced Susan in a very tight hug, followed by an affectionate kiss on her cheek. By seeing Susan disappearing on a corner, the owner of the restaurant frowned and shook his head.

“Poor butterfly.”

The town wasn’t so big and things were way easier to find during daylight hours. Susan could also have a much better picture of how devastated the city was.

Susan had been raised in a family not quite rich, but surely well positioned in high society. The reality of that place was kind of new to her. However, after experiencing the hollowed manners of a real sumptuous life, she was beginning to enjoy such neighborhood.

She calculated that everything there worked like in any small village. News of a newcomer like Frank would surely be in everybody’s mouths and ears in a matter of hours.

There were some shops in town, but only with the necessary stuff, no leisure places, not many chances to have fun, other than nightlife. The only movie theater she found was closed and heading for demolition. Good movies were probably an Uptown privilege.

But at least during the day, people looked more civilized, hard workers trying to make a living, very different from those who roamed the streets at night.

Susan asked for a certain Frank Herrera on a gas station, some hardware stores and a construction site. Over there, a guy named Phil said yes, they had heard of a newcomer, a new “refugee”, but he didn’t know where he was allocated.

Finally, a woman carrying a malnourished kid directed Susan to a car repair workshop and took that chance to ask for a little change. Why the hell not? Susan thought and gave the lady more money than she could have possibly dreamt of. The poor woman walked away practically dancing, her kid was most likely going to be sick.

Susan went to the mentioned workshop, but she didn’t find Frank. He found her.

“Susan!” He screamed and ran to her.

And Susan was involved in another tender hug.

“Am I glad to see you!” Frank said nearly crying. “What are you doing here?”

“Jeez, I could ask you the very same! What happened?”

Frank felt eyes and ears on them. He asked one of his colleagues to cover for him and took Susan to talk outside the shop.

“It was Becky.” He said, nervously looking all around.

“What? What do you mean Becky?”

“Well, she walked into my room one night… You wouldn’t believe. And she knocked me out cold. She put a rag on my face. I guess it got chloroform or something. I passed out. Next thing I knew some men in suits dragged me here and I was a mechanic all of a sudden.”

“Becky did that to you? I can’t believe it!”

“She hasn’t been herself, Sue. Come on, she’s been acting weird since we took shelter in that Cinemark.”

“Yes I noticed.”

“It was that Shane woman. She was alone with Becky for awhile. She did something to her.”

“This is a little far-fetched, don’t you think?” Susan shook her head.

“It got to be her, Sue! The way we feel when she looks straight at us, when she touches us, don’t tell me you didn’t notice!”

“Yes, I did notice something, but it might’ve been an impression caused by the first friendly contact we had in days.”

“It’s more than that. You can’t trust her.”

“But I got no choice. There’s something fishy going on here and I can’t figure it out all by myself. I need the help of somebody important and Shane’s the only authority I know.” She took a deep breath. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

“What?”

“Come on. We got a job to do.”

“Um… I can’t leave this place.”

“What? Why not? Just quit this job and let’s go.”

“It’s not that simple, the police, they told me… they won’t let me leave.”

“They can’t keep you here against your will!”

“That’s not what I heard. My coworkers said I might even get shot if I try to come back to… the place I’ve been before.”

“This is not possible.”

“What if they are right, Sue?”

Susan did not answer and remained silent for a few seconds.

“What the heck is going on here?” She sighed. “Okay then. You just stay put and I’ll see what I can do.”  

“You got to get me out of here, Sue!” He practically begged her.

“I promise I won’t let you down.”

“Just don’t trust Shane.”

“Maybe she’s not even aware of all this. Perhaps that minister she mentioned has some secret agenda she doesn’t know of.”

“You can’t take this chance.”

“Just trust me on this one, okay! We’re going to be seeing each other soon.”

She said goodbye to him with another hug and walked away.

“Don’t trust Shane!” Frank shouted again.

Susan went to the convenience store at the gas station and bought three power bars and two small bottles of mineral water. That was all she needed to walk back to Uptown.

But she didn’t go very far. After only one hour walk, a police car stopped right by her, blocking the way. And two well known figures left the vehicle, this time not so nice.

“I want to see some hands!” Joe commanded, pointing a gun at her.

“I’m carrying nothing but food and water.” Susan assured them after swallowing hard.

“Bring her, Tony.”

The other cop pushed her against the car and cuffed her. Then, he threw her in the backseat, without many regards for her head. They wore badges and uniforms, but clearly did not have any training at all in police work.

“I want to talk to Shane.” Susan requested on the way.

“You want nothing.” Joe answered coldly.

The road got less bumpy until the asphalt became smooth as a baby’s face. And the houses quality and size improved a lot, starting by their flowery, well taken care façades; they were approaching Uptown all right. It was amazing how that same distance looked so short by car, Susan pondered.