The Long Winter #56
Previous Engagements part four
Walsh Arena stood proudly near the academic mall amidst the set of collegiate gothic sandstone buildings that made up Harden University. It had big windows between the top of the stone walls and the arched steel roof that let lots of natural light down onto the sunken arena court and banners proclaiming the triumphs of its various sports teams and enough seats to accommodate 12,500 fans, a few less for hockey and a few more for volleyball. On this windy winter day the bleachers were folded up for an exhibition much different from the rowdy contests usually held within its confines.
Maddie gazed down the wide aisle between science exhibits. Penny was over there at an exhibit touting an upcoming revolution in physics. Maddie had spotted Leah first, the girl at her frumpy best in an oversize sweater and flowy skirt, looking amused at something Roger had said. Only when Maddie stepped towards them to say hello had she spotted Penny in leggings and a plain gray hoodie behind one of the false walls of the display laughing for the two of them at very fashionable The Rog’s very fashionable humor. Maddie stepped back and, after letting her gaze linger too long, turned back to the beautiful woman in a little black dress selling Maddie’s fiancé Travis on the capabilities of the domestic android on display.
“We have been able to program some real life into them,” the beauty said, tossing her bouncy blonde hair over her shoulder and smiling at Trav. “There is a wide array of choice available for personality programming, and all of them are adjustable through our app, so if you’re feeling a bit masochistic you can hit its “SARCASM” button. Something tells me you don’t appreciate that sort of thing, though.”
“We only just met and you’re searching for some vulnerability?” Trav laughed. “How is its spatial awareness? I mean, will it recognize ingredients or whatever, even if they’re out of order?”
“Yes, of course! Look at this…”
Maddie turned away once again. She put her hand on Trav’s shoulder and peeked around the false wall of this display but her… her former roommate was gone. She had apparently moved on from Maddie entirely. There had been zero exchange of texts as everyone returned to campus, and Maddie had frowned one day when the photos of her former roommate on top of a mountain with Sandra had vanished from her phone. Did Penny have the power to do that sort of thing? Was it a special Port Matthew VIP security thing? She put her cheek on Trav’s beefy shoulder and watched the tablet the beautiful PR lady held before them of a sexless mechanical person hobbling around a room picking up blocks and clothing.
“We still recommend a human touch for changing diapers, however,” the beauty said, giving Maddie a catty smile. “Not because our androids aren’t careful, they are as you can well see, but human babies require a human touch.”
Trav thanked her for the demonstration and then he pulled Maddie along to the next display.
“What did you think of that?” he asked, smiling down at her with that handsome, winning smile of his. “Pretty impressive what they’re getting capable of, huh?”
“Pretty impressive.”
Maddie’s neck went cold and all the hairs stood up on her body. Her back stiffened and she stopped midstep and glanced around.
What the hell?
Someone had touched her. She thought earlier she was being watched, and when she saw her ex-roommate with some friends the idea that it was merely Penny crossed her mind, but this… It was something stronger than merely being watched, something reminiscent of the feeling she had back in Maine… Only much, much stronger.
“You okay?” Trav stepped before her, his hands on her shoulders. “Jesus, Mad, you’re trembling. What the hell’s going on?”
“Nothing, it’s—” Maddie shuddered again and spun away from him, now passers-by were looking at her, staring at her, at this weird girl at the onset of a freak out, was she going to fall to the floor? Seize up? Start screaming?
Trav gathered her up and guided her away from the wide aisle separating the various technological displays.
“Hey, if you’re not feeling well we can head home.”
“No, you said you wanted to look at robots—”
“You’re damn right I wanted to look at robots, no wife of mine is going to end up with damaged hands from doing her own dishes and laundry!”
He laughed and she forced herself to laugh with him, but they both knew she did not feel it. He dropped his voice and his expression turned conspiratorial.
“Come on, Mad. This isn’t about the way that salesbitch back there was flirting, is it? I’ve never known you to be jealous.”
“No, between the two of us, we both know who the irrationally jealous one is,” Maddie muttered, her expression darkening as she looked past him.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“What?” Maddie gave a start and straightened. “Nothing, nothing, I—”
“We both know that between the two of us only one has been unfaithful…” Trav’s voice was low and chilling. Maddie shuddered again as his words hit her ears and slithered down her spine. “And I think I’ve been more than fair.”
“You have. I’m sorry. I’m just…” hopelessly self-centered. Me me me, right? God, please help me…
“Don’t worry about it. Now what brought this sudden bout of irrationality around?” Trav was walking once again, and she with him. With her arms around one of his they must have looked quite normal as they rejoined the rest of the attendees.
“I felt something weird.” She sighed and gave him a helpless smile. “I’ve felt weird for a while now. Like something’s watching me.”
“Watching you?” Trav glanced around. “There are a million people here. Could be anyone.” His expression soured slightly. “Could be an evil PMer with ties to The Best Defense. Have you seen her around?”
“No, she doesn’t have powers—”
“Maybe she doesn’t, but you know she has ties to people who do.” Trav pulled her into a gaming display. A flabby boy was in a translucent box writhing around and flailing his arms as he fought evil on a screen that followed his frantic head movements, amazingly without a blur. “I’ve seen her here.” He gave her a sly smile. “But I believe you. I don’t think it’s her who psychically touched you or whatever. Probably some other faraway admirer.”
“The only admirer I have is you,” Maddie said, hoping her smile at least looked genuine. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I expect a little irrationality from time to time. But hey. Who’s taking care of you? You like that house I found?”
“It’s beautiful. I love the lake view.”
“And just 15 minutes off campus.”
Maddie nodded and settled her head back against his shoulder as they watched the boy step down in favor of a slim, pretty classmate. The girl stepped up onto nothing inside the gaming cube and, after settling the visor over her eyes took a fighting stance.
“Yes. And I respect your boundaries, too. How many guys can say the same in relation to their girlfriends? How many girls do you know who are victims of sexual assault and rape? Not you, eh? That’s right. Because you’re mine. I take care of you.”
Maddie nodded and they watched the girl in the cube leap into a panicked run…
***
“…I guess it wasn’t fair to rate you a six before Leah joined us and reminded me of how much she loves you.”
“Rog, please, it was already embarrassing enough—” Penny giggled as Leah stared down her nose at both of them.
“I’m nothing if not honest, and anyone, especially the high-value males who attend our prestigious institute, will tell you honestly: you’re a six.”
Penny sighed and gave Leah a playfully glum look.
“Can you believe that? A six, he tells me!”
“I agree with The Rog if I must debase myself and view you as a boy would,” Leah said, pulling the tie from her platinum hair and smoothing her hands through it to fix it anew. “You lack the curves of, say, a Sandra Young or a Madison Carter.”
“Or a Naima Halima,” The Rog said with an oily smile. “Of course, I’m no better. I’m two inches short of average height, I spend too much time in front of the bathroom mirror grooming myself, and most men would be embarrassed to admit they had a closet full of more pairs of shoes than his mother and sisters combined.”
Leah took her turn to sigh. She knew who Naima Halima was, although the two had never been introduced to each other. The Morroccan princess’ father was a film magnate and attended many of the same functions Leah’s family attended and, thinking back to seeing the Morroccan Princess from across the room, Leah knew The Rog was correct in determining her to be a perfect ten. Too perfect for an uncultured gorilla-man like Clark Lafleur.
“But Leah loves you so I know that despite her agreement with me I must be wrong: you, Penny Stark, are also a perfect ten.”
Penny laughed, but put her hand on The Rog’s chest—Oh! That fabric feels amazing!—and gave him a light shove.
“You already called me a six! You don’t have to try to make me feel better!”
“I think you’re a ten if Leah thinks you’re a ten.”
“You are absolutely not a ten.”
“Don’t listen to her, she’s lying.”
They laughed as they crossed the wide aisle to the booth across the way. It was home to a quartet of high schoolers hammering away at their keyboards. Penny scanned the crowd behind them and spotted Professor Fairchild talking with a trio of other distinguished-looking gentleman. The tallest had an impressive moustache and Penny had seen him walking through the hallways of Hampton Labs. The other two, one a boyish man nearly as tall as Professor Moustache with long blond hair and the other a sour-looking man shorter than Professor Fairchild, stood aside as the other two talked. A skinny, spindly boy with a cute face and a button-up shirt with too-short sleeves approached them. He said a few things, the words lost in the din of the crowd, and then Professor Moustache and Professor Fairchild followed him back behind the false walls of the display before Penny could make her way over to them.
“They’re working on efficiency,” The Rog said, picking up a sleek metal box.
“Some sort of energy thing?” Leah accepted it from The Rog and peered at it, turned it upside down, and lowered her glasses down her nose and brought it up to her face and squinted.
“Your face is getting red,” Penny whispered.
Leah sniffed at her, pushed her glasses up, and set the box down.
“This doesn’t seem to have anything to do with robotics,” the bespectacled girl said. “Why was our department head here?”
The Rog had picked up the box again.
“Well, efficiency is a good thing, for all sorts of reasons,” Penny answered with a shrug. “Maybe this has something applicable to our projects…”
“Extraordinary…”
The girls looked at The Rog.
“This captures heat and turns it into electricity.”
“Like a thermoelectric generator?” Leah both looked and sounded unimpressed.
“The label says 85% efficiency…”
Leah and Penny exchanged glances and looked down at the placard. The boys were from a high school in Iowa. They used exotic materials found in the rich Iowa soil. Penny snickered with The Rog. Exotic? Iowa? The boys were attempting a project much bigger but were exhibiting some of their machines in an effort to get funding or lab access but particularly both. There were some vague phrases about changing the world as we know it and Penny crossed her arms and wondered, quite cattily, if these boys could not have used an editor…
“Hey. Isn’t that your ex-roommate?”
Penny glanced up at The Rog and then slid back beside him to hide from the direction of his head nod.
“I don’t know.”
“We should go over and say hello. You know. To be polite.”
“You can go over and say hello. I’m fine being polite from a distance.”
The Rog frowned at her and then looked over at Leah.
“Any particular reason for this reaction?”
Leah nodded. “It’s probably more like gossip though. I’d really rather not say anything more.”
The Rog looked back at Penny.
“If I say it’s nothing then I look silly and paranoid. If I tell you what happened you’ll say I should go complain and get them in trouble. I’d really rather this whole thing went away. There’s no point in causing more trouble than I already caused last year—”
“First of all, last year—I’m assuming you mean the Halloween party thing—was not your fault. You caused it about as much as people who live in California cause earthquakes. Now, having heard little gossip about you outside from that, especially compared to others on campus, I’m going to assume that something happened to you again…” The Rog smiled at her and touched her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I won’t associate the name Penny Stark with the word victim.”
“Thank you for that much, The Rog…”
“Anyway, I’m going to go say hello to Maddie. I’d like to meet her fiance. I know a little about him and I’d like to see if he lives up to it. If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll leave you here with Leah—”
“No, I’ll go, too. Leah doesn’t need to stay and protect me—”
“Now now, what did I say about victim?”
“I’m showing agency. I have backbone. Let’s go say hello to my former roommate… And I’ll hide behind you the whole time.”
The Rog laughed and Leah gave her half a smile and they strode down the wide aisle for Maddie and Travis. Penny frowned at the rubber floor beneath The Rog’s feet. Travis and Maddie… Yes. That sounded more appropriate. She glanced up, her eyes slipping past The Rog’s shoulder and found Maddie staring at her… with longing? Or sorrow? Whatever it was it made Penny feel sad and she shrank a little further behind The Rog as he came up to Travis.
“Hello, I’m Roger Patrick. You must be Travis.”
“Roger Patrick, better known as The Rog?” Travis smiled and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. You know Maddie.”
“We’ve met.” The Rog nodded at Leah and Penny. “This is Leah Stewart and Penny Stark.”
“Enchanted.”
“We’ve heard a lot about you,” Leah said, her voice even and a little dull. “It is nice to finally meet you.”
“Stewart…” Travis crossed his arms and took on a jaunty stance as he examined Leah’s face. “You know, you look familiar…”
“If you know Tommy, he’s my brother.”
“That’s it!” Travis snapped his fingers and jumped. “Tommy Stewart, what a fuckin’ guy he is! You know, I just ran into him before heading up to Maine last month, down in Jamaica. Hell of a guy, your brother.”
And Leah and The Rog engaged Travis in boisterous conversation while Maddie and Penny looked on, each hiding behind a male’s shoulder, each pretending the other did not exist. Neither laughed. Neither spoke. Neither wanted to admit just how much she missed the other. Travis’ hand landed on Maddie’s back.
“You know, you could have told me you were friends with Tommy Stewart’s little sister!”
“I didn’t know who he was or who she was or if they were important.” Maddie shrugged, an innocent smile on her face.
“Hm. You might need to get out more…” Then Travis glanced at Penny cowering behind The Rog and he snorted. “Nah, maybe not. Tommy might not be your kind of people.”
“He is an acquired taste,” Leah said, her expression turning dour.
“Well, Leah wanted to come over and say hello to you both, and what a nice surprise it is to discover that you’re intimate friends of the family,” The Rog said. “If you’ll excuse us, Penny thought she saw her professor and wants to do some brownnosing before the semester gets started.”
Penny scoffed and Leah rolled her eyes and Travis laughed and shook The Rog’s hand. Before they parted Travis gave Penny an evil look and then the couple was walking away for a far corner of the arena. The Rog offered Leah and Penny his arms and they took them and they wandered back the way they had come.
“So he threatened you with bodily harm, hm?”
Penny’s eyebrows went up. “You could tell that?”
“He has half a mind to do unspeakable things to your person. I find him distasteful. It is difficult to understand what Maddie sees in him. She doesn’t seem shallow enough to be there for his looks alone.”
“I should ask my brother about him.”
“You should do that.” The Rog smiled at Penny. “You should have stolen your roommate from her boyfriend.”
“I wish I had…”
“Don’t worry though. They live off campus. He won’t seek you out to bother you. But it’s a good idea to stay aware of your surroundings and not bump into him.”
“Awareness is one of Agent Marcotte’s biggest lessons…”
Penny glanced one last time over her shoulder. They were gone. She sighed. It was not the closure she was hoping for…
Follow The Long Winter into #57 Previous Engagements part five here.