Chapter IIa-Bittersweet Chocolate
*** Saturday, May 17th, 1997 ***
“What exactly are you making again?” Anne was distrustful of Laurie in the kitchen. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her cooking skills; just that Laurie often ate odd stuff, like bamboo shoots and tofu.
“It’s okay. It’s French.”
“French folk eat snails.”
“You eat fried Twinkies. ‘Sides, that’s a stereotype, just like berets and wild declarations of love on top of the Eiffel Tower. They eat normal food just like anyone else.” At Anne’s continued mistrustful stare, Laurie sighed exasperatedly. “Trust me.”
“Why should I?”
“You’ve trusted me before and not be killed.”
“I was pretty close to dying when I ate that tofu stew or whatever that slime was.”
“Hey! That was good!”
“Yeah, to a vegetarian.”
Laurie laughed. “Okay, okay. I put tuna in your salad.”
Anne stared at the ceramic bowl as if she expected it to bite her. “What is it again?”
“Salad Nicoise.” She continued to dice the tomatoes, adding them to the marinating mixture of vegetables, boiled egg, potato, and salad dressing.
“Sounds like a pain medicine,” Anne mumbled under her breath.
“It is. Knocks you out cold,” Laurie could hardly keep the sarcasm from her voice.
“Guess I should have brought Petrick. Maybe I’d get some sleep tonight if he was knocked out. That pig snores worse than Popeye.” The two friends looked at each other and broke out laughing. Laurie was always trying to get Anne to eat healthily and Anne was always trying to get Laurie to eat some junk food. Sarah sauntered into the room, ending their conversation.
“Door was open, so I walked in.”
“Hi Sarah! Dinner’s almost ready,” Laurie called out as she brought down three plates and covered them liberally with romaine lettuce.
“Hah! You call horse food dinner?” Anne purveyed the proffered plate hesitantly.
“Horses don’t eat tuna. It gives them bad breath,” Laurie offered. Sarah took her plate and dug in. After poking it dubiously a few times, and being assured by Laurie that it was, in fact, dead, Anne did too.
*
Anne had eaten all of her salad and even devoured seconds, though she did bemoan the lack of a suitable dessert. Cantaloupe didn’t cut it for her. Laurie showed them the old room they were going to redo. She had used it as a storage space, but had cleaned the boxes out on Friday night.
Now it stood bare and empty, waiting for something. It was a small room, about eight by twelve feet, with a closet on one wall and a window on the other, the door was in the corner of the third, and the fourth wall was without feature to make it special. The window was wrapped in an old fashioned trim, and the floorboards were trimmed with the same wrap. The floor itself was an old hardwood, and the ceiling was plain- only a simple lamplight it.
“It has promise, I ‘s’pose.” Anne said dubiously. Laurie refused to be depressed.
“It only needs some paint and a rug and some new furniture.” She pulled the paint can into the room with her, slapping a brush in Sarah’s hand. “Here.” She snapped off the lid.
“You’re painting it mint green?” Shock mixed with horror laced Sarah’s voice.
“It’s pretty.” Laurie replied defensively.
“Yeah, but for a baby girl?”
“She’s not a baby.”
“Okay, a toddler.”
Laurie humphed and Anne stared at her in amusement.
“Green is *not* a girl’s color,” protested Sarah.
“Just paint the room!” Exasperated, Laurie flung the masking tape at Anne.
Sarah dipped her brush into the paint, muttering the whole time about green being a color no self respecting toddler girl would ever like. Despite grumblings, the room was soon finished, and the trim painted a creamy white.
The three friends sat back with some cola while the paint dried. Furniture was moved in next: a halfway bed, a table, a dresser, a rocking chair, a kiddie table with two chairs and a toy box. Laurie delighted in arranging everything just so, and then putting the pictures and paintings up on the wall. She placed some stuffed animals on the chest and smoothed the cream blanket on the bed before snapping off the light. Sarah and Anne had gone home about an hour before- when they realized it was two in the morning. Laurie took one last glance around her house before heading to bed. It was definitely turning into a home.
*** Saturday, May 17th, 1997 ***
He sat, hunched over his desk, typing out the latest story. The desk beside him had long since been moved - and filled. But he refused to take another partner. The by-line remained Kent. Not Lane and Kent, just Kent. Perry watched him through the windows of the editor’s office. Clark had seemed dead ever since that day over three years ago. No one was able to draw him out of his stupor, not even his parents. Oh, the boy had gone through all the natural emotions: loss, grief, fear, anger, hate, but eventually Clark had just given up.
“Kent, my office.” Clark started, and then struggled up from his desk. He closed the door behind him as he went in. Perry watched him for an instant before dropping a bombshell on him. “Clark, you need a partner.”
Clark’s head snapped up.
“No.” His eyes were dull and lifeless but his voice held a feral tone to it as he answered.
“Clark, she’s dead. You can’t wait for her to come back.” Perry took a deep breath. “What’s past is past.” Clark was killing himself and dragging half the newsroom down with him.
“I know she’s dead.” Perry could barely make out the whisper. He reached out to touch Clark. Lately, the boy had been shying away whenever anyone tried to touch him, but for some reason, today he let Perry place a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“I know it’s hard. Heck, that girl was like a daughter to me. Losing Jimmy and her, all within two days…” His voice trailed off. Clark desperately tried to keep his tears in.
“I haven’t even been able to bring in her killer. Three years, and I haven’t brought down her murderer.” He clenched his fists, carefully making sure he wasn’t holding anything. Perry let a silence elapse, and then began again.
“Clark, you need a partner.”
Clark shook his head mournfully. “I couldn’t work with anyone else.”
“You need to. Your writing is sliding downhill. You need someone to watch over your shoulder.” Clark cringed but his defeated expression told Perry more than words ever could. “Think about it.” Clark nodded, and left the office.
Three years ago Lois had disappeared. Just vanished. No body, no evidence. The only thing that was found was an empty bank account- untraceable. His partner, the woman he loved, was missing. He had searched everywhere for her. All over the world, every city, every country. He had searched without stopping for two years. After that, he just gave up.
What was the point of going on? He would have found her if she had run away. He knew what she looked like. There was no choice but to accept her as dead. Lois was gone and nothing was ever going to change that.
He had come so close. So dang close. He slapped himself. He had been over this a thousand times. It wouldn’t do any good. He knew it wouldn’t do any good. He could feel in his gut she was dead. It sat there like lead. He shook his head. He needed to move on, Perry was right. He needed a partner. He nodded slowly, defeated once again.
Defeat was all he had. Oh sure, he saved lives as Superman; sure - he put away villains every day. Sure - he was the top investigative reporter at the Planet, perhaps the world. Sure - he had great parents. Sure - he had a picture perfect life.
Right.
Lois had taken more than he ever knew. When she disappeared, it left a hole that was still there. Her spirit, her live, her vivaciousness, it was gone. He could feel it in his gut.
He had to get out of the office.
“Fine Perry, I’ll leave it to you.” He didn’t wait for his editor’s reply. Running out of the office and to the top of the building, he flung himself into the sky, hurtling towards chocolate chip cookies and Martha Kent.
***Friday May 23rd, 1997***
Laurie skipped. She couldn’t repress a giggle. She skipped again. Her glasses tottered unhealthily close to the edge of her nose, so she shoved them back, dropping all the papers she was holding in the process. They began to dance off in the breeze, but after a vigorous game of tag she managed to gather them all back up. She stuffed them in her car, backed out of the parking lot without looking and raced towards home, dialing the cell phone at the same time.
“Anne! I filed the paperwork today...No, not that paperwork.” She wrinkled her nose at the memory of that particular pile of forms. “Yes, the adoption paperwork. We’re gonna do the foster adopt program… Oh, it’s really neat. Since I’m a licensed foster parent and Abby is legally free of everyone but her dad, we’re eligible for the program… It will take a couple of months for all the paperwork to go through, but then Abby can come live with me…”
“No, she’ll be a foster child until her dad signs away his rights or, if he doesn’t show up, after six months she’ll be legally free. Then she will live with me for another five or six months before the adoption is finalized...Yeah, a year tops…No, Shina said that there is a one in a hundred chance the dad will want Abby back…he’s already signed away rights on another kids and not shown for two suspected to be his.”
“No, I haven’t had dinner...You really should stop eating stuff like that...No, I won’t run through fast food, you know I hate that junk… You’re on! I’ll see you at Starbucks in 20 minutes... No, I’m not buying. You’re buying to congratulate me…Fine, I’ll order a cheap drink...”
“No, I won’t drink coffee no matter how much you bribe me...It is too good! You’ve never tried it...Chai’s better than coffee any day... No, I’m just passing Issaquah…Yeah, about 15 minutes…Hey, it’s not my fault I’m coming from Seattle and you live three minutes from the store…You didn’t tell me you were already there when I called you!…”
“How many coffees have you had? Three? Anne, you’re a coffee-holic. Okay, I’ll let you get your other call. See you in a few.”
Laurie snapped the phone shut and finally began to concentrate on the drive, which was a good thing since she missed a nasty accident by about three inches. She arrived at the corner shop a few moments later.
“Chai please.” She watched Anne count out the change for the Chai and her fifth coffee. “Anne, you’re scary on a coffee buzz.” An off hand comment, but Anne tended to be an off hand person.
“I’m scary anyways.” She picked up her Latte and headed for one of the small round tables that grace every coffeehouse in existence. Laurie followed her, silent. “So tell me about it. How did it go?”
“It was wonderful and terrible all at once. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited and scared in my whole life.”
“Hon, there are only two times in life when you get that excited. When you’re getting married and when you get kids.” That comment broke the festive mood. Anne was guessing when she had made her comment, having never done either of the two things herself.
Laurie ducked her head, murmuring. “I wasn’t excited at my wedding. I was terrified.”
Silence reigned for a few moments before Anne shattered it.
“You wanna talk about something?” She was concerned; Laurie had never talked about her family life or any life at all before she moved to Washington. She had simply said her last job had ended and she found herself here. Laurie shook her head, then nodded. Then she shook it again.
“Nah. It’s over. I don’t need to hash it over again. I’ve done that before. I made the biggest mistake - mistakes,” she corrected herself, “of my life then. I don’t need to deal with them again.” Anne let it be. Laurie sighed. “Yeah, I do need to talk…not about that, but about something else.”
“You wanna take a walk?”
She paused. “Yeah.” The June air was moist and warm as they headed out of the strip mall and towards the city park. Silence sat heavily on both women’s shoulders. Finally Laurie cleared her throat. “I hate California.” Silence again.
Diplomatically. “Oh.”
Laurie got angry. “Oh. Yeah. California, land of sun, land of beach people, land of federal investigations.”
“Land of sunburns?” Anne interjected hopefully.
“Yeah, that too. I was in California for all of two weeks. Two stupid weeks landed me smack in the middle of a drug running operation. I ran away from situations like that!” An awkward pause hung menacingly in the air.
“I’m trying not to sound like a psychiatrist.” That broke the tension a bit.
“Anne, you couldn’t sound like a psychiatrist if you tried.” They had now made it to the Ace Hardware. “I should go get my car.”
“Forget the car. You need to talk.”
“Okay, now you do sound like a psychiatrist.”
“Sorry.” Anne kicked a bottle.
“No, you’re not.” Laurie kicked it, too. “I got a job as a secretary on my second day in Cali. I was there late my fifth day, and I thought the lawyer I was working for had gone home.
“I turned off the light to go home, and then spilled my pencil jar. Stupid how little things can cause so much trouble. I was on my hands and knees under the desk when they came in. I froze.
“It was Mr. Schuttenhamer, the lawyer, and some guy I’d never seen. They discussed everything, in order, almost like they had an outline. Drug running operations, the latest “clean ups/murders”, who owed them money, research on new drugs…everything.
“As soon as they left, I called the FBI. Look where that got me. In the middle of North Bend, Washington. Just as well. My boss would have killed me, quite literally, if I hadn’t gotten out of there.”
Laurie’s tirade was over, but it left Anne speechless.
“Bet you didn’t want to know that.” Bitterly, angrily, resignedly. “Me, tangled with the FBI, involved in investigating who knows how many schemes,” Laurie almost spat.
“It’s over now, Laurie. That’s in the past.” They were returning to the parking lot.
“Over. Right. That was my life for years, ever since I was in high school.”
She tried desperately to make sense of her words. “I’m so glad I don’t do that anymore. I couldn’t stand it. The pressures, the horrible pressures. Always mixed up with *danged* officials. Working like a maniac. I enjoyed it then. ”
Somehow, she had to get Anne to understand. “I hate it, but I miss the writing.”
“Writing?” Anne had never heard about this side of Laurie’s life.
“Writing. I could make a difference in the world. All with a few hundred well placed words. But everything else? The violence, the lies, the deception. That’s what I lived for. I reveled in it. I hate it with a vengeance.”
She stopped talking. They had reached the cars. Laurie unlocked her car door and slid into the seat. She didn’t say anything, just tried to smile at Anne before driving off.
