Deadrock (13 page)

Planetary Earth Date: 20.7.2015

"Just one
more time, tell me one more time," urged Bird. He rolled Max's chair
around to face him.

"Bird,
lay off! I've told you about the dream at least fifty times today and it's not
even noon yet!" Max turned his back to his partner and concentrated on the
work on his desk.

"But this
could be important. Now, the dog took you out of the storm, right?"

"No! For
the last time, the dog dragged me from my tepee INTO the thunder storm," said
Max.

"Did you
see anyone else, or anything else
 
-
something with wings, maybe? There's something we call the Thunder Being and
even if you don't see wings-"

"Bird,
give me a break! Look, we need to get down to business. Like checking out those
account books."

"Okay,
Max. Don't worry about things up here. You can count on me."

Max ignored
that. "If Nickie comes looking for me, tell her I'm on a break and I'll
meet her for lunch later."

As he left,
Bird called after him, "That would be a personally Non-Involved lunch, of
course!"

As he went
downstairs, Max made a mental list of all the things he hated about Bird. Number
one: doesn't follow orders. Number two: teases unmercifully. Number three:
secretive – no, secretive should be number one. But not anymore, he
smiled slyly. Thanks to the elec-tail sensor I attached to Bird's shirt collar
this morning, he thought. That'll teach him to hog time in the shower. The
thought of turning the tables on Bird gave Max immediate satisfaction. He
walked to the Records Room door with a light step.

The door was
locked but he didn't need a key as long as nobody came by. Mr. Louis had taught
him how to pick a simple door lock like this by the time he was ten years old.
A deed Grandma had punished them both for, when she found it was impossible to
keep Max locked in his room during a time-out.

Max pulled a
paper clip from his pocket, unbent it slightly, and jangled it into the lock.
He jiggled the wire up just a fraction until, yes! It tumbled with a quiet,
metallic click.

Once inside he
turned on the light and quickly scanned the front labels of the rows of file
cabinets. He rustled through the drawer marked, BANK ACCOUNTS 14-15 when he
heard a step in the hallway. He closed the drawer and leaped to the Supplies
side of the room. When Powers and Gloria entered they found him innocently
searching the open metal shelving that held reams of paper and office supplies.

Powers tugged
at the ace bandage wrapped around his head. "What do you want, kid?"

"Just
looking for paper clips, sir. The giant size," said Max.

"They're
toward the back," said Gloria. She pointed toward the far wall with a
long, bony finger, the light glinting from its flashy diamond ring.

"Thank
you, ma'am."

Powers
laughed, "Hey, the kid called you 'ma'am'! Imagine that! You –
ma'am
!"

"I don't
see what's so funny, Powers! Some people just recognize a lady, that's all!"

Powers hooted
and moved to the file cabinet Max had just rummaged through. Max silently crept
to a far corner and watched them through a rack between a stack of copier paper
and a pile of pencil boxes. If he just waited long enough and silently enough,
they'd forget he was here.

"Which
book does the auditor want?" said Gloria.

"January
through July 2015," Powers said.

Just the one I'm
looking for, thought Max.

Gloria looked
over Powers' shoulder and slid a scrawny arm into the drawer shoving him out of
the way.

"Easy,
Gloria! I'm about ready to heave my ship biscuits." He clutched his
bandaged head and moaned slightly.

"That's
what you get for playing with goons and losing!" she said callously "But
then, you were always a loser, Powers!"

"Oh, yeah?"
he whispered. "And have you ever thought about your responsibility for my
problems? If you'd just do your job, I wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I'm not
the one who screwed up yesterday!" she said.

"Oh, shut
up, you seahag!" He riffled through a few files and drew out a large blue
account book. "Here it is.
Clever of me to ask for an
audit.
I'll make things clearer after the…keel-haul."

"Well,
you'd better make it quick, the IRS won't take long to figure this all out,"
said Gloria.

"I'm
working on it, I'm working on it." He leaned on the open file and bent close
to her face. "Let's go to your place for an early lunch."

"Forget
it, Powers! " She slammed the file drawer, barely missing his head. "You
promised to take me out!"

"C'mon,
Gloria! You know my financial situation! Scrape the barnacles off your rudder
and throw something together. I'm starved!"

"No way!
We're going out! I want to get a decent meal out of this, at least."

"Feminists,"
muttered Powers, "can't even give a woman a decent order anymore."

"Shut up!
Anyway, every time I do cook, you swear I'm poisoning you!"

"Poison…hmmm,"
he said, trailing her out the door and turning out the light.

Max left the
room and pushed the elevator button.
Keel-haul
, he wondered. He mentally flipped through the
pages of his infochip dictionary. H, I, J, K. Kaleidoscope, Karate, Karma-

"Hey,
there you are!" said Nickie from the open elevator doors.

Max snapped
his synapses shut and smiled at her. She and Bird had a new load of items for
the capsule. He joined them and the three spent the next few hours loading the
capsule and collapsing and stacking the empty cardboard boxes away from the
entrance to the vault.

"Hey,
Max, look at this!" Max turned from his neatly piled stack and looked at
Bird who proudly motioned to his ten-foot high castle of empty boxes.

"Wow,
cool!" said Nickie. And even Max had to agree that the structure was
amazing.

"How do
you like these turret towers? See, I just folded the flaps up like this!" He
swept the air expansively and clipped one corner of the precariously balanced
structure.

"Ohh, no,"
said Nickie, as the castle toppled over Bird's head. "Mr. Bird, are you
alright?"

He took her
outstretched arm and pulled himself from the wreckage. "Yeah, I'm fine,"
he said, the fan of laugh-lines returning to his eyes. "Let's build
another one!"

Nickie
laughed. "Maybe later, I still have work to do."

"Me too,"
said Max, following her to the elevator.

"Mr. Bird
is pretty cool, isn't he?" she said.

What can she
be thinking?
thought
Max.

Upstairs, as
they rolled the empty cart along the corridor, they neared Ted's office where
Powers lectured Ted. "And don't forget the media conference at four bells
tomorrow, Ted."

"Uh, four
bells, that's four o'clock, right?"

"Two o'clock,
Ted. P.M.
Everyone
knows that."

Bird returned
from downstairs and nearly bumped into Gloria as she teetered around the corner.
Carrying a plate of cheesecake and a fork, she pushed past Powers into Ted's
office. Max pulled Bird into the cubicle across the hall and Nickie moved
closer to the door for a better look.

"Break
time, Teddy!" said Gloria.

"What?
Oh, sorry, Gloria. You go ahead. I have to prepare for the conference," said
Ted.

"Now,
now, all work and no play makes Teddy a dull boy!"

Nickie noticed
that Powers lingered near Ted's doorway, too. She caught his
eye,
he saluted her, and cruised away.

"I had no
idea boating was such a dangerous sport," mused Bird, noting the bandages
peeking out from under Powers' captain's hat.

Nickie
silenced him with her hand. Gloria advanced on Ted with the raised fork and a
bite of cheesecake.

"I got
this just for you, Ted. You don't want to hurt my feelings, do you?" said
Gloria.

"Well,
no, of course not, but…"

Gloria hovered
over Ted and nearly sat in his lap.

"C'mon
now, Teddy," said Gloria, "just one bite!
For me?
It's yummy, see?" She took the bite, swallowed, then realized something
and rushed out.

"Gotta
go! Uh…calories!" she said.

She ran into
Power's office. "Quick! I've only got twenty minutes!" they heard her
say.

"Maybe
she's anorexic," whispered Bird.

"Blast
it, Gloria! That means I'm going to have to pay for a cab!" said Powers.

There was a
gurgle, a cry of pain, and the clatter of a fork dropping to the floor.

"Blast!"
said Powers, clutching his shoulder and running after Gloria who was doubled-over
and bolting for the exit.

"Or maybe
bulimic," said Bird.

Nickie didn't
stop to give an opinion but wheeled on her heels, shoving the cart out the door
and down the hallway. "Teenage angst?" asked Bird. The detectives
followed to her cubicle where they found her slumped in her chair.

"She's
bringing him dessert now. Did you see how she practically sat on his lap and
forced it down his throat?"

"Maybe
she's entering it in a Bake-Off," suggested Bird.

Nickie stared
at the ceiling. "Max, I've gotta get out of here."

"Okay,
where would you like to go?"

"How
about Central Park?" said
Bird.

"Perfect!"
she said.

"Great!"
said Bird.
"I know this fun game we can play called Coup St-"
Behind Nickie's back, Max shook his head at Bird.

"I
thought you told me you still had to write those donation thank-you emails, Mr.
Bird," said Max.

"Oh,
right you are. Completely forgot. You two kids go ahead. I'll put this final
load in the vault, too, Nickie," said Bird. "Get the vault all
organized and ready to lock up."

"You can
do it in the morning, Mr. Bird," said Nickie.

"That's
okay, he doesn't mind. We'll see you later, Mr. Bird. Keep an eye on things
here, won't you?" Max said pointedly.

"I'm on
the job," said Bird.

Max left feeling
more confident than he had in days, now that the elec-tail was on the job.

Nickie sat on
the grass and pulled off her sandals. Her bare shins peeped out of their pants
legs, white and freckled in the bright sunlight. He liked her pale skin and
freckles. They reminded him of birdseed sprinkled on the snow. Nickie followed
his gaze and folded her arms self-consciously.

"I'm glad
you wore pants," said Max.

"What?"

"I
thought we could go horseback riding."

"Oh,"
she said in relief. "No wait, I don't ride!"

"You'll
love it, I promise!" He pulled her away.

"No, Max,
really! I can't!"

"Trust
me!" he said and took her hand.

Ten minutes
later they chose their horses and mounted up.

"See, I
told you! Nothing to it," said Max, rolling with his horse's rhythm.

"I'm a
natural," bragged Nickie, bumping along beside him.

Max swung
across the saddle to show her how to hold the reins. "No, like this, in
your left hand. You want your right hand free for roping calves," he said.

"Or lions
or tigers!" She pointed to the other animals on the carousel.

Max was struck
by a wish that he could bottle everything about this moment.
The
whirl of the horses, Nickie's hair flying in the breeze, and her laughter
melting into the calliope music.

They rode
three more times before they stopped at a burrito cart and then sat on a bench
under the trees.
The same bench where he had scared the
lovers in the Coup Sticks game.
She followed his gaze overhead. "What
are you looking for up there?"

"Just
checking for Birds."

As they ate,
Max marveled at how comfortable the silence was between them. Not like his last
date with Infinity Melman.
Pretty girl, but never stopped
talking.
Gnartz, give a guy a chance to think. Nope, Nickie was
definitely not Infinity. She was a deep thinker. Like now, just contemplating
some great point of philosophy.

She wiped a
bit of sauce from her lip. "I was just thinking about those flats we saw
in the window at Shoe World. I think I'm going to get them." Well, a girl
can't ponder philosophy constantly, he thought.

"You
know, when I started at Winslow High last year I wanted this certain pair of
flats so much. Everybody had them and I thought they would make me more like
everybody else. Popular, you know?"