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  • Not Overly Concerned Ch. 02

Not Overly Concerned Ch. 02

II: Nevermore

(Monday)

Anna woke to the tone of her alarm clock. She groaned, nuzzling her face into her pillow. Sighing deeply, she squirmed over to the edge of the bed. With precision born of long practice, she reached out to press first the alarm toggle button, then the voice trigger.

"The time is six twen-ty five a.m.." the stilted electronic voice read off the time.

Freeing herself from the bedsheets, she stood, stretched, yawned. She padded over to the laundry bin beside the bathroom door and took the clothes from the lid where she had placed them the night before. She layed them on the floor, then grabbed them again after stripping off her shirt and panties and depositing them in the bin.

Some twenty minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, dressed and toweling her hair dry. Smelling fresh brewed coffee, she tossed the towel in the bin and went out to fix her idea of breakfast.

Eric looked up from the newspaper to watch while she spread peanut butter on a handful of Oreo cookies.

"You know, some people think that you're an adult." he observed.

"Their funeral." she shrugged, popping a cookie in her mouth.

"Mmm. Five letter word for perturbed?"

"Ummm. Vexed?" she suggested around a mouthful of cookie.

"Yeah. Should've thought of that." he muttered, writing it into the crossword puzzle.

"You wanna stop by Nevermore after work?" Anna asked after a swallow of coffee.

"Yeah. We need a few things, but we can hit the little 24 hour place on the way home."

***

Eric drove around the network of campus parking lots, stopping along the curb nearest Building E. Opening her door and stepping out, Anna shouldered her little backpack and shook out her collapsible cane. She dropped a spent cigarette butt to grind it underfoot.

"Later." she offered succinctly.

Eric watched her make her way up the cement walkway to the side entrance before pulling away from the curb. While Anna tapped her way down to 'Special Needs – Sight Impaired' in Room 237, Eric began the ten minute drive to the computer repair and IT shop where he worked.

Entering the hall, Anna found the usual ambient sensorium overlayed with the smell of Aqua Velva and the sound of keys jangling. Benny, one of the school's custodians, stopped as Anna approached.

"Morning, Miss Anna. How you doin'?" he greeted her, good humored as ever.

"Not as well as you, Benny, but not bad."

"Well, you know, ain't nobody do as well as me." Benny laughed. "You have a good day now."

"You too." Anna smiled, moving on.

Stepping into Room 237, Anna moved out of the doorway then paused. There was the smell of strong black coffee – that would be Professor Henriksson. A trace of stale cigarette smoke – Tyrone's parents both smoked like chimneys. Foot tapping near the center of the room meant Katie had arrived early for a change.

"Ah, good morning, Miss Anna." Professor Henriksson greeted her, having glanced up from a campus newsletter and noticed her.

"Morning."

She had suggested he just call her 'Anna' a few times before giving up on it. As a sort of teacher's assistant, she was 'Miss Anna' to the kids, anyway. She supposed it was better that than using her last name, but it still sounded funny to her.

Having overheard, those students present called out an enthusiastic jumble of greetings.

"Good morning. Go ahead back to whatever you were doing. We've still got a few minutes before class starts." she turned toward the Professor.

"I'm gonna go check in with Mrs. Laurel."

"Of course. Ah, before I forget, I won't be here Friday. Or next Monday. Going to be out of town. I will leave some simple plans for the substitute and let them know that you can take care of things."

"Not for a funeral, I hope?" Anna asked.

"No, nothing bad. Ah, well..." he trailed off. Anna heard the rasp of his hand along a stubbled, leathery cheek. "My granddaughter is getting married." he explained.

"Ah." Anna smiled. "Good luck with that."

"Yah," the old man chuckled, "thanks for that."

Leaving her pack against the wall to one side of the doorway, Anna walked down the hall to 236 – 'Special Needs – Hearing Impaired.'

For Mrs. Laurel's benefit, she knocked on the door as she entered.

"Hey hon. How you doin'?"

"Not bad."

"Miss Anna!"

Anna smiled. Despite exhibiting the usual speech issues that come with complete deafness, little Sadie Fox didn't hesitate to speak to certain people. She was awefully bright for a ten year old. Anna had found a certain odd amusement in simultaneously considering the comedy value of a blind woman teaching and chatting with a deaf girl, while at the same time actually doing so. She had since become convinced that Sadie felt something similar. When Anna worked with her, they often jokingly made veiled or sarcastic references to either or both their disabilities.

Of course, as of a couple weeks ago, Sadie had a new reason to buddy up to her. The glorified computer repair shop where Eric worked had closed up early for minor renovations. He had come in to wait, and as the class was letting out, Anna had introduced him to the students. The kids had all gotten a kick out of meeting her roommate, but Sadie in particular had suffered an instant crush.

Anna waved and signed 'good morning.' to the class.

"Have a good weekend?" Mrs. Laurel asked.

"Dunno," Anna shrugged, "Got blackout drunk Friday night. Next thing I remember is waking up this morning."

"Anna! You're crazy."

"Meh. They can't read lips that well yet, can they?"

"No. Well, Isabelle maybe, but she'd say the same thing if she thought of it."

"Yeah. Anything special planned today?"

"Not really. ASL review. I found a documentary with, uh... subtitles. About important people in history who were hearing impaired."

"Then I guess I can work on speech and reading lips with somebody until movie time, then go next door. Let me go tell the old guy and I'll be right back."

***

Meanwhile, some ten minutes drive away, Eric clicked 'Install' and leaned back in his seat. While the security program was installing, he stepped over to the doorway between the workroom and the area behind the front counter.

"Hey, what's the Hewlett-Packard here for?"

Sarah, the secretary/cashier on duty, reluctantly looked up from the magazine she was reading.

"Lady said it's freezing when it starts. Like, when it's booting up."

Eric nodded.

"I'll look at it."

***

Cat spent the first half of her day attending classes. First, from nine to eleven, her massage class at The Healing Arts Center. Then, noon to 1:30, she took a Sports Medicine class at the University.

Going into it, she wouldn't have guessed that there would be much lecture involved in a class called Sports Medicine. Unfortunately, her expectations did nothing to prevent the instructor from spending the first two thirds of the period talking at the class about sprained ankles. About ten minutes in, Cat began doodling. It started as random shapes and progressed to cartoonish sketches of characters from her faveorite mangas.

By the time the instructor began calling on students to label parts of an anatomical diagram, she had several pages of vague sketches depicting the young woman from the pool with the green in her hair. Some portraits, some profiles, some figure studies. Some with the fellow who Cat guessed was more likely a brother than a boyfriend.

After class she stopped at the school cafeteria for a light lunch. When she had eaten there were a few errands to run. By the time she made it back to the apartment, Maria had already left for work. A hastily scribbled note on the kitchen table read:

'Felt like bar food. Went to work early so I could eat before I go on. Pizza rolls in freezer.

See you later.

-M'

Cat considered swinging by Nevermore and visiting, but she was feeling rather Monday. Instead, she grabbed a can of Pepsi, nuked some pizza rolls and checked the TV for anything worth watching. Not finding much, she settled on half watching reruns of E.R. while picking up where she had left off on the sketches in her Sports Medicine notebook.

***

Some time later, Anna and Eric arrived at the bar. The bar's name, Nevermore, was obviously a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, The Raven. The only obvious influence on the interior decor was in the form of a silhouette of the aforementioned corvine doomsayer painted over the entrance. A second, less obvious nod to the institution of theme existed in the form of several mixed drinks the owner had created. Each was named after one of Poe's works or an aspect of the man's life. Anna quite liked the Premature Burial – a coffee based dessert drink.

It was just after five, but on a Monday, and business hadn't begun to pick up yet. A couple regulars sat at tables. A heavy-set man in a dayglo vest and work boots slumped at the bar, asleep. A hard hat rested on the bar next to him. Eric and Anna took stools halfway between the door and the sleeping construction worker.

Shortly Maria emerged from the back room carrying a tub of ice to refill the icebox behind the bar.

"Hey, what's up? Where you been?"

"Hey." Anna held up a hand in greeting.

"Work and home. Same old." Eric answered.

"Yeah, me too. You need to come visit me more. Drinks? Have you guys eaten?"

"Just fried stuff, right?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, we just have a couple deep friers back there. We've got fries, cheeze sticks, hot wings-"

"You still stock jalapeno poppers?" Anna interrupted.

"Yeah, I guess I can enable your cheese habit."

"Eat half a pound of cheese one time, people never let you hear the end of it." Anna remarked dryly.

"Uh-huh. To drink?"

"Mountain Dew with a shot of vodka in it."

Maria nodded.

"And what can I get you?" she turned her attention to Eric.

"Fries, wings, whatever's on tap to drink." He fished a few bills out of his wallet.

"Pfft. Don't. Put it away," she waved him off, then "wait – here, we'll call this five my tip."

Smiling, Maria tucked the bill into a back pocket and turned to fix their drinks. When that was done, she disappeared into the back to drop their food in the fryer. Some minutes later she emerged carrying plastic baskets of greasy, wax-paper-nestled goodness. This time the proprietor followed her out.

"Here... are your heart attack baskets." she set their food in front of them.

Standing behind her, Warren cleared his throat.

Maria glanced back.

"Relax. They're friends. Anna and Eric. I've introduced them before." Maria moved down the bar to get one of the regulars a fresh drink.

"Anna and Eric." he sounded tired.

He looked tired too. Like the two at the bar he was tall, lean. Like Eric, he wore glasses – his round rimmed. His hair was dirty blond, long, pulled back into a tail. He kept a close cut beard and mustache.

He wore heavy work pants and an unbuttoned dress shirt with sleeves rolled to his elbows over an olive drab undershirt. Catching a hint of leather, Anna guessed that his boots must not be too old.

"Will you two be joining us for Halloween?" he asked while fetching himself a bottle of Bud.

"We were thinkin' about inviting some people over, but I haven't gotten around to calling anyone yet. Why, what's goin' on?" Anna replied.

Maria returned to lean across the bar and steal a french fry from Eric's basket.

"What are we talking about?"

"Apparently you haven't told them about our Halloween special?" Warren prompted.

"You should get some sleep, Brujo. You look aweful." Maria jokingly changed the subject.

"I'll be going when -and if- Roxanne shows up." He turned to withdraw into the back room again. "Tell them about Halloween." he added as he went.

Anna spoke before Maria could start.

"Wait, what did you call him?"

It took Maria a moment to catch on.

"Oh, Brujo? Means witch in Spanish. A guy witch. Because of his name..."

Anna arched an eyebrow.

"Warren Locke," Maria explained, "Warlock."

"Ah. I see."

"Yeah, and he likes Halloween, so drinks are gonna be half price for anyone who comes dressed up."

"Huh. Sounds fun." Anna mused.

"The costume part or the half price drinks part?" Maria joked.

"Both, actually." Anna replied around a bite of cheesy jalapeno. "Whadda ya think?" she asked Eric.

"Mmm." he agreed laconically.

They lapsed into silence for a time. Maria dealt with an influx of patrons while Anna and Eric finished their food. Anna lit a cigarette.

When Maria returned, she took away the empty baskets and freshened up Anna's drink.

"Did you happen to be at the pool yesterday – at the school?" she asked nonchalantly.

Anna exhaled smoke through her nose.

"Uh, yeah," she replied slowly, "Why?"

"You remember I told you about my roommate. She was there."

"The girl in the corner." Anna sat up straighter. "We passed her on our way out." she directed the latter at Eric.

Eric shrugged.

"I didn't notice."

"Yeah, she was there. Last night she mentioned seeing a girl with green in her hair. She said there was something odd about you, but she couldn't figure it out." Maria expounded.

"Hmp. I was right next to Eric, so I wasn't using a cane or anything." Anna sounded thoughtful. "She never comes in here?"

"Not really. She doesn't drink and she doesn't like being hit on."

Anna gave a vaguely sympathetic nod.

"She might come out for the Halloween thing though. I'm sure she'd like meeting you guys." Maria suggested.

Anna and Eric stuck around until about ten before bailing.

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