Queen

Chapter 3

Queen-Chapter 3

Calvin didn't sleep for shit the night after he left Nan's house. Well after he had helped her to sip some broth and got his Mother updated on her sleep, eating and bathroom schedule for the day, he wandered aimlessly around the city. Guilt overwhelmed him down to his bones. He didn't out and out lie to her, but keeping the whole truth from her was the same betrayal. He had tucked the somewhat weighty document folder she had given him under his arm. He was tempted to unwind the string fastener and pull out the what felt like a book's worth of paperwork inside. He was instructed to deliver any information she gave him and to record any conversations they had regarding the "mothman" case as it came to be known but he couldn't bring himself to record the conversation they had. He wondered what was in the files she gave him. He sat on a bench next to the square fountain which stood as a monument to the men and women who gave their lives in the environmental wars. He thumbed the folder underneath his jacket through his pocket and decided to leave it there, it was late and he couldn't be sure he wasn't being surveilled. He sat and listened intently, controlling his breathing, but the fountain was too noisy and would probably mask any sound made by followers in the dark.

Calvin kept the file hidden, tucked under his light jacket under his arm. He left the bench and approached the fountain. The inscription read:

"Dedicated to the men and women who gave their lives in order to save planet Earth and it's many forms of life from devastation. May the grief of their loss be not in vain"

He ran his hand under the projection of water falling noisily in the shape of a pyramid from it's peak, a large, stone planet Earth. He found himself wishing the water could be real like before the shortages began. He imagined the cool, gentle pressure on his hand. Instead he felt air as his hand passed unacknowledged through the hologram.

He realized the city lights were awakening. Cafes and bakeries began their operations. The birds sang in their trees. Calvin always felt like this was a depressing signal to the new day. The feeling that you missed your chance to gain the permission a night's sleep gives to start over when the birds summon and the sun filters onto the wall across from your bed. He had forfeited that sleep, and the void in time it created left him disoriented and feeling oddly guilty.

Calvin was a creature of habit. Even within his long days and nights of travel and assignments, he had managed to keep some semblance of a healthy schedule. Good sleep, exercise, balanced diet, and moderate alcohol consumption provided him with an illusion of control over his life and his environment. When things became dangerous at work, which was a lot of the time, this controlled lifestyle served him well. He had a good support system from his family, with none of whom he could actually talk. He couldn't talk about his job to anyone, especially not Nan. He knew they'd be all over him while he was near her.

He once had a wife, but he managed to strangle the life right out of their ten year marriage before she finally buried it for good with an affair. His Mother tried to be supportive when he told her they were getting married after knowing each other for less than a year. "Successful marriages have come from less time that that", she'd say, "as long as you're happy and you're sure she's who you want to grow old with. That's what matters." The problem with that equation is it isn't always balanced. Like in high school algebra, both sides have to be equal. Otherwise it all just slides right off the deck as the ship sinks.

As he was preparing to consult his watch to review his calendar for the day, it signaled with a blunt ring that he had an incoming message. That ring meant his boss. He told the device to show him the communication, and there was his superior in front of him, sitting tensely at his desk. His boss was always oily and out of breath.

"Agent Flores, I need you to come to my office before your 7 AM. You established communication with Nanette Flores yesterday, yes?" Calvin was instantly annoyed. He didn't like his boss particularly as it was, he liked him even less when he opened his mouth to speak. "You mean my Grandmother?" Cal was baiting him. "Unless you know another Nanette Flores, that's who I mean" his boss said sharply. Special agent Spivey. Not the name of a leader, thought Calvin. Calvin would have to message his co workers meeting him at 7 AM to let them know he would have to reschedule. "After I take care of that I'll be there as soon as possible." He wondered if Spivey knew he had been out all night and he could show up right now if he wanted to.