Nano Day 24 - Working Title: Cantata

[joegoda]

It was a beautiful Italian day. The weather was warm and sunny, containing only a slight chill from the sea nearby. Kaylee drove the pair down to Trieste, explaining to Wells that Opicina was a villa of older people, and she wanted him to see a younger part of Italy.

"I know mama is a young person. It's in her heart. And even though you are older than she is, Richard, I believe you are also a young person." She eased the automobile around a tight curve. "So we're going to get you young people's clothing."

Laura looked over at Wells and smiled. The look on his face caused her to laugh. "He probably would never tell you, but I'm older than he is by three years, Kaylee."

Kaylee smiled wickedly and said, "I know. Sarah told me." She looked at Wells through the mirror. "I just wanted to see if he'd correct me, or give you the honor of being younger than he is."

Wells grumped and said, "I imagine I can expect to be tested like this the whole time I'm here?"

Kaylee nodded vigorously, "Oh yes! I imagine it will be great fun." Her gaze flicked into the mirror again. "At least for me."

Wells looked at Laura and grumbled, "Are you going to let her get away with this?"

Laura shrugged. "I can't control her, Richard. She's old enough to make up her own mind about the tortures she uses." She smiled warmly at him. "Besides, I'm going to enjoy being with you."

Wells slumped back in his seat and stared at the Trieste scenery. To his right, in the distance, the sea glittered like a distant blue mirror. He felt that he could reach out and touch it, even though he knew it was about three miles away. The road the Fiat was on flowed along a hill that matched the coastline. Down below, he could see the old sea port of Trieste, with its docks and ships trading with Croatia, Slovenia, and as far away as China and England.

To the left of the road, the hills of Trieste were dotted with developing housing communities. Life here was slow, and there was still plenty of countryside to visit. The trees were lush and foliage was everywhere. The people they passed on the road smiled and waved, as if they were old friends.

The brief countryside they had driven through gave way to the city of Trieste, proper. Here Kaylee expertly wound her way through traffic that Wells found to be insane. Streetlights were everywhere, but the drivers tended to ignore them. The streets were narrow and horns and people yelling seemed to point to the fact that everyone that drove in this place had escaped from a lunatic asylum.

The Fiat turned onto a beautiful tree-lined street named Viale XX Settembre. Kaylee craned her head left and right, found what she was looking for and pulled into a spot that seemed barely big enough to accommodate a shopping cart. She turned around to look at the pair in the back seat and laughed when she saw Well's ashen face.

"I thought you had been here before, Mister Superspy."

Wells smiled back and said a bit shakily, "That was over twenty years ago, and I don't remember the roads being quite this crowded."

"You get used to it," Kaylee said, still smiling at him. "Here we are!" she announced, opening the door and getting out. "The Il Giulia! It is the largest and best shopping complex in the city. There is Cinema and icecream!" As Wells stepped out of the Fiat, she eyed his clothing, "And men's wear!"

Wells unkinked his back and looked at the mall. It was beautiful, something he was coming to expect to find wherever he went here. The Viale XX Settembre was tree-lined and very green and hosted shops along the avenue, but the most prevalent was Il Giulia, a two-storey mall at the end of the avenue that seemed to be the center point to hundreds of comings and goings.

"The Il Giulia!" Kaylee announced, as she took her mother's hand. "Come on, Richard!" She turned to her mother. "I thought that after we did a bit of shopping, we'd get some lunch and go to the Boschetto and picnic.

"I think that is a lovely idea, Kaylee." Laura said, as they entered the Il Giulia.

Soft music played everywhere and sales people were friendly and helpful. Wells was amazed at the shear number of shops and business centers located inside the building. It was much smaller than a typical mall in the U.S., but contained more color, more variety.

Here you could purchase anything from cotton candy to an automobile. You could book a vacation or handled all of your banking needs at the full size bank. There was a complete playground for the children, and the Mall boasted a civic center that hosted competition and lotteries where you could win prized from cruises to the newest cars. The were three bars strategically scattered around, and judging by the lines to check out at the various stores, Wells could full imagine they were well patronage.

Everywhere there were people. He saw Serbians, Croatians, Italians, people from northern Europe, and people from Africa. It made Wells nervous. "I see that that even the great city of Trieste can't escape the homeless," he observed.

Here and there could be seen shapes occupying darkened corners and stairwells. Lost people in misshapen clothing, who were sleeping or milling about. Some were panhandling from shoppers, some digging in the trash bins along the streets.

"So it is with any large city," Kaylee shrugged. "There is not much to be done about them. The police come, they scatter. The police leave, they come back."

"I would think," Wells said, an uncomfortable anger starting to rise, "that spending four years in the Underground would teach you too keep your eyes open. There, for example," he pointed to an older woman wearing grey rags and talking to herself. "What if she's not just mumbling to someone that isn't there? What if she's mumbling to someone that is there that we can't see? And what is it she's mumbling about?"

He pointed to a couple of young men, approaching from the side. One was tall, and one was short. Both were wearing dark jackets with their hands stuffed into their pockets. "Or them? What if what they had in their pockets were weapons, rather than just their hands? What would you do, Kaylee? How would you protect your mother, or better yet, protect yourself?"

"What about that one?" He pointed to an ordinary shopper, a tall dark skinned man. He was bundling about three large bags and not having an easy time about it. "Could the problem he is having with his packages be a ruse? Something he was pretending to be doing until you got closer so that he could slip a knife between your young ribs?"

Laura shushed him, saying, "Stop it, Richard. You're scaring her."

Wells turned to her and hissed, "Am I? Am I really?" He looked at Kaylee, seeing her blue eyes turn round and shifting from person to person. "Am I scaring you, Kaylee?"

She looked at him and said, quietly, "Perhaps a bit... yes." Her eyes then tightened and she said, "No." She tossed her hair and smiled. "You did a bit, perhaps, but now I see you are playing a game."

"Oh, it's no game, Kaylee." he said quietly. "Since we met, you've had great fun at my expense. Perhaps you think I'm not good enough for your mother. Perhaps you feel I'm a threat to your little kingdom and your sense of independence. I don't really know, and I don't really care." He eyed the homeless woman and said sharply, "Wait here."

He walked over to a kiosk where cigarettes were being sold and bought a pack of a local brand and some matches. He placed the pack in his shirt pocket and walked over to the woman was talking to herself. She watched him warily when he reached into his pocket and offered her a cigarette. She eyed the thin white cylinder briefly before she took it. "Grazi," she said. He walked back to them.

"She's no threat," he said to Kaylee. "And I'm no threat to you. I have lived by myself for twenty-five years because I don't like people that test me. Once this is all done, I can go back to the States and you can continue to pretend that you are the princess in your castle."

Kaylee said, "I didn't know you smoked. You don't smell like smoke."

"I don't. It's a nasty habit." He put the pack into his pocket. "But it's a quick way to find out who is who. I could tell by her fingers that she smoked." He pointed to her. "See how yellow they are? She's been smoking for years. She didn't have any, other wise she'd be smoking them. Offering her a cigarette let me see that she had no wire in her ear, no radio nearby. Of all these people I pointed out, she was the biggest threat."

"Why is that?" Kaylee asked. "How can you tell?"

"Because she is the one least seen, and most active," he explained. "The two toughs in jackets were too busy being noticed. They strutted, they talked loud, making sure that everyone saw them, heard them."

"The shopper? He really was too busy with his packages to look this way. If he had wanted to kill you, he would have kept one eye on your position. When I moved to the smoke kiosk, he would have given some notice of me, some indication that he was pointedly ignoring me while watching me all the time. He didn't do anything. He just gathered his bags the best he could and moved on."

He pointed at the woman, who was just finishing the cigarette he had given her. "She was the only one that never moved, and was able to watch us the entire time. The rags she is wearing could house any number of weapons, transmitting devices or even a bomb. She was the biggest threat of the three examples I gave you. Those three examples are not the only ones here right now, either."

Laura tugged his arm and asked, "Richard, is this necessary? Here? Now?"

"Is it necessary?" he echoed quietly. He looked at Kaylee. "Yes, it's necessary. I don't know what sort of bug she has up her butt against me, but I need to let her know she has a lot to learn about the world, especially the world I live in, and since she got involved with the Underground, the world she has chosen to live in as well."

"It's not pretty. It's got a lot of people in it that will kill you, not because of what you know, but because of what they think you know, or even just because a dead body can talk a lot less than a live one." He turned back and started to walk back to the car.

Laura ran after him, Kaylee in tow. She caught his arm and tried to whirl him around. When she failed to do that, and he kept on walking, she called out, "Richard, stop."

He turned back and said, "What for?" He nodded in Kaylee's direction. "She thinks I'm just an old man that came back because of you. She obviously doesn't think I need to be here. She puts up with me because we love each other. She doesn't tolerate me, Laura. She just puts up with me."

Kaylee stood there, arms crossed, looking anywhere but at him.

"I'm done shopping," he said to Laura. "You two go ahead. I'll wait with the car. There's too many people there for me, anyway."

"But," Laura protested, "What about those people you were talking about?"

"Except for the ordinary robbers and muggers, you're perfectly safe," he said.

"How do you know?" Laura asked, looking around.

"Because, Laura," he explained, "the people that are going to kill her are going to wait until the concert. Once a plan is in motion, it takes a lot to change it and there has been nothing to cause them to change it." Standing at the car, he waved her on. "Go ahead, take Kaylee and go shopping. She's right; I need a change of clothes. I'm sure she'll have no problem in picking out what she knows I'll wear. She knows me so well."

"But," Laura began.

"I be all right. I just have some thinking to do." He looked at Kaylee. "I'm not very good company right now."

Laura looked at him, seeing him angry and miserable. She touched his arm. He didn't react. "Richard," she said softly. "I know she can be difficult."

Wells said, just as softly, "Laura, I now have no doubt that Kaylee is the target. I now have no doubt that there will be an assassination attempt at the concert. I now have no doubt that unless she learns to listen to me and respect what I have learned she'll be dead in two weeks."

Laura raised her hands to her mouth. "How could you...?"

He raised his fingers to his lips and quietly whispered, "Kaylee mentioned something about a...Boschetto? That's a park or something?" Laura nodded. "When you are done shopping, come back and get me. We'll go there and talk." He looked at Kaylee, who was tapping her foot impatiently. "All of us."

He put his hands on her arms tenderly, and looked into her eyes. "Yes, I'm pissed off by her. I doubt she and I will ever be able to live under the same roof for more than it takes to get through this. Just know that I love you, all right? And I will get you two through this."

He nuzzled her hair, saying, "Watch for anyone, and I mean anyone that appears to follow you, or acts in the least bit suspicious. Having seen us argue, and knowing that you two are alone will make them more bold." He kissed her cheek and said, "All right?"

Laura nodded, looking miserable, tears in her eyes. "All right." She looked at his eyes and asked, "Will you be all right?" She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Of course," Wells said with a smile. "I'm always all right. Now go shopping." He watched Laura take Kaylee's arm, and she did it none to gently. "And no pink ties!" he called after them.

Comments

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

WooHOO!! You DID IT!!

WooHOO!! I did it too!!

Now we just have to finish the stories!!

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

I figure it won't take me long. I've figured out what Wells is going to do next, how it all pans out, and who did what where with whom.

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

Now you can get some sleep! *HUG*

[journiey.livejournal.com]

WOOHOO!!!I'm SO Proud!!!!!

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm still way behind, but yay! Good for you!

[capi.livejournal.com]

Go, Tap, GO!!!!!

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Pshaw.. you aren't behind. You're just strategically placed!

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

That sounds like something one of my characters would say...

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Huh. Go figure.

[capi.livejournal.com]

Och!! TWO of you finished last night?? AWESOME!!

(C'mon, Tap! You can do this!!)

Congratulations, Chet!!

*L* NOW i'll go *read* it!! *LOL* YAY!!!

[capi.livejournal.com]

Soft music played everywhere and sales people were friendly and helpful. Wells was amazed at the shear ((sheer?)) number of shops and business centers located inside the building.

Here you could purchase anything from cotton candy to an automobile. You could book a vacation or handled ((handle?)) all of your banking needs at the full size ((full-sized?)) bank. There was a complete playground for the children, and the Mall boasted a civic center that hosted competition ((s?))and lotteries where you could win prized from cruises to the newest cars. The (there?) were three bars strategically scattered around, and judging by the lines to check out at the various stores, Wells could full (?) imagine they were well patronage (?).

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. There are lots of errors in that paragraph. It was, for some reason, very hard to write. Not sure why.
Thanks, Capi!

[mstami.livejournal.com]

Yay! You did it! Hugs. :)

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

Thanks Tami. Hope you're doing well!