The work week finally came to an end that Friday, as even bad weeks will, and Emmeline trudged to the trolley stop alone and frustrated. She and Alice had at last worked out that Em had not put the pro-union handbills on Alice's desk, and in fact, no one knew who had! That someone had set Alice up was obvious.
Em had gone straight to the director of course to plead Alice's case, which was dismissed with a deaf ear. Both the Soup and director insisted that Someone Was Needed at the Archives and Alice, with her years of experience, would be the Perfect Person. Both claimed innocence regarding any union bills.
Both were full of bull, thought Em.
She passed the Teacup Cafe and gazed sadly at 'their' table,where she and Alice had spent such cozy times together. It stood empty, as if awaiting their return. A lone tear trickled down Em's cheek and she brushed it away with a gloved hand.
She looked up into the glass and noticed the reflection of a tall person next to her.
'Emmeline.' was all he said.
'Jack!' Em was flustered anew. 'What, what in the world are you doing...here!?'
That crooked, almost woeful half-grin appeared as Jack said, 'Well, Aleister and Yeats and I all decided to return here, to Pankhurst and Crowley House, oh, rather awhile back.' seeing her eyes wide like a terrified filly about to bolt, he took a small step back. 'Please, Em! We're...I'm, not about to do anything! I nearly passed you and thought it best to say nothing, but, you looked, well, abit lost just then.' He looked at her enquiringly.
Em sighed and looked down at the wooden sidewalk planks.
What does it matter, if they're here or not? Could she keep them away? Not likely. She knew better than to think 'what more could go wrong...' -- banish those thoughts at once!
'Where's Alice?' Jack asked, all ingenuous.
Whereupon, the stress of the whole week finally collapsed upon Emmeline and her chin began to tremble. She looked up at Jack with her eyes spilling tears.
'Em, my gods! What is it? What's happened?, Here, I have Aleister's trap, do let me give you a ride home.' he hesitated, nearly taking her arm, then drew back. 'Please,' he said.
She merely nodded, keeping her head down, and allowed Jack to lead her over to where he gave a boy a coin for watching the horse and cart, and then helped her onto the seat. Jack hauled his long self up beside her and clicked to his bay as they left the place where they'd first met...so long ago now.
'Here,' said Jack, handing Emmeline his large kerchief.
He was quiet, waiting for whatever news from Em.
Em blew her nose and dabbed her eyes, clutching Jack's scarflike hanky. 'It's Alice,'she began in a trembling voice unlike her own, 'She, she's been blacklisted. And transferred to Siberia! And it's all my faullllt...' she finished, choking sobs anew, she stuffed the kerchief into her mouth and bit upon it, trying to get hold of herself.
Jack, certainly no stranger to self-recriminations, suddenly felt a new kinship with Em. 'What happened, exactly? Not Siberia, certainly?' His voice was low and kind, which made her even more prone to weeping again.
Em sighed. 'It may aswell be...they've sent her across town, over by the old warehouses, where archives are kept. She's there all alone, in that cold, goddess-forsaken place! And diosa knows how she can keep it up! She has no transportation out there...'
'Here, now, Em! If you'll let us, you know Aleister would be pleased to assist Alice, and yourself, in any way, as would I! I know you don't trust us, and I don't blame you at all. But, this sounds like something that
you two shouldn't have to face alone, you know!'Jack finished earnestly.
'Oh, Jack...' Em looked down again, shaking her head...
'Thanks for the offer. For now she is getting a ride from friends, Ernestine Guevara and her brother Leon have a horse and cart and they have been kind enough to
transport Alice for a time, but of course, we can't presume upon them indefinately!' She looked up at last and gazed ahead at the stark winter landscape with the barren trees devoid of green.'It IS all my fault though...I insisted that we try to organize for a union at the library.'At last she looked over to Jack. 'Someone set Alice up. Planted our pro-union handbills out in plain sight on her desk where the director could see! Shortly thereafter, she was...exiled...'
Jack frowned then. 'The devil you say, Em! That's just plain vicious! Already it begins...' Em wondered what he meant by that. Some future knowledge, perhaps? 'Have you any leads? Anyone with a grudge against Alice? Though I can't imagine anyone not liking our Alice...'
Em liked the way he referred to her as 'our Alice'...'Of course she hasn't an enemy in the world. But, there are enemies of unionization, and worker's rights! The city council...various corporations about town. But we're non-profit! Or supposed to be...'Em frowned in turn. 'If they think they can beat us down, they'll soon find out differently! Alice and I, have a plan.' Oh dear. Why did she say that? The less Jack knew, the better.
But he didn't pounce upon that tempting newsbit as she feared. As they drew up before Alice's, all Jack said was, 'Well, Em, you know you can always ask Aleister and me for anything, at anytime. He warned me to keep my distance from you,you know,'he grinned slightly at her sideways,'And we have been lying low, but not because we aren't concerned about you both. Quite the opposite.' He looked at her intently.
Just then, they were both distracted by the rattle of an approaching wagon. Down the avenue came the sound of men's voices, talking and laughing, and lo and behold, a cartload of agitators driven by none other than Lev Kopalski, rounded the corner into view. 'Whooaaah, there! Hullo, Em!' Lev's forced amiability was betrayed by his near-scowling features as he took in Em seated close beside some stranger on the driver's seat before them.He pulled the wagon alongside their small trap.
'Oh! Lev!' Em felt oddly flustered before her old beau, to be found here next to Jack suddenly. 'Is, ah, your paper out then?'
'That it is!' Lev reached behind him into a crate and handed over a stack of the Comrades' Cooperative Speaks.
'Distribute freely! And, be sure that Alice gets one of course!' He stared unabashedly at Jack, then put out a hand to him. 'Lev Kopalski.'
'Jack Van Horn,' answered Jack evenly, taking Lev's rough hand for a short sharp shake.
They were all saved from further discomfiture by the ringing of a bicycle messenger's bell then.A lad on a blue bike came barreling down the street holding forth a small slip of paper. 'Wire for Ms. Emmeline Page!' he sang out.
'I'm Ms. Page!' Em reached out and took the paper, as Jack absently handed the boy a coin, which he bit into and pocketed, then touching his cap went peddling off back to town.
'It's from the Captain!' Em was so surprised she didn't censor herself before anyone there, but caught herself then. 'Um, my friend from Liverpool, Captain Omen, that is.'
'No bad news, then?' Jack enquired courteously.
'No, not at all! His ship will be in port in San Francisco, ah, soon...is all...'Em folded the wire and slipped it in her coat pocket.
Meanwhile Lev and his wagonload of cronies had been taking in the scene with undisguised amusement. One dark , handsome lad began to strum a guitar absently, humming to himself. Lev began to laugh quietly then, and reaching into his paper-stash, handed one to Jack. 'Here! Something to keep you busy at home nights!' he laughed, and shook the reins of his big team, 'See you later on then, Em! Viva la revolucion!' And off they jangled into the evening's dying light, the lads in the wagon now raising their voices to the tune of 'Carabina 30-30'...
. . . . .
Later, after Jack had left, Em fixed herself a sandwich and decided to sit in the parlor awaiting Alice's return. Taking bites in between stoking the new fire, she kept pacing about the room, unable to relax.
What a day! Ye gods but she certainly hadn't seen it coming...all, that! 'That' being: Jack, Lev and the Captain to top it all off! How the gods must be laughing up their sleeves, if they had sleeves, enjoying the grating her poor nerves were getting...Diosa! Why is it that when she was craving only peace and quiet for a change, did it suddenly start raining men? One on top of the other!
'I didn't ask for this!' she pleaded aloud. MacGregor
padded over to her and sat before her, ready to help if he could. 'You, my dear, are the one guy I'm happy to see right now...'she allowed, as she ruffled his fur.But, why, really, was she so distraught?...she and Lev were just friends now, comrades. And the Captain, well, they were closer than friends, and yet so very far apart... And Jack? Diosa, what about Jack...?
Unconsciously mimicking his gestures, she ran her hands through her hair and then she stood, hands on hips and declared, 'I think I'll have a glass of wine!' Mac wagged in agreement she thought, and she headed to the icebox for a nicely chilled riesling. It is Friday, and the weekend, she decided, popping the cork, earning a 'whuf!' from Mac. Pouring the near-golden libation, she took a sip then headed back to the parlor, tapping her nails against the wineglass, Mac dogging her heels...
yes, just what about Jack, anyway?..she mused...
for some reason, she'd believed that he and Aleister had somehow been banished from her world when she left them back in 2076 or whenever it was.She certainly hadn't been ready to meet up with him again so soon, if at all. Truthfully, she hadn't been thinking of him. It'd been a shock when she found herself standing next to him today, ye gods...!
Suddenly she recalled the wire. She went to the hallway and took it from her coat pocket, rather wrinkled now, she smoothed it as she headed back to the fireside. Setting her glass on the mantle, she read it again. What it actually said, was that Mon Capitan and Mr. Orez, (Frank! thought Emmeline, planning their meeting-to-be--) would be in port on New Year's Eve, and would she and Alice be so kind as to join them for luncheon? Time and place were ever the same, so she knew he needn't mention anything else...they both knew one another so well...
She smiled as she sipped her wine, and sighed, thinking of her familiar capitan and how good it always was to see him;someone she knew and trusted who didn't surprise her with abductions across the centuries into strange new worlds...although...truly she didn't mind the adventure, or the strangeness. What she absolutely despised, was the whole abduction business! No: 'Hello, Emmeline! Would you be so kind as to accompany me into the future?' Just wham, bam, and not even a thank you ma'am!And then there I was, fading in and out of existence! She grimaced then and drank off her wine, setting the glass down. Jack was trouble, more so than Lev, really. Oh,and didn't he just have fun, though? Em put a hand to her forehead...recalling Lev's laughter. Now, thanks to Jack, he'd gotten the idea that she was some sort of femme fatale';
just stringing along men she idly fancied...Oh, all she wanted was to be done with the lot of them!
Refilling her wineglass, she went then to their old upright piano and sat, running her hands along the keyboard, and noting it sadly needed tuning. Not quite Jack's grand, she had to admit. Basta! Enough of Jack, already! And she slowly picked out a tune that had been tickling the back of her mind...she laughed a bit then when she realized she was echoing 'Carabina 30-30' that the young revolutionary had been playing in Lev's wagon.
'Whuuuuf! Whuf!' Mac took off for the front door, as Em heard the sound of hoofbeats outside. That must be Alice, she thought, glad of some interruption to her introspection. Alice entered and could be heard fussing over Mac and divesting herself of her winter wear.
'In here, Al,' Em said, still tinkling distractedly on the keyboard.
'Well, now! That looks the best idea yet today!' Alice remarked, heading to the icebox past Em. She returned with a glass of wine herself, and was actually smiling Em saw. She stopped playing.
'Alice! How did it go, dear?' Em scooted over as Alice sat next to her on the piano bench and fingered a few chords.
'Oh, you know...I survived. Thank goodness for good friends! If not for Leon and Ernestine, I'd be up the creek. But, being alone out there all day gave me plenty of time to think!' Alice stopped playing then. 'I actually took Frank's papers out there with me, and studied them most of the day! And what do you think, Em!' She turned to her, her eyes alight.
Em waited to hear Alice's news. 'Well, I think I have pinpointed exactly when the Nexus Point will be!'
'Truly, Alice?!' Em was excited. At last they had something!
'Yes.' Alice stood then, and took her wineglass in hand to the window. She took a sip and turned to face Em then. 'I believe, that it will be at exactly midnight, on New Year's Eve!'
Em leaped from the piano bench. 'Alice! That's perfect!
We'll be in the City then, and hopefully, with Morgana! Oh!, and Al--I, too, have great news!'Em handed Alice the wire. 'And, Mr. Orez and the Captain, will be there with us --with Frank, as well, possibly!'
Alice studied the wire. 'It looks like....Em! Oh, Em...I, I do so hope that this could really mean something...but I don't want to get my hopes up in vain.
It's going to be quite the New Year's, whatever happens, that's sure!' Alice smiled, handing Emmeline the paper.
'There is...another bit of news,' Em admitted, sipping her vino. 'I, I ran into Jack today, downtown.' She looked at Alice searchingly.
'Van Horn?' Alice's brows shot up in surprise.
'None other. Oh, Al...it couldn't have happened at a worse time...'and Em proceded to detail her unfortunate Raining Men vaudeville act that her after-work journey home had become. To her great astonishment, Alice began to laugh heartily.
'Alice! It was no laughing matter, I assure you!' Em felt rather embarrassed by the whole thing, somehow.
'Oh, Em, I'm sorry...' Alice began to hiccup then. 'I just, o, drat it! -hic- Oh, one couldn't orchestrate a better comedy routine! -hic-!'
Em was not amused. 'Not funny Al! I was wanting so to become friends with Lev again, not to give him the utterly wrong impression of, of having relations with Jack, a relative stranger! And then, the Captain's wire on top of it all...oh...' Em's misery drove Alice to a further hiccup fit.
'You'll make yourself ill, Al. Here, I'll brew some gentian tea...' Em began to head to the kitchen then.
'No! Don't you dare! -hic- I feel better already! Diosa, anything but that bitter brew it's nastier than Halfwaffle's underware!-hic!-' Alice and Em both dissolved into gales of laughter then, which Mac joined in with a 'who-ruuurrr!' sortof howling. This made them rather hysterical.
And so ended a typical evening at the Page-and-Stein residence. Satisfied that all was well, Jack crept away from his hiding place in the bushes near the parlor window and retrieved the bay which he had tied to a sycamore down the avenue. Softing singing 'Carabina 30-30,' he trotted off home to Crowley House...
...Later that same evening...
Lev locked the door to the small office he rented at the edge of town in the warehouse district, not far from the library's archives building, if he had known. It was just storage space for the new and back issues of Comrades' Cooperative Speaks and some of the union handbills;that and an old wooden desk and chair and file cabinet were all it housed, Lev made the term 'minimalist' seem rather frou-frou by comparison.
He was walking to his bicycle when he thought he heard something behind him. Just as he turned around, that was the last thing he thought before he was hit by several someones and fell to the hard ground. He felt hands going through his pockets and knew they'd taken his keys. One against four couldn't hold out long though, and mercifully he soon was out cold.
. . . . .
'Emmeline! Emmeline! Get up! Now!' Em thrashed awake hearing Alice call to her from the foyer below. She stumbled trying to open her eyes, as she groped for the doorknob. 'Alice? What is it?' Em pounded downstairs.
Alice thrust that morning's edition of the Pankhurst Courier under Em's bleary, and she had to admit, rather hungover gaze.
'Read, Em! It's Lev!'
'Lev!' Em grabbed the paper and staggered over to the window's morning light. She frowned and managed to focus enough to make out: "'Communist Sympathizer Nabbed in Plot to Torch City Hall!'"'What!?' Emmeline couldn't believe it.
But there was an old photo of Lev...from a previous Courier story on the dam protests, that is to say, those of us picketing against building the dam along the local waterway. 'It says that Lev was caught with petrol and torches and Molotov cocktails...!'Em looked at Alice in horror! 'Alice! Lev was set up too!'
'Well, let's go down there and get him out, then, what say?'
Alice headed to her room to change.
'I hope we can Alice!' Emmeline flew upstairs, tears of rage in her eyes. Oh, goddess! When will the madness ever end?, she thought, blindly grabbing clothes and dressing in a daze.
She ran downstairs and met Alice at the door, ready to race. 'We'll stop at the Guevara's en route. They'll want to know. I believe Leon knows of a pro-union attorney.' Alice locked up and they marched down the avenue to town.
'Alice...this is war.' Em's face was determined as she gazed steadily ahead and their boots echoed along the street in the early morning cold quiet.
'I wonder...seems someone is begging for a confrontation, though Em. We need to be canny about this.'Alice looked worried.
Em stopped, dumbstruck. 'Alice.'
'What?' Alice looked confused.
'You don't think...this can't have anything to do with...the Nexus?'
'Diosa...'Alice looked stricken. 'Is it that far-reaching?
You mean, they know? And, they want to, say, have us in their safe-keeping, perhaps?'
'Whoever 'they' are.' Em looked about them then. 'Let us keep moving, on to the Guevara's. We'll explain the situation, give them all we can for bail, and let them take it from there.'
She and Alice walked on then, silent.
'We can't miss that appointment, Em' Alice whispered to her friend.
Emmeline took Alice's arm, and put a hand over hers.'We won't Alice, I promise you! We'll all be there,together, on New Years Eve!'
Little did Em know how keenly prophetic her words would be.
Rosita Quintana Carabina 30 30: watch video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMEF_P-8nno
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