Savage Impulses - Story: A New Life

Savage Impulses

Story: A New Life - Chapter 11
Saturday, 22-Apr-2000 16:02:18
207.193.123.214 writes:

'Where on God's green Earth could she be??'

This purely rhetorical question was practically the only thing on Harry McHenry's mind lately. And it was the center of his thoughts right now, as he tried to enjoy a sauerkraut-covered bratwurst from his favorite park vendor. Ever since that evening at the bank, he had been going all-out to find any information about this new and mystery-shrouded "super heroine", as the papers - his "independent" magazine included - were calling her. He had to admit to himself that the green Amazon had foiled that would-be robbery of the Denver Mercantile Bank; those three men were still in shock at the woman's seemingly easy interruption of their well-planned crime. This had re-fueled people's interest in her - the latest issues of all of Denver's papers had sold out in near-record time. Readers were clamoring for more on this woman, and Harry wanted to be the first journalist to interview her and satiate their desire.

That was the core of his current dilemma. Denver was a ver large city. He had no idea just how many people lived in and around its borders, but they were far more than he cared to count. She was hiding somewhere in that throng. It had been almost a week since he had unexpectedly found himself standing next to the target of his search, and there had not been another sighting since. It was almost like the first time, whe she had come out of nowhere and rescued that child, and then had disappeared. Now she had done another good deed - and had disappeared again. Harry couldn't figure it out. There were plenty of bad things happening in this town; if you read even one newspaper or listened to one radio station, there was always talk of some crime or accident, but she never made an appearance to any of those. He felt like there was a clue there, that the two times she had shown up held something in common - - if he could only grasp it!

He finished his greasy meal and stood up from the park bench he had been inhabiting. 'I've been over this I don't know how many times, and it hasn't gotten me any closer to finding this girl. I'm not sure how long I can keep my publisher off my back before he wants to put me back on my regular beat. This is a lot more important than covering stupid conferenced, or getting picutres of visiting celebrities or politicians!' As he walked back to his car, Harry looked around the park. It was a great day to be outside; there was jut a hint of a breeze, taking the edge of the day's heat. The sun was shining, not a cloud in sight, other people were out enjoying themselves around him.... But he wasn't at all happy. He wouldn't be until he could find out all about that strong, emerald-toned beauty. He climbed into his car (which had just been fixed from that "incident" outside the bank) and joined the early afternoon traffic.

It was also a pleasant afternoon for Sarah Carter. She was sitting in her office, catching up on some paperwork that had been neglected for the past three days. But even this monotonous work couldn't puncture the balloon of general well being she was feeling. She had been successful in her efforts with her editor, Lana Wayne, to keep The Post's "star" journalist (herself) off the search for the identity of the superwoman. It had taken some doing; Ms. Wayne had been quite puzzled on why Sarah wouldn't want to be out there, searching for "the story of a lifetime", as she put it. For her part, the journalist had told her editor that she had at least half of The Post's staff out there already, and that some people still needed to cover all of the more mundane news that was happening all the time. Lana had admitted that she still didn't understand, but would grant Sarah's request.

The editor-in-chief couldn't know how relieved Sarah had been when her boss had given in. She knew that, if Lana had wanted to push it, she could have made Sarah join the others to search for their green-skinned quarry. In essence, she would have been searching for herself. That did not appeal to Sarah whatsoever; she had spent the greater part of the last couple of years doing just that, although in not quite so literal a fashion. But after her short but informative talk with her resident AI (artificial intelligence) computer - modeled after her deceased brother's mind - she had experienced a revelation of sorts, which she hoped would settle the disparity of her differing lives. She had no wish to undergo a real-life search for one of those lives. She wanted to keep them as seperate as she could.

There was another aspect of this search that didn't appeal to Sarah, as well. One of the foremost questions Lana wanted answered was why, if this "super woman" was around, she wasn't doing more to help Denver's citizens. There had been many other occassions in which her obvious abilities would have been greatly welcomed, and yet she had not appeared. Of course, Sarah knew the answer - she couldn't be out helping people AND be here at The Denver Post at the same time. And she didn't want to give up her job here, either. So her new side "occupation" had to be limited. Besides, she wasn't out to save the world or any such romantic ideal. She could only do what she could - and hope that it was enough. Sitll, she kenw that one of these times she would have to answer some questions for the press (including her own paper). Of course, she'd have to make up her answers as she went, since nothing she would say could point back to her life as Sarah Carter. She'd have to be ready for that, whenever it came up.

So here she was, doing paperwork which, almost any other time, she would have abhorred. But she was more than willing to do this tedious work - it beat the alternative. She stopped typing for a second and looked out of the bank of windows across the cleared-out area from her. The Post's office ran from the third floor to the tenth of this office building, with leased space on several other floors for storage and printing purposes. Sarah's "office" was located on the tenth, and subsequently she had a spectacular view of both the cityscape of Denver, CO, and some of the park that resided less than half-a-mile from their section of town. 'That would be the one good thing about being placed on that assignment: I'd be able to enjoy this gorgeous weather.', she thought. 'Oh well, it's a small price to pay for a little peace-of-mind.'

Sarah heard foostpes coming up behind her, and she turned around to see Andrew coming towards her, a sheath of papers in his hands. "Hi, Andy. Looks like more typing for me today, eh?"

He looked down at the manila folder he held and offered Sarah a nervous smile. "Uh, yeah. Since you turned down the 'super heroine' assignment, Ms. Wayne said that you were her lady to type these out for Thursday's edition." He stood there, regarding Sarah with a bit of curiosity in his light-brown eyes. "Umm... Sarah? Do you mind terribly if I ask you a question?"

Sarah put her hands in her lap and looked at her friend. "Sure, go ahead."

Andrew noisily cleared his throat before beginning. "Well, ever since this new woman came into town, you've kind of been avoiding anything that has to do with her. Everyone thinks that she could be one of the best things that's happened to this city for a while, and not only for newspaper sales. She's already saved a baby's life and thwarted a robbery. If I might ask: why aren't you out there looking for her, too? This seems to be something that you would usually be the first to pursue." He lowered his eyes from hers during her following silence. "Y - You don't have to answer that, Sarah. It's probably none of my business." He turned around to walk out.

But Sarah stopped him. Although she felt a bit hesitant to answer his question, it was a shrewd and and intellegent observation that he had made, and she liked seeing him show a little initiative. Definitely a rare thing with Andrew Peters. "Andy, it's okay. I consider you a good friend, and I think you do deserve to know my reasons." She waited until he occupied one of the extra chairs in her area before continuing. "You want to know why I'm not out there with everyone else, searching for this woman. I guess it's because I feel a little uncomfortable with this whole thing. About digging into her private life to find out who she is. When I go out and cover stories for this paper, I do not try to find out any personal information about any of the persons, companies, etc. involved, unless they offer them to me. With this, Ms. Wayne wants us to search this woman out and try and pry into her personal life, and I just don't feel comfortable doing that." This was mostly the truth, with one little omission: it was Sarah's own private life the various journalists and reporters wanted to dig into, though none knew that she and the green woman were on-in-the-same. So it was jut a litte white lie that she had told Andrew. But she still felt bad about lying, even if it was small. "Does that make any sense to you?"

He nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes Sarah. That makes perfect sense." He smiled at her, a little of her nervousness appearing to vanish. "That's one reason that I'm glad I can count you as a friend. You've helped me a lot with just your actions and beliefs. I look up to you as - well, as sort of a mentor, I guess. You'be been more than a friend to me, Sarah - "

Andrew's mouth instantly shut, the nervous look coming back full-force. "I - I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have said anything else." He quickly stood up, placing the folder of papers on her desk and began to back out of her workspace. "Please, don't give any thought to what I just said. I know I overstepped the bounds of our friendship, and I'm very sorry. E - Enjoy the rest of your afternoon..." He turned around, almost running into a passing clerk, and rapidly retreated from her presence.

Sarah sighed to herself, looking in the direction he had left. 'That's as open and expressive of his feelings that he's been with me. I thought that maybe, just maybe, he was starting to breath through his anxiety towards me. What would he say, I wonder, if I told him that the feelings I know he feels towards me are returned?' He had been one of the first employees she had met when she had come to The Denver Post, and they had struck up an almost-instant, if a bit quirky, friendship. As the time passed, she realized that she was actually having feelings that went above friendship for Andrew; she didn't know when they had started, but they were there, regardless. And she had spotted, through his nervous and sometimes roundabout chatter, that he, too, had developed feelings towards her. But he would never admit them to her, and she hadn't told him how she felt, either. 'I might scare him off completely. I know I shouldn't allow reasoning like that to keep me from telling Andy the truth, but he seems so emotionally fragiel....' Sarah knew that there existed an intellegent, carying young man beneath that anxious exterior, but she had yet to find a way to break through it. She looked out of the bank of windows, and then glanced at her computer. 'I haven't eaten lunch yet, and this little conversation has given me an idea....'

Sarah stood up from her desk and walked out into the open hallway. She quickly reached Andrew's cubicle and found him fiddling with a slew of papers, attempting to organize them into his three-ring binder. She knocked on the cubicle's wall. He looked up. "Oh, Sarah, you surprised me! Can I - "

She didn't let him finish. She reached down, took his hand in her own, and helped pull him to his feet. "Andy, remember you treated me to lunch the other day?" He nodded cautiously. "I want to return the favor. How's hotdogs and a little walk in the park sound? We can talk about whatever we want to, or just admire the day."

"Well, uhh - - okay, Sarah. That sounds, umm. good to me, I guess..."

"Great! Let's go!"

To be continued

Terry