Gotta Catch The Pretty Ones
© 2011-2014 by Mr. David R. Dorrycott
Chapter Twenty
It was still raining in the morning, tipping was a word Sara’s father would have used if they still talked. If anything the weather was worse. How Constable Hendricks intended to search in this weather was beyond Sara’s imagination. Opening her shop, she laid her revolver just out of sight under the counter. There was no telling if Waterdown might just come back after all. Picking up her current reading material, a collection of the published theories on Pokeball formatting, she began to read. It wasn’t until Penny came to get her for lunch that the redhead realized that no one had come in and that the weather was still just as bad. Maybe in the afternoon she thought, but she now had an idea why you couldn’t get a Pokeball to capture more than one creature at a time.
Patricia was at the table but still shaking. She was wearing Sara’s thick cotton bathrobe, so the shaking wasn’t because she was cold. Remembering the long, jet black tresses the Huntress’s now hairless head looked strange to Sara. “Be back” she warned as Sara sat down.
“I hope not” she replied, knowing that the woman was talking about Waterman. “Constable Hendricks is out looking for him now. He couldn’t have gotten far, not in this weather.”
‘Es mad” Patricia continued, as though Sara hadn’t spoken. “Caught me ah Harper Falls. Was enjoyin tha sunshine. Hit me wit a stick. Woke up bound ahn in mah nightgown.” She sobbed a little, reaction still working its way through her. “No plac tah hide. He’ll be back.”
Sara realized it was hard for their guest to talk, what with her face swollen like that. “We might have a hiding place he can’t find you in” she offered, picking at the edges right now.
“Wants yoo too” Patricia warned. “Wants yer head onna stick. After ‘e has you and watch us ‘gether. ‘Es mad.”
“My head on a stick would really cramp my love life” Sara joked. “So I think I’ll pass.”
Penny sat down a bowl of hot beef broth and a plate of fresh bread in front of Patricia. “Take your time” the brunette instructed. “A little at a time until your able to eat normal food again.” She patted Patricia on her now bear head, then leaned down to lightly press her lips against the battered woman’s skin. Oddly considering her earlier statements, Patricia didn’t try to turn away.
Sara watched as the now bald woman carefully picked up a piece of bread. She glanced at Sara, as though the redhead was going to steal her food then shuddered. A reaction probably to being safe again. Carefully she dipped the bread then lifted it slowly to her mouth.
Sara’s own plate landed with a soft thump. She noted that it was a thick ham sandwich, sliced diagonally, with sliced cucumber on the side. Looking up she saw that Penny was watching their guest. “Any word” her wife asked without looking at Sara.
“Nothing. You’ll know when I know” Sara reported. “But I now have a good idea why Pokeball’s can’t capture more than one creature at a time.”
Setting down across from Sara Penny picked up half her sandwich. “Can I know?” the ex-librarian asked.
“It’s a mechanical problem” the Poketech said before taking a bite of her own sandwich. Swallowing a couple of minutes later she looked at the sandwich. “Po’s honey ham?” she asked.
“Yes, now why is it a mechanical problem?”
“The CPU can’t support writing more than one object at a time. Likewise, the Capture screens are wired directly to the CPU. Then there are the support programs and devices, it’s just not designed to handle more than one creature at a time, even though there is way more memory core available than four small creatures, or say two Absol’s would require.”
“I had an Absol” a weak voice announced. “Waterman beat on my Pokeball’s with a rock until the cases were ruined.”
Sara looked over at Patricia, who’s voice had cleared so quickly. “Your voice” she said.
“Lips are swollen” the woman continued slowly. “Hot soup helps. How long can I hide here.”
“No more than a week” Penny admitted. “After that people will notice we are buying more food than normal. Gossip will get back to Waterman. You said he’s mad is he an idiot?”
“No.” Dipping another bit of bread into her soup Patricia used the liquid to sooth her lips. “Smarter than most people.”
“Then eat, we’ll work hard to get you your strength back” Penny answered. “Then get you to a hiding place he will never discover.”
“Grave?” the woman asked.
“Only when you die of old age” Penny laughed. “Now eat, then back to bed with you.”
“Yes Mama.” Patricia returned to her silent consumption of her soup while Penny and Sara returned to their conversation.
“Can you put double systems in the Pokeball” Penny asked.
Sara shrugged, her mouth full of sandwich. When she could talk again she answered her wife. “I really don’t know. Pokeball circuits have gotten a lot smaller since the Type Ones. Heck, the type ones still had a few transistors in them but is there physical room? I’ll have to load my Pokeball design suite and try. There’s no reason to ruin a ball if I can’t do it but there are also a lot of software problems and I’m still working my way through the code myself.”
“You have the Winter” Penny decided. “Oh, speaking of that the Warren Hill Music Festival starts in two weeks. Lets go together this year.”
“Next year I promise” Sara answered. “I really want to see that, but...” She looked pointedly at Patricia.
Penny nodded silently. “Okay” she decided. “Next year, but its next year or I tie you up and drag you there.”
“Agreed.” Sara was about to take another bite of her sandwich when there was a pounding on the Shop door. Patricia went white, dropping her soup soaked bread back into the near empty bowl. Penny stood, moving to the horrified woman. “We’ll be locked in the bedroom” she told Sara. “With the phone ready.”
All three women moved quickly. Sara towards the door to her shop, Patricia being helped upstairs into the tower bedroom by Penny. Buying time Sara peaked through the kitchen door into her shop. There was, she could barely see, three figures at the door. None looked like the crazed monster burned into her memory though. Taking a deep breath she stepped into the shop just as the lead figure pounded of its door again. Locking the kitchen door behind her she grabbed her revolver and called out. “On my way, I was having lunch.”
This seemed to mollify the pounding figure so Sara carefully walked to the door. When she was six feet away she could see that it was Constable Hendricks. Relieved, Sara unbarred the heavy wooden door that the Martine’s had added and opened it. As she had left the outer door unlocked the three figures made there way into the open display area of her shop, each one releasing a river of water onto the shops stone floor.
“We found im” Constable Hendricks reported as he pulled off his rain hat, spilling more water on the floor. “He was floatin in Iris pound, jus two hundred yards behin tha Kurosawa’s Eastern rice paddy. He’s dead.”
“Thank the Gods” Sara whispered, almost letting her revolver fall to the floor. “I killed him?”
“Yah hurt ‘im bad” the officer admitted. “But he couldah lived. It was drownin that ended tha madmans life. Ahn I got bad news too.”
“What’s that” Sara asked, walking back to her counter to hide her revolver.
‘E had stuff from tha Patricia girl on ‘em. Her Hunters card, some jewels with ‘er name. She’s dead Sara. Dead as Sissy. Iffin we can find ‘is camp after this rain is over mahbe we can find ‘er body.”
“She was awful pretty” Sara admitted. “And so full of life, so what happens to the murders body?”
“Buried in the forest an unmarked grave” one of the other figures answered. It was, she realized, Mr. Kurosawa. “Such monsters deserve no marker.”
“Kinda rough, don’t you think?” Sara asked. “What about his family?”
“If he were a Kurosawa” the man answered. “We would denounce him. All he was, all he had done. He would have been made Not.”
“Ewww.. Mr. Kurosawa, remind me never to anger you” Sara gasped.
A soft chuckle answered her. “You are a married woman Mrs. Richards. You helped end a monsters madness. You are a well respected member of this community as is your wife. I do not believe that you will ever anger me.”
“I could make a pass at Yuki” Sara suggested, ready to dive for cover.
“Then it would be my oldest daughters responsibility to deny or accept that pass” Mr. Kurosawa answered. “She is an adult. Her choices will be accepted by her family.”
Sara nodded in understanding. “Well don’t worry sir. I am not willing to lose my wife by chasing another woman. Even one as beautiful, graceful and intelligent as Yuki” She turned her attention to the Constable. “All clear?”
“Yes, an you will lose yer phone at tha end of tha week” he answered.
“No sir I won’t. Penny feels safer having it so a little belt tightening and I found a way to afford it. Thank you gentlemen. I’d offer you something to drink, but at your pounding Penny ran upstairs, sadly knocking over the coffee pot on her way. We need to clean that up now.”
“No problem” the third person announced, proving herself a woman. “I’m taking them over to the café, after this a hot lunch is on me.”
The three turned then and went back out the front door, Sara taking the time to turn her sign from Closed for Lunch to Open behind them. Hurrying back into the house and to the tower door she called for Penny. When her wife arrived she quickly gave her the report.
“Good to know but Patricia’s curled up in a ball under the bed. She thought it was Waterman.
“Well give her the good news, I need to get to work but first...” She gave her wife a tonsil draining kiss, grabbed the rest of her lunch then headed back into the shop. “Bring me the mop and bucket will you” she asked. “They poured an ocean on the floor.”
The rain ended soon after and like locusts the waiting populace hurried out into watery sunshine. Later that evening as Sara was cleaning up to close a young couple came in. Both were obviously Hunters and both were obviously soaking wet.
“Closest Public restrooms are at the Café or the Library” Sara announced, noting the way both fidgeted. “Mine is private.”
“We don’t need a bathroom” the young man answered. “We um, we’re broke. We need to sell some equipment so we can eat.”
“Ah, well then come to the counter and lets see what you have to offer.” Sara sat the mop against a wall, returning to her counter. The woman she noted was either carrying a pillow or was about five months along. As they sat various items on her counter Sara studied them carefully. “I can’t buy the type eights” she apologized. “They are removed from service, they can be sold at a Guild Auction but they can no longer be bought, sold or even given away. You might get thirty P each at auction, but the nearest one is in Traintown and two months from now. The used type nines though I can only give you fifty P each for, and the Pokedex. It has seen hard times, hasn’t it?”
“My brother gave it to us as a wedding gift” the woman explained. “Four years ago.”
Setting the five empty type nines aside Sara shook her head in dismay at what remained on her counter. “You might sell the rest of this at open market, which is every morning but I doubt it would be worth the sellers fee. Tell you what, I’ll give you a hundred each for the type nines, you throw in the type eights, I’ll scrap them for parts and you don’t tell anyone that I did this. Keep the Pokedex, it really hasn’t much monetary value in its current condition and replacing it later would cost you an arm and a few toes. Then after you eat go to the Winston’s Pokemon Hall. Tell them that Sara sent you to see if they had any work, or at least a place to stay the night. They owe me a small favor and I don’t mind calling in that marker. Honestly, it is the best that I can do.”
“Its way more than we expected” the young man admitted. “Thank you.” He accepted the money, twice as much as he had hoped for then signed a receipt transferring ownership of his excess Pokeball’s to Sara. She watched the two leave, hoping they had better luck. Not all Pokemon Hunters made it and those two looked to be on the ragged edge themselves.
“Bravo” Penny said from behind Sara, clapping her hands. “You help the downtrodden and have given me more Pokeball’s to capture your experimental animals with.” She rushed over, wrapping her arms around the alarmed Technician. “And I love you so much for it, those two would have starved without your help. You make me so proud.”
“Okay.. Okay.. Need air.. Breath” Sara faked, acting like she was being strangled.
Penny released her. “I lied to Patricia” she admitted. “I told her that they ran him off is all.”
“Why not tell her the truth” Sara asked.
“Because she’s going to get a lot better by the end of a week and she might run off before I’m ready.”
Shaking her head in disbelief Sara turned her wife around, pointing at the door. “Dinner and something substantial for our future toy. Now go.” She swatted Penny on her buttocks, sending the laughing girl hurrying off. Penny was so loving and so desiring of making her happy the redhead thought. ‘If I let her’ she thought. ‘She’d capture the world.’ At least there were only a limited number of empty type eights still available, that at least limited Penny to the size of her future zoo.