Hi There,
Here is this week’s scene of Full Circle. I’m currently still waiting on my intrepid proof-reader (but she’s been a bit under the weather) so I’m hoping to report some more progress for you soon.
You’re probably wondering how I am feeding you so many chapters while we wait but, thankfully, the book has a large amount of chapters and… if I quit lumbering and give you the full version… you can see for yourself… I’ll keep you updated and we’re working on it!
Big Smiles,
Jody
My thoughts: One of the ways Aeron helps tell her own unique story is the way that she hears the stories of others. I’ve fed little snippets to you throughout these opening scenes (because, as I’ve said… there are a lot of chapters in this book) and the tricky part of giving you the grounding in what you need to know and building each strand of individual stories whilst feeding in the overarching strands (which are multiple) was a challenge. I might have said that already… so maybe I’m more like Aunt Bess and Susan than I realise? Either way, I enjoy laying all the juicy bits to keep you reading and guessing and feeding you subtle information during act one… So over to Aeron and her non-hairy butt cheeks…
Full Circle exclusive.
Copyright © 2018 Jody Klaire.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any means, electronic or mechanical without permission in writing from the author and publisher.
Please note: all scenes are the intellectual property of the author and that online exclusive scenes may differ from the published version.
Chapter 18
Scene 2
I don’t know why I always got lumbered with folks who had ailments. I weren’t talking about the other patients in the ward ‘cause Pecan nurse was taking my pulse and counting in her head but she had a migraine… and so that meant I had one too.
She was giving it a good shot but she’d been taking my pulse for five minutes and she still couldn’t concentrate enough to be sure.
“It ain’t racing, can you just put that down?” I mumbled, trying not to rub at my own head.
“Sorry,” she mumbled and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Look like your head hurts,” I said and nodded to the office. “Why don’t you fix your aches first and then maybe you’ll feel well enough?”
Pecan nurse smiled at me. “Good idea. If you need anything, you’ll call, right?”
“Sure as shoots, I will.” I leaned against the pillows and shifted around as she wandered off. I needed the ladies again but I weren’t going to the ladies. Nan was working too hard keeping me company as it was.
I shifted around again. No, I really needed the ladies. I groaned, grabbed my jug of water——‘cause the glasses were too small in my big paws——and stumbled up the ward.
It wasn’t enjoyable being ordered around. The medics strode through the wing without making eye contact with anyone. The guards were easier to talk to and they didn’t mind sharing a smoke with a junior guard. The work was easy. The girls were so terrified that they did what was asked and more.
He kept his nose clean though. College had started back but he liked the money so it was easy to find a geek to threaten into doing the work for him. He didn’t have to skip too many classes. It was a good way to hide from the crazy girl’s father who was trying to catch hold of him. So she was pregnant? Wasn’t his fault. She probably let most guys sample her easy ways.
“You,” one of the medics said, glaring at him. “Take this one to the doctor.”
“Sure.” He flashed a false smile and took the shaking girl off the medic. They weren’t doctors but somehow they got to walk around the place like them. What did they do?
He took the girl, blonde, nice figure, and led her to the ward. She shook the whole way but he liked that. When they got to the ward, the medic strapped her in and gave her a shot. She stopped shaking then and by the time the doctor was ready to get his hands on her, she looked happy to let him.
He grinned at the doctor, nodded, and strolled out into the corridor. Wonder what was in that shot? Could be handy.
I gulped at the water. “I just need to go,” I muttered at the empty corridor. “I don’t want to hear your memories. You’re a chump.”
Pecan Nurse stuck her head out of the office and raised her eyebrows.
“It helps if I talk to myself,” I said with a shrug.
She smiled and disappeared back in her office. Yeah, she worked in Serenity alright.
“You, get in there and help.” The medic snapped it at him, panic in his eyes.
He peeked inside. Doctor was hiding behind the bed with a girl strapped to it as another girl charged at him.
Slam. Grunt.
“You hurt her,” the other girl yelled in French—He knew enough from extra lessons he took as a Freshman. Thought it would help win over girls but they only listened when he got rough. “You touch her. I see what you feed her.”
“Crazy… get… argh.” Doctor yelped but in English. Guy didn’t understand a word by the tone.
He rolled his eyes. What kind of man couldn’t handle a bawling woman. He shoved open the door. Doctor was on the floor nursing his bleeding leg. Had a large needle jutting out of it.
“Hey, hey… calm down…” He gripped the girl by the wrist.
She spun, snapped his elbow, and launched him into the wall. Pain shot through him.
He gripped his elbow. Stupid bitch. He grabbed a syringe that the doctor was trying to crawl toward. Girl came at him. He stuck out the needle but she ripped it from him and slammed it into his shoulder.
His vision fuzzed and he dropped.
I gulped down more water. I half wanted to cheer even if my elbow was throbbing too.
“I have my jug,” I told the laundry room. “I’m not listening to you.”
Elbow was still in a cast. Stupid scum. Had to tell everyone that it was a football injury. Now, he had to explain himself to the head shrink.
He glared at the receptionist. Some woman who thought she should work and stopping a man from earning an honest wage.
“He’s in,” the receptionist spat at him like he was some stupid kid.
He didn’t give her an answer and knocked on the door. Doctor Gossett’s name in brass stared back at him.
“Enter.” Gossett had a cultured tone like he was better than everybody else.
He shoved open the door but Gossett was on the phone. He was a slug-like guy, big barrel for a stomach, double chin, tight off-blue suit and hardly any hair. He had dirty eyes hidden behind tiny gold-rimmed glasses.
Gossett held up sausage fingers as he leaned into the handset of his phone. “No, I checked that…” He was speaking in French like the scum did but some words were unfamiliar. “I have checked… I’m your brother… I know you loved them… Yes… I’m looking…”
He stared at his shoes hoping that Gossett didn’t notice he could understand his conversation. Could be useful.
“She escaped and you know what they are like when they think they smell freedom.” Gossett picked at his teeth with the lid of his pen. “This is why you need to medicate them… No, I know you disallowed them being medicated. I know you love them.”
“Hey, I’m a woman,” I hollered, scowled, gulped more water then wagged my jug at the wall.
Wait.
Gossett? Like Susan’s dad?
I knew he’d needed pickle juice for experimenting on people.
“Yes, Aeron, you’re a woman,” Pecan nurse called out of the office. “Remember the conversation about butt cheeks?”
I chuckled. “What, guys don’t have butt cheeks?”
“They have hairy ones… my husband has more hair on his butt than on his head.” She sighed. “I tell him that and he says I have more hair on my face than he does.” She poked her head out, something fizzy in her glass. “We love each other, what can I say?”
“You sure?” I downed more water. Tasted kinda stale. I peered into the jug.
He shifted on his feet. Was he expected just to stand around?
“I will find…” Sounded like Gossett said he’d made something. Needed to brush up on French. “I will call when I have something more.” Gossett put the phone down and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “What does he think I am?” He muttered to himself. “She is just a…” the word was again unfamiliar. “Why does he love them so much when they are tiresome?”
He cleared his throat. “You want me to come and see you when you’re not too busy?”
Who did Gossett think he was, talking to himself and thinking other people should just wait like good little kids?
Gossett fixed him with a glare. “You were useless. She got out of the room and ran half way down the wing before they stopped her.” He slammed his fist to the desk. “You simply had to take her back to her cell.”
He sucked in his chin. “Hey, I went in there when that doctor was hiding behind a bed. She’d already stabbed him. It’s not my fault. It’s his fault.” He pointed to his chest. Job or not, he wasn’t answering to anybody. “If he’s gonna play with the crazies, he’s the one you should holler at.”
Gossett narrowed his eyes. “Play with them?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged and shoved his hands in his belt. “Play. He shoots them with crap and they let him do whatever he pleases.”
And he was playing with a whole load of them.
“You tell the truth?” Gossett’s French accent rippled through. He normally covered it with some other foreign tone like that made him more clever.
“Yeah. I tried to calm her down and she snapped my elbow.” He tapped the cast. “I don’t know what he shot her with but no woman should be that strong. It’s not right.”
Gossett studied him for a moment, then a sly smile crossed his face. “You like turning on senior staff?”
“I’m not turning, you’re trying to blame me and I’m not taking it.” He puffed up his chest. “Fire me for all I care but I didn’t touch the scum and I didn’t send her running through the wing.”
Gossett leaned onto his hands and smiled. “You think you’re a strong man… what a man should be, yes?”
He nodded.
“Of course you do.” Gossett nodded with a smile and waved to the door. “I like a man who knows what these girls are. Not many young men would ignore how easy it is to enjoy their delights.”
“I can get a real woman, one who knows how to be a woman.” He folded his arms and nodded in the direction of the receptionist. “Not women who think they should have a say.”
“Oh, so you don’t think they should work?” Gossett sat back as if he was enjoying himself.
“No, a woman should be in a kitchen or when I get home, she should be on my lap.” He shifted on his feet. Crazy girl he got pregnant had the potential to be a nice quiet piece of fun. Why’d she act so stupid and think he should provide anything?
Gossett laughed. “If it was up to you, they would be slaves too?”
He nodded. “That’s what they should always be and that’s what they need knocked into their heads. They think too hard and they get dumb ideas.”
“Yes, they do.” Gossett smiled. “In that case, you are charged with looking after the girl who attacked you and her cellmate. Feel free to knock sense into them.”
He grinned. “You got it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I told you to get out of my head. In fact, you get your hind out here so I can beat you.”
Pecan Nurse poked her head out again. “Me?”
“No, the guy in my head.” I sighed and gulped more water down. “If I tell you that I feel and see memories from places, you’ll think I’m crazier than you do already.”
“So, you want to beat a memory… of your own?” She had downed her fizzy concoction and didn’t seem bothered I was whittling on.
“No, some guy who worked for Gossett.” I was only halfway up the corridor but I’d drunk most of my jug and if it took this much water to get to the ladies, I might as well camp in there. “He beat people.”
“Susan beat people?” Pecan Nurse shook her head. “No, she was lovely.”
“I know Susan was, she helped me,” I said, only it couldn’t have looked like it with me clinging onto the wall with a water jug while yelling at a memory. “Her dad was a chump.”
“Oh, you mean the files she released?” Pecan Nurse nodded and strolled over. “Memories… right… yeah. Oh, she was so brave doing that, wasn’t she?”
Okay, I’d go with that. “Yeah, and she was real nice.”
“I heard she and Doctor Llys were an item.” Pecan Nurse smirked. “No butt hair between that couple.”
I pursed my lips. “She went on one date.”
Pecan Nurse shook her head eyeing my water jug. “Oh no, they lived together and everything. I saw them getting into Doctor Llys’ car myself quite a few times.”
I reached out and touched her and the static shock from her hand confirmed it.
“But…” I wrinkled up my lips. Renee had said one date. Why’d she say she only been on one date when she’d been living with Susan?
I downed the rest of the water, handed the nurse the jug, and stomped off to the toilets. The memory could bite my non-hairy butt cheeks, cover or not, what was Renee doing living with POIs? That was just…
I shoved open the bathroom door. That was one memory I was gonna ignore.
