Masquerade

Posted on Sat 8th May, 2021 @ 9:50am by
Edited on on Sat 8th May, 2021 @ 12:28pm

1,005 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Waging Peace
Location: Orchids & Jazz, Deck 600, Jade's Office
Timeline: MD 1, 1510

Mid-afternoon was the quietest time in Orchids & Jazz, and the time Jade used most often for personal reflection. It was a habit started by her adoptive Earth parents when she'd first gone to live with them, after the destruction of everything she knew. Today, she was writing in her journal, a dark green leather volume, with a reproduction Mont Blanc fountain pen, in royal blue ink and a fine point. The journal was filled with white pages lined in light blue, and she used about one every year to record her experiences, thoughts, reflections ... the Jade very few people ever knew.

She sat behind her desk, her hair up in an ancient Gibson Girl style, with a curl or two coming loose, and dressed in a silvery lavender that was her trademark long evening dress with an orchid curled up the side in a darker purple, though that wasn't visible from the door where her employee, Reon Velasquez, observed her. It was something he simply knew and used to fill in the picture.

"Miss Lantz?" the doorman said quietly, not willing to disturb her if she were deep into something.

"Yes?" she responded absently, not looking up from her writing. After a moment, when there was no follow-up, she looked up from her journal. "Oh, hello, Reon, come sit down. What can I do for you?"

The man ambled across the floor, not immediately responding. He'd known Jade since he first stumbled into her restaurant on earth - the first Orchids & Jazz - almost fifteen years before. He'd been a very young fifteen at the time.

Jade capped her pen and laid it down, closing the journal. She leaned back in her chair and waited for him to tell her what current problem needed solving.

Reon sat, but didn't lean back. Instead, he leaned forward, elbows on knees and hands clasped. "That's so you," he said. "In all the years I've worked with you, that's the thing I've heard most out of your mouth ... what can I do for you? It's what you say to all your employees first thing. When a friend comes in, takes a table, orders dinner and asks to speak with you, it's the first thing you say to them. What can I do for you? You take care of everyone else, but who takes care of you?"

Surprised, which rarely happened, the club owner stared at her long-time employee. "I don't really need taking care of," she told him, at last.

"I don't think that's true," he shook his head. "We all need taking care of sometime."

"You know me," she half-smiled at him.

He shook his head. "I don't think I do. I don't think anyone does. I've been with you longer than anyone else on SB109's version of Orchids & Jazz. We've never had a really personal conversation about you, though I think you know my whole life's story." He paused to reflect. "I know a few facts about you, the Robert Fox and all that, and where you grew up. I know what I've experienced as your employee during all the versions of Orchids & Jazz ... what 4 of them now? 5? But know you? Not at all.

"Other than the night Romulus was destroyed by the super nova, and we were drunk on philosophy, I don't think we've ever approached a personal discussion. Not one that was personal about you. So who are you, Miss Lantz, when the lights are low and you're alone?" he asked, obviously curious and not making a romantic overture.

"Where is this coming from, Reon? What caused these questions now?" she asked him.

He looked down at his hands, rubbing them together slightly, and then back up at her. "I'm not sure. Maybe just aging? Maybe a sudden realization that you take care of everyone else, but none of us really has a clue about what you might need?"

"Oh. That's very ... thoughtful of you, but I really don't need anything. I have all of you and the club and friends. If I did need anything, I'd know someone to help me," she smiled reassuringly at him.

Now he did lean back in the chair, staring at her. His curiosity was roused more than ever. Who was Jade Lantz when the lights were out?

"But you never ask. And I don't think you ever will." He stared at her a few more moments and then stood. "I'm always around, if you ever need to be you with someone." He gave her a half-salute and walked out of her office.

Watching him go, Lantz thought of all the years she'd lived. How many people had known her in all that time? Her parents, first set and Earth set, probably. The man who'd taught her everything she knew about jazz and about running a restaurant. She'd discovered early that outliving her friends was difficult. It was hard to realize she'd known Velasquez fifteen years. How soon would he be moving on to his own life? How soon until he finally got over Maria Elena and found someone new to love? Was that what his questions had been about?

She thought about that and then shook her head. She didn't think so. Their friendship had never had a romantic element to it, not even when he was so very young and lost. She thought about the question he'd posed. Who was she when she was alone in the middle of the night? The same person, always the same person. She didn't often allow herself to be less ... or was it more? ... than her professional self. Only in her journals. Only on certain dates. Only when she was feeling weak.

She leaned forward and picked up her pen, turning it in her hands a moment. Today, she was not feeling weak. She opened the desk drawer and dropped in the pen, then picked up the journal and shoved it onto the book shelf next to her desk. Next on her list ... talk to Podkayne.

 

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