Discarded Things

Posted on Sat 25th Nov, 2017 @ 12:22am by
Edited on on Wed 15th Aug, 2018 @ 4:36am

597 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: Pale Moon Books
Timeline: MD 3, 0730

One nice thing about attending a Catholic school, Aiko MacBeth thought as she buttoned her white uniform blouse over her minimizing bra, was that it settled the question of "What am I going to wear today?" quite nicely. She stood in front of her mirror, decided to add the sweater-vest, and looked again. She sighed. "As usual," she commented, smoothing her pleated tartan skirt, "this is as good as it gets."

Aiko picked up her PADD from her desk and tossed it into her school satchel. She left her bedroom, glanced at her father's door. Still closed. Well, no surprise there... he'd been up late, reading. And, she thought wryly, keeping her from sneaking out to the Addams séance. She wondered absently how that had gone, as she grabbed a piece of toast from the replicator. She held it in her mouth as she decided on a bento number eight, and shoved that in her satchel as well. Quietly, she went down the steps to the lower floor, to the small area behind the bookshop. She pulled her shoes out of the getabako, dropped them on the floor, stepped into them. In the morning, she prefered to use the back door rather than passing through the shop -- more than once, it had happened that someone seeing her come out of the bookstore stopped her to talk about books, which was not conducive to making it to school on time.

She paused outside the back door, looking around at the park inside the square. Buildings, including her family's bookshop, faced out, toward the streets and away from the park. In the center of the park was an oak tree of surprising girth, its canopy bare at this simulated season. It was, of course, only a landscaper's conceit, but Aiko had seen snow on the schedule three nights hence. She made a note to wear a full-sleeve sweater that day.

She glanced at the shuttered forge, only partially visible behind the bole of the oak tree, and turned away, toward the alley which ran between Pale Moon Books and Calico Cat Quilts. Just through the brick arch was a bench -- the kind of place young lovers would sit, in the springtime, and pretend that no one could see them. To Aiko's surprise, the bench was occupied. "Good morning," Aiko said cheerfully. There was no response.

Aiko frowned. The man... it appeared to be a man, at least, in a long coat and hat pulled low over his eyes... might be asleep. "Pardon me," Aiko said, more loudly. "There's a boarding house on the east side of the square. That has to be more comfortable than sleeping on a park bench!" She laughed.

Still there was no response. Aiko began to get nervous. She glanced at the street end of the alley, and then back over her shoulder toward the park. No one else was in sight. Aiko became conscious of the smell of the man. It was a sewer sort of smell, urine and feces and something sharp, like iron. "Are you all right, sir?" she asked, stepping closer. "The station's chief physician lives nearby, and...." she reached out, touched the man's shoulder gently. His head lolled to the side, and she saw the gaping slice in his throat, the blood staining his suit. She drew back her hand, and jumped back, then turned and ran back to her door.

She thundered up the steps to the apartment, not taking the time to remove her shoes or any effort to be quiet. "Dad!" she yelled. "DAD!"

 

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