Cabin Fever

[james_bell]

His pencil thudded on the table in time with a beat.

James sat under an umbrella at one of the city’s lunch bistros. The patio had drawn a few customers because the weather was nice. His club sandwich was long ago eaten; only bread crusts and crumbs remained on his plate, which he had shoved to the middle of the table. His Pepsi was half-drunk. Headphones pumped Doug E. Fresh into his ears. Periodically he took them off and wrote in a spiral notebook. James had gotten work as a DJ at a club and he was dreaming up a new mix that fused rap and funk. It might not get played, but it got the juices flowing and he was getting cabin fever at home.

He stopped to read the ads on the side of a city bus. Vidal Sassoon. Siefried and Roy. When it took off, it coughed a cloud of smog into the air. The reddish-brown fumes dissipated and he put down his pencil. James rubbed the legs of his pants and tried to crack his neck.

[Thread]

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[wolfs_daughter]

The cold snap had broken, so Echo was wearing a light jacket instead of a coat. She'd stopped for lunch to get a plate of lasagna. There were a few people on the patio, but not enough of them that it was crowded.

The hybrid was job hunting. Sort of, anyway. She'd come armed with the want ads, but employment was thin on the ground now that the holidays were over. Especially for someone with her shy temperament. She'd circled a listing for an opening at a daycare center, but if they wanted someone with a college education she was screwed. Maybe she really should look into the school thing again.

They served bottled root beer inside, and Echo tried to make the bottle cap spin on its side on the tabletop, but it wouldn't cooperate. She put it in her pocket to keep because she liked the miniature farmhouse on it. It would go in her box of random keepsakes later.

The tinny sound of music attracted her attention, and she lifted her gaze to look at the man with the headphones in profile. Was he writing or drawing? It was impossible to tell from this angle. And she shouldn't be staring.

[james_bell]

With the attempt to get a pop unsuccessful, he rolled his shoulders and looked around. Under the brim of his cap he caught the brunette’s eyes. They didn’t dart away, so James gave a little wave and smiled. “What’s up?”

He expected that to be the end of it. Most people didn’t talk to strangers in Las Vegas. They hadn’t in Chicago, either. In the south nobody was a stranger. He spent the first few years in the Midwest defending himself against accusations that he was hitting on people or about to ask for spare change, just for making eye contact.

[wolfs_daughter]

She hadn't expected him to speak to her, but her sole resolution for New Years was to stop ducking away from eye contact as if someone was going to lean over and take a bite out of her. Besides, he'd smiled instead of looking annoyed. Echo chased around a stray piece of pasta without looking at her plate.

"I was just wondering what you were listening to," she said with a careful smile of her own. "And what you're working on. I'm sorry if I distracted you."

[james_bell]

“Nah. It’s a’right.” James laughed. He got up and brought his walkman across the patio, where he sat down to put the headphones over her ears. “This song’s called The Show.” The track made heavy use of beatboxing and a sample from the Inspector Gadget theme. James liked sharing music with people; he didn’t know if she listened to hip hop or not, but music lit people up, even if they didn't care for the genre. Everybody had opinions about music.

“Too loud?”

He put his thumb on the volume dial.

[wolfs_daughter]

Hip hop really wasn't Echo's thing, but the snippet from Inspector Gadget made her laugh. "No, the volume's fine," she said with a headshake. The sound of the conversations around her was muted because of the music, but it wasn't deafening or anything.

Up close, he was older than she'd expected, probably ten years her senior. And maybe she was just imagining it, but he seemed to radiate kindness. That made her sit up straighter, take the defensive slouch out of her posture at his sudden proximity.

"So were you writing or drawing?"

[james_bell]

“Neither one, really. Just making a list.” He took the headphones back and draped them around his neck. The track was paused. “What about you, whatcha doing out here by yourself? You ain't bored?” The scent of garlic and tomato sauce wafted to him. He wasn’t hungry anymore, but he was starting to wish he’d gotten the lasagna. James was trying to watch his weight. He loved food and ever since he hit thirty, it was a lot harder to keep off the pounds. They had a tendency to gather on his waistline if he wasn’t careful.

[wolfs_daughter]

"Job search. At least that was the theory."

The hybrid held up the folded newspaper with the ads she'd chosen circled in red pen. Her lasagna was cooling off, and she took a bite of it. A car horn beeped as a vehicle exited the parking lot.

"My name's Echo, what's yours?"

[james_bell]

"James." He cupped his hands around the headphones and looked at the newspaper, the ads circled here and there. "What kind of work are you looking for?" He shrugged. "It's hard times around here these last few years. Places closing." He looked up the street in the direction of a casino that had been shut down and back at Echo. "People gotta look out for each other."

[wolfs_daughter]

His accent was noticeably different than hers, and Echo tried to place it. "They should look out for each other," she said with a nod. "It's not always that way, but I think some people make the effort more than others."

She'd noticed the way he was eying her lasagna, and the corners of her mouth tipped upwards. "I was actually going to apply at this daycare place," she said, pointing out the red circle. "I'm pretty good with kids. I just hope they don't need a teacher or anything. I'm guessing you work somewhere in the city yourself?"

[james_bell]

"Yeah, I DJ at a club." He lifted his shoulders. "Nothing fancy, but I get by." He was holding onto the headphones around his neck like some men held towels at the gym. "You must have a lotta patience if you wanna work in daycare. Heh." He laughed. "I got a sister. She just turned twenty, but I remember when she was a kid. She was a handful."

[wolfs_daughter]

"I like kids. You have to be firm with them, but unless they're totally incorrigible they're usually willing to settle down and listen."

She was looking at his hands, imagining him spinning records at a club. No wedding ring. Maybe he was divorced?

"I'm trying to figure out where you're from, but I can't place the accent. But you're not local."

[james_bell]

"Un-unh." He laughed. "Nah, I grew up in Tennessee. Lived in Chicago for a couple of years before I came out here." He scrunched his nose and looked at the building behind her, treating it as a symptom of the entire character of the place. "It's not bad. Lots of new faces, which I like, but I liked Chicago, too. It was Dori's idea. Dragged me out here and now she's holed up in a trailer out in Searchlight while I pay twice as much rent. Agh!" He mimed wringing his sister's neck.

[wolfs_daughter]

Echo laughed quietly, fiddled with her half-empty bottle. "I'm an only child, so when I decided to come to Nevada, I picked Searchlight because it's this big." She held her thumb and forefinger a fraction of an inch apart. "Vegas is nice to visit, and if I get this job I'll be working here, but I like peace and quiet."

She'd probably seen James' sister somewhere, since Searchlight was so small that everyone ran into each other all the time. "Do you take classes at the college too?" the hybrid asked. "I had a half-assed plan about taking some art classes, but I keep never getting around to it. I guess I'm not very motivated."

[james_bell]

"No. No way." James laughed. "I'm not... I mean I did that already," he gestured behind his shoulder, "Business management. Can't imagine going back. I was kind-of a clown anyway, had a hard time focusing." He flicked his thumb against his chin and said, "What, uh, what kind of art? I like art. Art is life, isn't that what they say?"

[wolfs_daughter]

"I draw. And make sculptures. I'm mostly concentrating on drawing right now, though. Living in a trailer means there's not much room to keep a bunch of stuff."

Echo shrugged a little, drank some root beer. Her attention was momentarily diverted by the remaining food on her plate, and she took a couple of bites before washing it down with more beverage. The sun had moved in the sky.

"You have such an interesting face," the hybrid told James shyly. "Eyes can tell you a lot about a person, and I see the kindness in yours. It's..."

The brunette directed her gaze towards her plate. "It's rare to see somebody who's really open, y'know?"

[james_bell]

"Thanks." He grinned at her. "You actually remind me of somebody, but I can't put my finger on it. You believe in past lives?" His hands cupped the headphones. "I think I've got one or two. Sometimes when I can't place a face I think that's why." He shrugged, not as intense as the question sounded. "Might just be that concussion I got in 1976."

As he looked at her, James thought her life force was peculiar but didn't know why. She also seemed a little disconnected from her surroundings. was she sad? Lonely? He wanted to do something, give her a high five or a handshake, see if he could give her a pick me up.

[wolfs_daughter]

"Oh, people can live over and over again. When I was a kid, Mama used to tell me that was how she recognized my father, that they'd met a long time ago and their life-paths got permanently linked. That it was really just a matter of finding him again."

You sound weird. It was just a thought, or maybe a memory. She'd been a good student, attentive and interested in class, but the school environment hadn't agreed with her. Her shyness attracted the casual cruelty of other children, who would be mean to her for no other reason than because they thought it was funny. Echo made herself keep up the eye contact. James would not be mean to her. Besides, he was the one who'd asked about past lives.

"What happened in 1976 to give you a concussion?"

[james_bell]

Soul mates, he thought. James believed in that kind of thing, although the closest thing he’d gotten to it was his sister.

“I wish I could say I was playing football, but nah,” he shook his head. “I did something stupid, embarrassed myself. I was climbing on this old house. I thought it was cool, you know, because it was abandoned. I stepped on some rotten boards, fell right through the roof. WHAM. I mean I went down hard.” He laughed. “Landed next to a toilet.”

He’d leave out the bit about writhing on the floor, confused and busted up, and how ten-year-old Dori had shown up and peered over his face, the blunted ends of her blonde hair swinging. He had flailed and shouted, “Get away from me!” only for her to roll her eyes and say, “Relax, dummy. I was spying on you.”

[wolfs_daughter]

She laughed too, though she knew she shouldn't, and her angular face softened into something younger. "I fell out of a hayloft when I was ten," she offered. "Broke my arm in two places. It hurt so bad I couldn't even cry."

Someone came outside with a plastic tub to collect dishes, and Echo said, "Would you like me to buy you lunch? I felt kinda bad sitting here scarfing lasagna. Can I get you something?"

[james_bell]

"Thanks but nah, I had a sandwich." He indicated the plate of crumbs on his old table. "Listen, I'll leave you to it." Her stack of want ads waited, and he really ought to finish his set list. "If you ever see me at a club, come up to the booth. I'll play you a song, a'right?"

Then James stuck out his hand for a friendly shake.

[wolfs_daughter]

His hand was larger than hers, and she took it after a split-second's pause. He was right, she should be getting herself in gear. It wasn't just the paycheck she was after, it was the chance to get out into the community a little.

"I might see you sometimes soon," Echo said, watching as the busser took away her empty plate and bottle. "Who knows, maybe this is the point where our life-paths were supposed to cross?"

[james_bell]

He gave her a toothy grin. "Hey, I like that." James put his headphones on and resumed listening to the cassette track. "I'll see y'round, Echo." He walked away as the last of her food left the table. He needed to drop a tip and get his notes together.