SECONDS

SECONDS, PART 1
Let me take a SECOND or two to explain something. These posts, so far, have been entered close to when the topic they deal with happened. That's not the case for now. You see, I got into an argument with the phone company over some problem with the line - they said I'd have to pay for them to come out since I didn't take some kind of insurance or something - and I told them to cancel my service. Felt good until I realized that I had dial-up. The cable company said they can't hook me up because my operating system is too old. So until I can upgrade, or get a new computer (looking into laptops/notebooks right now) I must rely on the kindness of strangers or the library, whichever I can get access through. What this means is that future posts will take place when I can access, not when they happen, but I'll try to remember to date them so that the time line remains constant.

SECONDS, PART 2

September 2, 2009 . . . Doyle called yesterday. He wanted to know if I had any SECOND thoughts.
"How're you doing? You OK?"
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You know, because of yesterday . . what you did . . the Event."
"I knew that's what you meant, but I wanted to see how'd you phrase it. Actually, I'm not bad. I thought a lot about it, after I got home, but I'm OK with it. I guess I'm still in the mind-set I got while in the hospital."
"What's that mean? I'm not following?"
"When you're in there, waiting for a transplant, maybe just a heart transplant maybe others, I don't know but you get to thinking about things differently. They wake you up at all hours, checking your vitals and drawing blood, but you know they want to make sure you're still alive - even though they've got a monitor hooked up to you. You can't move too far because of the monitor on your chest and the tubes and such in your arms so when they leave, you lie there in the dark and you start to think and the only thing you think about is if you're gonna live or not. You got a choice, you can let these thoughts make you nuts, or you can compartmentalize. You put them away, lock them up, and think of something else. I got good at that, and I seem to be able to still do it. I did what I had to do to keep up my end, and I locked it away. When I thought about it later, it didn't bother me so much. "
"OK. If that's how you want to treat this, that's fine. As long as you can continue, the People Upstairs will continue to monitor. I got a couple of reminders, but if you have any questions, we can address those first."
"How were you able to "confirm" the Event so quickly?"
"You know we can track you through the implant. Well, the Flasher gives off a signal when it's trigerred that gets picked up by the same equipment that tracks you. When they're registered together, we mobilize whoever we have locally, and check things out. It's as simple as that. Anything else?"
"No."
"OK. Reminder Number 1, the Flasher only works once a day, so keep that in mind. Two, don't target anyone you know. The further removed you are, the less likely that you'll be suspected. Three, try not to target minorities. We've already got people doing that. All you have to do is make them random, and spread them out. Got it?"
"Yeah. I got it. Any other words of wisdom?"
"No. We'll be in touch."
He hung up.

SECONDS, PART 3

September 3, 2009

Another early morning. I decided to head on over towards Menlo Park. To do this, I'd either have to walk to, or catch the bus at Main Street and Amboy Avenue to, Woodbridge Center. From there, it's a short bus ride to Menlo. I'd probably have breakfast at IHOP, and browse through Barnes and Noble. Not a bad way to spend a day.

From my apartment, I go to Green Street, then cut through the train station parking lot, go around the tennis/basketball courts out onto School Street, and through the Reo parking lot to Main and Amboy. Once I got to School Street, I noticed that there was a cab parked just off the corner where I was going to turn. As I passed, I noticed that the driver was in there, apparently reading something.

I looked around . . no one was out and there were no cars coming or going. I drew out the Flasher.

At the corner, I turned slowly, checking my surroundings again. Still no one but me, and the cabbie. I pointed, pushed the button, and turned as the flash of light erupted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his head hit the steering wheel. I walked around the corner and up to Main. The bus showed up 10 minutes later, 5 minutes after the confirmation. My SECOND.

It was an hour or so later that I realized that the Flasher blast must've gone through the windshield without shattering it, and that I was damn lucky that the driver's head didn't hit the horn or it would've attracted a lot of attention that I didn't really need.

I didn't get anything at Barnes and Noble but I did enjoy my breakfast.