For a few weeks after work, Katie kept herself busy at her parents’ house, the one she and her brother, Bruce, grew up in. It sat a few minutes out of town in a small neighborhood surrounded by alfalfa fields. While there, Katie went through boxes in their shed to decide what to keep or get rid of. Her dad’s plan was to demolish the shed.
One night, instead of spending the evening with her parents, she had Melanie over for dinner and girl chat.
“I’m impressed this is a noodle-free meal.” Melanie chewed on a piece of steak.
“You’re welcome, and thank my parents. Love leftovers.” Katie spooned more salad onto her plate.
“We need to go to The Rink and unwind. With luck, there might be a handsome man there I can set you up with. I can think of a couple guys who wouldn’t mind a date.”
“No.” Katie slammed her hands on the table.
Melanie ignored the attitude. “In fact, I know a perfect match. His name is Peter and could take your mind off a lot of things. But fair warning, he is a pushy person. You challenge him, he’ll challenge back harder.”
“Men are forbidden in my life.”
“If you keep getting leftovers from your parents, men will knock down your door. But if you make your own meal, they’ll fail to return for the repetition of noodles and three choices of seasonings.”
“There are four seasonings to choose from, and thank you very much for that piece of sound advice.” Katie high-fived her close friend.
***
The next afternoon at Green Earth Health, all the employees were gone for the day but Katie. Melanie leaned over the cubical divider, watching Katie type like a mad woman. “Banging on the keyboard fast and hard will cause arthritis in the fingers and I’ll have to replace the keyboard.”
Katie kept typing. “I need to finish the long document. I’m on a roll.”
“I see. When you’re done with the batch, I need to tell you something. You know where to find me.” She taped the divider once and left.
Katie finished the batch and went to Melanie’s office. “Spit it out. I have papers waiting to be entered.”
“With that tone of voice, I might not give you a raise.” She gave a “so there” look.
“I’ve been here a month, Mel, too short to get a raise.” Katie sat on a spare office chair.
“You worked here before you moved to Montana and have more experience. You deserve a raise, and it might be enough for you to find a bigger, nicer place. Your apartment is too small for even a mouse.”
“Is not.”
Melanie raised her eyebrows. “The raise will let you buy healthier food, or to at least put some in your kitchen. No surprise you’re skinny; I’ve seen what’s in your cupboards.” She spit out her gum in the garbage. “Nothing.”
“Top Ramen Noodles is something.”
“Ha. It’s after closing time and the claim batches are done. Let’s get out of here. Work isn’t the place to hang out at, but can be. Home is boring since my husband plays Wii games all night.” Melanie grabbed her purse and switched off her office light.
“I’d be having one of those boring nights too. I don’t mind staying and getting some overtime with a raise.” She smiled at Melanie.
“Did you drive or walk?”
“I walked. You know my place is close by.”
“Want me to give you a ride? I drive by your place to get to my home. I can drop you off.” She followed Katie down the hall to go outside.
“Nah, I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, the joy of walking.” Mel locked the door and they both headed down the stairs into the alley.
“Need to get the blood pumping through my legs after sitting all day.”
“Doing these stairs every day is enough for me.” Mel laughed.
They got to the bottom and Katie looked in her purse to find her house keys. Damn it. “Hey, Mel, give me the office key. I left my house keys in my desk again.”
“See, your brain is bored and forgets all the time. You need more nights out with me. Here.” Melanie put the keys in Katie’s hand.
“Thanks for the compliment.” Katie jogged back up the stairs and unlocked the door.
“You’re always leaving your keys behind and one of these days you will never find them. Get some spares made and I’ll take one for safe keeping.”
“I do have a spare set at home, but it doesn’t help when the door is locked. Happy Friday.” Katie tossed the keys back.
“True. See you on Monday.”
Katie waved. She went to her desk and grabbed the keys. This time they were on top of the desk and not in the drawer. Improvement.
***
“Hey, Matt, let’s go on 14th Avenue and see if we can have some fun.” Conner grinned with hopeful eyes. “We could pick up a girl, have some fun, and drop her off at the old skating rink.”
“The Rink is behind the cop station.” Matt gave him a look.
“I know. No need to worry. The pigs are everywhere else but there, like Buddy’s Burgers, Nettie’s Café, and look,” Conner pointed out the front window, “there’s a pretty gal in the alley. Stop the car here and I’ll grab her.”
Matt pulled into the alley. Conner jumped out of the passenger seat, ran a few feet, and grabbed Katie.
“What are you doing? Let me go!” She swung her arms to try to hit him and missed. The guy shoved Katie in the front seat, slammed the door, and jumped into the backseat behind her. Matt stepped on the gas, went to the end of the alley, and turned right on 1st Street.
“Hey there, chick, we’re not going to hurt you if you cooperate.” Conner pulled out a knife and waved it front of Katie’s face. “Are you going to play nice?”
She stared at the knife, frozen.
Matt looked over at Katie as he turned on Bell Ave. “Conner, I see the head cop heading out of Buddy’s. Drop the knife!”
Katie leaned forward, bit into the middle of Conner’s arm, and tasted warm blood on her tongue but kept her teeth locked in place.
“Matt, pull over, she’s biting me. Let go, you bitch, let go.” Conner moved his arm and Katie bit harder.
Matt slowed down and pulled to the side of the street. Right before he stopped, Katie found the door handle, opened it, and jumped out.
Autumn flashed behind Katie’s eyes and she thought she would join her daughter in Heaven as soon as she hit the sidewalk with a thump. It knocked the wind out of her as she landed on her side.
A male voice shouted, “Help. This lady’s hurt,” and ran to Katie’s side.
Another male’s voice answered, “I’ll take care of it.”
Katie got her breath back and didn’t want to deal with anyone. She pushed up to a sitting position and spit out blood. Not good. She hoped the guy didn’t have AIDS or any other diseases running through his veins.
Warm hands touched Katie’s side and helped her stand. “Are you okay?”
She spun around, ready for a fight, and saw a man with the look of authority. Katie’s body stiffened.
“Hey, sweet pea, you all right?” the man asked again, and glanced at the spots of blood and spit on the sidewalk. “Bite your tongue from the fall? Let me see your arm.” He lifted it some to take a look at it. Katie didn’t move. “It’s a little scraped but not too bad. Let’s report this at the police station and I’ll check the first aid kit to see if we can stop the bleeding.” He turned, put his hand on the middle of Katie’s back, and guided her toward the station.
“Do you have a name?” He looked at Katie. “I can call an ambulance, but I believe your arm is fine.”
She didn’t say a word. Her mind questioned what to report. Why file a complaint when I don’t have a license plate number, type of car they drove, and don’t remember what they looked like?
“I’ll keep calling you sweet pea unless you do have a name.”
Sweet pea? He called me sweet pea? She rolled her eyes. “Okay, Popeye, my name is Katie. And no, I didn’t bite my tongue; I bit the guy’s arm while he held a knife to my face.” I sound a little snooty, but hey, I got attacked.
He liked her spunk and chuckled. “A report needs to be written to catch Bluto and his partner.”
“Do you have enough spinach to catch the bad guys?” Katie put pressure on her throbbing arm. She leaned over and did a final blood-free spit.
The handsome guy looked at her and grinned. “It’s not my first rodeo,” he said, and opened the front door at the police station.
Katie headed to the window of the front desk. “I need to report, um, a…” She wasn’t sure what to say.
The gentleman who took Katie there pulled a badge from his pocket and unlocked the door by the front desk window. She looked at the clerk and the man in awe.
“Back so quick, Sergeant Blake? It’s not tomorrow yet.” The lady clerk tapped her pen on the desk.
“Tomorrow never comes, Wilma.” He held the door open for Katie and led her to an office with the name plate Sergeant Mitchell Blake on it. Katie decided he did undercover work for being in plain clothes.
He turned on the lights and motioned to a chair for her to sit on. Mitch sat at his desk, pulled out some papers from his top drawer, and grabbed a pen from a pen holder.
“We can make this easy and quick if you go ahead and fill out the first two pages with personal information and what you were doing when you were forced into the car. I’ll ask you the rest. While you’re filling out the papers, I’ll go get some antibiotic ointment and a couple Band-Aids for your arm.”
“Do I have to do this? I don’t remember any details.” Katie leaned forward, rested her head on her hands, and tried to picture the scene.
“Do your best.” Then he left.