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I'm still plugging away on my novel. What an idiot. I'm so slow. I'm now 11,183 words behind. I have no idea how or when I will catch up. I should have done the Buffy fic I was planning.
He was so understanding of everyone. Hannah didn’t have patience for most people most of the time.
Realizing that she was spending more time thinking about her family and people in general, Hannah decided to call it a night on her project. It wouldn’t do to keep working when her attention was elsewhere. Her project demanded full concentration. Anything less was dangerous.
She switched off the light for the work table and went into the bathroom. She very quickly took a shower and brushed her teeth. Since she had called an early night on working, Hannah though she could fit in two chapters of Walden before falling asleep.
Hannah was either more tired than she realized or the shower had been more relaxing that she thought, because she barely made it to the end of the second page before she nodded off.
Dreams came quickly. Hannah hated this playground of her mind.
“I want to play!”
“I don’t.”
“I’ll just play without you then.”
“You can’t play without me. You are me.”
“Well, I want to change then. You’re no fun.”
“There’s more to life than fun.”
“There’s more to life than work.”
“Work’s fun.”
“Not to me! Come push me on the swing.”
The gray void Hannah and her younger self had been arguing in suddenly became an outdoor playground. Swings, slides, jungle gyms and sand boxes of all shapes and sizes appeared out of nowhere. The sky was gloomy and overcast, almost as gray as the void it originally appeared from.
Hannah stood there, watching Little Hannah play by herself on the swings. Something she knows she never did as a child.
“Where’s Henry?”
“Right behind you.”
Hannah turned, delight shining from her face. She moved to hug him, but he stepped back. As he did, at least ten other children appeared. Little Hannah jumped off the swing and ran to the sand box where the other girls were.
“Hannah, I hate seeing you like this.”
“Like what?”
“Isolated. Focused on your work to the exclusion of all else. No friends except me. Believing you have no family except me. Dad loves you as much as I do.”
“Bullshit. If he loves me so much, why doesn’t he show it?”
“You don’t let him.”
“This is my dream. I don’t want to have this conversation any more. Go Away!”
The scene around her shifted and faded, returning to gray void, but Henry remained.
“You know you can’t get rid of me. You don’t want to.”
“Right now I do. Go.”
“You’re always going on about how no one makes time for you, you never see me anymore and now all you want to do is run away. Well, you always were one for irony.”
“I’m not going for irony. This isn’t real. It can’t be real. I’m asleep. I’m dreaming. Henry, what am I going to do?”
But, of course, when she finally wanted him there, he was gone, leaving Little Hannah in his place.
“We can do anything we want. So the question is, what do you want to do?”
Suddenly, Hannah found herself in a small clothing store. The sales lady was saying something about how that blouse did wonderful things for her coloring. Hannah allowed herself to be pushed toward the dressing room. She stepped in, but she no longer had the blouse with her. She started to go back to the sales lady, but the door was locked. More in annoyance than fear, Hannah rattled the door knob and pushed on the door just a little bit. It didn’t budge. Hannah called out to the sales lady, but there was no response. She sat on the stool and reviewed her options. There was no space for her crawl under, so that was out. The door went clear to the ceiling, so she couldn’t climb out.
Just as she was about to yell at the sales lady, she noticed the dressing room walls closing in on her. At first, she thought it must be a hallucination of some sort, but as she watched closely, she could see that the walls were moving in. She began screaming and kicking at the door. She finally kicked the door open and rushed out into the shop. Her frazzled, disheveled appearance earned her some strange looks from the other customers. The sales lady from earlier didn’t give any indication that she had noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Hannah stepped out of the shop and found herself on another playground. The grass, what little there was of it, was yellow and brown. All the trees were bare and the sky was filled with bleak, ominous gray clouds. The swings with their wooden seats buffeted about in the wind. Hannah felt a chill go through her that had nothing to do with the weather.
To calm herself, she sat down on the center swing. This place wasn’t even remotely familar to her. The shabby gray one story houses that lined the streets surrounding the park didn’t look the least inviting. She wondered briefly about the kinds of people who lived there. Wondered what their lives must be like. If there was any joy at all in them.
She hopped out of the swing and found herself at the top of some stairs in what was obviously a mansion. It was dark, but she could make out the wooden balustrade. It was well polished wiht no signs of wear. There was an intricate Oriental carpet on the landing she was standing on with deep reds and blues and purples and gray and black. Directly across from where she stood was a stained glass window. She couldn’t make out a distinct pattern, just marvelled at the brilliant red and yellow.
Without warning, without making a move at all, Hanah found herself falling forward down the stairs into the empty darkness below.
Hannah jerked awake. Reminding herself that it was just a dream did nothing to slow her quickly beating heart.
“Honey, where did you put the martini set from Mister Van Cleve?”
“Please tell me you don’t want to make martinis.” Molly Pearce stood in the doorway of her kitchen, watching her husband rummage through the cabinets. She had just finished bathing and putting their daughter Emma to bed. It was safe to say she was looking forward to some alone time with her husband.
“No, dear.” Henry smiled. “Dad mentioned he might stop by over the weekend and I thought he’d get a kick out of it. Emma down?”
“For the moment. But don’t forget your monster hunting routine or she’ll be up again. Did Phillip say why he was stopping by?”
“Vague things about not having seen us in a while. Wanting to check on Emma and you and the baby.”
“You don’t buy it? And it’s in the bottom cupboard, next to the dishwasher.”
“I know that’s part of it, but I can’t help thinking that Mom’s birthday Sunday might have something to do with it as well. I’d like to invite Hannah down.”
“Henry.”
“Yes, I know what a bad idea it is, okay. I didn’t say I was going to just that I’d like to. I just wish things could be different for her.”
“She likes things the way they are.”
“I don’t believe that.” Henry tookt he martini set out of the cabinet and set it on the counter. He started running the hot water and put the set into soak.
“You don’t want to believe that.” Molly got a dish towel out of a drawer and stood next to Henry at the sink.
“Of course I don’t want to believe that, but everyone deserves to be happy and fulfilled and she can’t have that the way things are.”
“Henry, some people don’t want to be happy. Being miserable is what makes them happy in a seriously warped and twisted way. Can you remember a time when she was happy? Really happy? Even as children?”
Henry thougth as he washed the martini set, handing each piece to Molly to dry. It was a valid question. One that shouldn’t have been quite so hard to answer.
“There were times. Moments. When she did well on a school project. It would have been different if Mom had lived.”
“But she didn’t. And I am sorry about that. You’re probably right. It probably would have been different if she had lived, but it doesn’t change how things are. You got a letter from her today, by the way.” Molly was concentrating on drying one of the martini glasses as she spoke.
“Where is it?”
“Hall table.”
They worked in silence until the set was completely finished, each lost in their own thoughts.
“I’m going to get ready for bed. Henry....”
“I know, sweetie. I can’t just stop loving her.”
“I don’t want you to, but I don’t like seeing you get hurt, and that’s all she brings you.”
“That’s not all, Molly. I’m sorry I can’t explain it better. I won’t be long.” Henry leaned in and kissed her quickly, as much to forestall any further discussion as out of a real desire to kiss her.
Molly looked up at him sadly. His tenacity was one of the things she loved best about him. She just wished he had a little more perspective where his sister was concerned. She hugged him hard as she whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I’ll be up soon.” Henry held her tight and then released her. He flashed a brilliant smile at her that she returned before she headed upstairs to their bedroom.
Henry went to the hall table and picked up Hannah’s letter. He smiled as he walked into his study, amazed by her refusal to join the twenty-first century. Hell, the twentieth for that matter. As a fairly good psychologist, Henry could expound on all the psychological reasons for his sister’s dislike of technology, but as her twin brother, he knew it boiled down to growing up with their father. A busy and successful defense attorney, Phillip Pearce had made it a point to be accessible to his clients. It just didn’t always occur to him to make the same point for his children.
Or at least his daughter. She had always seemed to need so much more than Dad could give her. Than anyone could give her. Henry tried, but his reserves weren’t unlimited. He had thought having Molly and Emma and the new baby on the way would help with that, but it apparently didn’t work like that. They replenished him in so many ways. Regardless of how much he took and how little he thought he had left to give, his family made up for it. Balanced him out. Made him complete in a way he would have thought corny and impossible just a few short years ago.
He poured himself a glass of scotch, no ice, and sat in his favorite reading chair. He sliced open the envelope with the letter opener that looked like a dagger Molly had gotten him from the Renaissance festival the first year they had been dating. It had been an odd present, but right at the same time.
Dear Henry,
I haven’t received your response to my last letter yet. I’m choosing to believe it will cross this one in post or has been lost by our incompetent mail handlers. The other option is that you simply haven’t written back yet, which can’t be true. Unless you’re waiting for a chance to write a very long and chatty letter, in which case, I forgive you.
The idiots here at the school wouldn’t know their asses from a hole in the ground without detailed schematics and two days worth of training. They won’t listen to reason. They’re only interested in projects that have a high initial return on their investment. They don’t ccare about helping people, just coming up with the next greatest thing. I’m convinced that Doctor Hale has figured out a way to do this with my research into finding inexpensive sources of electricity and that’s why he wants me to take my research in a different direction, so I won’t have the necessary evidence when he steals my work.
I shouldn’t be worried given his high level of imcompetence in running this project. He couldn’t steal candy from a two year old much less understand what to do with my research. Nevertheless, I have been carefully documenting our conversations along with my research. If he thinks I’ll just let him walk all over me, he’s in for a rude awakening.
Father left a message for me with Doctor Hale’s office on Monday. He mentioned that he would be at your house this coming weekend. Please tell him thank you for the information, but I have so much work to so, I will be unable to come down. Tell Molly I said hello, and give my love to Emma. Her birthday is coming up soon, isn’t it? Emma’s, not Molly’s. Please let me know what she would like for a present.
I love you.
Your sister,
Hannah
Henry finished his drink and read the letter a second time. Hannah. He wondered what he would do if she ever changed, ever let someone besides himself really get to know her. The thought crossed his mind that he wouldn’t know how to handle that any better than she would.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
Hannah had been unable to go back to sleep after waking form her dream, so she had gotten up and worked on her project for a couple of hours. She was almost there. A few more days, a few minor adjustments and she’d be finished.
Unfortunately, her body decided it needed sleep more than anything else at 4:30 am and she had crashed until nearly 8 o’clock. On the plus side, her sleep had been dreamless. On the minus side, she would have to hurry if she wanted to be on time. Not that she would normally worry about punctuality, but she just knew Hale was looking for an excuse to dismiss her from the program. Why punctuality should paly a part in her staying on the project given not only the quantity but the quality of her work was something that greatly confused her. Perhaps when this was done, she would look for private funding for her research. Someone more interested in the outcome than in how the outcome was reached.
Hannah had thrown on the first clothes she could find that were clean. The outfit looked very much like what she had worn yesterday. Black jeans, black tee shirt, balck button shirt over that and hiking boots. She had read once that Katherine Hepburn had several sweaters and slacks exactly the same in order to make the decision of what to wear a simple one. Hannah had like the simple elegance of the idea and borrowed it. There were far more important things in life than clothes.
While she had enjoyed speeding to campus on her scooter, she refused to run once she hit MacNair Hall. It was unseemly and undiginified. Unless it was a life or death emergency, of course. That was different. Besides, she didn’t run that fast anyway.
“Right on time. We were starting to get worried about you.” Hilary Desplains barely looked up from her work bench as she spoke. The only other female in the program, Hannah had briefly entertained the thought they they might be friends. She should have known better. “Doctor Hale wants you to go over the notes from yesterday’s tests and see where we can improve things.”
“Why doesn’t he tell me that?”
“Because he had a faculty meeting to attend.”
“Fine. Did he say what I should do when I’m finished?”
“I’m sure he’ll be back before then. You’re not as fast as you think.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I thought it was self explanatory.”
“Enlighten me.”
“Hannah, just get started on the notes. We don’t have any time to waste. We have a university review coming up in two weeks. It’s going to take all of us working together as a team to pull it off. That’s not something I’m saying just to you. Every single one of us is going to have to kick it into high gear for the next two weeks to have the level of polish the doctor want for the reviewers.”
Alan Calder stood in the doorway. He had an uncanny knack for showing up when least expected. At least, Hannah thought so and she hated it. As Doctor Hale’s second in command, a position Hannah felt rightfully belonged to her, Alan was not one of her favorite people. Or he wouldn’t have been if she had favorite people outside Henry. And Emma. She really liked her niece. She was smart and polite and independent.
“Yes, Alan. Anything you say, Alan. Right away, Alan. Anything else, Alan?” Hannah set her satchel on her work bench and went to get the notes in question.
“Not right now, Hannah, but thank you for asking.” Alan handed her some additional reports as well. “Use these for reference. If you need anything else, I’ll be in my office.”
Hannah just managed to restrain a snappy salute in reply, but it had been a struggle. She looked towards Hilary, thinking maybe they could share some comment or a look that put them in agreement about what a jackass Alan was. Hilary, however, had her focus train on the work in front of her.
So much for simple human companionship. Other people were highly over rated.
Ivan, Donnie and Lester came in at that point, talking about some video game they had played together online last night. Hannah got out her CD player and put on her head set. She just did not comprehend how the three of them, well four, because Hilary would join in on occasion, could get any work done while chatting. How did they concentrate? The opening strains of Mars came through her head set and at once it and the notes in front of her were the only things in the world.
Several hours later, Hannah finished going over her notes of the notes of the test results. It was solit work, but she saw a copule of places where a little tweaking could get stronger results. Or different results at least.
She took off her head set and stretched. Looking around the room, she saw it was deserted. Glancing at the wall clock, she realized they had probably left for the day. Surely it hadn’t taken her all day to go over those test results. There had been more than just yesterday’s though.
She decided to get a bite to eat at the cafeteria before heading home. There was more work she could do, but Doctor Hale had made it very clear to her that he didn’t care for independent thought and iniative, at least not from her.
Hannah paid for her food and found an empty table in the corner. She hurried through her meal of baked chicken and rice and mixed vegetables. She read over the most recent journal as she ate.
Can I really do this?
He was so understanding of everyone. Hannah didn’t have patience for most people most of the time.
Realizing that she was spending more time thinking about her family and people in general, Hannah decided to call it a night on her project. It wouldn’t do to keep working when her attention was elsewhere. Her project demanded full concentration. Anything less was dangerous.
She switched off the light for the work table and went into the bathroom. She very quickly took a shower and brushed her teeth. Since she had called an early night on working, Hannah though she could fit in two chapters of Walden before falling asleep.
Hannah was either more tired than she realized or the shower had been more relaxing that she thought, because she barely made it to the end of the second page before she nodded off.
Dreams came quickly. Hannah hated this playground of her mind.
“I want to play!”
“I don’t.”
“I’ll just play without you then.”
“You can’t play without me. You are me.”
“Well, I want to change then. You’re no fun.”
“There’s more to life than fun.”
“There’s more to life than work.”
“Work’s fun.”
“Not to me! Come push me on the swing.”
The gray void Hannah and her younger self had been arguing in suddenly became an outdoor playground. Swings, slides, jungle gyms and sand boxes of all shapes and sizes appeared out of nowhere. The sky was gloomy and overcast, almost as gray as the void it originally appeared from.
Hannah stood there, watching Little Hannah play by herself on the swings. Something she knows she never did as a child.
“Where’s Henry?”
“Right behind you.”
Hannah turned, delight shining from her face. She moved to hug him, but he stepped back. As he did, at least ten other children appeared. Little Hannah jumped off the swing and ran to the sand box where the other girls were.
“Hannah, I hate seeing you like this.”
“Like what?”
“Isolated. Focused on your work to the exclusion of all else. No friends except me. Believing you have no family except me. Dad loves you as much as I do.”
“Bullshit. If he loves me so much, why doesn’t he show it?”
“You don’t let him.”
“This is my dream. I don’t want to have this conversation any more. Go Away!”
The scene around her shifted and faded, returning to gray void, but Henry remained.
“You know you can’t get rid of me. You don’t want to.”
“Right now I do. Go.”
“You’re always going on about how no one makes time for you, you never see me anymore and now all you want to do is run away. Well, you always were one for irony.”
“I’m not going for irony. This isn’t real. It can’t be real. I’m asleep. I’m dreaming. Henry, what am I going to do?”
But, of course, when she finally wanted him there, he was gone, leaving Little Hannah in his place.
“We can do anything we want. So the question is, what do you want to do?”
Suddenly, Hannah found herself in a small clothing store. The sales lady was saying something about how that blouse did wonderful things for her coloring. Hannah allowed herself to be pushed toward the dressing room. She stepped in, but she no longer had the blouse with her. She started to go back to the sales lady, but the door was locked. More in annoyance than fear, Hannah rattled the door knob and pushed on the door just a little bit. It didn’t budge. Hannah called out to the sales lady, but there was no response. She sat on the stool and reviewed her options. There was no space for her crawl under, so that was out. The door went clear to the ceiling, so she couldn’t climb out.
Just as she was about to yell at the sales lady, she noticed the dressing room walls closing in on her. At first, she thought it must be a hallucination of some sort, but as she watched closely, she could see that the walls were moving in. She began screaming and kicking at the door. She finally kicked the door open and rushed out into the shop. Her frazzled, disheveled appearance earned her some strange looks from the other customers. The sales lady from earlier didn’t give any indication that she had noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Hannah stepped out of the shop and found herself on another playground. The grass, what little there was of it, was yellow and brown. All the trees were bare and the sky was filled with bleak, ominous gray clouds. The swings with their wooden seats buffeted about in the wind. Hannah felt a chill go through her that had nothing to do with the weather.
To calm herself, she sat down on the center swing. This place wasn’t even remotely familar to her. The shabby gray one story houses that lined the streets surrounding the park didn’t look the least inviting. She wondered briefly about the kinds of people who lived there. Wondered what their lives must be like. If there was any joy at all in them.
She hopped out of the swing and found herself at the top of some stairs in what was obviously a mansion. It was dark, but she could make out the wooden balustrade. It was well polished wiht no signs of wear. There was an intricate Oriental carpet on the landing she was standing on with deep reds and blues and purples and gray and black. Directly across from where she stood was a stained glass window. She couldn’t make out a distinct pattern, just marvelled at the brilliant red and yellow.
Without warning, without making a move at all, Hanah found herself falling forward down the stairs into the empty darkness below.
Hannah jerked awake. Reminding herself that it was just a dream did nothing to slow her quickly beating heart.
“Honey, where did you put the martini set from Mister Van Cleve?”
“Please tell me you don’t want to make martinis.” Molly Pearce stood in the doorway of her kitchen, watching her husband rummage through the cabinets. She had just finished bathing and putting their daughter Emma to bed. It was safe to say she was looking forward to some alone time with her husband.
“No, dear.” Henry smiled. “Dad mentioned he might stop by over the weekend and I thought he’d get a kick out of it. Emma down?”
“For the moment. But don’t forget your monster hunting routine or she’ll be up again. Did Phillip say why he was stopping by?”
“Vague things about not having seen us in a while. Wanting to check on Emma and you and the baby.”
“You don’t buy it? And it’s in the bottom cupboard, next to the dishwasher.”
“I know that’s part of it, but I can’t help thinking that Mom’s birthday Sunday might have something to do with it as well. I’d like to invite Hannah down.”
“Henry.”
“Yes, I know what a bad idea it is, okay. I didn’t say I was going to just that I’d like to. I just wish things could be different for her.”
“She likes things the way they are.”
“I don’t believe that.” Henry tookt he martini set out of the cabinet and set it on the counter. He started running the hot water and put the set into soak.
“You don’t want to believe that.” Molly got a dish towel out of a drawer and stood next to Henry at the sink.
“Of course I don’t want to believe that, but everyone deserves to be happy and fulfilled and she can’t have that the way things are.”
“Henry, some people don’t want to be happy. Being miserable is what makes them happy in a seriously warped and twisted way. Can you remember a time when she was happy? Really happy? Even as children?”
Henry thougth as he washed the martini set, handing each piece to Molly to dry. It was a valid question. One that shouldn’t have been quite so hard to answer.
“There were times. Moments. When she did well on a school project. It would have been different if Mom had lived.”
“But she didn’t. And I am sorry about that. You’re probably right. It probably would have been different if she had lived, but it doesn’t change how things are. You got a letter from her today, by the way.” Molly was concentrating on drying one of the martini glasses as she spoke.
“Where is it?”
“Hall table.”
They worked in silence until the set was completely finished, each lost in their own thoughts.
“I’m going to get ready for bed. Henry....”
“I know, sweetie. I can’t just stop loving her.”
“I don’t want you to, but I don’t like seeing you get hurt, and that’s all she brings you.”
“That’s not all, Molly. I’m sorry I can’t explain it better. I won’t be long.” Henry leaned in and kissed her quickly, as much to forestall any further discussion as out of a real desire to kiss her.
Molly looked up at him sadly. His tenacity was one of the things she loved best about him. She just wished he had a little more perspective where his sister was concerned. She hugged him hard as she whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I’ll be up soon.” Henry held her tight and then released her. He flashed a brilliant smile at her that she returned before she headed upstairs to their bedroom.
Henry went to the hall table and picked up Hannah’s letter. He smiled as he walked into his study, amazed by her refusal to join the twenty-first century. Hell, the twentieth for that matter. As a fairly good psychologist, Henry could expound on all the psychological reasons for his sister’s dislike of technology, but as her twin brother, he knew it boiled down to growing up with their father. A busy and successful defense attorney, Phillip Pearce had made it a point to be accessible to his clients. It just didn’t always occur to him to make the same point for his children.
Or at least his daughter. She had always seemed to need so much more than Dad could give her. Than anyone could give her. Henry tried, but his reserves weren’t unlimited. He had thought having Molly and Emma and the new baby on the way would help with that, but it apparently didn’t work like that. They replenished him in so many ways. Regardless of how much he took and how little he thought he had left to give, his family made up for it. Balanced him out. Made him complete in a way he would have thought corny and impossible just a few short years ago.
He poured himself a glass of scotch, no ice, and sat in his favorite reading chair. He sliced open the envelope with the letter opener that looked like a dagger Molly had gotten him from the Renaissance festival the first year they had been dating. It had been an odd present, but right at the same time.
Dear Henry,
I haven’t received your response to my last letter yet. I’m choosing to believe it will cross this one in post or has been lost by our incompetent mail handlers. The other option is that you simply haven’t written back yet, which can’t be true. Unless you’re waiting for a chance to write a very long and chatty letter, in which case, I forgive you.
The idiots here at the school wouldn’t know their asses from a hole in the ground without detailed schematics and two days worth of training. They won’t listen to reason. They’re only interested in projects that have a high initial return on their investment. They don’t ccare about helping people, just coming up with the next greatest thing. I’m convinced that Doctor Hale has figured out a way to do this with my research into finding inexpensive sources of electricity and that’s why he wants me to take my research in a different direction, so I won’t have the necessary evidence when he steals my work.
I shouldn’t be worried given his high level of imcompetence in running this project. He couldn’t steal candy from a two year old much less understand what to do with my research. Nevertheless, I have been carefully documenting our conversations along with my research. If he thinks I’ll just let him walk all over me, he’s in for a rude awakening.
Father left a message for me with Doctor Hale’s office on Monday. He mentioned that he would be at your house this coming weekend. Please tell him thank you for the information, but I have so much work to so, I will be unable to come down. Tell Molly I said hello, and give my love to Emma. Her birthday is coming up soon, isn’t it? Emma’s, not Molly’s. Please let me know what she would like for a present.
I love you.
Your sister,
Hannah
Henry finished his drink and read the letter a second time. Hannah. He wondered what he would do if she ever changed, ever let someone besides himself really get to know her. The thought crossed his mind that he wouldn’t know how to handle that any better than she would.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
Hannah had been unable to go back to sleep after waking form her dream, so she had gotten up and worked on her project for a couple of hours. She was almost there. A few more days, a few minor adjustments and she’d be finished.
Unfortunately, her body decided it needed sleep more than anything else at 4:30 am and she had crashed until nearly 8 o’clock. On the plus side, her sleep had been dreamless. On the minus side, she would have to hurry if she wanted to be on time. Not that she would normally worry about punctuality, but she just knew Hale was looking for an excuse to dismiss her from the program. Why punctuality should paly a part in her staying on the project given not only the quantity but the quality of her work was something that greatly confused her. Perhaps when this was done, she would look for private funding for her research. Someone more interested in the outcome than in how the outcome was reached.
Hannah had thrown on the first clothes she could find that were clean. The outfit looked very much like what she had worn yesterday. Black jeans, black tee shirt, balck button shirt over that and hiking boots. She had read once that Katherine Hepburn had several sweaters and slacks exactly the same in order to make the decision of what to wear a simple one. Hannah had like the simple elegance of the idea and borrowed it. There were far more important things in life than clothes.
While she had enjoyed speeding to campus on her scooter, she refused to run once she hit MacNair Hall. It was unseemly and undiginified. Unless it was a life or death emergency, of course. That was different. Besides, she didn’t run that fast anyway.
“Right on time. We were starting to get worried about you.” Hilary Desplains barely looked up from her work bench as she spoke. The only other female in the program, Hannah had briefly entertained the thought they they might be friends. She should have known better. “Doctor Hale wants you to go over the notes from yesterday’s tests and see where we can improve things.”
“Why doesn’t he tell me that?”
“Because he had a faculty meeting to attend.”
“Fine. Did he say what I should do when I’m finished?”
“I’m sure he’ll be back before then. You’re not as fast as you think.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I thought it was self explanatory.”
“Enlighten me.”
“Hannah, just get started on the notes. We don’t have any time to waste. We have a university review coming up in two weeks. It’s going to take all of us working together as a team to pull it off. That’s not something I’m saying just to you. Every single one of us is going to have to kick it into high gear for the next two weeks to have the level of polish the doctor want for the reviewers.”
Alan Calder stood in the doorway. He had an uncanny knack for showing up when least expected. At least, Hannah thought so and she hated it. As Doctor Hale’s second in command, a position Hannah felt rightfully belonged to her, Alan was not one of her favorite people. Or he wouldn’t have been if she had favorite people outside Henry. And Emma. She really liked her niece. She was smart and polite and independent.
“Yes, Alan. Anything you say, Alan. Right away, Alan. Anything else, Alan?” Hannah set her satchel on her work bench and went to get the notes in question.
“Not right now, Hannah, but thank you for asking.” Alan handed her some additional reports as well. “Use these for reference. If you need anything else, I’ll be in my office.”
Hannah just managed to restrain a snappy salute in reply, but it had been a struggle. She looked towards Hilary, thinking maybe they could share some comment or a look that put them in agreement about what a jackass Alan was. Hilary, however, had her focus train on the work in front of her.
So much for simple human companionship. Other people were highly over rated.
Ivan, Donnie and Lester came in at that point, talking about some video game they had played together online last night. Hannah got out her CD player and put on her head set. She just did not comprehend how the three of them, well four, because Hilary would join in on occasion, could get any work done while chatting. How did they concentrate? The opening strains of Mars came through her head set and at once it and the notes in front of her were the only things in the world.
Several hours later, Hannah finished going over her notes of the notes of the test results. It was solit work, but she saw a copule of places where a little tweaking could get stronger results. Or different results at least.
She took off her head set and stretched. Looking around the room, she saw it was deserted. Glancing at the wall clock, she realized they had probably left for the day. Surely it hadn’t taken her all day to go over those test results. There had been more than just yesterday’s though.
She decided to get a bite to eat at the cafeteria before heading home. There was more work she could do, but Doctor Hale had made it very clear to her that he didn’t care for independent thought and iniative, at least not from her.
Hannah paid for her food and found an empty table in the corner. She hurried through her meal of baked chicken and rice and mixed vegetables. She read over the most recent journal as she ate.
Can I really do this?
