The week of processing and training passed well for most of the group. Though they were all considered a team by The Estate and its personnel, they were all given separate reporting officers. Peggy was with the eccentric Hertzfeld, Chief of the labs. Bruce was under Dr Katherine Manners, Chief of operations and most senior officer in The Estate. Algernon and Rain was with Lawrence Keaton a shabby officer who claimed the majority of The Estate operatives under this authority.
In the meantime, they all had ways of being productive. Algernon, frustrated with the stupidness of computers in this world, found intellectual nourishment in eighties and nineties sit-coms and soapie dramas. Here he learnt about the culture and society that he now found himself in. Rain sat under a tree in the campus grounds practicing tricks. Peggy was fast catching up on all the information about The Strange and the recursions it helped spawn. Her home had been closed, her equipment moved to headquarters and her grandmother found a good nursing home all by The Estate. Rain moped around the campus library, making contacts in other departments. As a consequence getting thrown out of the library. Bruce had quit his job in New Orleans and ensured that processes of work, health and safety as well as a fair workplace would continue to be upheld by co-workers he trusted. His time on the campus was spent in training his mind in the briefing rooms and training his body in the gym and dojo.
Rain was lying on a bench seat under the weak sun of Seattle when he noticed Bruce walk from the briefing rooms towards Gatehouse. Rain’s eyes followed Bruce with little interest until he witnessed Bruce stop and pulled out his phone.
“Hi, Mom. What’s up?”
“Missing? Where was he?”
“Seattle? I’m in Seattle, mom…I’m sort of tied down by a job….I course I’ll go look, mom. Look, I’ll go see what I can do.” Bruce closed his phone and turned to the now eager Rain standing just behind him.
“So, I suppose you heard all that.”
“Your half, Professor. So we have to get out and find someone? Great! We can cause a distraction, sneak out…”
“You can call me, Sir. I’m going to see Katherine.” Bruce walked off in the direction of the offices with Rain slinking disappointed along behind.
John, Bruce’s brother, had been up in Seattle for a job interview with a transport company. He’d been expected back a couple of days ago, but he’d seemed to drop off the planet. Bruce tried ringing but John’s phone went straight to voicemail. The seriousness of the request prompted Katherine to allow the group their freedom and the resources of The Estate to pursue any leads they found. First off, IDs for Rain and Algernon.
“I want an adult identification.” Algernon insisted and Rain was only too happy to make that happen, with the help of The Estate.
“Tough call.” Rain grinned at the cheek of building a false ID with The Estates resources. “You’ll want to be twenty-one, but you won’t look it. Eighteen would be better, but though you can die for this country, you can’t get legally sloshed on a Friday night.”
Bruce rang Tony’s Long Distance Haulage, the company John had the interview with. He discovered that even though John was meant to have an interview, with the owner two days before, he’d never shown up.
“I just assumed he lost interest.” The owner confessed, citing this for the reason he’d never bothered to check up. Bruce was worried. If John said he would do something, he’d be there. What could have happened to him?
Hertzfeld and his department searched the system for the last whereabouts of John’s phone. Two days previous it had been within range of his hotel, a Motel 6 not far from the Haulage company. There was nothing for it now but to get on the road.
With Peggy driving, the group made their way across the vast city of Seattle to the industrial zone near the airport. Bruce walked around the of Motel 6 and found his brother’s car. Peggy, Algernon and Rain all headed for reception and made contact with the manager. Peggy slipped Rain $20 to help the manager’s recollections. Knowing it would not be needed right now, Rain made it disappear into his coat.
“Oh sure, he’s staying with us. Nice man, he extended his time with us just two days ago.” The duty manager informed them.
“Seen him recently. Have services been to the room?”
“No . The do not disturb is still on the door.”
“Keys please, if you would be so kind,” Rain smiled and held out his hand.
Bruce had already found the room and was knocking on the door when the others arrived. He heard moaning and held his hand out for the key.
“I’m going in first.”
The room was close and stuffy and smelt of stale sweat. Lying in a tangle of bed clothes, a man lay unresponsive. His physique and general features looked similar enough to Bruce’s for everyone to guess they’d found the lost brother. John’s bed clothes drenched in sweat, were twisted around him uselessly. Equally, his pillows were scattered to the floor.
“John? Buddy? Wake up.” Bruce conjoled the unresponsive John and gently shook his shoulder. His eyes remained closed, his mind still trapped in whatever nightmare held him.
The room itself was otherwise normal except for the fact that a space where a television had obviously once stood was now empty. Rain sat and looked at that space.
“Rain, make yourself useful, get him some water.” Bruce barked at Rain who jumped to the task and filled a glass from the bathroom. When Bruce pulled out his phone to call an ambulance, John sat bolt upright, eyes wide and staring at nothing but the empty space.
“What…?” Bruce pointed at his brother’s eyes horrified. Each iris was patterned with an intricate swirl of irridescent fractal spirals.
“Wow! World’s within worlds, I see it all!” John proclaimed in a religious furvor. “It makes things seem….”
“Small?” Rain handed over the glass, staring fascinated at the whirls within whirls of his eyes. “Cool eyes, man.”
“Yeah,” he replied and finally recognised his brother‘s worried and scared face above him. “Bruce, what are you doing here?”
“Mom sent me. John, you missed your job interview?”
The prone man groaned and fell back on the bed.
Peggy and Algernon started searching the room methodically for any clue to what had happened. Beside the bed, a tin of butterscotch candies lay open, a small amount of blue powder glittering faintly in the bottom. Peggy took the tin and showed it to Bruce.
“Where did you get it, John?” he asked forcefully but not unkindly. He worked on John, calling his name until he responded coherently then pouring small sips of water into his mouth until he was awake and able to talk.
“There was this guy…”
“There’s always a guy. Who? What did he look like?”
“I don’t know. Works in I.T.”
“What is it, what have you taken?”
“They call it Blue Rain.”
No one had ever heard of it, even Rain which surprised them all, especially Rain. Peggy had a feeling this was more that just a simple illicit drug and called her reporting officer at The Estate for advice.
“We have a druggie , conscious and responsive, showing unusual symptoms, a blue patternation to the eyes…” she’d started explaining to Hertzfeld when Bruce butted in.
“Don’t call my brother a druggie.”
“Junkie, much better.” Rain agreed. Both gave him a nasty look and she continued.
“A person has taken an unknown blue substance, it seems unusual.”
“I agree, bring him in.” replied Hertzfeld, “This sounds like something we’ve dealt with before.”
Now that the substance was connected to The Estate and The Strange, the group very quickly jumped into action. John was put in the backseat of his own car, Rain with him and Bruce driving. Peggy drove her and Algernon back in The Estate’s own vehicle. John was quickly brought into the infirmary and assessed. It was clear that he was relatively healthy and was put on a saline drip while staff watched for the drug’s symptoms to subside.
“Yes, we’ve had dealings with this stuff before. Called Spiral Dust, it provides very intense and vivid hallucinations. It’s thought to be made from pulverised ciphers, but we’re still unclear about that and whose making it.” Hertzfeld admitted to the group as they stood around John’s bed feeling lucky to have found him sane and alive. “We don’t expect the symptoms to be permanent, we’ll keep an eye on Mr Johnson here for a few days just in case.”
As Rain search the dark web for incidences of ‘Blue Rain’, Bruce interrogated his now lucid brother for details. John admitted that his friend James had introduced him to the stuff and he’d acquired his own supply only two days before. The friend’s address was recorded as was the fact that though there had been Blue Rain for sale over the last two month, it seemed John’s sample was the last sold, two days ago. There were no new samples available for purchase. A dead end.
With their only lead ‘the friend‘, the group headed out again, this time into town where the poorer residents lived. Shabby apartment blocks tightly packed together looming over them. With Bruce in the lead they found the correct apartment and knocked on the door.
“Hello,” came an unsteady male voice from inside.
“Hi, I’m John’s brother, Bruce. I’d like to talk.”
There was a pause from the other side of the door, the door opened a crack.
“I didn’t know you were the type.” said a disheveled man from inside
“No, he’s not.” Ran interrupted, “but I am. Let us in and we can talk.” he smiled, but it didn’t win over the friend who closed the door.
“My way then.” Bruce pulled out his 40 lb hammer and knocked in the door lock. Loud, brutal, but effective.
Peggy, Algernon and Rain search the apartment only coming up with an empty mint tin with traces of the blue powder. Bruce did better.
“Who did you buy this stuff from?”
“I don’t know, he’s indian with an accent. He wore a hoodie,I couldn’t his face.”
More to the point the pick up location was a corner only a block away from where John picked up his supply. James-the-friend had been using for a couple of months and had been introduced to the stuff by a woman called Sharon at a party. He’d been picking up supplies when he could ever since. He too showed the fractal spiral of a user so Bruce decided to take him to the Estate as well.
Algernon checked Google street view and discovered a 7-eleven that may have video of both street corners through their window. With that information, Algernon and Rain asked to be dropped off at the store while the other two went on with James to The Estate Infirmary.
This was Rain’s moment. With Algernon watching closely from behind, Rain took the lead into the shop casually flipping his ID and introducing himself as Simun Otiluke.
“I’m investigating drug deals that have been going on in the local area, spefically two days ago. I’d like access to your CCTV, please.” He said in a gruff Seattle accent so unlike his own voice. It carried with it an air of authority, of someone use to having his orders followed. The shop assistant, though obliging, knew nothing about deals going on outside the store, neither could he provide access to the CCTV.
“The boss locks that away. You’ll have to wait for him.”
“And when are they expected?”
“He’ll be here in a few hours to check the till.” Another dead end, for now.
Rain went out onto the street and looked around. This was not the good end of town with a street vendor every few blocks. It wasn’t even the interesting end of town that may have supported a busker or two. This was the end of town you went when you had no other place to go and the street resident Rain now confronted was a fine example of his type. Possibly past middle-age, though it was hard to tell under the grime and weathering. The man was only upright because of the brick wall he’d chosen as his support. One hand held his finds for the day, a collection of recyclables ready for cashing in, in the other a bottle obscured by a brown paper bag.
“Hi there friend, my name is Simun.” Rain pulled out a few notes and the bum went to snatch at them. The notes disappeared as quickly as they had appeared and Rain made a hurt face. “Now friend, please. Help me help you.” This time the notes appeared the bum eyed them greedily, but did not snatch. “Tell me, about two days ago, did you see some men doing business on this street corner?”
“You’d have to ask Tricksie about that,” the man slurred slowly losing interested in the conversation. “She’s the only one that does business around here.”
“As delight as Tricksie may be, I need you to think about two men and a small tin.” He mimed the size of the tin that both a John and James had held their Spiral dust.
“One that may have held swee…candy in at one time.”
This time something got through the alcoholic fumes and the old man thought for a moment.
“A shiny tin.” He mumbled stirring his sluggish memories. “There were two bloke. They were acting all scriquelly, all super spy stuff. Yeah, I remember because it was so …obvious. Like of you’re going to do something dodgy do it normal like…”. The old bum rambled on, but Rain let him, he knew he was onto the right two.
“What did they look like?” asked Rain conversationally and was rewarded with a description of John and the Indian national with a hoodie.
“The silver tin was handed over and the tall one walked away and the other one went down the alley, then came back and went to the shop.” He pointed to the 7-eleven and Rain almost danced.
“Oh look $20 in your top pocket.” Rain made the note appear and gave it to the man. “You have a good day now.”
Rain returned to the store where Algernon scanned the isles trying to make sense of the products available.
“What are these?” He asked holding a packet of sanitary napkins.
“They’re for Peggy.” Rain replied simply not wanting that conversation.
“What, scientists?”
A short discussion about the difference between males and females on both earth and Algernon’s planet and quickly stymied when Algernon confessed to having no idea about the opposite sex.
“Well, that’s something we can both find out about.” Rain winked conspiratorially as Peggy and Bruce returned from The Estate.
“Can I have some money, please.” Algernon asked, napkins still in his hand. Rain handed over a $50 and quickly confurred with the other two.
It was clear that if they were going to work as a team they would need to share phone numbers. Peggy, Bruce and Rain shared numbers as Algernon paid for the pads and brought them back for Peggy.
“Oh thanks,” she took them oblivious to Algernon’s attempt at kindness, only thinking they’d fallen out of her bag. “What about Algernon, he doesn’t have a phone.”
Rain and Algernon looked at the prepaid phones on offer in the store. Nothing fancy, they couldn’t be with Rain’s money, but one would do the job.
“Why don’t you ask The Estate for one, “ Bruce suggested. “Save your money, Rain.”
“Do you want one given to you by the organisation?” Rain asked shaking his head and making it very clear where he stood on the matter. It wasn’t required. As soon as he was asked, Algernon Replied sharply,
“No. Could I have my own please?”
“Kids!” Bruce was heard to say, “Got to have everything now.”
Rain quickly filled them all in with what he had discovered as Algernon went for a walk around the outside of the shop. At about the approximate location of the 7-eleven’s locked storeroom there was a grubby window. Prying his fingers under the frame of the glass it looked like he could just get to the window lock when the glass finally gave in to the twisting and shattered. The noise drew Bruce’s attention.
“Tell me, do you know an Indian gentleman who came to this store two days ago. “. Rain asked the shop attendant, “I believe him to be a local.”
“Oh sure, he’s a regular, comes in about once a day to buy groceries. Yeah, his name is Eldritch Chopra and he works in I.T.” The shop assistant gushed about one the only highlights in his dreary day. Then his expression dropped and he looked worriedly at Rain. “I haven’t seen him for a while. Not yesterday…and not the day before.
“I don’t suppose you’ve done a grocery delivery for him?” Rain asked as Bruce leading Algernon by the collar back into the store.
“No. But he’s local, only a few blocks away.”
Bruce and Peggy discussed ringing in this news to the Estate, maybe they could find the mysterious computer tech. Algernon took the opportunity to again stroll out of the store towards the broken window, this time with Rain on his heels. With a little care and not a lot of effort, Algernon slipped through the window and into the storeroom. By the time Bruce realised that both the troublemakers were outside, Algernon had opened the door to the storeroom and had found the computer that managed the CCTV system. Bruce berated Algernon and helped him out the window. Rain walked into the shop, waited until Algernon and Bruce left the window and then slipped into the doorway, locking it in place.
“Now where’s the other one gone?” Bruce asks pulling out his phone and calling Rain’s. It rung once from behind the storeroom door and stopped. Bruce sighed,
“Look we can get this information, we don’t have to break the law to find out what we need to know.” he reasoned to Algernon, “We’ll get the authorities…”
“But, they’re not the real authorities.” Algernon interrupted, making a counter argument that made sense to him but confounded Bruce.
“Yes, they are.”
The argument was interrupted by messages to everyone’s phones that contained the first delivery of video footage from the store’s CCTV. It showed two men talking and handing over a tin. One of those men was Bruce’s brother. The other man wasn’t as clear, his face covered by the described hoodie.
“Dad?” Algernon turned to Bruce
“What makes you say I’m your dad?” Bruce, taken aback by this sudden intimacy.
“My research on your society.” Algernon pointed to a notebook he had taken to carrying with him everywhere. “All the historical shows definitely have a male authority figure who is denoted as Dad,” Pointing at Bruce, “a brother and step-mother.” Pointing at Peggy.
“What shows?”
“Bold and the beautiful.”
Another message came through. This showed the Indian in the store talking to the shop attendant, just after the hand off to John. These images clearly showed the Indian’s face. They had their evidence.
“Right, we have what we need. Now where has Rain got to?” Bruce asked
“Looking for me?” Asked Rain from behind Bruce. He’d crawled out the broken window after linking the CCTV computer to the stores WIFI and hacking in. He showed Bruce his phone,
“Found him!” On a LinkedIn page, Eldritch Chopra was described as a Front End Developer for EBay, Seattle.
“Eldritch? Oh, we haven’t seen him for a couple of days,” confessed Eldritch’s team leader when Rain phoned in about his missing friend.
“Oh, I’m a little worried about him, but I’ve forgotten his address.” Rain waffled acting the part of a forgetful if well meaning friend, “ I know I’m close but these apartment blocks all look alike to me.” The team leader provided an address, two streets over.
Before leaving , Algernon seals the broken window with a cardboard box and tape, without prompting, but under supervision of Bruce.
Eldritch Chopra’s neighbourhood was no more appealing than that around the store. The building had no security, not even a lock on the street door and the group easily make it to Eldritch Chopra’s door. Rain knocked, no response. Bruce knocked, also no response. Bruce rang the phone number for the building’s super, as Algernon simply tried the door handle. The door swung open and the smell of death hit the group.
Bruce grimace, but he knew that smell of old and stepped into the apartment, followed by Peggy pulling our sampling kit. Algernon followed, but Rain backed up to the wall opposite, his eyes wide.
“Come on Rain, I need your help.” Peggy called behind her. Rain just stood there, shaking his head.
“I’ll help.” Algernon replied, looking back curiously at the usually cool con man. Rain slunk away from the door, and kept himself busy with Elditch’s mail and talking with Eldritch’s neighbours.
It did not take the rest long to find Eldritch. Bruce found him first, lying fully dressed on his bed, several stab wounds noticable about his torso. His eyes were free of the fractal spirals, though another tin with the remains of Spiral Dust was found. Peggy and Algernon carefully worked their way around the appartment, Algernon discovering an empty and broken cash box under the bed as well as Eldritch’s high-end laptop and VR headset. Peggy put together the clues and a profile of the attacker slowly formed in her mind as she walked the scene.
The assailant was bigger and stronger than Eldritch, able to dominate the smaller man. He wasn’t unknown, the door had not been forced, but the argument started there, the door had not been closed behind the visitor. The attack happened, the assailant was…angry. He was very angry at Eldritch.
“He was killed for reselling the dust,” Peggy announced, surprising even herself, “It makes sense, whoever gave him the Spiral Dust couldn’t risk exposure.”
“Good work, “ Bruce responded finding Eldritch’s phone by the bed, “Now we just have to know who this supplier was.” Walking out of the apartment he found Rain going listlessly through Eldritch’s mail. The smaller man looked up at the approaching Bruce and cringed.
“Please don’t make me go in there.” Rain pleaded uncharacteristically timid.
“No.” Bruce agreed and handed over the phone, “Here, take a look at this for me.”
A little of his old spark returned to Rain’s expression at the sight of the phone. With a careless flick of his hand he’d quickly broken in and started reading through the messages.
“Here’s something, Eldritch messaged a character called Leroy,” He pointed to a message on the screen.
Got stock?
Below was written the reply,
Yes.
“Then here, four days ago he messaged again,”
Got stock?
This time there was no reply, even though the request was made another two times.
“Eldritch was getting desperate for a new supply.” Rain commented, “I might also have a lead on…whoever visited.” He pointed up the stairs to the apartment door. “The neighbour saw a big man in a black jacket and a cowboy hat not last night, but the night before.”
“Leroy?”
“Maybe. We have a number, The Estate may be able to trace it.”
“Good, I’ll call it in.” Bruce smiled and pulled out his phone.
As Peggy and Algernon finished recording the scene, Bruce called Katherine and let her know what they’d found out. Rain walked back to the bum, now with a new bottle in a brown paper bag and the 7-eleven shop attendant. Neither had seen the cowboy around. It was clear that their time was up as the real police were about to arrive. With the group’s usual amount of bickering, they soon packed up and returned to The Estate.
Once back in Katherine’s office the news was mixed,
“Good work everyone, you are certainly a team of highly resourceful people,” Katherine said, standing behind her desk, “Unfortunately, the phone number you recovered for the supplier known as Leroy was a VoIP, a virtual number and untraceable.”
“I also wish to admit to some shenanigans during this operation, a broken window, burglary, hacking.” Bruce looked at Algernon, sitting quietly, and Rain who mouthed the word,
Snitch!
Katherine nodded her head and sat down. She looked over the evidence collected, the information received from the infirmary and labs.
“The Estate, for the most part is a….. clandestine organisation. Much of why we exist is to keep secret the knowledge of The Strange. As such, our agents find they need to use…unusual tactics to gain information. They do what needs to be done. We will certainly be replacing the broken window, but the actions of your team today are well within established practice. I hope you can come to appreciate the imperative of our mission, Mr Johnson.”
Rain winked at Algernon and they both smirked as Bruce took the rebuff on the chin.
It was clear that the trail had grown cold. For now, the cowboy in the black jacket known as Leroy walked free. Life at the campus went back to normal. John and his friend James were finally cleared by the infirmary. The fractal spirals still marred John’s irises, but he had his faculties back and was able to get himself home.
“I told mum everything. She’s expecting you.” Bruce informed his brother, who winced.
“Why did you have to ring her for.” John whined and face palmed.
“He’s a snitch.” Rain interjected
“I’m his brother, and I care.” Bruce replied.
“Brother? Why did you never mention you had a brother, dad?” Algernon interjected making Rain smile and Bruce cringe.
“What? I’m an uncle?” John took the opportunity to move the conversation off himself.
“Algernon.” Bruce warned in a three syllable growl.
“Oh, you named him after grandpa!”
The coincidence caught Rain’s attention.
“Really, Algernon? What are the chances of that do you suppose?”
With John’s returned to New Orleans, the group went back to their individual trainings and other duties. At the firing range , Rain confounded the assessment officer by refusing to even touch a gun. Instead when it was his turn to be assessed he stood at the firing range and out of seeming nowhere produced two silvery throwing daggers that streaked towards the human shaped target. In the comparative silence two ripping sounds were heard as holes appeared either side of the figures neck. Assessment was given with Rain passing without firing a killing shot.
Peggy found herself tinkering with the device found in the wasteland recursion. With the flick of a hidden switch the device starts up and a black portal swirled into being. Though travelling to recursion was common for members of The Estate, stable portals were rare things. Those the Estate managed were kept at the Gatehouse and lead only to a select number of recursion. A new portal to an unknown recursion was a rare find, even if a little ominous.
“That doesn’t look inviting.” Peggy mused and spent time taking readings before informing her Reporting Officer, Hertzfeld.
“Interesting. “ he commented later over her findings, “It certainly leads to a recursion, but the readings…are off. A team will need to be sent through to find out what is on the other side.”
Peggy nodded thoughtfully. This was her first gate, but even she could see the significance. Not everything in the multiverse was safe, and not everything had Earth’s interests at heart.
“ Actually,” Hertzfeld smiled and turned to Peggy. “There’s a new group of four talented individuals who have yet to prove themselves.”
Peggy nodded again, hearing and not fully understanding all Hetzfeld’s message.
“New recruits. Well you wouldn’t want to send your best into the unknown. I’ll prep them for the mission myself if you like.”
“Not necessary, one of them is already well prepped for the task.”
Peggy almost turned around and checked the room for another person until she realised that he meant her and the other three.
“Not, me! I’m a researcher not a field agent! The other three…”
“But who else could I trust with this new discovery. The information you gather will be beneficial to countless research programs running through The Estate. Besides your group are…”
“… a bunch of blundering misfits. I don’t even know why I’m bundled up with them.”
“…here, I was going to say. Look, this would be a great opportunity for you to find out their better qualities.”
“No one else wants to go either, do they?”
Meanwhile, at the other end of the campus, Algenon and Rain worked at clearing Eldritch’s old laptop in the library.
“Algernon, I been wanting to ask you something for a little while.” Rain said soto voce as he pulled out the left hand of the wastelands Valkyrie. “I want you to know that I trust you and that whatever you do I won’t judge you for it, but I have to know. What happened to the woman in the back seat of the car?”
More explanation was not necessary. They both looked down at the hand. Algernon, riffled through a notebook of observations he’d been taking on human culture and finally replied.
“Yes, that was… tragic.”
Rain held his gaze, but the youthful face did not reveal any secrets. The ambiguousness of the answer was enough to send off warning bells for Rain, but it let it slide. Both Bruce and Peggy had both interrogated the boy over the incident. If he didn’t want to share there was little that anyone could do to make him.
“Okay.” He finally said, and sighed disappointed, “Just…if you find yourself in a situation like that again, just give me a sign, a nod or wink. Bring me in on the con, right?”
“Sure.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
Rain, gave it one last chance, one last pull on the heartstrings.
“I know, you know something about me that I’d rather not get out. The others wouldn’t understand. But I trust you to keep it to yourself.” Rain looked up from the keyboard between them with his best ,and truthfully, his most imploring look.
Algernon leaned over so they were both hunch close over the keyboard,
“You can trust me, bro.”and for the first time Rain did. He nodded and went back to work.
Rain didn’t mention the woman again, even removing the hand from the table, but it was obvious the talk had been playing on Algernon’s mind.
“Rain?”
“Hmm?”
“How do you make people believe you?”
Rain had noticed Algernon taking an interest in how he talked to people on their excursion out. In fact, there were very few times he’d lied at all. It does no good to tell people you are a police officer. It’s always best to put on the air of someone who has the authority to ask questions, and let their inner sheep nature fill in the important job titles. The con is in the conviction, not the convincing.
“Simple, you have to believe it. Here,” he pointed to his chest hopefully where his and Algernon’s hearts lay. “You can’t ever doubt what you’re doing. Even if you say nothing, your body language can screams “I’m lying”.”
“And in here…” Algernon pointed to his head, grasping an essential truth.
“No, there you have to keep all the lies straight. What you’ve said to whom and when.”
Algernon nodded,
“Can you teach me?” He asked as quietly as Rain had asked his original question.
Rain smiled,
“My pleasure, bro.”
A Strange Life 