The First Councel

I motion to the guard with a can-we-have-a-second-here? look. Deciding it’s time for a break, he gets up and disappears around the corner. At least someone in this place has some sense.

Waiting for him to leave, Nora’s about to crumble. I haven’t seen her like this since the night she showed me the scar. Her chest is heaving, her chin’s quivering. She’s dying to finally let it out-to tell me what it’s really like. Not about her; about here. Still, she inhales as deep as she can and sniffles it all back in. Some things are too ingrained.

Wiping her nose with her hand, she slumps back against the wall and rests her shoulder against a white metal utility box that looks like it houses one of the Service’s emergency telephones.

“You want to talk about it?” I ask.

She shakes her head, refusing to look at me. Over and over, she continues the motion. No, no, no, no, no. Her breathing’s wet-saliva through gritted teeth-and with each movement of her head the motion gets faster, more adamant. Within seconds, it’s too much. Still leaning against the wall, she lifts her left hand and pounds her fist back against the plaster. “Damn!” she shouts. The single word echoes through the hall, and like a bookend to her original reaction, anger that became despair once again turns to anger.

“Nora… ”

It’s too late. With a quick shove of her hips, she pushes herself off the wall and away from the telephone. There’s a slight ripping noise and she stops. Her shirt’s caught on a sharp edge of the metal utility box. “Motherf-” She jerks her shoulder, enraged at the delay, and there’s another loud rip. We both follow the noise. From the top of her shoulder, down to her armpit, her black lace bra strap emerges through the hole in her shirt.

“Nora, take it eas-”

“Son of a bitch!” Spinning around, she swings her arm into the side of the metal box. Again. And again. I race in and grab her in a bear hug from behind.

“Please, Nora… the guard’ll be back in a-”

Struggling against me, she swings her left elbow around and clips me in the jaw. I let go and she wriggles free. In a rabid rage, she raises both fists in the air and delivers a death blow to the box. Pile-driving down, she connects with a hollow, metal bang that sends the door on the small box flapping open. Inside, there’s no phone. Just a gun, shiny and black.

Nora and I freeze, equally surprised.

“What the…?”

“Storage in case of emergency,” she hypothesizes.

I take a few steps back and look up the hallway that runs around the corner. The guard’s nowhere in sight.

Nora couldn’t care less. Without even looking, she reaches forward, her eyes completely lit up.

“Nora, don’t… ”

She grabs the pistol and yanks it out of its hiding spot.

CHAPTER 23

What the hell’re you doing?”

“I just want to see it,” she says, admiring the gun in her hand.

Up the hallway, around the corner from us, I hear a door slam. The guard’s shoes click against the marble floor.

“Put it back, Nora. Now!”

She motions to the theater and flashes me one of her darkest grins. “If you hold them down, I’ll pull the trigger. We can kill ’em all, y’know.”

“That’s not funny. Put it back.”

“C’mon-Bonnie and Clyde-me and you. Whattya say?”

She’s enjoying this way too much. “Nora-”

Before I can finish, she reaches back and tosses the gun through the air. At me. By the time I realize what’s happening, my arms feel like weights at my side. Fighting to lift them, I catch the gun in my fingertips, like a kid playing hot potato. I barely have it three seconds. Oh, shit. My fingerprints. Hearing the guard get closer, I toss it as quickly as I can back to Nora…

No! What if she doesn’t…

She catches it with a laugh. I can barely breathe. I turn the corner and see the guard coming down the hallway. He’s less than thirty feet away.

“Nora, no more psycho games!” I hiss, struggling to keep it at a whisper. “I’m giving you three seconds to put it back!”

“What’d you say?”

I ignore the question. “One… ”

Her hands go to her hips. “Are you threatening me?”

The guard’s got to be less than ten feet away. “No… I’d never threaten… C’mon, Nora… not now. Please put it back!”

I spin around just as the guard turns the corner. Behind me, I hear Nora cough loud enough to cover the sound of the metal box slamming shut.

“Everything okay?” the guard asks me.

Turning around, I look at Nora. She’s standing right in front of the box, blocking it with her body. The guard’s too busy staring at her bra, which is still peeking through the rip in her shirt.

“Sorry,” she laughs, pulling her sleeve up to cover her shoulder. She steps forward and coyly slides her arm around my waist. “That’s what happens when they kick you out of the face-sucking section of the theater.” Before I can object, she adds, “We’ll take it upstairs.”

“Good idea,” the guard says dryly. Without a second glance, he returns to his post behind the desk.