He dialled security first. The guard didn’t believe him, but
had to when he showed him the empty space in the lab.
The guard brought Fred back to the security office and they
scoured the surveillance videos. Finally they found it. Not two hours before
Fred had arrived, two women in maintenance uniforms had made off with the
fridge on a dolly.
Unfortunately, the angle of the cameras was such that there
were no good views of the women’s faces.
The guard looked at Fred. “So is that dangerous, what they
took?”
Fred sighed. “It might be. I was just beginning testing on
the samples.” He paused. “I’d better call Mr Masterson.”
The guard shuddered. “Do you have to?”
“It was his project.”
“He creeps me out.”
Fred rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to talk to him, I’ll do
it. Just give me the video footage of the theft.”
The guard copied the files onto a flash drive and handed it
over. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Fred left the office and returned to his lab. After a few
minutes of staring at the empty space in the lab, he sighed and picked up the
phone once more.
“Hello, Mr Masterson? I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
A new character arrives, wearing a leopard piece of clothing, and carrying
mental health tablets.
Fred walked slowly down the hall towards Mr Masterson’s
office. He wasn’t looking forward to discussing the situation with his boss.
He knocked on the door.
“Come in!” came the response.
Fred opened the door. Mr Masterson was sitting at his desk,
tapping at the keyboard for his computer. He looked up at Fred and stood.
Fred cringed inwardly.
Mr Masterson was eccentric, but today’s outfit was stranger
than usual.
He was wearing a leopard-print onesie with a navy blue sport
jacket and a black skinny tie. His pocket square was bright red. A purple tuque
covered his red hair (Manic Panic red, that is).
Before Fred could say anything, Mr Masterson walked around
the desk to shake Fred’s hand.
It was worse than Fred had expected.
The legs of the onesie didn’t come all the way down to the
man’s ankles, and he was wearing white Reeboks and white tennis socks.
Fred kept his eyes on Mr Masterson’s face while they shook
hands. Mr Masterson resumed his seat and Fred sat across the desk from him.
“So the fridge is gone, then?” Mr Masterson asked, threading
his long fingers together and resting his chin on his thumbs.
Fred nodded. He pulled the flash drive out of his pocket and
set it on the desk. “This is the security footage of the theft.”
Mr Masterson didn’t move to take the device. “Thank you,
Fred. How much of a problem is this for our project?”
Fred shifted in his chair. “I still have some samples, so I can
start over today if you want. We won’t be delayed that much. But I don’t know
how dangerous the stolen samples are.”
Mr Masterson waved a hand dismissively. “Let me worry about
that. You go and start over with the remaining samples.” He reached into his
jacket pocket and pulled out a prescription pill bottle. He opened it and
poured out a few pills into his hand. “Would you like one? They help me with my
anxiety.”
Fred shook his head silently and watched as Mr Masterson put
all of the pills save one back in the bottle. He swallowed the remaining pill
without any water, then replaced the bottle in his pocket.
“You can go then, Fred.”
Fred nodded and stood up. “Thank you, Mr Masterson.”
“Let me know how the project is going, will you?”
Fred nodded and left the office as quickly as he could. He
had a project to re-start.
Did your character just see Shellos? Or was it something else?
Lila and Timothy started watching for Pokémon on a daily
basis. They kept track of which ones they saw on a list they wrote in a
notebook.
The little Shellos was one of their favourite finds. Lila
managed to get a picture of it with her phone, and Timothy was able to hold it
for a long time. It just sat in his hand and blinked at him. Somehow he felt
incredibly warm and safe while he was holding it. But eventually it was ready
to move on, and he had to set it back down in the bathtub, where they first saw
it, and say good-bye.
“Why are the Pokémon all at your house, anyway?” Lila asked.
Timothy shrugged. “I have no idea. There’s been some weird
stuff going on lately though. Maybe it’s part of that. Anyhow, I saw Fennekin
in the park. That was first.”
“What weird stuff has been going on?”
Timothy shrugged. “Well, I got that Iron Man from Christmas
Island. And my pirate toys all disappeared, but they were in my closet for some
reason. Then there’s the pillow cannon. And of course the guy at school who
wanted to give me a box of banans.”
“What are banans?”
“I dunno. He said they’re like bananas.”
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