This week was one of those weeks where nothing particularly ‘exciting’ happened, but still felt rushed. Not sure why that happens, but it does, occasionally. It was business as usual, but it felt like I didn’t have the time to do everything I needed to do. Of course, that might have been because I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew in a given amount of time, but you won’t catch me admitting that. Anyway, this Saturday woke up late, got to work late, and will probably continue late all day. Fortunately for you, however, that doesn’t mean you won’t get your weekly installment of…
Twicebound
Chapter 6 – part 2
Eddie stared across the cell at Vančura. He still looked irritatingly calm, but Eddie thought he’d glimpsed a sliver of uncertainty in the big man’s demeanor. Not that Eddie knew the meaning of the word demeanor. If he’d had to put his suspicion into words, it probably would have been “sumfin’s up wid him dis time aroun’.”
The cell door opened and officer on duty pushed an unkempt figure in, removing the handcuffs before locking the door again.
“A little company for you gents.”
Vančura didn’t even look up, frowning thoughtfully into space, while Eddie glanced contemptuously at the officer. The cop rolled his eyes and headed back to his desk, chuckling. Eddie watched him go, then turned to study the newcomer.
Judging from combined evidence of his own past experience and the way she was weaving, he figured she was recovering from a hangover.
” ‘ad one t’many, did ya?”
She turned a three-quarter cross eyed gaze at him and managed to convey a serious amount of dislike with it.
“Shut. Up. Or. Else.”
Suppressing a snorted laugh, he leaned back against the bars and started whistling. With a groan, she removed her jacket, wrapped it around her head, and lay down on the bench. Eddie continued to whistle for a moment or two, then Vančura interrupted him.
“She’s new.”
“Yup.”
“That’s not good.”
” ‘oo says?”
Vančura blinked disbelievingly. For a few minutes, he didn’t respond, obviously trying to figure out just how dumb Eddie was.
“It’s not good, because we haven’t seen it before. If we haven’t seen it before, we don’t know what’s next. We lose the advantage.”
His companion pondered that, screwing his face up in intense concentration.
“Oh. You’re sayin’ since one thing’s changed, ever-thin’ else is goin’ to be different?”
“I’m saying it might be different. And that’s a bigger problem than will be different. If we’re sure we don’t know what’s next, we’re just normal people. If we’re not sure that we don’t know what’s next… we’ve got a problem.”
Eddie squinted at him, sorting through that statement. Then, his expression cleared and he grinned happily.
“You’s got a problem, man. You’re doin’ wot dey call “over-thinkin” it. I’ve got no problems wid it, y’see. If y’think about it too much, y’get a ‘eadache, so d’trick is y’don’t think ’bout it. Works great.”
End Chapter 6 – Part 2
Go to Chapter 6 – Part 3
Did you enjoy this installment of ‘Twicebound’? If so, please ‘Like’, ‘Tweet’ about it, or comment! I appreciate every mention!
You’ll find a new installment of “Twicebound” each Saturday, as long as the garden slugs don’t get me.
The previous installments.
Chapter One: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
Chapter Two: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
Chapter Three: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
Chapter Four: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
Chapter Five: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
Chapter Six: Part 1
Michael Gunter's Tales of Today and of Yesterday 
A “she”? and here I thought this story was going to continue sadly lacking some feminine variety! 🙂
And here I thought you’d read my other stories. Ever read any of my full-lengths WITHOUT a lady or two?
Ah yes, but is THIS one a lady?
Hm… good point…
Interesting developments!! 🙂
Minor typo: “he figured she had was recovering from a hangover.” likely no “had”.
I do enjoy female characters in a main cast (for no reason I can fathom), and I sense that’s where this is headed… maybe not? Either way, it seems like Vancura’s not the only one toying with things in the past after all! I seem to have gotten my wish of seeing him off balance. (Perhaps he senses there’s a new possible rival for favourite character… 😀 )
Thanks for pointing out that typo!! (I appreciate it)
Oh, yeah, she’s a definitely a main-cast character. 😉 Not going anywhere anytime soon.
Hahahahaha. I think pretty much everyone has enjoyed seeing Vancura off-kilter with her around. He seems to be too much the know-it-all for readers to really like him.