She rummaged in her knapsack and pulled out the bright yellow little handbook.
“So, what would you do if your parachute didn’t open?” She tested him as she smoothed open a dog-eared page that was stained with what looked like chocolate.
“I would check my chute before I jumped, ” Andy replied as his patience tightened like a guitar string about to snap.
“What about if lightning struck?”
“I would avoid it. ”
“Would you stand under a tall tree?” Regina was determined to evoke a wrong answer from him.
“Of course not. ”
“What if you were diving a hundred feet down and ran out of air?” Regina asked in a confrontational manner.
“I wouldn’t. ”
Regina smacked the handbook shut and shoved it back into her knapsack.
“When do you think I can get a uniform?” she asked with mounting anger.
“After you attend the academy and graduate. We’re talking the better part of a year, assuming the academy accepts you. ”
“They have to accept me. ”
“Just because your father’s the governor doesn’t mean anybody has to accept you, ” Andy replied a bit sharply.
“I don’t intend to tell anybody who you are beyond saying that you’re an intern who’s riding along with me. ”
“Then I’ll tell them, ” she countered, opening the window and flicking out the gum.
“That would be very unwise. Don’t you think it’s time you let people like you for yourself instead of for who you are? And don’t throw anything out the window. ”
“What if they don’t?” Her mood wilted. “And you know they won’t. Nobody has ever liked me even when they know who Papa is. So why would they like me if they didn’t know who he is?”
“I guess you’re just going to have to see what happens and face reality for once, ” Andy said as he turned off on Clay Street. “And if people don’t like you, you have only yourself to blame. ”
“Bullshit. None of it’s my fault. ” Regina’s voice got louder and more strident. “I can’t help the way I was born!”
“It’s your choice to be rude and selfish, ” Andy said. “And I’m not hard of hearing–yet. Lower your voice. Maybe for once you might think about others instead of yourself. How about the poor person back there who steps on that gum you just threw out? How would you like it if you stepped on someone’s gum when you were dressed for work, in a hurry, couldn’t afford new shoes, and had a sick baby at home?”
This had never occurred to Regina.
“The only reason no one likes you is because you don’t like anybody, either. People sense that, ” Andy went on as he pulled in behind the modern brick building called Biotech II that housed the chief medical examiner’s office and the forensic laboratories.
“I don’t know how, ” Regina confessed. “You can’t know how to do something if no one has ever shown you. And all my life, everyone has treated me special because of who I am, so I’ve never had a chance to think about anybody else. ”
“Well, now you’ve got your chance. ” Andy parked in a visitor’s space and got out of the car. “Because I’m going to treat you like shit if you treat me like shit. Maybe it’s good you’re at the morgue. You can practice being nice to dead people and they won’t care if you can’t pull it off. ”
“That’s a great ideal” Regina enthusiastically followed Andy along the sidewalk and inside the lobby. “Except how do you worry about someone’s feelings if they can’t feel anything anymore?”
“It’s called sympathy, it’s called having compassion. Words foreign to you, no doubt. ” Andy stopped at the information desk and signed in. “Try to think about what the poor people down here have been through and how sad their friends and loved ones are, and for once don’t focus on yourself. And if you’re obnoxious, that’s the end of your internship because I’m not going to put up with it, and I know the chief won’t put up with it. She’ll throw you out on your ass in a nanosecond. “