“Right.”
“And you’re doing a good job here. The best. I can’t imagine where you found the time, with all this going on . . .”
“There was plenty of time, Simon. It doesn’t take long to pass on a message or talk to the ET’s. Mostly that stuff happens in the evenings, after we’re closed.”
“Well, everything you’ve done so far is great. Your files are up to date. Your work is accurate. Are you going to go on working for me?”
“Simon, I would very much like to go on working for you. However, I can’t work for you this week. The president has asked me to go to the Pistach home world and look at it. The FBI man who’s been guarding me…”
Simon’s eyes flickered sideways. “Oh. That’s who he is. I wondered.”
“He’s been working as liaison. He’ll go with me on the trip, so he can verify what I see.”
“What do they think you’ll see?”
“Our government, part of it, anyhow, is worried it’s a conspiracy. The predators. The Pistach. The Inkleozese.”
“Why doesn’t the president go?”
“Who’d believe him? He’s trying to work inside the politics of mistrust, Simon. The other side has only one agenda, to discredit him, falsely if necessary, and they don’t care if it hurts the country. I have no ax to grind. I’m not a political person. If Bert can be muzzled, they’ll have a hard time discrediting me because there’s nothing there to discredit.”
He nodded sympathetically. “Well, you know, if they can get the public lined up to peek through bedroom windows, it makes it easier for them to rob the rest of the house!”
She smiled. “I’ll be away for a few days. I came down to ask if you’ll feed Sasquatch.”
“I will feed and exercise Sasquatch. And I’ll be glad when you come back, Benita.” He held out his hand, and she took it. He pulled her across the desk and kissed her cheek, quite gently. “Very glad,” he said.
She went back upstairs and waited for Chad, looking out the little window in the elevator hall, her hand on the cheek that Simon had kissed. What a strange man. Or not. He was really very nice, wasn’t he? Thoughtful. Considerate. Appreciative. Undemanding.
Chad always parked where she could see him from the elevator hall, so she could come down to unlock the door. He arrived bearing two small suitcases and a paper bag of Chinese takeout. When Benita smelled it, she realized she hadn’t eaten all day, not even breakfast, and Chad hadn’t either. They set it out on the table in the living room and munched without talking for some time.
“I wonder where Chiddy is?” she said finally, surfeit with sesame shrimp, asparagus and rice.
“On his way, I should imagine,” he said, putting down his fork with a sigh. He wiped his mouth thoroughly on a paper napkin. “I wonder what they’ll feed us on Pistach-home.”
“If they take us,” she amended.
“I think they’ll take us. If only because they’re so embarrassed over this predator business.”
“Or over the Inkleozese.”
“My guess would be that doesn’t embarrass them at all. The envoys took it for granted that intelligent people mean what they say, and somebody who says he’s pro-life means it.”
“How do we go about finding out whether the Pistach are as represented?” she asked him. “If we depend on them to show us the world, won’t they just show us what they want us to see?”
“There are ways,” he said. “Dissonances one can listen for. Differences of opinion one can ferret out. Are you frightened, Benita?”
“A little.” It was true. But the apprehension was accompanied by a bubbling feeling, as though she’d swallowed a little volcano, something that was building up toward an eruption. The feeling was vaguely familiar, and at last she tracked it back to a day in summer when Mami had taken her to the amusement park for her birthday, and she had ridden the roller coaster. Fear, and pleasure, and joy. Pure joy. It was such a lovely feeling! Why had it been such a rare one?
The evening grew late, and Chad took off his jacket and shoes and lay down on the couch in the living room, while she stretched out on the bed, Sasquatch at her feet. They had both dozed for some little time when Sasquatch roused them with a rumbling growl and a couple of firm woofs. It was Chiddy, back again, and he had Carlos and a girl with him. Of the two, the girl was in better shape. She looked tired, dirty, and a little frightened, but she was very much herself, ready to get angry the moment she thought it wouldn’t endanger her life.