Chapter Twenty-One: Tattoos and Tears by Tina Semanas “Ara, are you sure you want to do this?” The driver looked hesitant before he took a right into a giant parking lot full of mothers and daughters milling outside a massive shopping mall. A 20 foot neon pink sign blinked on and off, “40% of all Dowager Apparel...Merchandise is Going Fast!” “Ara, this crowd looks crazed; like a pack of rabid hyenas fighting for the last scraps of meat on a dead elephant.” A line of outdoor tables with all the latest fashions was being swarmed with hundreds of bleach blond giggling girls each telling their mom, “This is so cute, I want it. Buy it for me!” Ara looked at the driver and said, “This is the perfect place, no one will notice us while Dowager wanna-bes are shopping. It is a religion for them. What we need to look for is a girl with a lot of tattoos, they are the most gullible.” Driving slowly around the mall parking lot, Ara spotted a mother and daughter who were the ideal targets. “Look, over there. They have whisker implants and tattooed black cat noses wearing pink fur! Perfect! Pull in front of them, I will do the talking.” The pink Rover slowly veered close to the mother and daughter stopping halfway in the parking spot purposely forming a barrier between them and the sale tables. “What the h….?” An angry Siamese looking cat lady raised her hand in a claw like fashion ready to scratch the pink Rover for obstructing their path to the sales table. Ara jumped out of the backseat holding the Rover keys in her hand and said to the angry mother and daughter, “Congratulations! You have been randomly selected to receive this pink Rover as a tribute gift of goodwill between The Sisters and the great people of the State. My name is Ara Dias, the newest member of the Doyenne Council, and I have been given the honor of choosing a mother and daughter for this reward! To receive this gift all we ask is a trade: Your old glider for this brand new delux model Rover.” The Siamese mother looked shaken - - with arms crossed she asked with a cat like hiss, “What’s the catch?” “There is no catch. Consider this as a token of love from our fearless leader Dr. Gladstone. Will you accept?” Ara dangled the keys in front of the excited ladies. “Mom, take it. You know how I love the color pink!” “Ok honey, whatever you want!” The cat lady handed over her old keys and took the Rover keys from Ara. “First let me get my precious babies from my old glider.” Following the lady to her old brown glider, the lady opened the hatch pulling out a cage of five Siamese cats that were hissing and clawing at the metal bars of the cage. “Come on my lovelies, we have a new royal carriage waiting to escort your royal highnesses.” Opening the back door of the Rover to put the cage in the back seat, Ara noticed her driver already had taken Beck out of the backseat and into his arms carrying her over to where the brown glider was parked. Ara grabbed the remaining handbags, first aid kit and digital communication equipment out the Rover, and then turned to the ladies who were already had the keys in the ignition of their new vehicle,”Well, on behalf of The Sisters, enjoy!” With the motor revved up, the two cat faced women pulled out of the parking lot screeching the Rover’s tires leaving a trail of burnt rubber and exhaust. The driver turned to Ara and said, “That was a brilliant acting job. Already showing the poise of a leader! Now let’s get out of here before they realize they have been fooled.” The brown glider was a ten year old economy electric class and it just barely fit the three passengers comfortably. Ara started sneezing, “Oh boy, This glider is full of cat hair. But who cares, at least this way we won’t be followed. How far is the safe house from here?” The driver looked back and said, “Only 10 minutes. We need to hurry so Beck can lie down more comfortably, that anesthetic will be wearing off anytime now.” Looking in the rear view mirror of the glider the driver noticed that Beck’s grimace looked more severe, the pain from the broken bones in her leg was already coming back. He stepped on the acceleration pedal causing the small car to leap forward...like a frisky cat. ——————————————————————-- “When is that flying drone going to be ready, we can’t let them get away?” “Well Dr. Gladstone,” a voice over the intercom said, “We will be bringing you a visual in two minutes. We have the Rover’s location, it is heading back north again toward the city.” Dr. Gladstone looked confused, “Why would they be heading back in the same direction they just left?” The voice replied, “I will bet they realized that one of our NWP agents saw them leaving heading south, so they might be back tracking to fool the agent thinking they might be followed? The drone is almost over top of them.” Watching her projection screen, Dr. Gladstone sat down on her black leather lounger waiting for the live video feed to be uploaded. A wide panning view of the Lakewood slums came into focus, and there it was, the pink Rover weaving in and out of the busy side streets. Dr. Gladstone muttered to herself, “Something is wrong with this picture? Why would Ara and Beck be meandering so slowly through this dirt poor neighborhood? And why would all the people come running up looking inside the vehicle?” The pink Rover pulled into a small dilapidated strip mall. Dr. Gladstone said to the intercom, “Zoom in on the store sign.” The camera quickly focused on a pink sign that read ‘The Cat Castle.’ And out of the Rover jumped two ladies dressed in furry pink clothes, and their faces looked like cats. One was holding a cage full of angry animals. “Wait,” Dr. Gladstone stood up enraged, “that isn’t Ara Dias and Beck Paris! They are nothing but two lousy cat freaks! How did they get their dirty paws on one of our Rovers?” Pounding her fist on a mahogany coffee table Dr. Gladstone roared, “Notify our agents to pick up that trash...Now!” In a matter of minutes the projection screen showed two black Rovers screaming into the small parking lot. Jumping out of the Rover were two large Termagant guards who slammed the ladies against the brick wall of the store. The cage of cats fell to the ground with five screeching cats scampering away. The ladies immediately were handcuffed and thrown into one of the Rovers. One of the guards looked inside the pink Rover looking for any signs of Ara and Beck...nothing. Dr. Gladstone said, “ As soon as those two cat ladies are taken to the local reconditioning center make sure you hook my feed up to their room so I can interview them personally! Understand?” “Yes doctor, I will notify you immediately.” The intercom clicked off. —————————————————-- The safe house was hidden behind a nondescript deserted old farmhouse. Located off a dusty dirt road, the entrance to the winding driveway was bordered by two rows of monstrous arborvitae trees. The foliage surrounding the house had a certain haunted feeling about it: Tangled branches scraping the white faded wood siding, cobwebs bordering windows and knee high weeds poking out of patches of uncut grass. It was the perfect front. Winding past the house the driveway led to a large red barn. The driver pulled the brown glider up to the front of the two pull out doors. Outside a punch pad was stationed to release the lock. Ara punched in a four digit code that Athan provided which allowed them to pull the glider in. Closing themselves in, they switched the lights on revealing a huge room with two sets of bunks, a small kitchenette with a fully stocked fridge, and two large couches facing a mounted projection screen on the wall. “Ara, grab some water, Beck needs all the fluids she can get. And see if there is something to eat - we all need our strength.” The driver carried Beck to the far couch and laid her down. Pulling out another needle from his kit, he injected her with some more of the purple wonder drug. It was the last of it. “Ara you need to get some rest as well, the medicine will last her for awhile. Let’s hope her friend Athan gets here in the next couple hours with a doctor because she is going to be in some serious pain.” “How long will the shot last her?” Ara wondered. “We have a good four hours of peace. Go lie down on the bunk, I will keep watch. Is there anything to eat in there?” Ara threw her driver 3 sticks of deer jerky. Ara said, “this place sure is old, I have heard of jerky but never knew people really ate it? It looks like leather.” ———————————————————-- “Live feed from the reconditioning center is now active...Dr. Gladstone you are on.” Dr. Gladstone stood tall and serious in front of the projection screen, she wanted to bring an intimidating presence to those on the other side of the feed. In the basement of the reconditioning center the two ladies were stripped down to their underwear both revealing identical Siamese dark brown and white permanent spray tans. Both of their arms and legs were stretched out and chained to the gray concrete wall behind them. The mother was trying to soothe her delirious daughter who was howling like a caged cat. Dr. Gladstone thought to herself, “Such wretched pitiful creatures. This is what all our teaching on expressing your true self has led to, human idiocy.” Clearing her throat she spoke to the two frightened women through the screen, “You can both make this really easy, just answer one question: How did you acquire the keys to one of our pink Rovers?” “We won the random give away!” The hysterical cat mother said. ”We were told by Ara Dias the Rover was a gift to us from The Sisters and out of the goodwill of your heart Dr. Gladstone. Naturally we believed her, why would we not?” Dr. Gladstone leaned in closer. “How long have you known Ara Dias? And are you working with her?” “No, no, no...I have never met her before in my life!” It was clear the mother was both ignorant and honest. Shivering in her chains, she was something to be pitied. There was no way these cat ladies were smart enough to help plan a daring getaway. “So, ladies, where did you meet Ara?” “At the shopping mall south of town. They were having a sale on fuzzy sweaters. I wanted to get my darling daughter one to match her new five Siamese cats. Isn’t that right honey?” “Meow,” replied the daughter with large tears streaming down her face. “O.k., one final question. What kind of vehicle did you see them leave with?” Asked Dr. Gladstone. “We gave them our old brown glider. It has cat stickers all over the side with big whiskers taped on the front. It looks like one of our cute kitties. You can’t miss it.” The mother said. “Did you have any idea where they are heading?” “No, we immediately left the parking lot to show the neighborhood our new vehicle. We didn’t even see them leave, we were too excited. Right honey?” By this time the daughter was nervously licking herself lost in a strange world of her own. “O.k., O.k., thank you for your help. Guards reward these two crazy cats for all their help.” As Dr. Gladstone went to click off the screen two Tergament guards could be seen smashing the two ladies with stun sticks over their head causing them to hang limp and unconscious on their chains. A small trickle of blood from the daughter’s leg dripped on the concrete floor. “Good, no more howling from those sorry animals anymore! Now do everything in your power to find that brown glider. One of our surveillance satellites must have picked them up? There must be an eyewitness that had to see a brown cat car driving around. I need answers! ” “Yes Doctor.” The intercom voice replied. An agitated Dr. Gladstone walked to her bedroom to think and lie down mumbling to herself, “Where are you Ara? I will find you, and when I do it will not be pretty!” ———————————-- “Headlights are approaching! Ara, wake up!” Her driver was shaking Ara while handing her a glass of water. Outside a green heavy duty military Rover pulled up to the double doors. A tall dark haired man wearing all black got out and punched in the code numbers to open the doors. Ara knew it was Athan. After the vehicle pulled in the barn, Ara’s driver immediately closed and locked the doors from the inside. Athan and an older man stepped out of the front seat, and then a door opened in the back of the vehicle. Ara couldn’t believe her eyes, it was Drew!
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