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At the end of the afternoon James' cell phone rang.
Kath had left early for a dental appointment, anxious
to get the work done while she still had health insurance.
"It's me," said Sue. "Just wanted to
say sorry about this morning. I was beat."
James had been mad with her all day but somehow he
couldn't bring himself to tell her. "It's OK. When
did you wake up?"
"That big guy nudged me. I guess he didn't even
realize he did it. I slipped out just before he sat
down."
"Wow, that was close. I didn't know what to do."
"Well, like I said, I'm sorry. Want to for a walk?"
James looked at his watch. He could spare a little
time. "Sure. Where?"
"Central Park?"
They met in the lobby, grabbed a cab on Fifth Avenue,
and less than 10 minutes later they were walking between
the trees. It made James feel wistful.
"I'm going to miss all this," he sighed.
"It's been fun working in the city."
"You could find another job here."
"I guess. It would be better to find something
closer to home. I'd get to see Deb and Ben more."
They emerged into a grassy field at one side of the
park. "Hey, what happened with your apartment?"
"The landlord told me to settle the rent or get
out. I owe quite a lot. I had to find a friend to help
me move my things. He dumped them in the parking lot.
By the time we rescued everything it was almost midnight.
I crashed out on her floor. She says I can stay there
for a few nights until I get a new place."
"I'm really sorry."
"It isn't the first time. It won't be the last."
She shrugged. "Hey."
"Have you eaten today?"
"A little. I'm fine. I still have some of the
money left from my 'investigation'. I should go into
business as a private eye. At least it's something I
can do without screwing up!"
"You're just having bad luck. You aren't a screw
up."
"I am. I screw everything up. The only things
I can do are pass exams and fight crime. I'm kind of
a misfit. Right now I'm doing a degree I don't even
need because I don't know what else to do. I won't get
a job at the end of it. Least, not one I want. But I'd
go insane if I didn't have something constant in my
life."
She gave a long resigned sigh. "So. That's why
I'm going to be a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy."
She gave him a sideways smile, to see if he appreciated
the joke.
"Well that's..."
"Pointless. It's just a way to stay a student
for even longer."
"How many degrees do you have?"
"Officially?"
It caught him off guard. "There's another kind?"
"Well, yes. I have a Bachelors and a Masters officially.
But on top of those, I'm probably worth a couple of
Associates degrees, another BA and a Masters in Criminology.
I figured that last one might be useful. When you're
invisible it's easy to sneak into the classes but they
don't let you take the exams. I'm sure I'd have passed.
I did all the course work." She reminded him of
Hamlet, trying to be convincing over some insane absurdity.
He wondered how to cheer her up, stop her from being
so despondent. "Sue, look, you're very smart. You
have bad luck because you're trying to work at crappy
jobs in your spare time. It's tough in this country.
Working your way through college is hell."
She shrugged again. "Maybe."
"You're right about one thing," he continued.
"You'd be great as a private detective. Think about
it, think what you could do."
At last the corners of her mouth turned upwards, just
a little, instead of down. "I would be good, wouldn't
I?" she agreed.
"You'd be awesome."
By now they were almost at the edge of the park. Three
large men strolled towards them and he saw that the
first of them was looking right at him and smiling.
"Hey!" said the man. "Thank you. Where
did you find it? I never thought I'd see it again. Thank
you."
He took James' case from him and held it up proudly
to inspect. He was strong and James found it impossible
to resist.
"That's mine," protested James, weakly.
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