TALES of SUPERGIRL: CORNUCOPIA.
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:01 pm
Hi all, this is another in my TOSG series of short stories, where there are elements of the content that will ultimately feature in a larger story arc that I am writing. There is no sexual element to the peril featured here.(thats in my Bg stories)
They are all stand alone stories though and you don't have to have read the previous offerings to follow this one. The stories are deliberately more about conventional perils that she must face and are a means to explore aspects of her character as well as contribute background to the bigger story I am working on. I want to show Sg as a person which is why I write these. Everything I've written I've written for a reason, so some parts may seem inane or pointless but they will become important either in this story or later on in context of the larger story.
The previous short stories, should you wish to read them in order, are :-
The previous short stories, should you wish to read them in order, are :-
TOSG: Faking It.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23625
TOSG: Goodbye Mr A.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21880
TOSG : Of Gods and Monsters
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23369
TOSG : Cornucopia
This story!
TOSG : Aftermath
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25155
This one is in 3 parts, the first is just setting the scene really. If you enjoy it, please post a comment. If you don't, even more reason to post a comment
PART 1
Kara stared at the face of the man before her with grim determination.
“You’re goin’ down!” she declared defiantly.
He met her gaze evenly, then narrowed his eyes “Oh yeah? You gonna take me?”
“If I have to. And I have to.”
“What, here? You come here, into my own place of business, callin’ the shots like you own the joint, and callin‘ me out, right here, in front of my customers, in my own backyard? You got some balls kiddo…”
“Bring it on fat boy…”
“Fatboy? FATBOY is it? Jesus…you are so, soooo dead baby.”
“Baby? Oh yeah? Well do your worst, big guy…’cos I’ll be doin’ my best.”
“You can’t mean…? What after the last time? Are you crazy? You want your ass handed to you, huh? Well, bitch, you come to the right place!”
“Bitch?! Rob!” Kara chastised her friend with a frown of mock anger and a slap on his forearm.
“Well, you called me fat. I ain’t fat….Well ok, I’m Jack Black-fat but not John Candy –fat…” he said in a hurt tone.
“That’s what I meant.” She said, placatingly.
“Well, I was just like…trash talkin’, ya know, biggin’ it up like” he said hesitantly.
“What the hell was that thing you were doing with your mouth?”
“That was my game face…” he said awkwardly.
“THAT was your game face?!!!” she asked incredulously. “Rob, it looked like you were tryin’ to crap a hand grenade!” she didn’t use curse words very often and even something as mild as ‘crap’ seemed naughty and risqué to her, dangerous and secretly exciting to hear it come from her own mouth.
He blushed furiously and struggled to meet her gaze. “Well, anyway…you want another Bond Off?”
“Nah, we exhausted James Bond quotes the last time…”she smiled.
“You’re just saying that cos you lost…” he taunted her.
“OH! I LOST! Only ‘cos you cheated -‘Bond, <click> James Bond’ that was dirty pool”
“Hey, the click was Connery doing the lighter in the Casino, gotta be Dr No. It’s different from every other film where he just says ‘Bond, James Bond’. Not my fault you weren’t up to it.”
She smiled. He was right, but it did niggle her that she had fallen into his trap and said it could be any of the Bond films, without pausing a second to think about the significance of his click noise. Rats.
“How about something new?” she suggested.
“Like what?" He thought for a second "Maybe…dunno. Names? Names in quotes that only could come from the one film? Like ‘McLovin ain’t even a real name’ can only be from-“
“’Superbad’. Cool. We can count franchises as one if it comes to it, so like ‘Use the Force, Luke’ could be from a coupla films but Star Wars would cover it. Yeah Ok, that works. So any general quote but has to have a distinct name in it, or be memorable from a distinct film, ok? Or a general name in a distinct quote, yeah?” she said, getting into the swing of things.
“Yep . Good. Hit me” the café owner Rob Thomas said as he leaned on the counter and their eyes locked again in a deadly bout of film quote combat. He beckoned her with his fingers together. It was after 6 and the café was almost deserted apart from two customers. Rob had sent the bevy of beautiful waitresses home because it was quiet. Kara had been about to head home too, but she sensed his loneliness and as they liked each other’s company she stayed for a chat. He was one of her few real friends and actually knew her secret. They both enjoyed the movies and they often played the film quote game, in some form or another. Once in a while, she let him win.
“’Cut me, Mickey!’” Kara cried in a slurred voice with a smile. It was a pretty good impression.
“Sly Stallone, 'Rocky'! 1-0 to Thomas, yaaaaaayyyyy , the crowd goes wild!” he spun on the spot hands in the air in triumph.
“Oh, c’mon.” She said, laughing. ”That was deliberately easy for you.”
“It’s Elias…its Elias…” he said staring at her intently.
“Oh, …er…. That would be….let me see…I know it….'PLATOON'! Charlie Sheen in the helicopter at the end, when he looks down at Willem Dafoe”
“Awwww, you cow!”
“ROB!”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean it.” He said, sheepishly. ”Go on then.”
“Winstone Wolf…I fix problems.”
“’Pulp Fiction’! Errrr….Ooooo…strugglin’ now…let’s see…er…’Broadsword calling Danny Boy!’”
“You say that one all the time! Its ‘Where Eagles’ Dare’” she laughed as he nodded reluctantly. “A present from Mathilda…’” she said in a heavy French accent.
He smiled in triumph ”My second favourite film of all time girl, Luc Besson’s ‘Leon’! Crackin’ movie that .”
“Hmmmn. Bit bloody for my tastes. Your turn” she said as she took a sip from her tea.
“’What-are-you doing, Dave?’” he said with a bad American accent in a flat, dull voice and slammed his palm down on the shop counter in expected victory.
Kara winced. “Jeez, Rob, that was awful! “ she chastised her friend. “I’m guessing you were tryin’ to do Hal from ‘2001’? Since when did the computer have a Welsh accent?” she teased him.
“It was a good impersonation, that!” he said indignantly. She looked at him dubiously from narrowed eyes. He looked away guiltily, tacitly conceding the point. They both grinned.
“Ok, bit of a toughie for ya now, then…’Mr Stone? We have your wife…’”she smiled at him as she took another sip.
“OOOOoooo…’We have your wife’… gotta be some kidnap caper then….’Mr Stone’…OH , I KNOW! ‘Ruthless People!’ Loved Helen Slater in that , she was just soooo gorgeously cute. Not unlike a certain someone I know…” he smiled at her pointedly and winked, and she blushed at the complement. ”Danny Devito was Sam Stone and they took oh, what was her name? Played his wife, ya know…” he pondered.
“Bette Midler” she put him out of his misery.
“THAT was it, Bette Midler. Good laugh. I liked that film, mostly ‘cos Slater was a fox.”
“Batter up.” She said looking at him expectantly as she awaited his offering.
“’HEL-LO? MCFLY?!’” he mimed knocking in the air with his fist at her forehead.
“Aw, please! ‘Back to the Future’”. She smiled. “Easy-peasy. OK, since we are in kindergarten, an equally easy one for you: ‘Sarah Connor?’ “ she said in a heavy Austrian accent.
“Aww c’mon your takin’ the piss! ‘Terminator!’ Alright, let’s get this one out of the way- ‘GORDON’S ALIVE?!!!!’” He said in a big, booming voice.
“Vultan in ‘Flash Gordon’.” She laughed. “Jeez Rob you gave me half the title in the quote! Ok, lets up the ante – a toughie for ya now then, ‘Carson Dyle HAD NO BROTHER!’.” She declared with a wicked smile and twinkling eyes as she bellowed out the last part of the sentence.
“Cock. I know this one too. War film? “ she shook her head. “Oh, BALLS! I can hear ‘im sayin’ it too…its not a cowboy picture…not sci fi…not horror…a thriller? Crime caper?”
“Maybe a bit of both” she smiled mischievously as she watched him suffer. “Think way back….”
“70’s?” he asked as she shook her head.
“Think older…”
“Go on, gissa clue. Who was in it?”
“Cary Grant, Hepburn, er… George Kennedy… er…I think Coburn was as well…oh, and Walther Matthau…”
“Oh, bollocks! Its bloody ‘Charade’ innit?” she nodded as he winced. “Knew I knew it! Shoulda ‘ad that one without a clue, mind you, it aint on much. Ain't seen it in years. Great film though. OH! I got one! ‘Right turn, Clyde!’ ”
“’Every Which Way…’. Didn’t need to think about that one. Erm…oooo…Oh! Here’s one ‘So nobody has a clue, what happened to Mr Blue?’” she said perkily. She knew he’d get it quickly but she liked to see his delight when he solved one. It made her happy.
“’Reservoir Dogs’, love, innit? Gotta be. Rrrrrrright then, let’s see now…” Then he smiled an evil grin. “Ok, if it’s tough ones you want, cop this. ‘Jones?’ ” he said. She waited but he didn’t continue.
“’Jones’ what?” she prompted.
“Just ‘Jones?’” he smiled. Then the phone rang. He left her pondering as he answered.
“ ’Raiders?” she called after him but he shook his head with a smile as he picked up the phone.
“ Coulda been, but it ain’t. Different inflection. ‘Ang on. Allo? Hiya Mam… What d’ya mean who’s that, it’s me Rob. YOU rang ME…Who else over here is gonna call you ‘Mam’?” he rolled his eyes. “Ok. Yeah, I’m great. Business is tidy. You alright Mam, you sound a bit upset?.... Well anyway, wassa matter? ….No, I aint got the tv on… Mrs Williams’ little boy? Mrs Williams at number 23? That Mrs Williams. Fat Bobby or Mick with the Lump?...Or Dave O’blivion? Mam he’s 48, you can’t call him a little boy. He’s on an oil tanker or somethin’ ain’t he? Yeah, well anyway, him?... What about him?... Well of course he’s at sea, he works on bloody oil tankers…What storm? Well no, its tea time here… Yes, Mam , I’ve had food…a bacon sandwich. Look you ‘aven’t rung in a panic to find out if I had tea…Hang on …Mam ‘ang on. OK, OK, alright I’ll put the telly on. Yeah…ok, yes I got it, BBC. I’ll ring you back.” He hung up. ”Bloody woman.”
“What’s up?” Kara, in her guise of ‘Linda’, asked him.
“Some big fuss…somethin’ about a ship in trouble back by where I live. ‘Ang on, I’ll put it up now. Mrs Williams from opposite, her little boy is in it somehow… Dave O’blivion, … not Fat Bobby… Nor Mick with the Lump”.
“Mick with the Lump? Why’s he called that?”
“His name is Mick and he’s got a big lump on his forehead by here-“ he tapped his own forehead. “We all used to joke it was his brains escaping.”
“Wait a sec!” she frowned and held up a hand “What about ‘Dave Oblivion’?” she asked, as he sounded more like a super villain.
“Oh, it’s a bit of a story there. He worked on a tug boat out of Cork, in the engine room, for 5 years and when he came back ‘ome he’d picked up an Irish accent. He used to drink himself silly when he was back, so someone said ‘he drinks himself into oblivion’, so he became Dave O’Blivion, with the apostrophe after the ‘O’ , ya know like the Irish names. O’Malley, O’Callaghan, that sort of thing.“
“Oh. Right. O’ Blivion. Got it,” There wasn’t a lot she could say to that, and she didn’t really have anything to say either, except in her limited experience, all of Rob’s countrymen seemed insane, Rob included. She shook her head slightly in dismissive bewilderment.
“Well ‘e just used to drink until he passed out all the time when he was younger, so he used to drink to-“ Rob continued.
“Oblivion. I get it. You guys are … what is it you say? Bonkers?”
“Gee, ta for that love.” He pulled a face as he switched the tv on and then cycled through the channels, searching for a particular broadcast. “Anyway Dave’s the one, not Bob. Fat Bobby we calls him.”
“I can work that nickname out all by myself” she smiled.
“Gotta find the Beeb world news… the bloody yank world news stuff is all still about the States…” he continued to skip programs until he hit the BBC 24 World Service. A dark swirling stormy image filled the screen, mostly black but with a few faint lights moving crazily up and down in the field of view. As he turned up the sound, a roaring wind drowned out the shouted words of the journalist standing on the cliff top illuminated by a swinging spotlight beam, desperately blinking off the rain and clinging on to his hood as he tried to make himself heard. But the ticker tape scrolling across the bottom of the screen gave a fuller picture.
‘-ARGEST LIQUID NATURAL GAS TANKER IN THE WORLD ADRIFT IN BRISTOL CHANNEL AFTER ENGINE ROOM FIRE… OCEAN GOING TUGS BATTLE TO STOP SHIP HITTING ROCKS IN GALE FORCE CONDITIONS AFTER LOSING POWER… MARITIME SAFETY AGENCY SAY 37 CREW STILL ON BOARD …“UK FACING CATASTROPHIC ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER” – ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY… RAF SEA KING HELICOPTERS BATTLING WITH COASTGUARD AND LOCAL LIFEBOATS TO SAVE STRANDED MEN IN CONDITIONS DESCRIBED AS ‘UNBELIEVABLE’ BY MET OFFICE SPOKESMAN… VESSEL BELIEVED BOUND FOR THE NEW LNG PROCESSING TERMINAL AT MILFORD HAVEN WHEN FIRE BROKE OUT…TRIED TO REACH SAFETY OF PORT OF BRISTOL BUT LOST ALL STEERING… BREAKING NEWS… GLOBAL GAS CORP VESSEL ‘CORNUCOPIA’, THE LARGEST LIQUID NATURAL GAS TANKER IN THE WORLD ADRI-’
“Shit.” Said Rob. “ ’elluva storm, poor buggers” he said almost to himself as he stared up at the screen. “That’s just by where I’m from. Dave is on that, Mam said…”
“Rob, I’ll need to use your office a sec…” Kara said rising from the stool. Rob knew who she really was, but pretended he didn’t. He knew she knew all the film quotes too and so would always win, but they played the game anyway as they liked each other’s company, and he had convinced himself that if he didn’t know for certain that Linda (as he knew her) was Supergirl then he could still legitimately cling to the belief that , well, maybe she wasn’t. It wasn’t really working, but they kept up the pretence.
“What? Oh, yeah. Sure. Wait a sec though, see what they say a minute.” He said as a panel appeared at the side of the picture.
“OCEAN TUGS TRYING TO PUSH STRICKEN VESSEL FROM ROCKS…PENBRIDGE LIFEBOAT LAUNCHED IN ‘TITANIC SEAS’…FEARS GROWING AS WEATHER WORSENS…”
“Rob, I really better go…”
“NO, yes, I mean- I was just waitin’ to see if they said what boat had gone out. THAT'S where y-our friend needs to be, get on that Lifeboat, they’ll have radio to the helicopters and the Coastguard. Thems your boys. I mean her boys – she needs to get on that boat, nobody will know the situation better than the lifeboat coxswain, he’ll be able to tell y- her what he needs doin’. The coastguard will be relaying all the SAR stuff but the Cox is on the spot, he’ll have a better idea of the conditions and what’s practical.”
“Thanks I’ll pass that on. SAR stuff?” though as soon as she said it she guessed what he meant
“Search And Rescue.”
“OK, got it.” She strode briskly to his office.
“HEY!” He called after her and she paused as he said “Tell her to be careful, eh?”
She smiled “Sure.” As she moved into the back of his shop she thought of her approaching the Earth just a few hours or so earlier. Deep down, something had seemed off but she was just so glad she had been heading ‘home’ she hadn’t been paying attention. Now she remembered. As she had returned to earth from the planet ‘Gonzalez’**** as she called it, there was some sort of anomaly…a cloud formation… that was it! A cloud formation that had been rotating in the wrong direction! Against the wind. Dammit why hadn’t she noticed? She was furious with herself that now people were in danger because of her lax behaviour. No ordinary storm this.
A short while later, after Kara had flown from the back of the shop, the café owner was on the phone once again to his mother.
“Yep…yep, Mam…I seen it…look it’s gonna be alright…I’ve had a word with …” he dropped his voice to a whisper so the few customers couldn’t hear “-my girlfriend,” he resumed more normally then “ and she’s on her way. No, she hasn't got a coat...Mam I can see its raining on the telly...well she's got this...sort of capey-thing...What? No. No, Mam, listen….Mam, will you listen? No, she hasn’t got one of them either….Because, Mam, she doesn’t need an umbrella…”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**** see TOSG Of Gods and Monsters (but I warn you its an odd one! and just a bit of whimsy)
They are all stand alone stories though and you don't have to have read the previous offerings to follow this one. The stories are deliberately more about conventional perils that she must face and are a means to explore aspects of her character as well as contribute background to the bigger story I am working on. I want to show Sg as a person which is why I write these. Everything I've written I've written for a reason, so some parts may seem inane or pointless but they will become important either in this story or later on in context of the larger story.
The previous short stories, should you wish to read them in order, are :-
The previous short stories, should you wish to read them in order, are :-
TOSG: Faking It.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23625
TOSG: Goodbye Mr A.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21880
TOSG : Of Gods and Monsters
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23369
TOSG : Cornucopia
This story!
TOSG : Aftermath
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25155
This one is in 3 parts, the first is just setting the scene really. If you enjoy it, please post a comment. If you don't, even more reason to post a comment
PART 1
Kara stared at the face of the man before her with grim determination.
“You’re goin’ down!” she declared defiantly.
He met her gaze evenly, then narrowed his eyes “Oh yeah? You gonna take me?”
“If I have to. And I have to.”
“What, here? You come here, into my own place of business, callin’ the shots like you own the joint, and callin‘ me out, right here, in front of my customers, in my own backyard? You got some balls kiddo…”
“Bring it on fat boy…”
“Fatboy? FATBOY is it? Jesus…you are so, soooo dead baby.”
“Baby? Oh yeah? Well do your worst, big guy…’cos I’ll be doin’ my best.”
“You can’t mean…? What after the last time? Are you crazy? You want your ass handed to you, huh? Well, bitch, you come to the right place!”
“Bitch?! Rob!” Kara chastised her friend with a frown of mock anger and a slap on his forearm.
“Well, you called me fat. I ain’t fat….Well ok, I’m Jack Black-fat but not John Candy –fat…” he said in a hurt tone.
“That’s what I meant.” She said, placatingly.
“Well, I was just like…trash talkin’, ya know, biggin’ it up like” he said hesitantly.
“What the hell was that thing you were doing with your mouth?”
“That was my game face…” he said awkwardly.
“THAT was your game face?!!!” she asked incredulously. “Rob, it looked like you were tryin’ to crap a hand grenade!” she didn’t use curse words very often and even something as mild as ‘crap’ seemed naughty and risqué to her, dangerous and secretly exciting to hear it come from her own mouth.
He blushed furiously and struggled to meet her gaze. “Well, anyway…you want another Bond Off?”
“Nah, we exhausted James Bond quotes the last time…”she smiled.
“You’re just saying that cos you lost…” he taunted her.
“OH! I LOST! Only ‘cos you cheated -‘Bond, <click> James Bond’ that was dirty pool”
“Hey, the click was Connery doing the lighter in the Casino, gotta be Dr No. It’s different from every other film where he just says ‘Bond, James Bond’. Not my fault you weren’t up to it.”
She smiled. He was right, but it did niggle her that she had fallen into his trap and said it could be any of the Bond films, without pausing a second to think about the significance of his click noise. Rats.
“How about something new?” she suggested.
“Like what?" He thought for a second "Maybe…dunno. Names? Names in quotes that only could come from the one film? Like ‘McLovin ain’t even a real name’ can only be from-“
“’Superbad’. Cool. We can count franchises as one if it comes to it, so like ‘Use the Force, Luke’ could be from a coupla films but Star Wars would cover it. Yeah Ok, that works. So any general quote but has to have a distinct name in it, or be memorable from a distinct film, ok? Or a general name in a distinct quote, yeah?” she said, getting into the swing of things.
“Yep . Good. Hit me” the café owner Rob Thomas said as he leaned on the counter and their eyes locked again in a deadly bout of film quote combat. He beckoned her with his fingers together. It was after 6 and the café was almost deserted apart from two customers. Rob had sent the bevy of beautiful waitresses home because it was quiet. Kara had been about to head home too, but she sensed his loneliness and as they liked each other’s company she stayed for a chat. He was one of her few real friends and actually knew her secret. They both enjoyed the movies and they often played the film quote game, in some form or another. Once in a while, she let him win.
“’Cut me, Mickey!’” Kara cried in a slurred voice with a smile. It was a pretty good impression.
“Sly Stallone, 'Rocky'! 1-0 to Thomas, yaaaaaayyyyy , the crowd goes wild!” he spun on the spot hands in the air in triumph.
“Oh, c’mon.” She said, laughing. ”That was deliberately easy for you.”
“It’s Elias…its Elias…” he said staring at her intently.
“Oh, …er…. That would be….let me see…I know it….'PLATOON'! Charlie Sheen in the helicopter at the end, when he looks down at Willem Dafoe”
“Awwww, you cow!”
“ROB!”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean it.” He said, sheepishly. ”Go on then.”
“Winstone Wolf…I fix problems.”
“’Pulp Fiction’! Errrr….Ooooo…strugglin’ now…let’s see…er…’Broadsword calling Danny Boy!’”
“You say that one all the time! Its ‘Where Eagles’ Dare’” she laughed as he nodded reluctantly. “A present from Mathilda…’” she said in a heavy French accent.
He smiled in triumph ”My second favourite film of all time girl, Luc Besson’s ‘Leon’! Crackin’ movie that .”
“Hmmmn. Bit bloody for my tastes. Your turn” she said as she took a sip from her tea.
“’What-are-you doing, Dave?’” he said with a bad American accent in a flat, dull voice and slammed his palm down on the shop counter in expected victory.
Kara winced. “Jeez, Rob, that was awful! “ she chastised her friend. “I’m guessing you were tryin’ to do Hal from ‘2001’? Since when did the computer have a Welsh accent?” she teased him.
“It was a good impersonation, that!” he said indignantly. She looked at him dubiously from narrowed eyes. He looked away guiltily, tacitly conceding the point. They both grinned.
“Ok, bit of a toughie for ya now, then…’Mr Stone? We have your wife…’”she smiled at him as she took another sip.
“OOOOoooo…’We have your wife’… gotta be some kidnap caper then….’Mr Stone’…OH , I KNOW! ‘Ruthless People!’ Loved Helen Slater in that , she was just soooo gorgeously cute. Not unlike a certain someone I know…” he smiled at her pointedly and winked, and she blushed at the complement. ”Danny Devito was Sam Stone and they took oh, what was her name? Played his wife, ya know…” he pondered.
“Bette Midler” she put him out of his misery.
“THAT was it, Bette Midler. Good laugh. I liked that film, mostly ‘cos Slater was a fox.”
“Batter up.” She said looking at him expectantly as she awaited his offering.
“’HEL-LO? MCFLY?!’” he mimed knocking in the air with his fist at her forehead.
“Aw, please! ‘Back to the Future’”. She smiled. “Easy-peasy. OK, since we are in kindergarten, an equally easy one for you: ‘Sarah Connor?’ “ she said in a heavy Austrian accent.
“Aww c’mon your takin’ the piss! ‘Terminator!’ Alright, let’s get this one out of the way- ‘GORDON’S ALIVE?!!!!’” He said in a big, booming voice.
“Vultan in ‘Flash Gordon’.” She laughed. “Jeez Rob you gave me half the title in the quote! Ok, lets up the ante – a toughie for ya now then, ‘Carson Dyle HAD NO BROTHER!’.” She declared with a wicked smile and twinkling eyes as she bellowed out the last part of the sentence.
“Cock. I know this one too. War film? “ she shook her head. “Oh, BALLS! I can hear ‘im sayin’ it too…its not a cowboy picture…not sci fi…not horror…a thriller? Crime caper?”
“Maybe a bit of both” she smiled mischievously as she watched him suffer. “Think way back….”
“70’s?” he asked as she shook her head.
“Think older…”
“Go on, gissa clue. Who was in it?”
“Cary Grant, Hepburn, er… George Kennedy… er…I think Coburn was as well…oh, and Walther Matthau…”
“Oh, bollocks! Its bloody ‘Charade’ innit?” she nodded as he winced. “Knew I knew it! Shoulda ‘ad that one without a clue, mind you, it aint on much. Ain't seen it in years. Great film though. OH! I got one! ‘Right turn, Clyde!’ ”
“’Every Which Way…’. Didn’t need to think about that one. Erm…oooo…Oh! Here’s one ‘So nobody has a clue, what happened to Mr Blue?’” she said perkily. She knew he’d get it quickly but she liked to see his delight when he solved one. It made her happy.
“’Reservoir Dogs’, love, innit? Gotta be. Rrrrrrright then, let’s see now…” Then he smiled an evil grin. “Ok, if it’s tough ones you want, cop this. ‘Jones?’ ” he said. She waited but he didn’t continue.
“’Jones’ what?” she prompted.
“Just ‘Jones?’” he smiled. Then the phone rang. He left her pondering as he answered.
“ ’Raiders?” she called after him but he shook his head with a smile as he picked up the phone.
“ Coulda been, but it ain’t. Different inflection. ‘Ang on. Allo? Hiya Mam… What d’ya mean who’s that, it’s me Rob. YOU rang ME…Who else over here is gonna call you ‘Mam’?” he rolled his eyes. “Ok. Yeah, I’m great. Business is tidy. You alright Mam, you sound a bit upset?.... Well anyway, wassa matter? ….No, I aint got the tv on… Mrs Williams’ little boy? Mrs Williams at number 23? That Mrs Williams. Fat Bobby or Mick with the Lump?...Or Dave O’blivion? Mam he’s 48, you can’t call him a little boy. He’s on an oil tanker or somethin’ ain’t he? Yeah, well anyway, him?... What about him?... Well of course he’s at sea, he works on bloody oil tankers…What storm? Well no, its tea time here… Yes, Mam , I’ve had food…a bacon sandwich. Look you ‘aven’t rung in a panic to find out if I had tea…Hang on …Mam ‘ang on. OK, OK, alright I’ll put the telly on. Yeah…ok, yes I got it, BBC. I’ll ring you back.” He hung up. ”Bloody woman.”
“What’s up?” Kara, in her guise of ‘Linda’, asked him.
“Some big fuss…somethin’ about a ship in trouble back by where I live. ‘Ang on, I’ll put it up now. Mrs Williams from opposite, her little boy is in it somehow… Dave O’blivion, … not Fat Bobby… Nor Mick with the Lump”.
“Mick with the Lump? Why’s he called that?”
“His name is Mick and he’s got a big lump on his forehead by here-“ he tapped his own forehead. “We all used to joke it was his brains escaping.”
“Wait a sec!” she frowned and held up a hand “What about ‘Dave Oblivion’?” she asked, as he sounded more like a super villain.
“Oh, it’s a bit of a story there. He worked on a tug boat out of Cork, in the engine room, for 5 years and when he came back ‘ome he’d picked up an Irish accent. He used to drink himself silly when he was back, so someone said ‘he drinks himself into oblivion’, so he became Dave O’Blivion, with the apostrophe after the ‘O’ , ya know like the Irish names. O’Malley, O’Callaghan, that sort of thing.“
“Oh. Right. O’ Blivion. Got it,” There wasn’t a lot she could say to that, and she didn’t really have anything to say either, except in her limited experience, all of Rob’s countrymen seemed insane, Rob included. She shook her head slightly in dismissive bewilderment.
“Well ‘e just used to drink until he passed out all the time when he was younger, so he used to drink to-“ Rob continued.
“Oblivion. I get it. You guys are … what is it you say? Bonkers?”
“Gee, ta for that love.” He pulled a face as he switched the tv on and then cycled through the channels, searching for a particular broadcast. “Anyway Dave’s the one, not Bob. Fat Bobby we calls him.”
“I can work that nickname out all by myself” she smiled.
“Gotta find the Beeb world news… the bloody yank world news stuff is all still about the States…” he continued to skip programs until he hit the BBC 24 World Service. A dark swirling stormy image filled the screen, mostly black but with a few faint lights moving crazily up and down in the field of view. As he turned up the sound, a roaring wind drowned out the shouted words of the journalist standing on the cliff top illuminated by a swinging spotlight beam, desperately blinking off the rain and clinging on to his hood as he tried to make himself heard. But the ticker tape scrolling across the bottom of the screen gave a fuller picture.
‘-ARGEST LIQUID NATURAL GAS TANKER IN THE WORLD ADRIFT IN BRISTOL CHANNEL AFTER ENGINE ROOM FIRE… OCEAN GOING TUGS BATTLE TO STOP SHIP HITTING ROCKS IN GALE FORCE CONDITIONS AFTER LOSING POWER… MARITIME SAFETY AGENCY SAY 37 CREW STILL ON BOARD …“UK FACING CATASTROPHIC ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER” – ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY… RAF SEA KING HELICOPTERS BATTLING WITH COASTGUARD AND LOCAL LIFEBOATS TO SAVE STRANDED MEN IN CONDITIONS DESCRIBED AS ‘UNBELIEVABLE’ BY MET OFFICE SPOKESMAN… VESSEL BELIEVED BOUND FOR THE NEW LNG PROCESSING TERMINAL AT MILFORD HAVEN WHEN FIRE BROKE OUT…TRIED TO REACH SAFETY OF PORT OF BRISTOL BUT LOST ALL STEERING… BREAKING NEWS… GLOBAL GAS CORP VESSEL ‘CORNUCOPIA’, THE LARGEST LIQUID NATURAL GAS TANKER IN THE WORLD ADRI-’
“Shit.” Said Rob. “ ’elluva storm, poor buggers” he said almost to himself as he stared up at the screen. “That’s just by where I’m from. Dave is on that, Mam said…”
“Rob, I’ll need to use your office a sec…” Kara said rising from the stool. Rob knew who she really was, but pretended he didn’t. He knew she knew all the film quotes too and so would always win, but they played the game anyway as they liked each other’s company, and he had convinced himself that if he didn’t know for certain that Linda (as he knew her) was Supergirl then he could still legitimately cling to the belief that , well, maybe she wasn’t. It wasn’t really working, but they kept up the pretence.
“What? Oh, yeah. Sure. Wait a sec though, see what they say a minute.” He said as a panel appeared at the side of the picture.
“OCEAN TUGS TRYING TO PUSH STRICKEN VESSEL FROM ROCKS…PENBRIDGE LIFEBOAT LAUNCHED IN ‘TITANIC SEAS’…FEARS GROWING AS WEATHER WORSENS…”
“Rob, I really better go…”
“NO, yes, I mean- I was just waitin’ to see if they said what boat had gone out. THAT'S where y-our friend needs to be, get on that Lifeboat, they’ll have radio to the helicopters and the Coastguard. Thems your boys. I mean her boys – she needs to get on that boat, nobody will know the situation better than the lifeboat coxswain, he’ll be able to tell y- her what he needs doin’. The coastguard will be relaying all the SAR stuff but the Cox is on the spot, he’ll have a better idea of the conditions and what’s practical.”
“Thanks I’ll pass that on. SAR stuff?” though as soon as she said it she guessed what he meant
“Search And Rescue.”
“OK, got it.” She strode briskly to his office.
“HEY!” He called after her and she paused as he said “Tell her to be careful, eh?”
She smiled “Sure.” As she moved into the back of his shop she thought of her approaching the Earth just a few hours or so earlier. Deep down, something had seemed off but she was just so glad she had been heading ‘home’ she hadn’t been paying attention. Now she remembered. As she had returned to earth from the planet ‘Gonzalez’**** as she called it, there was some sort of anomaly…a cloud formation… that was it! A cloud formation that had been rotating in the wrong direction! Against the wind. Dammit why hadn’t she noticed? She was furious with herself that now people were in danger because of her lax behaviour. No ordinary storm this.
A short while later, after Kara had flown from the back of the shop, the café owner was on the phone once again to his mother.
“Yep…yep, Mam…I seen it…look it’s gonna be alright…I’ve had a word with …” he dropped his voice to a whisper so the few customers couldn’t hear “-my girlfriend,” he resumed more normally then “ and she’s on her way. No, she hasn't got a coat...Mam I can see its raining on the telly...well she's got this...sort of capey-thing...What? No. No, Mam, listen….Mam, will you listen? No, she hasn’t got one of them either….Because, Mam, she doesn’t need an umbrella…”.
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**** see TOSG Of Gods and Monsters (but I warn you its an odd one! and just a bit of whimsy)