Bubby was a weird dog in more ways than just one. He knew things he had no business knowing. I think he knew we were there, for I heard a distinct sharp bark back in what should have been the repair shop.
Security man twitched but didn’t wake. No one else appeared. But now we had a direction.
*O*
There was a hall opening to the left of the security desk. It looked like where they had the restrooms, offices, and the entrance to the repair dept. at the back of the place. Still, no one appeared.
Doug started toward the hall and signaled for us to follow. It turned out that they still had offices down there, but they had nothing to do with cars. We had to walk past two large windows. Inside were desks and a lot of electronic equipment. Of course, they had to be in contact with whoever was in charge of them. I really didn’t know who oversaw P-Sec. I was too young to remember when they took over, how it happened. I knew we used to have a state capitol and all the appropriate offices and officials. I had no idea what happened to all of that, except that the deaths of so many people broke the system.
At the end of the hall was a grey metal door with a window. The door was locked with a simple key lock. Doug tried it and turned around. He whispered, “there must be a key somewhere obvious.”
Elvin peered into the large window of the office room closest to the locked door. He didn’t see anyone, so he opened the door and stepped inside. The door closed. We waited. After a minute or so, he reappeared, grinning.
“It was just hanging on the wall on a hook, like it probably always did,” he stage-whispered. “Right inside the door where you would grab it on the way out.”
A tall bald guy in a green uniform came out of the same office, didn’t even turn his head, and went into the men’s room across the hall. I mouthed “now!” silently at Doug. I thought we should use the key right then and get out of the hall. I wasn’t sure how this walking around unseen thing was working. The only way to find out was not a good idea. So, Doug stuck the key in the lock, opened the door and we made it into the shop area. It was a large dark room. I didn’t see anyone in there.
It takes a few minutes for the eyes to adjust to relative darkness, so we waited and listened. I heard some men’s voices back down the hall by the offices. I grabbed Doug’s elbow and held on tightly, ready to run, or hide somehow. I could hear us all breathing rapidly.
Bubby padded up quietly, emerging from the darkness and said, “Imogene doesn’t feel too well. She’s lying down in one of their vans and Lou is sitting with her. It’s over here by the garage doors.”
“Say, do you know how to drive one of these things,” continued the dog. I still thought he sounded amused.
“I need to see Lou and Mrs. Steele” I hissed! “Now, please, let’s go!” Bubby walked off into the vast empty room and we followed closely. Soon, one of those green vans appeared out of the darkness with its side door hanging open. Mrs. Steele was lying on a bench seat inside and Lou was sitting on the floor beside her leaning her head on the seat. She sat up and said “hey! Can any of you guys drive? Why don’t we steal this van?” She had been crying. Her face was smudged and wet.
The boys hopped up into the two front seats while I spoke to Mrs. Steele. “Are you ok Mrs. Steele?” I asked. “I think so. Basically, I am not injured or anything Jen. I’m just awfully tired. I don’t think much walking is an option for me right now.” She looked very small lying there. I made Lou move over and hopped inside also. Bubby jumped up and got in front with Doug and Elvin. I quietly shut the side door.
“If one of you people with hands with thumbs could manage to drive this thing, we could get out of here. All we need to do is figure out how to open these garage doors.”
Elvin said, “in theory I know how to drive. I have never done it, but I have read about it and talked to Roops. He drove, of course, all his life before the last ten years.”
Doug and Elvin got back out and started looking around the sides of the garage doors, for a button, Doug said. “There should be a button on the wall somewhere, like the control for a garage door” he said. “Look up high,” said Bubby. “They figured the women couldn’t reach it.”
It seemed too good really, but way up, over six feet up on the right side of the door was an electrical box with two large red buttons on it, and a cable leading out of it up toward the ceiling. Doug pushed the top button.
The door rolled up, making more noise than I could imagine possible. But maybe I was so afraid it just seemed that way. With a thump it stopped up high.
Lou said “they were supposed to kill us. We didn’t do anything! They were going to kill Bubby too! This thing said they had to. It was horrible Jen. It was seven feet tall, and you could see through it, and it stank like ozone and sulphur. It said they had to get rid of us. They didn’t feed us at all either!” This started up the tear works again. “Why do they want to kill us,” wailed Lou.
Doug and Elvin had changed seats and the younger boy was in the driver’s seat. We remembered that motor vehicles used to have a key to start. This one was the same! Doug started feeling around under the seats in front and looked through the glove box. There it was. I figured that they weren’t too worried about someone getting in here and stealing a van. Well, that will be a surprise for them, I thought.
The truth of the matter is that driving an automatic, is automatic. Not much to learn. Elvin drove it out of the shop very slowly without headlights. He stopped and Doug got out and hit the lower button and hopped back under the descending door and he got back in the passenger side. Still, no one seemed to notice us at all stealing a big green van. The sun was going down. We took the old surface road across the slough back into Milltown. There was no other traffic on the road and if anyone saw the van coming, I am sure they got as far away as quickly as they could. The last of the sunlight shone dully on the slough water. It was at high tide. It had been years since we had traveled this road. We never walked clear out here. There was no reason to. When we were very young our parents had driven with us out to the Indian Reservation to buy fireworks out that way.
We couldn’t go back to Mrs. Steele’s house. We couldn’t go to mine and Lou’s house either. We needed to talk to Rupert D. Jones. We also needed to park the van and leave it somewhere discreet.
In the waning evening light Elvin drove to the old public parking barn in town and parked back in a corner where it would be hard to see. This meant we had to help Mrs. Steele walk the six blocks to the radio station building where her son lived. We would just take it slowly and support her and let her rest if she needed to stop. I think Doug could have carried her if she would have allowed him to.
Bubby ran ahead to tell Roops that we were coming with his mother and all the rest of the story. Sometimes a talking dog was a great convenience!
When at last we four kids and Mrs. Steele arrived at his little green door, Roops was making some food in his tiny kitchen. He said it was pasta and came out to settle his mother on the best chair and he gave her a blanket and a pillow. He brought her some tea too. Then we had his simple pasta and tea and were glad for it too. Doug and I washed the dishes and pans and cups. It was easy and nice to work with him. Elvin and Lou sat out in the other room chatting with Bubby and Roops and occasionally had a word with Mrs. Steele.
It was a full house for the night. There were two old sofas and two armchairs and Roops slept upstairs in a little room on the second story. We did the best we could to settle in with assorted blankets and pillows, too tired to even talk.
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