Chapter 4
“Great, what have I gotten myself into now?” Jenny said.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror, though her thoughts centered around the interview last night. The thin, gold necklace, pouring over the top portion of her maroon turtleneck, somehow disappeared within the floppy collar. Maybe it was time for that other long sleeve shirt.
Turning around, she reached for the black, velvety long sleeve shirt on her bed. She lifted it up and gave it a once over. “This will just have to go with the pants,” she said, placing the shirt against her dark purple dressy pants, appropriate for work. She simply didn’t feel like freezing in the office again, like yesterday with the skirt and blouse.
Once trading the turtleneck for the black long sleeve replacement, Jenny went about getting the other myriad of tasks finished, her normal routine every morning before work.
Yet constantly on her mind, during the whole morning ritual was the interview with Trenae Lafayette last night. In some ways, the former stripper’s story did not hold water. Some strange details, details that Jenny simply hadn’t researched or heard of before, didn’t wash. True, accounts of human-like aliens visiting the earth existed. Often referred to as ‘Nordics’, these beings generally behaved peaceably, harmlessly, and exhibited variations in skin color, hair color, and stature, with some even being very tall. But none had the strange geed’aso, like Trenae’s alien. And she had certainly never heard of an alien denouncing evolution. Evidently, a huge barrel of untouched peculiarities in the ‘abducted by aliens’ world still needed to be discovered, which she alone must now define and uncover, if only from one frightened woman, Trenae. Quite a task.
Once dressed, Jenny finished everything necessary for her workday, especially fixing a lunch, and then locked the front door. She headed toward the laundry room, passing the TV cabinet while walking through the door. The TV was off. A quick walk through the small laundry room led her to the back door. After stepping outside, she hurried to the garage behind the house. Her red Hyundai Accent waited quietly for someone to drive it.
Finally behind the wheel, she backed out of the garage toward the gravel alleyway. She headed off to work.
The Examiner’s building soon came into view. Jenny parked her car on the lower level of the nearby public parking structure. After crossing the street, she walked inside the double glass doors and headed toward the elevator. Josh Sharwood, at his usual post behind the security desk, stood by a few women receptionists, some of whom she didn’t recognize. Josh smiled at her, his face full and strong as ever. Still doing all that weight lifting? He gave her a nonchalant wave, she waving likewise, while she hurried past him and onto the opened elevator.
She checked her watch. Nearly 8:00 am.
The elevator’s door soon opened on the sixth floor, displaying the expanse of the entire newsroom.
“Hey, Jen,” Phil said, from behind the newsroom front desk. “Seen any little green men lately?”
Phil’s devilish grin chiseled his fair-skinned
face. Even his eyes appeared mischievous beneath the thick lens of his
eyeglasses.
But, she would deal with one miscreant at a time. “Yeah, Phil, and now I’m coming to take you to him!” Jenny increased her pace toward the desk. Once there, she rushed behind the polished obstacle and grabbed Phil by the ear.
“Help, help!” he said playfully. “I’m being attacked by the leader of those aliens, the ones…the ones who tug people’s ears!”
After walking several feet, leading Phil toward each of their office cubicle, Jenny felt more compassionate, having given him enough punishment, and finally released his ear.
“See you
two later,”
Jenny stopped in her tracks and turned around. Phil did the same. “Really, who is it?” Jenny asked.
“I don’t
know,”
“Any government people?’
“I will.
Thanks,
Turning, Jenny walked away, with Phil following.
She led them toward the north side of the news floor, passing by a now empty lunchroom on the north, while approaching their office cubicle across the hall from the lunchroom.
Phil LaCarta felt more and more of a good friend, mainly because of his close desk proximity. The Examiner’s new office cubicles had an interesting design, combining two smaller desk areas, with a short wall between each desk, into one large cubicle. So, just a swivel chair roll away, by a few feet, and both she and Phil arrived in each other’s company.
Lately Jenny had exposed many of her plans and doings at home to Phil, especially since she started her book. Yet she couldn’t feel attracted to him, not really. His younger age, 23, and his tall, thin stature just didn’t honestly appeal that much. But she sure loved to make Phil the target of her shenanigans, even though he would retaliate himself, making her the target of his antics likewise. Because they liked each other on a humorous and playful plane, for now, it made work so much more enjoyable for her. Hopefully, Phil too.
After she and Phil had hung their coats on the nearby hooks in the cubicle’s two corners, Jenny sat down on her chair, placing her purse on the floor. Phil sat on his own swivel chair, wheeling over to meet with her.
“So, any spooky aliens come visiting?” Phil asked, using kooky hand motions and a
funny face.
“I’ll slap you!”
“Ooo, office abuse. You’re in trouble now.”
Jenny smiled at him and leaned back, though quickly rolling the chair over to turn on her monitor and computer tower, and then rolling back. “But really,” she said, “I had an unusual experience last night.”
Phil leaned forward, keeping his hands in his lap and wheeling his chair even closer. He seemed all ears. “Go ahead, I’m listening,” he said quietly. They had to keep it low, with others close by.
“Remember that girl who came in yesterday, about Governor Willson?”
“Well, sort
of. I was out a lot. I heard some of the details from
“Get this. She claims, that Willson and some mafia guys he’s involved with, basically held her prisoner, before Willson was elected, and had her turning tricks for Willson’s parties.”
“No way!” he exclaimed softly.
“Hold on, it gets worse. And then she overheard about the murder, get it, the MUR-DER, of Willson’s wife, Nancy.”
Phil snapped back, upright in his seat. “No WAY!” he said loudly. “Oh come on, Willson?” He sneaked a sideways glance toward the lunchroom, looked at her, and lowered his voice. “The clean cut, brushes his teeth every day for the camera, holds lots of, you know, those little guys…those…”
Jenny loved to see Phil get flustered. She could always tell, because he forgot words. She laughed at him a little, and then helped him out. “Children and babies?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s the ones!” he said, slapping his thigh quietly. “I mean, come on. That’s really far fetched. She died in a car crash! It’s been confirmed! He’s the governor, for God’s sake. And he really does seem like a good guy, at least to me. Why didn’t she opt for a couple of those Senators or Representatives? Heck, you never see or hear much about them. But Willson, he’s got constant exposure!” He leaned down, closer to her. “Anyway, what else did she say?”
Positioning her chair directly in front of Phil, Jenny stretched her legs out straight, to the left of his chair, and crossed her feet. “Well, the best part, is that these mafia guys then want to kill her, right? And I asked her, like how can you still be here if they wanted you dead? I asked her after Claire and Warren had left. And then, she tells me that she had help. And…guess who from?”
Phil crossed his arms and smiled. “An alien,” he said, matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, you got it,” she said, smiling. “So I, of course, asked her to come over last night. And it was interesting and all, but her story doesn’t follow the path of many of the other abductees I’ve read on the Internet and in books. It’s somewhat, well, different.”
“Jenny, I told you, I warned you, that you would meet all kinds of freaks if you went ahead with this. You’re way braver than me on this.”
“Yeah, I know you did, you did. But, hey, my choice. I’m interviewing a 45-year-old woman this week too. But anyway, you see, most of the alien accounts are either about those ‘Grays’, you know, the typical big-headed, bug-eyed gray guys, or about these kind of reptilian-like aliens. Now, both these species, I suppose you call them, are pretty bad to humans. Ya know, mutilations, weird experimentation, all that. Both kinds are usually labeled as ‘Dracos’ or ‘Draconians’.
“But,” she continued, “then there are the other kinds. They usually appear more human-like, some having like blond hair and fair skin, or different colored skin or hair color. Those in the know about this stuff label them as ‘Nordics’ or ‘Evadamics’ or ‘Evas’, and they’re usually just the opposite of those ‘Dracos’, usually being friendly and tolerant to us earthlings. I think this former stripper’s alien is one of the Nordics.”
“Oh wonderful. A former stripper too! Now that just makes all of this so much more believable.”
“Very funny.” She smiled. “But anyway, until I was rudely interrupted, I figured he’s one of the Nordics.”
“I can’t believe they actually categorize these things, these aliens!”
“Yeah, I know, but they do. But anyway, then I find out he’s supposedly from the Andromeda galaxy. Most of aliens I’ve read about come from our galaxy. I haven’t come across that one yet. OR, the fact that he has these weird blue tendons running just beneath his skin, which acts as an exoskeleton and makes him apparently very strong. And then there’s the oddity that they have three sexes, a neutral one too.” Jenny leaned closer to Phil. “But the strangest thing she told me, and this was just before she left, was that this alien guy believes in God, and claims evolution is impossible.”
Phil squinted, adjusting his glasses at the same time. He appeared just as perplexed as she. “Well, the God part is believable, but not the evolution part. Now that’s definitely a new one on me as well, knowing all the great times I’ve had interviewing the nutcases who were abducted…by, well, you know, our little friends.”
Jenny laughed quietly. Phil had a ridiculous expression on his face. She recalled the times they both had encounters with individuals who walked right up to the news floor and demanded interviews, usually about aliens and other strange occurrences. Some seemed believable, while others you couldn’t trust for a second.
“I mean, who knows?” he asked. “Maybe her aliens are idiots.”
“No, I doubt that. From what she told me, this alien guy seems quite smart. She’s recounted a ton of information. Obviously, he taught her a lot. I don’t think she learned it all herself, although…you never know. You think?”
“Got me!”
“Maybe, see,” Jenny said, looking at the computer’s monitor briefly, “after her dad died, she and her aunt had his ashes buried at this place in the Nez Perce Forest. And her dad was religious. So, one of my guesses is that maybe this is some sort of post-delusional trauma from her dad’s death that she’s going through. Something like that, anyway. Who knows?”
“Yeah, Jen, really.”
Jenny pulled her legs back and sat up in her chair, yet still faced Phil. “Well, I’ll listen to her another time. She’s supposed to come on Saturday. I feel kind of sorry for her too. She apparently suffered emotional and physical abuse from her mom and brother. That part I definitely believe, since she’s really shy and awkward, kind of immature. Really scared too. And even though she’s very pretty…” Jenny touched her cheek, thinking a moment. “Maybe I should check out Fontel’s, see if she really worked there.”
“She worked at Fontel’s? Heck, I could tell you if she worked there.”
“Phil, you stinker!”
“Hey, I’m a guy. What can I say? When was she there last?”
“Uh, let’s see. End of May, maybe beginning of June, 2006’. I’ll have to check.”
“May or June? I don’t know…I don’t think I was there then”
“Yeah, right. You’re probably there every night.”
“What, me? Jen, how could you say that?” Although he tried to appear innocent, it wasn’t working.
Jenny crossed her arms and gave him a crooked smile. “Yeahhh, right…but, anyway.” She looked down for a moment, but then lifted her gaze. “Say, have you ever heard about Willson’s parties, the big ones he used to throw?”
Phil developed a curious, thoughtful look. “I think so. I can check, if you want. One of my friends used to cater for Willson’s ranch. I can find out. BUT...” His eyes widened.
“Yes?”
“I will tell you this. Willson’s ranch, well, it’s for sale. Just put on the market a couple of days ago. Somebody told me. You should check that out,” he said, nodding his head.
Jenny glanced to her left, at the lunchroom, contemplating his suggestion. She looked back at him. “Yeah, probably. Thanks.”
“No problemo. Anytime.”
“And if you can, find out about those parties, from your friend. Maybe a little detective work will solve this. Who knows?”
“Yeah, I will. We’ll see.”
“And I’ll just continue to charm and act friendly to this girl, get her to open up.”
“Sure, that should work.”
After a few more brief conversations about each other’s assignments and tasks for the day, Jenny became embroiled and focused in her work. Phil too.