Picked(3)

Even at six and three-quarters, I knew my mom and dad loved each other. She smiled at him and stood. I loved the way my mom’s eyes sparkled when my dad entered the room. He slid his arms around her without her seeing the roses. Shushing me by placing his finger over his mouth, he handed me the flowers behind her back.

“Oh my goodness, Cassandra!” he exclaimed. “How am I supposed to compete with that?”

I giggled, handing my mother the bouquet of flowers, feeling proud that I had a present for her, too. My dad bought her a silver necklace with matching diamond earrings. The necklace had two little angel charms holding hands. One had my birthstone and the other had hers. He said we were his angels and we saved his life. I’m not sure what that meant. I used to think she shoved him out of the street to keep him from being squashed by a bus. Now I wonder if he was a drunk or something before he met my mom.

Hearing the fire alarm and smelling the smoke, I jumped out of the shower, covered myself with a towel, and ran to the kitchen, slopping water all over the floor. After throwing my burnt pizza on top of the stove, I waved the dishtowel over the alarm, trying to stop the ear piercing noise. It wasn’t so bad. I’d eaten worse. It was salvageable. I never ate the whole thing anyway, I decided as I waved the towel.

Hopping back into my still running shower, I bathed quickly, wondering whether I had washed my hair or not. I decided I’d better do it again, just in case. It was summer. If I didn’t wash it every day, it got too dry, but in the winter, it was the opposite. If I washed it every day in the winter, it got too oily.

I settled to the middle of my bed with my well-done pizza, picked the pepperoni off and ate the center while I logged back on to the game. Justine lied. She wasn’t there. I couldn’t find her, anyway. I continued with the game for whatever reason, dressing my character in jeans and a hoodie. The top right corner told me the temperature in Glitter City was sixty-seven. That was sweatshirt weather. I smiled at the foolish game where I was supposed to meet Mr. Right.

Rolling my eyes, I looked at the text message from Justine.

Justine – Sorry, love. Busy. I will call you tomorrow. Good luck with your first case.

Cass – Yeah, have fun with your neighbor.

Justine – Don’t judge. He’s got HBO.

Okay. Profile. Hmmm, how much did I want to disclose here? Knowing Justine was going to check out my profile, I decided not to lie, my first instinct. I didn’t have to display my last name, only my first, and I could just pick the state. I didn’t have to give my city. That wasn’t bad. My dad wouldn’t freak too much if he found it. Not that he ever would. He loathed technology.

Once I had my profile set up, I moved about the game, walking down the sidewalks of Glitter City. I liked the city. I wished I could actually live there. Everything was so perfect, clean, fresh, and new. I learned pretty quickly how to maneuver the game. The number keys were used for different functions. Hitting number seven allowed me to smile at the passing patrons on the sidewalk. I paid close attention to the other players in the game, wondering if they were designed to be true to their real life.

I still didn’t get how you were supposed to meet people. I assumed from the different places around the city, you could meet people where you usually would. I could take my avatar anywhere I wanted—clubs, libraries, coffee shops, parks, pools, beaches, you name it, you could meet anyone, anywhere. I chose a little bistro shop where I sat my girl down at a table on the sidewalk, wanting to watch people. I was just like my mom in that sense. She loved to sit on a park bench and watch people. I inherited that from her. I loved to observe behaviors of people, try to read their faces and decipher their expressions.

I finally logged off the game around ten thirty, deciding I’d better get some sleep for my first case. Hoping it was something good, I snuggled up with Snowball and closed my eyes. I thought about my day ahead, and a touch of excitement came over me. I had been working in that dingy office, catering to the other agents for five years. I was sick of filing, answering the phones, and getting coffee. Although I wasn’t the least bit excited to be working for my dad, I was excited to get out of the office and do something else.





***



I felt the smile in the corner of my lip. Watching the two little boys play chicken on the concrete parking block was more entertaining than the meeting. Holding hands, toe-to-toe, they tried to knock each other off the yellow block.

“Cassandra!”

“Huh?” I questioned, straightening my posture.

The snickers were obvious and I shot Matt a dirty look.

My father, and boss, plopped the file in front of me. “Meet Mr. Zimmer,” he began as I opened the folder. A bald, fat man was paper clipped to the top right corner. “Mr. Zimmer is presumed to be using the system. His monthly workers’ compensation checks are supposed to be paying his bills while he is disabled from an industrial accident. Cartage Steel doesn’t think so.”