Ken Douglas - Death Glitch

“ Really?” Alicia said. “A pond in the park? That’s your favorite place?”

“ Yeah, I was a kid, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew my parents didn’t want me, didn’t even love me. But Nana did. She was an important doctor, but she found time every day to take me out here, to be with me, to show me she loved me. No matter if she had to do a transplant or teach someone else how to do one that day, she always worked me in. That’s why it’s my favorite place.”

“ I can get that. My parents were way into their own power trips. My dad was a big time criminal lawyer in New Orleans and my mom owned a restaurant on Bourbon Street. They never had time for me.”

“ That’s too bad,” Amy said. “And it’s too bad I messed things up with Nana by going out with that sleazy Tucker Wayne.”

“ I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now. Bob Dylan said that.”

“ Yeah, well, he was right.” Amy saw the gazebo she used to love so much, still did, truth be told. She pulled off the road, parked next to it.

“ I don’t see anyone and it’s a minute after. You don’t think she left?”

“ No, Nana wouldn’t do that. She’ll be here.” And as she completed the sentence, her grandmother’s Jeep-like Dodge Raider turned the corner, coming toward them. She pulled up next to Amy’s VW, parked, got out of the car.

“ Holy shit!” Alicia said. “She looks just like you!”

“ Yeah, holy shit,” Amy said.

“ Woof.” Hunter sort of half barked, then went to the woman with her face and Nana’s car, sniffed her hand, turned and faced Alicia and Amy, as if to say he belonged to this stranger now.

“ I didn’t know you had a twin sister,” Alicia said.

“ I don’t,” Amy said. Then to the woman with her face, “Who are you?”

“ Who do you think I am?”

“ You’re the spitting image of Amy, except for the eyes.” Alicia said. “Is it possible for identical twins to have different colored eyes?”

“ No.” The woman said.

“ Why not? Hunter’s eyes are different colors, so if he had a twin, why couldn’t it have two blues or two browns?” Alicia didn’t seem the least bit startled by this woman.

“ It doesn’t work that way,” the stranger said.

“ Woof.” Another half bark from the dog, probably because he’d heard his name. The animal looked up at the stranger and it seemed like something passed between them.

“ David Bowie eyes,” the stranger said.

“ Yeah, kinda,” Alicia said.

“ Why do you have Nana’s car?” Amy said.

“ Because I’m your grandmother.”

“ That’s impossible.”

“ Yesterday I’d’ve said the same, Pumpkin, but now, well now, I don’t think I can.” She gave Amy a smile she’d know anywhere. And those brown eyes were Nana’s eyes. Impossible as it was, this woman was her grandmother.

“ You haven’t called me that in a long time.”

“ Double holy shit!” Alicia said. “This is right out of late night radio.”

Emotions Amy couldn’t understand were rippling through her body. She had questions and was about to ask one, when Nana pasted her car with a scowl.

“ I’d know that car anywhere. You were the ones who ran down that couple last night on Sierra.”

“ We did that,” Alicia said, “but don’t blame Amy. I was driving. We were afraid, because you, or rather an older version of you, was screaming out that someone was trying to kill her. I know I should’ve stopped, but I saw someone on the sidewalk and I knew they’d call 911. There wasn’t anything we could do, except stop and maybe get Amy killed.”

“ And where did you get that car, young lady?” If Amy would have had any doubts that this was her grandmother, that tone of voice would have taken them away.

“ Tucker bought it for me.” Amy winced when she said his name.

“ Tucker!”

“ Don’t worry, Dr. Eisenhower.” Alicia said. “They’re not seeing each other any more.”

“ I’ve got a lot more on my mind right now than Tucker Wayne,” Nana said.

“ Wow,” Alicia said. “I was a little clairvoyant with that Dylan quote, wasn’t I, Amy?”

“ Yeah, I guess you were,” Amy said.

“ You’re really finished with Tucker?” Nana said.

“ She really is,” Alicia said.

“ I thought he was going to let me go,” Amy said. “We had it worked out.”

“ That was before his hit woman Lila Booth saw a tape of you copying files from his computer.”

“ There was a camera?”

“ How could you be so stupid?”

“ I wanted to leave him and I thought I needed insurance. It turned out I didn’t.” She was scared now. In the last few months she’d heard stories about what could happen to you if you crossed Tucker Wayne. “I’ll call him up. I’ll give it back.”

“ He already has it. Lila broke into your apartment.”

“ That bastard,” Amy said.

“ He is a bastard,” Nana said, “but he’s the one who warned me that Lila was coming after you last night. If it wasn’t for him, you’d be dead now. Anyway, I’m glad you’re through with him. Now we have to go.”

“ Where?” Amy said.

“ Far away.”

“ Because that Lila Booth person is trying to kill Amy?” Alicia said.

“ I can probably fix that, eventually,” Nana said. “Mostly we’ve got to disappear because of what’s happened to me. Once it gets out, you can imagine what they’d do to me.”

“ Well yeah, the government alone, they’d be pretty interested,” Alicia said.

“ So we’ve got to get on the road,” Nana said. “The sooner we’re away from here, the better.”

“ Excuse me,” Alicia said, “but wouldn’t you be better off hiding, you know, someplace close by, where whoever might come after you would never look. Someplace safe, rather than drive away to who knows where, with spooks and spies and Lila Booth hot on your trail. I’ve seen that movie and somebody always gets killed.”

“ Who is this person?” Nana said. It was odd thinking of her as her grandmother, but despite the way she looked now, it was Nana, of that Amy was sure.

“ She’s my friend Alicia,” Amy said.

“ So, Alicia,” Nana said, “do you have anywhere specific in mind?”

“ Yeah, my place. You can hang till this Lila Booth person and whoever else is looking for you are convinced you’ve disappeared, then you can leave. Like, when it’s safe.”

“ It could be a long time.”

“ No worries. I’ve got lots of room, plus I make tons of money, so you all won’t be a problem.”

“ She does have a big house,” Amy said. “I think it’s a good idea.

Izzy followed Alicia out of the parking lot with the dog riding shotgun. When they’d decided that she and Amy would follow Alicia and Hunter to Alicia’s, the dog seemed to object. He went to Izzy’s car, parked himself by the passenger door and wouldn’t budge. He was her dog now. She knew it. The dog knew it.

So Amy got in the yellow VW with her friend, Hunter jumped into Izzy’s passenger seat when she opened the door, sat straight up, like it had been his place forever.

“ There is something very strange going on here, big guy.”

“ Woof,” the dog answered.

“ And I suspect you might know more than you’re letting on.”

Five minutes later, Izzy parked alongside the girls, who had pulled into a driveway of a two story yellow house three blocks from the university. She was about to shut the engine off when Alicia got out of the VW.

“ You should park in the garage.” Alicia pointed to the garage doors, a double and a single. She had a three car garage and Izzy wondered how many cars she had in it. “I’ll just be a minute.” Alicia pulled a set of keys from her pocket, went to the front door, keyed the lock, entered the house.