ladyfirestarter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladyfirestarter) wrote2007-12-24 11:48 pm
ladyfirestarter) wrote2007-12-24 11:48 pm
(no subject)
They all feel it at the same time, roughly five in the afternoon -- evening, this close to the turn of the winter.
At first it's no more than flickers, vague premonitions of danger too attenuated to tell them anything beyond something's wrong. It goes through the campus like ripples chasing one another through a field of grain, until everyone's slightly on edge, staff and kids alike, without being certain why.
It doesn't stop there, though, because enough of them have grown up with these premonitions and learned to trust them. Fred Towne exchanges a glance over his desk with Charlie McGee; Mark Bell says a worried word to Laura Towne; Eric VanAllsburg and Kate Welker come together to speak to Ted Brautigan. And abruptly the good-mind is linked and building rapidly, the ripples in the field reversing direction and converging on one spot like pupils contracting, and they can see --
(vans garage men gunfire glass blood SUSANNAH --)
The phone call to the Tet Corporation goes out at 5:23pm.
At first it's no more than flickers, vague premonitions of danger too attenuated to tell them anything beyond something's wrong. It goes through the campus like ripples chasing one another through a field of grain, until everyone's slightly on edge, staff and kids alike, without being certain why.
It doesn't stop there, though, because enough of them have grown up with these premonitions and learned to trust them. Fred Towne exchanges a glance over his desk with Charlie McGee; Mark Bell says a worried word to Laura Towne; Eric VanAllsburg and Kate Welker come together to speak to Ted Brautigan. And abruptly the good-mind is linked and building rapidly, the ripples in the field reversing direction and converging on one spot like pupils contracting, and they can see --
(vans garage men gunfire glass blood SUSANNAH --)
The phone call to the Tet Corporation goes out at 5:23pm.
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"You did right to call me right away, Terry. We'll get on this immediately."
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Not everyone who works in this dark tower stops to notice the rose in the lobby, but Terry stops every day. He loves it, just like he loves his uniform; he is in the service of something bigger. And although it's frightening, on some level he's excited by being a part of this. He's trusted, specially trusted by someone on the Board of Directors. His loyalty and special qualities have been recognized.
On his way out, at dawn, he salutes the rose, and he sleeps the sleep of the just that Christmas Eve.
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He pockets the phone, picks up the remote control, and turns to aim it through the doorway at the DVD player in the next room. On the screen, Jimmy Stewart emerges from frozen midsentence.
As he settles back on the couch, Jodie leans over and asks "What was that about?"
"Nothing, hon," he murmurs back, and turns up the volume a touch on It's A Wonderful Life.