Previous: Running Mate
I threw myself into work, cleaning three of the residents' rooms in ten minutes before starting to guide residents to the cafeteria for lunch. While we watched them eat, several of the staff pressed me about the package. I just grinned and said things were okay, it was not contraband.
At lunch, I went outside where I could make calls in private, and called the police and then the congregation leader at church. The police were still not encouraging about the options they could give Teru. She would be safer and probably happier staying with me.
I mentioned that I wasn't sure of my own ability to deal with the situation, but they were not very concerned. They did say that it would change things if Teru thought I was a danger to her, and then they tried again to impress upon me how much better it would be for Teru to stay out of their system.
Then I called the congregation leader, and she said she wasn't getting any positive answers. She was not telling anyone unnecessary details, beyond that Teru was my friend and needed a good family to stay with for a while, but everyone was too busy.
So I went back inside to eat, and my boss was waiting for me in the break room.
"Are things really okay?"
"Sure."
"You've been a little distracted all morning."
I liked my boss.
I liked all my co-workers, although there were a couple who seemed to have interest in re-making me in their own shadow. If I'd just learn to do things their way, I'd be their perfect buka -- much like Jun's attitude toward me during middle school and high school had been.
Does everyone have to deal with this kind of thing? People who want them to be something they aren't?
I appreciate their desire to help, and I can deal, to a certain extent, with pecking orders, but I am no mortal's disciple. I have to approach tasks the way I can understand them.
Anyway, I'd learned that giving away too much of my personal life to the people I associate with every day is another way to leave me too much at the mercy of their whims. Maybe I could trust my boss, or maybe her interest had ulterior motives I wouldn't be able to deal with down the road. I wasn't sure yet, so I hedged.
"Yeah, that package isn't contraband, but," I chose my words carefully, "it does incur some responsibilities."
She looked at me expectantly. "What kind? Can I ask?"
"I'd rather not say."
My boss looked worried. Just then my phone pinged. I checked, and there was an e-mail from my own gmail account. The subject said, "With apologies for logging in ..."
Teru.
"Excuse me, I need to answer this."
"No problem."
"It'll probably take the rest of my break."
"Okay, but if you need to talk, I'm here."
"Thanks." I nodded and smiled, and she left.
I typed in my answers as I read.
> You're getting sloppy.
> Of course, you didn't expect to have a roommate,
> but you really shouldn't set any computer to autologin
> to your admin account.
As you say, I was not expecting it to be turned on while
I was out. And you're right. I should have already set up
a browsing account by now. But I've barely had a chance
to turn it on to even make sure it runs. This job keeps
me really busy.
> And why are you running the mainstream MSW OS
> that leaks like a sieve, without putting it in a VM?
Well, I need to run the mainstream office abominations
to read the manuals the company supplies.
So I got a cheap computer for it. I don't even know if it
can handle the bloatware under a VM.
> Do you want me to set up some non-admin accounts to
> work in?
Go for it. In fact, if it will run a VM, go ahead and
install a proper host OS. I'll trust your choice.
> Had to leave my phone, to avoid alerting Angel too
> early that I was leaving, and to make it harder for
> her to track me.
It sounds like we need to talk about that, too.
> So, there's this guy at work asking me for a date
> tomorrow night. Half of me says no, I don't want to
> be bothered. Another half seems to be saying it
> would give you some of the space you need.
Think about it with your mind, then ask your heart.
If he's not a jerk, it could be a good chance to make
a friend here.
> Hope you don't mind too much.
Nah. I know you know what you're doing.
When I got home after work, I climbed to the fifth floor of the apartment building and tested the air with my nose. I thought one of my neighbors had something unusually good cooking.
Teru was sitting in the open entryway reading my scriptures. She put my scriptures down and stood up, and took me into a hug and kissed me before I had time to react. Then she leaned back and looked into my eyes. "If we have to date other people, you are not going to just stand by and be my other big brother any more. I need something to compare them to."
"That's, uhm --" I was busy banking fires inside me. "-- poisoning the well."
"It sure is." She smiled. "But I know we can only handle so much poison, so no making out. Just a hug and a kiss when I need it."
"And I'm supposed to be Superman."
"Hi, Clark. But I'll be superhuman when you need it, too, okay?"
"Mmm. This is hard. We need to disengage and go shopping."
We untangled ourselves.
"No dinner first?"
I looked past her and noticed the kotatsu set up, with dinner laid out.
"That wonderful smell was my own apartment. You went shopping without me." I removed my shoes and stepped past her through the entryway, and she followed me. "Did you have the money?"
"Jun made me swear off shoplifting a year ago, and I did not mess with your stuff, well, other than your clothes."
"Woops. That wasn't what I meant. I meant, where? I hope you didn't spend money you couldn't afford."
She looked down, and I could see frustration leaking out. "So much of our lives is owned by the kumi. Even though I've been working part time for the last two years ..."
I reached out and lifted her chin and questioned her with my eyes.
"No, not on my back. I don't know how, but Jun managed to keep me out of that. Supermarket back where we came from." She shrugged. "But even that money was taken by Angel when she chose. Jun suggested I salt a little away in a hidden corner of a drawer each paycheck. So I came with enough to pay my share of food until my first paycheck here."
"Thanks for buying tonight, but hang onto it from now on, just in case. Say, if you really didn't know it was my apartment, why were your wearing my shorts and tee?"
"I just was feeling really grungy after working a whole week in the same clothes, and I figured I could sweet-talk whoever I was borrowing it from. I mean, I kind of hoped it would be you, but I was expecting it would be a girl. If I had known it was you, I wouldn't have borrowed it 'cause I know I can't sweet-talk you."
"And what have you been doing the last day and a half?"
"What I've been trying to do for, like, six years?"
"Six years ago, you were declaiming my cooties."
She smiled and gave me a sly look. "Young girls say things like that when they don't know what's going on inside themselves. I wanted to kiss you and I didn't know why, and it was scary."
I nodded and shook my head. "I guess little boys do some of that, too."
Dinner was low-key, udon noodles with a fragrant soup. She had set aside some of the gu for lunches tomorrow, so we had a little time to enjoy eating together before we went shopping at a nearby 24-hour mall. Enough food for Friday and Saturday was quick to get, and we passed a women's clothing store on the way out.
"You don't really have clothes for a date, you know."
"You don't have much money, either."
"It would help members of our congregation think more positively about letting you stay with them if you came to church on Sunday. Let's see if we can find you something reasonable in there."
We found a fairly conservative, but not too plain, skirt and top that weren't too much of a drain on my budget, and we went home a little better prepared for the weekend.
We went running again before baths and bed, hoping it would help us get to sleep, and between the running, the scriptures, and the prayers (Teru decided she'd pray, too.), and the baths, we got to sleep okay.
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