Ledman Pickup

Twenty Five

It was five in the morning and Leonora Wells was still awake. She had slept a lot during the long ride south with Ruby. They switched the watch, four hours apiece, waking and driving, or sitting and dozing. They chatted a little in between, enough to know they were getting along fine. Ledge sat on the knees of whichever of the two was in the passenger seat, and mostly slept as well. The drive seemed to go fast, and then she was home, in the middle of the night, standing in the living room and marveling at the cleanliness of her apartment. It was like elves had come and done it for her.

"It's a new world", Leonora declared with a smile. She had pretty much guaranteed herself a new job with Double Dee-liveries. All she had to do was show up in a few hours and introduce herself to the boss, Ruby's girlfriend, Dawn Debris. After that, she'd start right in, finding homes for lost packages. It just felt so right. There was such a need, and she had just what it took. She was sure of it. There would be destinations. There would be steps. There'd be process and order and she would be in control. Nice and tidy. And doing a public service too. What could be wrong?

There came a knock on the door. Puzzled, Leonora went over and opened it to see a puffy, pasty, pink-haired, nose- and ear- and lip-pierced woman standing on the landing.

"Leonora Wells?" the woman asked.

"That's me," she replied. "What can I do for you?"

"My name's Kandhi Clarke," the woman said, producing an official looking badge of some sort. "I work for W.W.A. Incorporated out of San Francisco. I believe you have something that belongs to us. I've come to claim it if you don't mind."

"If I have something of yours, you're welcome to it," Leonora said, and stepped back, gesturing with her arm for Kandhi to come inside. "As you can see," she continued, "I don't really have a lot of things, and I doubt that any of this stuff is what you're looking for."

"It's something that looks like this," Kandhi said, pulling out her universal personal device.

"Oh!" Leonora exclaimed. "You've got one of them too? What is it, anyway? I've just been lugging this thing around," and she pulled the Nupie out of her overalls pouch and showed it to Kandhi.

"I'm sorry," Kandhi told her, "I'm not allowed to say. It's a matter of national security."

"Okay," Leonora replied. "I know a thing or two about that," and she handed it over. Kandhi grabbed it and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Would you like some tea or coffee?" Leonora asked. "You look like you could use something."

"No, no," Kandhi said, "that's very kind but no. I've got to go. I just came for this."

"Well, all right," Leonora replied. She waited patiently for Kandhi to leave, still curious about the device, but not sorry to see it go.

"Does yours hum too?" she asked Kandhi, who shrugged and shook her head.

"That little thing can really sing sometimes," Leonora went on. "Lately, though, it seemed kind of sad. I don't know. Like it was missing something it needed."

Kandhi didn't say anything, but turned and walked out the door. Once back on the landing, though, she turned, and said,

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot"

"Why'd you travel all the way to hell and gone the past few days? I've been chasing you and chasing you."

"I'm sorry," Leonora replied. "I didn't know you were. Otherwise I suppose I would've stopped. I can't tell you anyway. I don't know myself. It just seemed like the thing to do, I guess."

"Huh," Kandhi muttered, and then said goodbye and clattered down the metal stairs. Leonora shut the door, went back inside and made herself a cup of coffee.