Oscar Glyde Won't Heal Your Pride

42: Benzodiazepine

Chapter 42: Benzodiazepine

[Chess club, Atenamal Regional High, 3:34 PM]

ALESSANDRA: "So that came out of nowhere, didn't it?"

SAL: "You just used an indefinite pronoun. Are you sure you aren't one of them?"

(Alessandra gives him a dagger-ful look)

SAL: "Look, Oscar, we're sorry about everything that happened. Elsie, Abdul, and Emma way back a few months ago. And we're sorry that they're back on Fender's trail. But I just don't know if there's anything we can do about them. Especially at this point - they're finished. They used up all the indefinite pronouns they can use to name-tag themselves. According to your logic."

OSCAR: (subdued) "At this point all I want to know is the truth. I want to know who they are and why they seem to follow us everywhere. I want to know what they have against Fender."

SAL: "I can understand the desire - "

OSCAR: "Can't you do some hacking thing and figure it out? Can't you trace their IP, or something?"

ALESSANDRA: "They're hackers, too. They aren't stupid enough not to cover their tracks."

OSCAR: "But they're teenagers. We're all stupid. Sal?"

SAL: "I'm not as good as Devan and Tomas. Not nearly as good. And they've stopped handing out their services to people."

OSCAR: "Why?"

SAL: (shrugs) "NammiGram was a big project they took on. Now that it's up and running they're taking a break, until they need to start making updates for the site. By the way, the article and the pictures are spreading through that site like wildfire."

OSCAR: (hopeless) "I know."

ALESSANDRA: "It's not the only thing that's been circulating the internet. Look." (she shows her phone to Oscar; it's a picture of Basil in the riot in her wheelchair, giving a deathly stare to a man holding a confederate flag) "This was taken by someone who works for Vox. It went viral."

OSCAR: "Viral? How come I've never seen it?"

SAL: "Maybe because you're literally an old man and never use electronics."

OSCAR: "That is not true."

ALESSANDRA: "Well, go to Twitter. There's a post about it that's trending."

OSCAR: "I left my phone at home."

(Sal and Alessandra exchange a look)

OSCAR: "Whatever. That's fantastic and crazy and that picture looks awesome and I'm gonna get it tattooed underneath my right nipple but - "

SAL: "The Indefinite Pronouns. Yes. We know. I've had some time to think about it in the last few seconds. Going by your logic, we should look for places that can be associated with the words anywhere, somewhere, nowhere and everywhere."

ALESSANDRA: "And that is why you should never become a detective."

SAL: "It's the only thing we got."

OSCAR: "Goering said the Pronouns print out their own newspaper issues and distribute the copies themselves, and that they intercept the real ones."

SAL: "The newspaper gets printed on Tuesday mornings at around eight thirty."

ALESSANDRA: "We have to wait till next Tuesday and hide out around the copying room to see who goes in - "