Page 27 of Scar

Scar was pretty sure she was missing the point of the tip jar. That was what was under her arm. When she’d moved closer he’d been able to verify where she was getting the money from. It was the tip jar that had been beside the register at her takeout and pick up counter.

After putting the jar back, Tally went into the kitchen. There were separate exit and entrance swinging doors. Several minutes later, Tally came out with a to-go container of food. Scar was even more confused now, because she’d already eaten at her apartment.

Out of the corner of his eye, Scar saw the front door creak open. His hand went to one of his knives, ready to defend Tally, when he saw it was a little boy who was creeping inside. The kid was keeping low and moving as quietly as possible.

Still, there was no way Tally couldn’t know he was there. She knewScarwas there and this little boy was not being nearly as stealthy. Yet, Tally acted like she didn’t know.

She put the food down as if she was going to eat at one of the booths. As she opened a fork and knife set from a rolled up napkin, the little boy started searching the booths. He was young, maybe six years old, and dirty enough that Scar couldn’t tell what color his hair was, which made him wonder when the last time he had showered. His clothes were too small for him and his toes hung over the front of the sandals on his feet. He looked far too gaunt for a kid his age, making Scar wonder where he had come from and where his parents were.

When the boy was nearly to Tally’s booth, having collected the money from all the other booths and under the tables, Tally suddenly slapped herself on the forehead. “Oh darn! I forgot my orange juice.” She put her fork down and used her cane to walk back to the kitchen. Scar had noticed that she’d used the fork to move the food inside the container around but she hadn’t eaten anything out of it.

The boy hesitated, as if checking to ensure she wasn’t coming back right away, and then ran to the booth Tally had vacated. He snatched up the food container, dropping the fork to the floor with a clatter, and bolted from the restaurant.

Less than a minute later, Tally exited from the kitchen. There was no OJ or drink of any kind in her hand. She also was no longer using her cane. She walked to the front door, locked it, and then started collecting the coins the boy had missed. She also picked up the knife and napkin from the table and fork from the floor.

On her way past Scar, who was still standing in the shadows by the restrooms, she paused. He saw the hesitation on her face before she spoke. Her voice was soft, almost pleading with him. “He’s homeless. If I try to interact with him, he runs. Doing it this way is a bit unorthodox, I’ll give you that. And don’t worry, I replace it with my own money so my employees don’t loose out on tips. It’s just the only way I can help him without spooking him. He thinks I don’t know he’s there because I’m blind, but I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I’m not as helpless as I appear. Best keep that in mind.”

Then she went back into the kitchen to start working.

* * *

[WiseWave620: The others look like they’re having a blast in Disney. It really was so sweet of you to buy them tickets. I wish you were here to see the pictures.]

* * *

Tally knewshe was being watched. Over the next week, she continued to feel him. Everywhere. He was never far. It still annoyed her, but it was more frustrating because he neverdidanything. He never spoke to her, never attacked her, never interfered. He justwatched.

The worst part was when she tried to point out his presence to others and they claimed no one was there. Tallyknewhe was. It was like the world was conspiring to convince her that she had an imaginary friend. What the fuck was going on?

Simone, Tom, and even Mark had been by her apartment when she knew her mystery man was inside. Yet they still said he wasn’t. Of everyone in her life, she knew that those three would not lie to her.

Tally had even gotten so furious one evening that she’d tried to find him herself. But he moved every time she got close and she never touched him. Even when she located his exact position and threw something, it never hit him.

Maybe she really was going insane.

About a week after she’d first sensed him and called the police, she got a call from her dad. Since they were both extremely busy, they didn’t talk as often as Tally wished they could. More often than not, they ended up playing phone tag. It was a lot easier to get her mom on the phone than her dad.

“Hey, Dad,” Tally answered her phone. She was in her office at the restaurant. She was feeding the latest invoices and stack of papers in her inbox through her braille machine. Simone usually helped her with such but she was busy recovering from her in-laws’ visit. The device, which according to Simone looked like an old fax machine, interpreted the text of whatever paperwork she fed it and then printed out a braille translation.

The fact that it was a prototype from MIT and not yet available to the public was thanks to her father’s vast connections. His private military security company actually sponsored the project for her, though the public believed that they did it to help improve the lives of disabled veterans. She knew the truth, though, and it always made her smile.

“Tally Ally. How are you, baby?”

She loved her father’s voice. His deep baritone always soothed her. In a way, she supposed it was like a child clinging to a teddy bear or a favorite blanket. Her father’s voice was the first sound she could distinctly remember as a child. Even as an adult, it brought her serenity.

Tally opened her mouth to answer and hesitated. Something sounded off with her dad’s voice. The average person would not detect it, but Tally was not ‘average’. She’d spent her lifetime listening to every nuance and emotion in her dad’s voice. He sounded exhausted and a bit worried.

“I’m fine, Dad,” she lied. “How are you?”

“Busy at work. I’m sure you can understand. I’m sorry I haven’t been down to visit you recently, but things have been… Well, there was an incident a couple of weeks ago and I’m still picking up the pieces from that. Maybe in a couple of weeks your mom and I can come down. Does that work for you?”

Tally added ‘distracted’ to the description of her dad’s voice. She knew her mystery man was around. He’d done something that morning to make the little boy who visited her restaurant very happy. Maybe gave him money? She wasn’t sure but the boy had been so excited he’d left the rest of the coins and breakfast behind. When Tally had been upset that the boy hadn’t taken the food, the to-go container had vanished off of the counter and she’d known her mystery man had left the building. Was it too much to hope he’d tracked the little boy down and given him the food too?

Tally knew she should tell her dad about her mystery man. After all, security was her father’s forte. But her dad also had a habit of turning a raindrop into a tsunami. He dealt with big, real-world security problems. A single man following Tally around? Her father would bring an army to Atlanta and lay waste to find him.

It seemed too extreme. The man hadn’t doneanything. He was there, but that was it. And yes, he was in her apartment without her permission. But he also never entered her bathroom or followed her into her bedroom. He remained in the living room. Tally wasn’t sure why that distinction mattered, but it did.

Both her parents had been extremely concerned when she moved to Atlanta after college. They understood her desire to be independent, but they wouldn’t be doing their jobs as her parents if they weren’t worried for her. Even with the training she’d received from her father, it was a fact of her life that there were some things Tally just couldn’t do. Her parents felt a lot better after she met Simone and they saw how Simone was willing to step up when Tally needed something, even if Tally still tried to do it herself. And they were thrilled when Tom came into their lives and brought Mark with him.

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