Page 29 of Immortal By Morning
“What does a movie namedPixelshave to do with Pac-Man?” Crispin asked with interest.
“Oh, wellPixelsis about these older dudes who used to play arcade games when they were young and—” She stopped because, frankly, it would just take too long to explain and she admitted, “It would be easier just to show you the movie.”
When he hesitated, she added, “I know Gina hasPixelsin her Apple movie library. We could watch it first and then play the game,” she suggested. “It might help us at least know what we’re doing when we try to play.”
When he nodded, almost reluctantly, Abril jumpedto her feet and started toward the other end of the living room and the entry. “We can watch it in the kitchen so Roberts can watch too.”
“Roberts has to watch the tent,” he pointed out with amusement. “That’s what we are here for.”
“He can watch the tent and the movie too,” she said reassuringly. “Besides, it’s probably only an hour and a half long. It’ll be fun.”
Much to Crispin’s amazement, he actually enjoyed the movie. A surprise because he had never bothered much with movies before this. Especially since most of his life he’d done his best to avoid people as much as possible. All of his jobs previous to this one as homicide detective had been mostly solitary pursuits that left him unhampered by the thoughts, joys, sorrows, and madness of mankind. Both mortal and immortal.
In truth, this was the first job Crispin had taken in centuries that involved dealing with the public. He’d only taken on the job of homicide detective here in London at his father’s request, to help out the rogue hunters in Southern Ontario. It seemed their numbers had been somewhat depleted of late by a good portion of the Enforcers finding their life mates. Finding a life mate tended to make immortals extremely undependable. A kiss goodbye in the morning could end up being a passionate encounter that left both life mates unconscious. It was hard to get to work on time when you were in an unconscious heap on your entry floor.
Crispin knew it wasn’t just the need for hunters that had made his father call him about taking this job. Hesuspected Basil Argeneau was hoping his son would find a life mate, something he probably would never have done had he stayed home alone all the time. Crispin hadn’t thought that finding a life mate was very likely at the time. Now he almost smiled as he could imagine his father’s reaction when he told him about Abril.
“Surprisingly enough I actually enjoyed that,” Roberts said as the credits began to roll.
Abril snorted at that claim. “You hardly watched it. You were staring out the window at the empty tent most of the time.”
“It is what we are here for,” he pointed out with a faint smile, and then insisted, “Besides, you are exaggerating. I saw far more movie than not, and am certain I did not miss any of the good parts. It was very entertaining. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s Gina’s movie,” Abril said, standing up and walking over to fetch herself a glass. Pausing, she turned to raise her eyebrows at the two men, “Does anybody else want some water? Or I can get you something else. Beer? Pop or a coffee maybe?” she added when neither man jumped at the offer of a beer. She hadn’t really expected them to, but had made the offer anyway.
“I shall take some water, please. But I can fetch it for myself,” Crispin said as he stood and moved down the kitchen toward her.
Ignoring that last part, Abril stuck one glass under the ice dispenser, let it fill halfway up, then turned and handed it to Crispin before setting the second glassunder the dispenser while he carried his glass to the sink to add water to the ice cubes.
“I am not sure how a car being chased around by a big smiley face will translate in a two-seater arcade game, but it should be interesting,” Crispin commented, handing her the glass he’d just filled with water and taking the glass of ice cubes from her when she stepped up to his side.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Abril said cheerfully.
“I guess so,” he agreed.
As it turned out, the actual Pac-Man game was different than the Pac-Man they had seen in the movie. In the movie, the good guys had been called the ghosts, riding in cars being chased by a big yellow smiley face who was Pac-Man and also apparently the bad guy. In the game, they played the big yellow smiley faced Pac-Man, making him the good guy... maybe. Crispin wasn’t sure who was good and who was bad, since as the yellow guy they occasionally went after the ghosts too. Although, the other guys, or ghosts,alwaysseemed to be coming after them. Even so, he and Abril soon got the hang of it and it was actually fun.
Mind you, it was also terribly distracting and kept him from being able to start that conversation Roberts had suggested he have with Abril. At least at first. They had been playing for perhaps twenty minutes or so, when he finally got enough of a handle on the game to try to talk to her.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” It was Roberts suggesting he tell her about his own family that made him ask about hers. But her answer was a bit confusing.
“Not really.”
Crispin took a chance and glanced up from the screen long enough to take in her expression. But he couldn’t read anything from that and quickly looked back to the game. They were not actually playing the game together so much as playing against each other. One would play until they died, and then the other would play, and each would hope they got more points than their adversary in each round. Presently he was playing, but then that was the only reason he was asking questions. He would never ask her questions while she was playing. That would be unfair. He would be distracting her, and might cause her to die sooner than she otherwise would, losing on points.
After a moment to think about how he should respond to her answer, Crispin pointed out, “Not reallyis not usually an answer to that question. It is generally a yes or no question as a rule.”
He glanced up again then to check her expression once more and was surprised to see a myriad of emotions cross her face. Sadness, regret, anger, and even grief were each briefly on display. Finally, she said, “It’s a long story. I—look out!” she warned, and he shifted his attention quickly back to the game just in time to watch the red ghost get him.
“Damn,” he muttered, letting go of the controls as the game screen shifted to face Abril.
Since he no longer felt he should distract Abril by asking questions, he prepared to sit back and simply watch her play. But she surprised him by asking questions herself now that she was the one playing.
“What about you?” she asked. “Do you have any siblings?”
“Several,” Crispin admitted.
“How many is several?” Abril asked at once.
