Table of Contents [Report This]
The characters Miss Parker, Broots, Sydney, Mr. Lyle, Brigette, Angelo and The Center belong to NBC and MTM's "The Pretender" series and the song "I Will Remember You" © 1996, Nettwerk and can be found on Sarah McLachlan's CD "Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff" as well as a live version on "Mirror Ball" ©1999. Kinder Eggs I don't know about, but for the record, they are very good and you should try one, or more, like Jarod. The fairy tales are © Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Anderson, probably, unless Disney or someone else has the rights. Ace Ventura is (most likely) a Warner Brother's Production. X-Files is © 20 Century Fox Networks and NBC. All other characters and the story belong to the Author. © & ¨ 1998/99 and may not be reproduced in part or whole without the without the author's written permission yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill,-
Rose
by Aussia
Miss Parker was (as usual) dressed in her short skirt, even though she wasn't working that day. That must have be the reason she left her shirt untucked, and her hair unbrushed. She walked over to the door to pick up the thick package that had just been pushed through her mail slot. She inspected the envelope. It was definitely for her, but there was only a one word return address. "Jarod". She knew that name all too well. "Handle With Care" it says, she mused, what could be so delicate? Unless... she strode into the living room, and sat down on the couch.
The envelope contained one note from Jarod and another from her mother. The outside of the envelope said "For my Daughter" in cursive writing. Her mother's writing. She opened her mother's letter first, her hands shook almost undetectably, but they were definatly shaking.
"March 9, 1963: Dear baby, I write this as you sit on my knee. You are very much your fathers child, happy and precious. I only hope that you stay that way. Even at this young age,you are showing great signs of intelligence. We let you play with the Center children. There is one called Jarod who you enjoy playing with. He was brought here over a month ago. He misses his parents a lot, we must get him out of here. I must go away again; I have asked the nurse to read to you every night. Love, mom."
She carefully tucked the letter back in the envelope, and blinked away tears before she read Jarod's note which said:
"Much more of this. Take a look at this DSA."
She searched momentarily in the bubble wrap before she found a round disk that reflected the light in a rainbow of colors as she slipped it into a 'player that was sitting on the table near her. It was a security record of the two of them talking when they were three or four. The corner said:
"25/02/1963, For Center Use Only"
Miss Parker watched, with a melancholy look on her face, as the young version of herself played with the Center toys. Eventually she saw herself lean over to whisper to her playmate:
"Who are you?"
"I don't know." he responded hesitantly.
"How can you not know?" she had replied, full of child-like innocence that had long ago left her. I was a budding sarcastic, even then, she smiled "You must have a name." her younger self continued.
"They say I am Jarod." he said, "They said that my mommy and daddy are dead and that Sydney is taking care of me now and that I live here now." Her mother opened the door, and came over to kneel beside them.
"Baby, we have to go now, say good bye to Jarod." Miss Parker's eyes misted over. "Mom." she thought. Her fingers touched the screen and then her face. "Everyone says we look exactly alike, but we are so different..." she thought as her younger self said good bye to her new playmate. "Funny," she mused. "Could he have known that someday I would be old grown up me, and he would be old grown up him, and that I would be following him around, maybe even be forced to shoot him?" she erased that thought as soon as it crossed her mind. She hit the rewind button on the player and lit her cigarette. She stopped it and looped it so it played "They say I am Jarod." over and over. She turned up the volume loud, just letting the words wash over her. She realized that she had no way of knowing if it really was Jarod's father who killed her mother. Would she ever know? The only thing she could do was keep searching. She let her cigarette burn down until it almost reached her fingers, and then she hit the stop button and snubbed her cigarette. She closed her eyes and let herself relax, rubbing her shoulder muscles. Suddenly, the phone rang. She picked it up after one ring. Her professional side taking the upper hand, she snapped her usual "What?!", even though she knew very well it's Jarod, with some snide remark and a promise of more about her mother.
"Did you get my package?" he smirked. Miss Parker rebutted with an exasperated sigh.
"Yes. What's your game this time?"
"About a year before I got out," he answered, "we did that Simm. together with hypnotism." Miss Parker answered him simply and uncharacteristically patiently.
"Jarod, we never did a Simm. together." she wished he didn't play so many games...
"Very funny." he thought she was joking!
"Remember, they hypnotized us and we talked about our childhood play times. Then they took us, still in a trance, to visit Rose..." he prompted
"Wasn't Rose the little girl in the Center?" she asked. Well, wasn't she? Or was her name Rain...? He interrupted her contemplation with his abrupt query:
"Isn't she still there?" she had his full attention now.
"No," she said. "she disappeared not too long after you left. She was adopted by a Senator..." Jarod's hands tightened on the phone.
"Senator Williams." Damn, he thought "I have to go. Remember, you help me, I help you. If you find anything, I can give you more of your mothers diary." He abruptly hung up. Miss Parker tried to get more out of him, anything, anything at all...
"Jarod! I... Jarod? Damn him!" She slammed the phone down.
After hanging up, Jarod flipped through the phone book and, when he found what he was looking for, dialed another number.
"Hello? Yes, my name is Jarod. I am calling to see if you know anything more about the girl who went missing, Rose. You reported it on the 6:00 news. I want to help look for her." He paused briefly. "Thank you." he hung up and dialed again. "Yes, can I book 1 seat for a flight to Spokane, Washington please. As early as possible. Jarod Mission. Thank you."
He frantically packed. Then he rushed out with his aluminum suitcase in one hand and a larger bag in the other. He got on one of the three buses at the bus stop, the one labeled "To Airport" and sat down next to a lady wearing a big sun hat and a blue dress. She had two kids in tow. One was about seven or eight and a girl. The other was still a baby. Jarod sat in attentive silence as she tried to keep them under control. She bribed the oldest with something she called "Kinder Eggs". When they were settled down, he talked to the girl.
"Hi! My name's Jarod." he smiled charismatically "What's your name?"
"Sarah." she answered.
"Hi Sarah" he smiled again "what’s that you're eating?"
"Very funny mister." she gave him a high and mighty look, "Haven't you ever eaten a Kinder Egg before?"
"No, what does it taste like?" he looked quizically at the chocolate in her hand.
"Here, try one." She handed him one of hers.
"This is very good!" he said grinning with his mouthful of chocolate. "But what's this orange thing?" he held up the orange plastic egg from the center of the chocolate.
"It's an egg with a toy in it! I have 28 of them and Tommy, my cousin, has 9!"
"Wow! So, you put the toy together?" he watched as she deftly assembled the pieces of plastic.
"Yep, see, mine's a space ship." she held it up proudly for him to see "What's yours?" He finished putting the stickers on before responding:
"Mine's a little bird." He looked puzzled "Why does it have a weight in it?"
"It wiggles back and forth." she said. Jarod put it on his palm and laughed.
"This is so cool!" He laughed again.
× × ×
With night falling, Sarah eventually fell asleep on his shoulder. The youngest was still just a baby and was asleep in his car seat. Jarod started talking to the mother.
"This is quite a lively brood you have here!" He smiled, first at her and then down at Sarah on his shoulder.
"Yes" she said laughing. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name. I am Taara Williams." She stuck out her hand.
"I'm Jarod Mission. I would shake your hand, but I am afraid to wake Sarah here." He looked down at Sarah resting on his shoulder.
"Ah, yes, my sleeping beauty," she looked fondly at her little girl.
"Your what?" he said quizzically
"You know, the classic Fairy Tale, Sleeping Beauty." she figured he would know what she was talking about.
"You'll have to forgive me." he said in his apologetic way "I don't know about 'Ferry Tails'"
"You aren't from this world, are you?" she joked.
"Not really." Jarod laughed.
"Well, I'll tell you. It's a story with a moral that you read to children." she explained "Like Sleeping Beauty!"
"Okay, I still don't understand." he grinned
"Sleeping Beauty was a beautiful Princess," she began, he relaxed into his seat, ready to listen and learn, "When she was born, they had a party for her. They invited the nine good witches of the Kingdom to come. They each brought a gift. You know, Beauty, Happiness, Love, Laughter etc., then the bad witch came and she was mad at not being invited to come. She said that she had a gift too. She said that on her 16th birthday she would prick her finger on a spindle and die. The 9th good fairy hadn't given her gift yet and she said that she wouldn't die, but that she and the whole castle would fall asleep. Until, on 100th year, and then a handsome Prince would kiss her and wake them all up. So that happened and they like happily ever after. The End."
"Cool! And there are a lot of these stories?" his insatiable curiosity was getting the best of him.
"Yeah, here!" she took out a book of fairy tales and handed it to him "Keep it for helping out with Sarah."
"Single mom?" he queried
"Yep. We're going to visit my brother in Washington. His adopted daughter went missing." Jarod looked startled.
"Rose?" he asked. He was alert with interest.
"How did you know?" she demanded.
"I Knew her, once. I want to help find her. Listen," he changed the subject "do want me to watch your kids so you can rest. I can never sleep on buses."
"Sure, if you don't mind. I could use the sleep." She closed her eyes started breathing slowly. Jarod took out his cell phone and dialed.
"Sydney," Sydney answered.
"It's me. What do you remember about Rose?"
"Jarod!" He quickly checked to see if anyone was around to overhear them. Nobody, good. "Miss Parker said you called her and hung up when she said Rose had been discharged from the Center. What's wrong? Something's bothering you."
"Sydney, she's gone missing. She is loose in the world and she's deceiving minds right left and center. The news caster said that the staff at her foster fathers house couldn't remember seeing her, and it was like they'd been drugged. That's what it's like after a run in with Rose. It didn't click until Miss Parker mentioned she'd been discharged from the Center that it might be her. The Center wouldn't discharge her, so how did she get out?" Sydney had never heard Jarod in such a tizzy before, but he answer as he always did, calmly and patiently, in his typical psychiatristic way: "Jarod, it couldn't be her. She was discharged because she had lost her gift. When she got older, it just left her. I don't know anything else."
"Sydney, she didn't lose her gift. She must have pretended to. Now she's run away from home. I have to go stop her before something awful happens. Sydney, you have to trust me. I have to go and stop her." he rambled on, faster and faster, his brain in overdrive.
"Jarod, Miss Parker said that you remembered the hypnotism Simm. Does this mean that she can't wipe your mind?" maybe a slight change of subject would calm Jarod down.
"I don't think she can. I don't know why not. Maybe being a Pretender has something to do with it. I don't know. Sydney, I must stop her." He hung up the phone. Sarah on his left shoulder stirred. He shushed her quiet, smoothing her hair.
× × ×
In the morning, Jarod, Taara and family climbed off the bus at the airport. Jarod kept a firm hold on Sarah. They headed for security. When they got to the check-in desk, he asked for his ticket.
"3 tickets for Spokane Washington under the name Jarod Mission. Non-smoking." he signed for them and handed 2 over to Taara.
"Jarod! I can't accept this!" she said, horrified.
"No please, I insist!" he said
"Jarod, I don't need your charity! Leave us alone!" she threw the tickets on the floor.
"Taara..." he tried to explain, but she has already walked away, dragging her kids with her. He picked up the tickets from the ground, shrugged, and put them in his pocket. Then he picked up his luggage and walked towards a shop where he bought 15 Kinder Eggs. Then he sat and ate one. After making the toy and putting it into the bag with the others, he proceeded to the security gate. Taara was standing there, looking sheepish.
"I'm sorry Jarod," she said, her face turning a faint shade of pink "I didn't mean to get mad at you. It's just... all my life I have been given things. When I left my husband, I thought it would all change. It didn't. It got worse. People felt sorry for me, I guess. With two kids, who wouldn't. I thought you were different. Now I see you were just being a good Samaritan. That's a..."
"I know what that is." he cut her off, his brown eyes laughing.
"I'm sorry." she said again.
"That's all right. Here." he offers her the tickets, shrugging "if you want them..."
"Thanks." she took them out of his hand and gestured for him to go ahead
× × ×
The flight attendant in the tunnel to the airplane took their tickets.
"Have a nice flight Mr. and Mrs.... " she checked the tickets..."Mission."
"I'm not..." Taara started to say Mrs. Mission, but Jarod threw her a warning glance, so she finished differently "...a good flier, but thanks anyway." They proceed to their seats. When they were settled, the flight attendant recited the emergency instructions and they did up the Sarah's seat belt and their own. The on board movie started up.
"Ace Ventura, Pet Detective! Allright!". Exclaimed Sarah. She and Jarod thought it was absolutly hilarious. Taara didn't even put on the ear phones. When they got off the plane, Jarod and Sarah were still laughing and talking about the movie. Taara looked disgusted, but laughed at them.
"Jarod, I swear, you're just like a kid Sarah's age!" Jarod helped them with their luggage and offered to split a cab with them, since they were going to the the same place. Taara agreed. The cab ride was quite short. Taara pointed out different sights to the kids. When they got to Senator Williams house, Jarod tactfully excuses himself, seeing that Taara didn't know if she should invite him to meet her brother or what.
"Well, I have to go and find a place to stay in while I'm here. See you around?"
"You bet." said Taara enthusiastically "Take care, okay?"
"You too. " He bent down to talk to Sarah "You be good for your mommy, okay." she nodded "I'll see you later. ‘Bye" he left, walking down the street. Taara looked after him, smiling. "There goes one great guy..." she thought.
× × ×
Jarod was eating Kinder Surprises and Pez. He e-mailed Sydney.
Please send me everything you know about Rose. I think that her talent has matured. I know she is out to get the Center. How is it that she was discharged and she still remembered everything? Could it be that her gift protected her from being confused by another Deceiver like herself, like my gift protects me?
Jarod
He sent it and chowed on Pez and Kinder's. He got a map and started marking little X's on it. Then he phoned Senator William.
"Senator Williams please. It's Jarod Mission."
"One moment." said a perky voice. When the Senator answered, he introduced himself.
"Hello, my name is Jarod Mission. I would like to help look for Rose. I knew her before she came to live with you. I've also worked on the police force, so I'm qualified."
"Ah, Jarod. Taara said you wanted to help. So you know sign language so you can talk to her when she is found then?" He seemed glad for help, especially from someone who already knew her.
"You mean, she's deaf?!" he must have sounded a little to shocked, for the senator was instantly suspicious.
"You mean, you didn't know? No, she's not deaf. Wait a minute, I thought you knew her." Jarod tried to explain, but his brain was working ferociously, trying to sort things out.
"No, I mean, yes, yes I know her, but can she talk?" he asks anxiously. He has to know...
"No, she has been deeply traumatized. Do you know sign language, though?" he repeated.
"Yes, I do, but this is quite a shock. It also explains something to me. Did she ever tell you about where she was before she came to you?" maybe those were the 'precautions' the Center took.
"No, she didn't like to talk about it." the Senator said. That fits, thought Jarod.
"Did... did she tell you about her gift?" he said.
"Gift? No I don't think she did." the Senator said carefully.
"Never mind then." said Jarod "Do you think that I could question your staff? I want to get a feel for her path? Oh, and did she have a place that she liked to go or a passion for a certain place?"
"Of course you can question my staff." he declared emphatically. "She loved the woods. She always wanted to picnic there."
"Thank you. One last thing, do you have a way I could get in touch with Taara?" asked Jarod
"She is staying here at my house. Just call up the normal phone number and ask for Taara Williams. Oh and Jarod," he said
"Yes?" he acknowledged
"Thank you." the Senator said warmly
"You're welcome. Good bye." Jarod said
"Bye." the Senator echoed. Jarod sat at his desk in his apartment. He was tipped the chair back as he pressed redial.
"Taara Williams please." he said when the perky voice answered again.
"One moment please." she said. Taara herself answered.
"Hello?"
"Taara?" he said, although he already knew it was her, "It's Jarod. Listen, I was wondering if you would like to go on a picnic in the woods. I think I know where we might find Rose. Yes, bring Sarah. Children are very perceptive. Today at noon. Rosewood park. I will bring the food.
× × ×
"Jarod, how much farther?" said Sarah, whiny and out of breath.
"Not much." he responded.
"What are you looking for?" asked Taara.
"That." He had stopped in the clearing while the others caught up. Sarah was puffing for breath when she caught up.
"What Jarod?" she asked.
"Don't you see it?" he said, surprised.
"What am I looking for?" she said, as any child would.
"The tree house that is in the top branches!" Taara looked at him as if he was insane.
"Jarod," she said, her voice very concerned, "I think you are seeing things. There's nothing there."
"It is her gift..." he trailed off. "Taara, wait here with the kids." he climbed up the tree. Suddenly, he was standing in mid air. Taara screamed and covered her eyes.
"Cool!" Sarah exclaimed. Taara grabbed her arm and held her back from trying to climb up to Jarod. Taara, in a scared and shaking voice, said
"Jarod, you get down from there right now! Jarod, I'm warning you!"
"Okay, hold onto your hats!" he slid down the trunk.
"That is not funny Jarod! What's going on here?" her eyes were wide and she looked shaken.
"Sarah, why don't you try to find the ladder up the tree house okay? It should be in that bush over there." He pointed, then he spoke to Taara in a half whisper. "Taara, I need to know if I can trust you." Taara nodded, and Jarod took a deep breath before saying "This is going to be really hard to believe, but Rose is special She can confuse people's minds. It's like a spiders web, branching out to blur anything from peoples minds. The after affect is like you have been drugged. I have a gift too. I can become anyone I want to be. Rose must be close, or she couldn't hold up the web. I can see through the web. She can see us." Taara gasped and looked around fratiaclly "Don't worry, she's not dangerous. But I have to find her. Why don't you take the kids back to your brother's house, okay? I know her. She might trust me."
Taara nodded. "Sarah, time to go." she called to Sarah, who whined but came. They walked back down the hill.
"Rose? I know you're there. It's me, Jarod. Remember me? I was at the Center. I know you can hear me. I know you can't talk. Please come out. I can see you. I can see through your web. Rose?" Rose came out of the brush. She was invisible but the bushes parted and she slowly came into view, shimmering until she was what Jarod saw. She was wearing blue jeans and a white shirt with hiking boots. She had long brown hair and blue eyes. She was about 15 or 16 years old.
"Jarod?" she signed.
"Yep." he answered, obviously pleased with himself.
"And you can see me?" she questioned with her hands.
"Yes, but don't worry, no one else can." Rose started to run away, but Jarod chased her. He caught her and held onto her shoulders. "Un uh!" he said, "You're coming with me. You have some explaining to do young lady." He walked her back to his car.
× × ×
Jarod and Rose were sitting with McDonald's food between them.
"Okay, why did you run away?" he asked her.
"The Center." She signed, as if that explained everything, but then she carried on. "They tried to wipe my memory. They, they had me doing mind webs on everyone. I was sick of it. They tried to have me put a web on myself. They tried to make me forget the Center. I tried it. I woke up feeling awful. I realized what I was doing was wrong. I pretended my gift was gone. They..." she broke down crying before she can finish, her hands flew to her face. She was shaking "...I was so scared. They... Oh my God, Jarod," the tears were streaming down her face, her breath coming in gulps as she remembered "they didn't believe me. Jarod, they left me for dead at the edge of the road for dead." Being a Pretender, he could 'feel' her pain. His face was concerned.
"Rose, I know how you feel. I was there too, remember? The Center is hunting me. They have come to catch me many times. If you try to attack the Center and fail, you could end up dead, or like me, running away," his face showed the fear he felt. "Believe me Rose, it isn't fun. But you have an advantage. You can disappear. I can't." Rose answered him back with a big grin on her face, her tears had stopped for now.
"Yes you can. I pretended that I had lost my talent. Instead, it had matured and I can now mask other things, like the tree house. I can mask you!" she was very proud of herself for deceiving the Center. Jarod gently brought her back to earth.
"Rose, you need to go home. I can't keep you here, I promised I would get you home safely. I'm sorry."
"Jarod, you don't understand! The only reason that Senator Williams noticed I was gone was that the help told him. He thinks I'm okay the way I am. He doesn't understand that I want a family. Someone to love me. My real parents are dead. The Center forced me to watch them die. Senator Williams only adopted me to make himself look better, for political reasons. I ran away to start my life over. Only thing is, now everyone is looking for me and I can't go anywhere. Will you help me? I can help you hide from the Center." Her cajoling manner was too much for him. He sighed a deep sigh.
"I guess you could stay here for a while. I know how you feel about family. I am still looking for mine. I don't know, I like to help innocent people. I manage to solve the root of their problems., in your case, Senator Williams. I don't think that he has really committed a crime. He only wanted what he thought was best."
"Jarod, you don't have to save the world. I just want a place to stay for a little while." she smiled at him slyly "No-one will know I'm here."
"You don't have to mask yourself all the time. No one will come here. If they do, then you can wipe their memories. Oh, and Rose," he added as she got up from the table, "Taara, Senator Williams sister knows. Don't worry, she can be trusted."
"Jarod," she caught his eye and smiled, "thank you."
"No problem." he smiled back
Jarod's computer said, "You have new mail" there is a message from Sydney.
Jarod we need to talk. Sydney
Jarod dialed the number and Sydney answered.
"It's Sydney."
"You said we needed to talk." he said.
"Yes Jarod, you asked for information about Rose. It seems she was discharged from the Center after they took "Necessary precautions" to keep her from talking. It doesn't say what these are. That's all I know. I'm sorry."
"That's okay, I found her. I already knew that. I broke into the Center files again. It seems that the 'Necessary precautions' were to try to web her memory. When they failed, they traumatized her and left her on the side of the road for dead."
"Jarod, we both know how the Center is." Sydney reminded him.
"Yes well, they made a mistake this time. Now we are teamed up. Now we are unstoppable." he warned Sydney.
"Jarod, I have to warn *you*. Now that I know where you are, I must tell the Center. I have no choice. Be careful." Sydney pressed.
"As if you really care Sydney." he retorted, and hung up.
× × ×
"Well Brigette, I think we have Jarod this time." said Mr. Lyle, dressed in an expensive looking gray suit as he sat at his desk, his brown hair slicked back as usual. "According to Sydney, he's helping in the search for a girl, Rose, that once stayed in the Center. You remember the files. The unfortunate incident in which the sweepers believed that they had lost her. Very unfortunate. Anyhow, he's in Washington D.C."
"Let us hope that she and Jarod haven't teamed up. They would be unstoppable." said Brigette, in her British accent, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears as she perched on Mr. Lyle's desk. She had slipped back into the innocent act that had fooled Miss Parker, until Brigette had tried to kill her father. She was dressed in a one piece suit that was only a bunch of pastel colored scarves sewn together, which set off her blonde hair perfectly.
"Brigette, Brigette, Brigette," he said sarcastically, "how many times must I tell you, the key to finding Jarod is that we must believe that we will catch him. Your are starting to act like Parker."
"Unlike Parker, I won't fail you." she spoke with obvious dislike for Miss Parker
"What about me?" Said Miss Parker, stepping into the room suddenly. Brigette shot Mr. Lyle a look that said "speak of the devil," before putting on her sugary smile and voice to answer "We were just commenting on your Jarod hunting skills."
"Why do I get the feeling it wasn't a compliment." Miss Parker said in her sarcastic way, knowing that her words were all too true. The number of times that she had come close to catching him without actually succeeding was phenomenal.
"Actually, I was just saying that Brigette might take some lessons from you, wasn't I Brigette?" he faked. He was such a jerk! How could *he* be my brother? thought Miss Parker.
"Liar." she practically spat at him.
"Are you prepared to leave for Washington D.C. Miss Parker?" Brigette said.
"You know *Briggy*, last time you cut me out of the loop, Jarod told me. I don't suggest you do it again." Miss Parker said, with the same mocking tone as before.
"Is that a threat, Parker?" she said, unruffled.
"Consider it a warning." she smirked. After all, Brigette had already sworn to kill *her*.
"What did he say about me, Miss Parker?" she asked.
"I don't believe he mentioned *you*." she retorted.
"And I believe he did, Brigette," said Mr. Lyle, cutting in on the female cat fight about to begin again, "I believe his exact words were Blonde, 110 pounds, killer legs'."
Miss Parker looked at him in disbelief, and her jaw dropped. She snapped it shut and said, in utter disbelief "You bugged the phone." her voice was full of incredulation and spite.
"Actually, there's no bug, we just have ears, everywhere. Remember that, Parker," Mr. Lyle said menacingly, "we know everything about you. We even know what your real name is. We know everything. Everything."
Her real name! she thought. If that got out... but now for the snappy retort
"And yet you still can't catch Jarod." She turned on her heel and left.
Mr. Lyle sighed gravely. "You know, Brigette, Parker is correct. We still can't catch Jarod." he said
"Ah, ah, ah, Mr. Lyle, we must keep a positive attitude if we are to catch him." she repeated, the perfect little parrot.
× × ×
Out of the night came screams of anguish. A feminine voice called out. "No, no, I don't want to die. No, please, please, please... Mr. Rains, no, Mr. Rains! MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!" Jarod came into to Rose's room, where the noise was coming from.
"It's okay, it's okay Rose, Rose," he gave her a soothing hug and woke her from her dream "It's me, Jarod, not Mr. Rains, no one's going to hurt you. It's okay."
"Jarod, Jarod, oh-my-god Jarod," she signed, sobbing "they- he, Jarod, he was going to kill me. Jarod, I was so scared."
"Shhh, Rose, it's okay now, don't worry, go back to sleep now, okay? Okay? Good. Shhh..." he said gently as she closed her eyes again.
× × ×
The effects of the night before's rude awakening didn't affect Jarod. He was cooking pancakes and scrambled eggs. Coffee was brewing. He turned his head as Rose entered, still in her night gown and yawning, sleepy eyed and hair a mess.
"Jarod, do I smell coffee?" she signed.
"You bet! Would you like scrambled eggs, pancakes or both? Make yourself at home. Just, uh move the Kinder Egg Toys to the side." he gestured to the pile of toys on the table. She moved them awkwardly to the side and sat down.
"Jarod, about last night... how did you know that I was having a bad dream?" she had a puzzled look on her face. Jarod put down two plates, cutlery and two place mats, almost simultaneously.
"Oh, that, that's an easy one, you were screaming. I think you said "'No, no, I don't want to die. Mr. Rains, No! Mommy!' Or something like that. It's kind of hard to understand hysterical dreams." Rose gave him "The Look".
"Jarod, I can't speak."
"Yes you can." he said, licking a bit of syrup nonchalantly off his finger. You just think you can't. Like a Kinder Egg?"
"No, thank you." she said, momentarily distracted, but she got right back on track. "Jarod, I haven't spoken a word since before I left the Center. They traumatized me until I couldn't speak, remember?" Jarod commenced in eating a Kinder Egg as he answered her.
"Nope, they didn't. You can talk, you were just traumatized, thus, you weren't able to speak."
"You mean..." she stopped, mid sign.
"It may take sometime," he said with his eyes twinkling, "but I think you can speak again." Rose jumped up and ran over to hug Jarod.
"Thank you Jarod!" she signed when she had let go, "Thank you!" she ran off to her room.
× × ×
Miss Parker stormed into the office she shared with Broots and Sydney.
"Broots, sweep the room for bugs. Sydney, you check the phone, I bet my life there's one in here."
"Miss Parker, that's not a very good thing to say in the Center. One bets one's life every day they work here." Miss Parker didn't even bother smirking as she usually would.. She was absorbed in searching every square inch of the computer and the desk it sat on. .
"Just get to work." she snapped
"What's the big problem Miss Parker?" said Broots, his bald head reflecting the fluorescent lighting. "This is the Center were talking about. Everyone is being watched by someone. It's a fact of life."
"They know about Jarod. They know we have been talking to him." she said.
"Ah ha! Found it." exclaimed Sydney.
"Where?" She snatched it out of his hand. Speaking right into it, she said
"This, is for every time you insulted me behind my back." She dropped it on the floor and grounded it with her heel. "Keep searching." she commanded to Sydney and Broots "That can't be the only bug around here." The phone rang.
"Sydney." he answered.
"Sydney, this is Mr. Parker. Can you tell Miss Parker I'm on the phone?"
"Miss Parker? It's your father." he whispered, with a look at Broots. Whatever did he want?
"Hi daddy." she said, as sweet as blackberries in June. "Yes, yes, I understand, Washington D.C.? I'll tell them." She hung up. "Looks like we will be going to be taking a trip to visit the President, Sydney."
"I gathered." he said dryly.
"It looks like someone named Jarod Oscar, fitting Jarod's description, was sighted selling hot dogs."
× × ×
Jarod walked through the door of the Quest Hair and Beauty Salon. Marie, a tall woman with long crimpy brown hair was standing at the front desk.
"Can I help you sir?" she said
"Yes, I'm Jarod Mission, the new employee." he said, looking around with interest.
"Oh, sorry, Jarod, hi, My name is Marie. Welcome to your first day at Quest. The boss mentioned that your resume was quite impressive. She said you'd worked with some big hair companies. You're the first person who has wanted to work here since the big scandal. We haven't had as many customers but it still has been hard to cope."
"The accident with the Superstar?" he said. It was more of a question than a statement, even though he had all the articles cut and pasted into a red notebook in his coat pocket.
"Yeah, anyhow, your first client is one of our old clients. She is a bit" she coughed politely "picky. She's been preened by every artist we have here." she sighed "Maybe you can make her happy."
"Oh, I see," he said, in his serious-but-teasing voice, "the rookie test."
"You bet!" she smiled.
"I'll give it my best shot." he smiled back.
"Her name is Mrs. Scott. She's in chair 4, on the right. You will find every-thing you need in the drawers to the right of you. Good luck." she said, indicating everything with a nod.
"Thanks, I have a feeling I'll need it." He walked over to the customer
"Hello, Ms. Scott, my name's Jarod. I'll be doing your hair today. What are you looking for?" He sized Ms. Scott up. A petite woman with big eyes and ginger hair, now what would look good? he thought..
"The Courtney Cox meets business woman look." she replied.
"Courtney Cox?" he said blankly.
"You know, 'Scream', 'Scream 2'?" she said. Jarod shook his head, he didn't understand
"'Ace Ventura, Pet Detective'?" she carried on.
"Her? Okay, I can do that." now he knew what she was talking about, "What do you mean by 'Meets business woman'?'" he asked
"Like her but more conservative." she explained "Like, as if she was going to a big business meeting."
"Okay, do you want jet black or to keep your natural color." he could sort of see what would look best, and was leading her towards that.
"What do you think?" she said.
Oh-oh, this could be awkward, he thought.
"On you, a drop dead blonde would look good. Maybe with a bit of a wave..."
"You just go to work. I'll trust you." Jarod gave her the hairdo and makeup. She came out looking great! She was very pleased.
"I like it." she, admiring it in the mirror. "Not much like Courtney Cox, but very good. It's the Courtney Cox look, but waved a bit, making it shorter." As she left, Marie came up to him.
"Wow, for once, she really liked her hair *and* her make up. Congrat’s Jarod, you're in."
"In where?" he said, puzzled.
"You know, into the company, in with the "in" crowd." she tried to explain.
"I see." he said, although he really didn't.
× × ×
"Okay, Rose, I am going to hypnotize you now. I figure your talent is like hypnotism, so if I hypnotize you, it should work." he tried to sound sure of him- self, but his explanation didn't even make sense to himself. "Okay, so just relax, just listen to the sound of my voice...you are getting very tired, very relaxed, you are slowly falling under my control." She relaxed and talked about what happened in the Center that had scared her so much. Jarod's hopes brightened were brightened by this. It proved that she really *could* speak. when she was finished, Jarod spoke. "You will wake up when I snap my fingers and you will be able to speak." He snapped his fingers and she opened her eyes, startled. But she still couldn't speak.
"Jarod, I don't think it worked. I don't think I can talk. I don't think I ever will again." she started crying.
"It's okay, shhhh," he gave her a hug. "cheer up, I just wish I knew how they'd done it. If you could only remember... well, that's enough for today. We will try again tomorrow. Don't worry, you'll talk again. Listen, I'm going to call Sydney, he should have found me by now."
"Can I have a Kinder Egg?" she asked, blinking away tears. Sometimes, he thought, she appeared so young but sometimes she acted wise beyond her years.
"Sure." he dialed the number "Here, pass me one. Sydney, it's Jarod."
"Jarod! Where are you?" he said. He was no happy camper. Jarod heard Miss Parker in the background.
"Jarod? Give me that!" she had wrestled the phone away from Sydney.
"Jarod! Where the hell are you?"
"I'd tell you that, Miss Parker but come on now, that *would* be a little stupid. The big question is, where are you?" My, but didn't he love to tease her.
"Washington D.C., Mr. Oscar." she snapped back.
"Who?" he said with sarcastic innocence.
"Don't play your games with me Jarod, you're selling hot dogs here. How are sales?" she could mock as well as, if not better than he could.
"Oh oh, tsk tsk tsk, Miss Parker, it seems you've been misled. You see, I'm not in old D.C. anymore."
"He's not here." she said to Sydney. Then to Jarod she said, "Then where the hell are you?"
"Be a good girl and give the phone back to Sydney, okay?" he said, because he knew that made her blood boil.
"He wants to talk to you." She thrust the phone back to Sydney.
"Nice guess Sydney, but you're off. I'm not there. I was there, but you missed me by a few days. Try, 3469 Oakcrest. Gotta go." he hung up.
"Jarod, ..." Sydney trailed off. Why did he always do that?
"What?" asked Miss Parker as she concentrated on the road and trying to drive.
"We missed him by a few days. Give me the map." he said.
"Got a lead?" she guessed
"Possibly. Go left here."
× × ×
Sydney and Miss Parker got out of the car. They stopped in front of a small, group of housing units. They went up to the door and knocked on the main office. A young, pregnant woman answered.
"Hello! I'm Debera Fisht, caretaker of the Strado Housing Units. Can I help you?" she asked.
"Have you seen this man?" said Miss Parker as she pulled out a picture of Jarod.
"That's Jarod, he stayed here about a month. He left a few days ago." she clarified.
"Did he leave anything behind?" asked Sydney
"Wait, are you," she ruffled through a pile of papers and turned to Miss Parker "Miss Parker?"
"Yes, yes I am." she said.
"This has your name on it. He left it on the chesterfield. He left very suddenly." she explained.
"Well, thank you. You have been very helpful." said Sydney as they turned back to the car. Sydney opened the package. It contained a printout of what looked like random numbers and letters.
"What is it?" she asked as Sydney flipped through the pages.
"I don't know. Jarod seems to have given you sheets and sheets of random numbers." he said.
"But you said that when Jarod is concerned, nothing is random." she retorted.
"True... but still!" he said,
"Here." she tossed her phone at him, "Call Broots." Broots answered.
"Broots, it's Sydney." he identified, "We have some information Jarod has given us."
"What kind of info?" he asked.
"Sheets and sheets of numbers." Sydney answered.
"Numbers?" Broots computer mind was working already working.
"Yes, numbers. They seem random. I don't know." Sydney really didn't know that much about computers.
"Can you read them off?" he asked
"Broots, that would take *hours*! There are pages and pages here." Sydney had absolutely no idea what Jarod was thinking.
"Okay, um, bring them back to the Center and I'll see what I can make of them. Oh, and don't get them out of order." Broots hung up.
"What's he saying." asked Miss Parker.
"He says he needs to take a look at them. We need to go back to the Center." he said.
"Does he think he knows what Jarod's game is this time?" she asked, obviously sick of it all.
"I believe he has an idea." said Sydney.
× × ×
"...and if we curled your hair and lightened your makeup, you would look entirely younger!" Jarod finished.
"Thank you Jarod! I'll think about that for next time." she was obviously happy with what Jarod had done.
"Oh, you're welcome Mrs. Scatoes. Come back soon." he said.
"I sure will!" she picked up her purse and went to the front to pay.
"My goodness Jarod, we haven't had this many customers since... I don't know when!" she looked at Jarod with awe and respect.
"Listen, I was wondering if you would like to have lunch with me? I have a few questions." he said it so politely how could she refuse?
"Sure, did you have some place in mind?" she asked.
"Since I'm new here, I thought maybe you could show me someplace other than Mc Donald’s and Subway." he knew that would make her laugh. It did.
"Of course, I know a little restaurant just around the corner that serves great fish and chips." she headed out the door.
"Sounds, fishy!" he said as they walked down the street.
"Ha ha ha, that's funny! You should be a comedian." or a model, she thought privately.
"I was, once in a Comedy Club in New York. The crowd loved me. It was fun, but too many tomatoes." he joked
"They threw tomatoes at you?" she was shocked.
"No, I bought 10 bushels of tomatoes to make Spaghetti sauce. Needless to say, my skin started turning a little red." he found it easy to make her laugh.
"Why would you by 10 bushels of tomatoes. That's and awful lot." she thought he was joking.
"That's nothing. I once grew a 100 pound zucchini. That's a lot of zucchini bread." actually, that was true, but she didn't have to know that.
"You're crazy, you know that?" she laughed,
"Uh, thanks!" was it a compliment?
"Here we are. The President's Fish and Chips Palace." she said proudly.
"President's?" he said, looking at the sign.
"Legend has it that the owner was supposed to be Abe Lincoln, before he became President." she explained.
"Really, how interesting." They went inside.
"Marie, hi! Long time no see! Who's this?" said the man behind the counter
"Frier, this is Jarod Mission," she introduced, "he works at the Salon. He does the best beauty consulting in town. He wanted to know a good place to eat, so I brought him here." The smell in the restaurant was very good.
"Well, thank you Marie. Your usual?" he asked.
"You bet." she nodded.
"What'll you have Jarod?" he asked.
"Well, just normal fish and chips, I guess." he hadn't really had this kind of food very often.
"Coming right up." he said. Jarod and Marie went over to a table and sat down.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" she looked at him intently.
"Actually, it's about the Superstar accident."
"Oh, that." said Marie flatly.
"I don't mean to pry, but what happened?" He was implementing his usual tactics for finding stuff out, make friends, go out for food, then ask questions
"Well, Tina, she was the stylist," she explained "was doing a big job for a Superstar. Somehow, the mix in the hair dye got too strong and it burned a big bald patch in her hair. She sued the company and we had to fire Tina. Too bad, she was really good at her job. Loved it. She had a little girl, Rene, and she had a hard time trying to support her already. I felt bad, but we had to."
Jarod could see why she didn't want to talk about it. "Is that what you think happened?" he asked carefully.
"As far as I know, yes, I mean, who else could have done it?" she shrugged.
"Could you give me Tina's address? I'd like to help clear her name. Oh, and a list of all the people who had appointments that day." He was sure it was someone else's fault, not Tina's.
"Sure, do you have something to write with." He checked his pockets. He found a pen in his wallet. Marie wrote it down on a napkin. Then the food was ready.
"Food's ready." Jarod stood up.
"I'll get it." He walked over and got it. When they are done eating, Jarod ordered more.
"Hey, Frier, could you have two of those ready, say 5:00?"
"Sure, they'll be waiting."
× × ×
Jarod sat at his computer, typing, eating Kinder Eggs, mixing up chemicals, eating Pez and mixing chemicals.
× × ×
Miss Parker walked into the room and slammed the door, startling Broots who was pouring over the papers on the desk.
"So Brootsie, what's it mean?" she asked.
"Um, uh, I'm not quite sure, I mean, I think I know, but this code is very complex. I think." he stuttered, as he always did when Miss Parker upset him.
"You think?" she said, "Oh my God, Sydney, Broots thinks! Just cut to the chase. *Do* you know what Jarod's song and dance is this time?" she lit a cigarette.
"Not yet." he said nervously "I should know within the next few days."
"I have and idea." Sydney said, hoping to distract the ever aggressive Miss Parker.
"Shoot." said Broots. Miss Parker's eye brows shot up as she exhaled her smoke.
"Shoot?" she imitated sarcastically.
"Yeah, you know," he said, looking from Miss Parker, then to Sydney for support and then back to Miss Parker, "I was trying to be cool, you know, 'shoot'."
"Do us all a favor Broots," she snubbed her cigarette "don't."
"All right Miss Parker, no need to get aggressive about it." he said, and went back to the papers.
"Broots," said Sydney, rubbing his chin thought fully, "what would happen if you entered it all into a graphics program."
"Graphics program. Sydney, that just might work. The numbers. There, those numbers are from 1 to 256. 256 colors! And the other numbers, oh I see now! Jarod's a genius!" he was quickly assembling the equipment he would need.
"You think?" Miss Parker said, but he wasn't even listening.
"Just give me a few hours. If I OCR it into the computer, it could save time and error. I think it might work." he plugged in the scanner.
"What are you waiting for?" she said, suddenly more interested and business like. After all, the package *was* addressed to her. Broots booted up the software and the scanner. He started scanning and importing the data into the graphics program. An image formed, page by page. It is half Angelo and half Mr. Lyle. The caption at the bottom says "Which one is your brother? Igor knows the secret!".
"More of Jarod's games." said Sydney rhetorically.
"I don't think this is a game," said Broots "I think he's trying to tell us something."
"Oh, give the man a brand new car!" Miss Parker said, exasperated. The phone rang. Broots hit the speaker phone button.
"Yes?" he said.
"Broots. Is Sydney there?" asked Jarod.
"I'm here Jarod." he verified.
"And Miss Parker?"
"Good guess, Wonder Boy." she snapped.
"So, Miss Parker, figured it out yet?" he tormented.
"No, but I don't suppose you'll tell me." she said, sweetening he voice slightly.
"No, but the secret is out there, Miss Parker. The Truth is Out There." he answered quite seriously.
"X-Files?" queried Sydney.
"Debera loved it." he explained "She enjoyed Mulder. I for one, liked the Sci-fi factor."
"And don't forget about that Gillian Anderson." Miss Parker chided him.
"Point taken." he said.
"Was there more to this mystery than just a picture?" asked Broots.
"Too puzzling, isn't it Broots?" Jarod said sardonically "Yes and no. It's up to you three now. You have to find out more. You have the data access codes, Broots. Happy hunting." He hung up and left the three of them baffled.
"I don't have the access codes." said an absolutely flabbergasted Broots.
"Two puzzles, he said there are two puzzles." remarked Sydney.
"That means that the access codes are in the information we have. We just have to figure it out." said Miss Parker
× × ×
"Rose, I'm home." called Jarod as he entered the door.
Rose bounded into the hallway, signing at an amazing speed.
"Jarod, Jarod, I want to try to speak again."
"Whoa! Hold on just let me get my coat off." he laughed.
"I'll be in the living room and relaxed." she signed as she tried to be a little less excited.
"Okay." she signed, her eyes closed. Jarod walked over and sat across from her.
"Just relax, Rose. Just relax. Listen to my voice." she went into a trance. "You can speak. You are Rose. You can speak. It's all just a block put by Mr. Raines. See the block dissolve. It's going away. It's gone. You can speak. When you awaken, you will be able to speak. Now wake up."
"Jarod?" she said tentatively.
"Yes?" he said, his face lit with a huge, happy smile.
"I can talk! I can! Thank you Jarod!" she jumped up and gave him a big hug
"Oh my God, thank you Jarod!!!!!!" She was crying with joy. Jarod was very happy for her.
"Let's eat." he said "I brought home fish and chips."
× × ×
At dinner Jarod said, "You know Rose, your story reminds me of a fairy tale. You know, the Little Mermaid."
"Are you the Prince?" she teased.
"Maybe," he teased back "but you're Ariel."
"I don't look like her." she retorted. It felt so good to be able to talk again!
"We can fix that. You know, if you want to start a new life, maybe you should. Maybe we should cut your hair and dye it, just until you can get out of the State." he said as he cut his fish and dipped it in ketchup.
"Can you do that?" she asked, thrilled.
"Listen, you come by the Salon tomorrow, we'll get you fixed up." he said
"Thank you Jarod. You saved my life, relatively, I don't know how I can ever repay you!" She was so happy!
"You don't have to. I said it was my quest to help people in need." he shrugged modestly.
"Well, your pretty darn good at it." she smiled at him
"Thanks. But now I have another quest to attend to." He dialed the phone.
"Hello. Marie, it's Jarod? Do you think you could persuade the two Superstars that we talked about to come to the Salon, say 2 PM tomorrow? Book appointments for them both. Great. See you tomorrow. Oh, could you schedule and appointment for Ariel Mere for me tomorrow, first thing? Thanks."
× × ×
"Find any thing Broots?" Miss Parker asked
"A little." he answered
"We have proof that your bother is most likely Mr. Lyle." Sydney told her
"Great!" she said sarcastically "I have a psychotic killer/ maniac for a brother! Where did you get the codes?"
"That," Broots said in awe "well that's a work of art. See Jarod had them hidden as the line borders. I tell you, that mans a genius."
"How else did he get out of this hell hole." she snarled.
"We should contact Jarod. He wanted to know about this." He picked up the phone, but Miss Parker stopped him.
"Not yet." she said scrupulously, "He wants answers about himself, not anything else. Why don't we give him that."
"And how exactly do you propose to do that." he asked.
"We have the codes, why don't we go into Mr. Raines' private files?" she remarked pointedly.
"She has a point." said Broots, reluctantly.
"Do it." said Sydney.
× × ×
Jarod trimmed and tinted Rose's hair, and put a little makeup on her. When she was all done, she had red hair with blue eyes. She loked quite nice and very like Ariel.
"There you go, completely transformed." he said, obviously please.
"Thank you Jarod. I'll go home now, see you there." she said.
"Bye." he said. Marie came in.
"Jarod, this is Tina, the one with the daughter and Rachael, the Superstar that got the bald spot. Jenn, she's you suspect is seated in the place you mentioned." She indicated the two woman with a finger "Tina, Rachael, this is Jarod." Jarod nodded at them.
"If you would come with me, I think I can get your money back." he said
"Marie said you could." said Tina in a British accent, "That would be so great." Jarod went over too the Superstar, the evil one, named Jenn. He bleached her long black hair a bright white.
"What did you do to my hair?" she squawked "Change it back right now!"
"No, I don't think I can do that," he said "I spent a long time mixing up a chemical formula to do that, besides this is a little pay-back for what you did to Rachael and Tina and her daughter, Rene."
"What the hell are you on about?" she said
"You put extra dye in Rachael's hair dye to ruin her career, just so you could make more money. But in the process, you forced a single mother out of her job with a little girl to pay for. Didn't you?" he said, his voice raising with each accusation.
"No!? What are you talking about?" she spat.
"So you like what I did to your hair? You like it white? I can leave it that way, if you like, until it grows back in, or maybe I could expose this, make you lose your job?" he shot back.
"You can't do that? You have no proof!" she exclaimed.
"You see, I do, I have the finger prints from the bottle of hair dye." he smiled.
"What? That's not possible? I wore gloves..." she trailed off as she realized her mistake.
"So you did do it." he said, now the hard part was over.
"Yes! I did, now will you please fix my hair?" she was almost crying.
"Wash it once or twice, it's not permanent. Tina, Rachael, did you hear that?" he turned to the two woman who had been listening the whole time.
"You bet!" said Tina.
"Yes, and I should have known." said Rachael "Lucky for me bald spots caught on as a fad."
× × ×
When Jarod came back from work, there was a note from Rose:
Dear Jarod,
I have to go. I'm sorry, but I need to go and start my life again. Thank you for giving me my voice back, and the chance to start over. Jarod smiled. I will remember you...
Rose
There was a CD cover sitting there titled "Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff" he went over and turned on the CD player. As he stood, staring out the window at the scene below, the song brought many images and memories to his mind, as if it was a movie. Tears welled up in his eyes.
The song said:
"I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
Remember the good times that we had.
We let them slip away from us when things got bad.
Clearly I first saw you, smiling in the sun.
When I feel your warmth upon me, I want to be the one. "
He could see how she must have seen him, standing in the forest clearing, the sun shining down on his in a shaft of light that had sneaked through the trees.
"I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
I‘ m so tired I can't sleep.
Standing edge of something much too deep.
It's funny, how I feel so much but cannot say a word.
We are screaming inside oh but we can't be heard."
He saw her look down into the deep water below and then she dived in, unable to speak, and screaming inside.
"I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
So afraid to love you, and more afraid to lose.
Clinging to a past that doesn't let past let me choose.
Once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night.
You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life."
An image from his distant past, almost lost but it came flickering back, a single rose on a doily, just sitting there as the light brightened on it.
"And I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
Weep not for the memories."
Then he saw it as it might have been, if she had stayed, them playing on the swings, laughing and having fun. Then it faded to black...
THE END
Rose
by Aussia
Miss Parker was (as usual) dressed in her short skirt, even though she wasn't working that day. That must have be the reason she left her shirt untucked, and her hair unbrushed. She walked over to the door to pick up the thick package that had just been pushed through her mail slot. She inspected the envelope. It was definitely for her, but there was only a one word return address. "Jarod". She knew that name all too well. "Handle With Care" it says, she mused, what could be so delicate? Unless... she strode into the living room, and sat down on the couch.
The envelope contained one note from Jarod and another from her mother. The outside of the envelope said "For my Daughter" in cursive writing. Her mother's writing. She opened her mother's letter first, her hands shook almost undetectably, but they were definatly shaking.
"March 9, 1963: Dear baby, I write this as you sit on my knee. You are very much your fathers child, happy and precious. I only hope that you stay that way. Even at this young age,you are showing great signs of intelligence. We let you play with the Center children. There is one called Jarod who you enjoy playing with. He was brought here over a month ago. He misses his parents a lot, we must get him out of here. I must go away again; I have asked the nurse to read to you every night. Love, mom."
She carefully tucked the letter back in the envelope, and blinked away tears before she read Jarod's note which said:
"Much more of this. Take a look at this DSA."
She searched momentarily in the bubble wrap before she found a round disk that reflected the light in a rainbow of colors as she slipped it into a 'player that was sitting on the table near her. It was a security record of the two of them talking when they were three or four. The corner said:
"25/02/1963, For Center Use Only"
Miss Parker watched, with a melancholy look on her face, as the young version of herself played with the Center toys. Eventually she saw herself lean over to whisper to her playmate:
"Who are you?"
"I don't know." he responded hesitantly.
"How can you not know?" she had replied, full of child-like innocence that had long ago left her. I was a budding sarcastic, even then, she smiled "You must have a name." her younger self continued.
"They say I am Jarod." he said, "They said that my mommy and daddy are dead and that Sydney is taking care of me now and that I live here now." Her mother opened the door, and came over to kneel beside them.
"Baby, we have to go now, say good bye to Jarod." Miss Parker's eyes misted over. "Mom." she thought. Her fingers touched the screen and then her face. "Everyone says we look exactly alike, but we are so different..." she thought as her younger self said good bye to her new playmate. "Funny," she mused. "Could he have known that someday I would be old grown up me, and he would be old grown up him, and that I would be following him around, maybe even be forced to shoot him?" she erased that thought as soon as it crossed her mind. She hit the rewind button on the player and lit her cigarette. She stopped it and looped it so it played "They say I am Jarod." over and over. She turned up the volume loud, just letting the words wash over her. She realized that she had no way of knowing if it really was Jarod's father who killed her mother. Would she ever know? The only thing she could do was keep searching. She let her cigarette burn down until it almost reached her fingers, and then she hit the stop button and snubbed her cigarette. She closed her eyes and let herself relax, rubbing her shoulder muscles. Suddenly, the phone rang. She picked it up after one ring. Her professional side taking the upper hand, she snapped her usual "What?!", even though she knew very well it's Jarod, with some snide remark and a promise of more about her mother.
"Did you get my package?" he smirked. Miss Parker rebutted with an exasperated sigh.
"Yes. What's your game this time?"
"About a year before I got out," he answered, "we did that Simm. together with hypnotism." Miss Parker answered him simply and uncharacteristically patiently.
"Jarod, we never did a Simm. together." she wished he didn't play so many games...
"Very funny." he thought she was joking!
"Remember, they hypnotized us and we talked about our childhood play times. Then they took us, still in a trance, to visit Rose..." he prompted
"Wasn't Rose the little girl in the Center?" she asked. Well, wasn't she? Or was her name Rain...? He interrupted her contemplation with his abrupt query:
"Isn't she still there?" she had his full attention now.
"No," she said. "she disappeared not too long after you left. She was adopted by a Senator..." Jarod's hands tightened on the phone.
"Senator Williams." Damn, he thought "I have to go. Remember, you help me, I help you. If you find anything, I can give you more of your mothers diary." He abruptly hung up. Miss Parker tried to get more out of him, anything, anything at all...
"Jarod! I... Jarod? Damn him!" She slammed the phone down.
After hanging up, Jarod flipped through the phone book and, when he found what he was looking for, dialed another number.
"Hello? Yes, my name is Jarod. I am calling to see if you know anything more about the girl who went missing, Rose. You reported it on the 6:00 news. I want to help look for her." He paused briefly. "Thank you." he hung up and dialed again. "Yes, can I book 1 seat for a flight to Spokane, Washington please. As early as possible. Jarod Mission. Thank you."
He frantically packed. Then he rushed out with his aluminum suitcase in one hand and a larger bag in the other. He got on one of the three buses at the bus stop, the one labeled "To Airport" and sat down next to a lady wearing a big sun hat and a blue dress. She had two kids in tow. One was about seven or eight and a girl. The other was still a baby. Jarod sat in attentive silence as she tried to keep them under control. She bribed the oldest with something she called "Kinder Eggs". When they were settled down, he talked to the girl.
"Hi! My name's Jarod." he smiled charismatically "What's your name?"
"Sarah." she answered.
"Hi Sarah" he smiled again "what’s that you're eating?"
"Very funny mister." she gave him a high and mighty look, "Haven't you ever eaten a Kinder Egg before?"
"No, what does it taste like?" he looked quizically at the chocolate in her hand.
"Here, try one." She handed him one of hers.
"This is very good!" he said grinning with his mouthful of chocolate. "But what's this orange thing?" he held up the orange plastic egg from the center of the chocolate.
"It's an egg with a toy in it! I have 28 of them and Tommy, my cousin, has 9!"
"Wow! So, you put the toy together?" he watched as she deftly assembled the pieces of plastic.
"Yep, see, mine's a space ship." she held it up proudly for him to see "What's yours?" He finished putting the stickers on before responding:
"Mine's a little bird." He looked puzzled "Why does it have a weight in it?"
"It wiggles back and forth." she said. Jarod put it on his palm and laughed.
"This is so cool!" He laughed again.
× × ×
With night falling, Sarah eventually fell asleep on his shoulder. The youngest was still just a baby and was asleep in his car seat. Jarod started talking to the mother.
"This is quite a lively brood you have here!" He smiled, first at her and then down at Sarah on his shoulder.
"Yes" she said laughing. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name. I am Taara Williams." She stuck out her hand.
"I'm Jarod Mission. I would shake your hand, but I am afraid to wake Sarah here." He looked down at Sarah resting on his shoulder.
"Ah, yes, my sleeping beauty," she looked fondly at her little girl.
"Your what?" he said quizzically
"You know, the classic Fairy Tale, Sleeping Beauty." she figured he would know what she was talking about.
"You'll have to forgive me." he said in his apologetic way "I don't know about 'Ferry Tails'"
"You aren't from this world, are you?" she joked.
"Not really." Jarod laughed.
"Well, I'll tell you. It's a story with a moral that you read to children." she explained "Like Sleeping Beauty!"
"Okay, I still don't understand." he grinned
"Sleeping Beauty was a beautiful Princess," she began, he relaxed into his seat, ready to listen and learn, "When she was born, they had a party for her. They invited the nine good witches of the Kingdom to come. They each brought a gift. You know, Beauty, Happiness, Love, Laughter etc., then the bad witch came and she was mad at not being invited to come. She said that she had a gift too. She said that on her 16th birthday she would prick her finger on a spindle and die. The 9th good fairy hadn't given her gift yet and she said that she wouldn't die, but that she and the whole castle would fall asleep. Until, on 100th year, and then a handsome Prince would kiss her and wake them all up. So that happened and they like happily ever after. The End."
"Cool! And there are a lot of these stories?" his insatiable curiosity was getting the best of him.
"Yeah, here!" she took out a book of fairy tales and handed it to him "Keep it for helping out with Sarah."
"Single mom?" he queried
"Yep. We're going to visit my brother in Washington. His adopted daughter went missing." Jarod looked startled.
"Rose?" he asked. He was alert with interest.
"How did you know?" she demanded.
"I Knew her, once. I want to help find her. Listen," he changed the subject "do want me to watch your kids so you can rest. I can never sleep on buses."
"Sure, if you don't mind. I could use the sleep." She closed her eyes started breathing slowly. Jarod took out his cell phone and dialed.
"Sydney," Sydney answered.
"It's me. What do you remember about Rose?"
"Jarod!" He quickly checked to see if anyone was around to overhear them. Nobody, good. "Miss Parker said you called her and hung up when she said Rose had been discharged from the Center. What's wrong? Something's bothering you."
"Sydney, she's gone missing. She is loose in the world and she's deceiving minds right left and center. The news caster said that the staff at her foster fathers house couldn't remember seeing her, and it was like they'd been drugged. That's what it's like after a run in with Rose. It didn't click until Miss Parker mentioned she'd been discharged from the Center that it might be her. The Center wouldn't discharge her, so how did she get out?" Sydney had never heard Jarod in such a tizzy before, but he answer as he always did, calmly and patiently, in his typical psychiatristic way: "Jarod, it couldn't be her. She was discharged because she had lost her gift. When she got older, it just left her. I don't know anything else."
"Sydney, she didn't lose her gift. She must have pretended to. Now she's run away from home. I have to go stop her before something awful happens. Sydney, you have to trust me. I have to go and stop her." he rambled on, faster and faster, his brain in overdrive.
"Jarod, Miss Parker said that you remembered the hypnotism Simm. Does this mean that she can't wipe your mind?" maybe a slight change of subject would calm Jarod down.
"I don't think she can. I don't know why not. Maybe being a Pretender has something to do with it. I don't know. Sydney, I must stop her." He hung up the phone. Sarah on his left shoulder stirred. He shushed her quiet, smoothing her hair.
× × ×
In the morning, Jarod, Taara and family climbed off the bus at the airport. Jarod kept a firm hold on Sarah. They headed for security. When they got to the check-in desk, he asked for his ticket.
"3 tickets for Spokane Washington under the name Jarod Mission. Non-smoking." he signed for them and handed 2 over to Taara.
"Jarod! I can't accept this!" she said, horrified.
"No please, I insist!" he said
"Jarod, I don't need your charity! Leave us alone!" she threw the tickets on the floor.
"Taara..." he tried to explain, but she has already walked away, dragging her kids with her. He picked up the tickets from the ground, shrugged, and put them in his pocket. Then he picked up his luggage and walked towards a shop where he bought 15 Kinder Eggs. Then he sat and ate one. After making the toy and putting it into the bag with the others, he proceeded to the security gate. Taara was standing there, looking sheepish.
"I'm sorry Jarod," she said, her face turning a faint shade of pink "I didn't mean to get mad at you. It's just... all my life I have been given things. When I left my husband, I thought it would all change. It didn't. It got worse. People felt sorry for me, I guess. With two kids, who wouldn't. I thought you were different. Now I see you were just being a good Samaritan. That's a..."
"I know what that is." he cut her off, his brown eyes laughing.
"I'm sorry." she said again.
"That's all right. Here." he offers her the tickets, shrugging "if you want them..."
"Thanks." she took them out of his hand and gestured for him to go ahead
× × ×
The flight attendant in the tunnel to the airplane took their tickets.
"Have a nice flight Mr. and Mrs.... " she checked the tickets..."Mission."
"I'm not..." Taara started to say Mrs. Mission, but Jarod threw her a warning glance, so she finished differently "...a good flier, but thanks anyway." They proceed to their seats. When they were settled, the flight attendant recited the emergency instructions and they did up the Sarah's seat belt and their own. The on board movie started up.
"Ace Ventura, Pet Detective! Allright!". Exclaimed Sarah. She and Jarod thought it was absolutly hilarious. Taara didn't even put on the ear phones. When they got off the plane, Jarod and Sarah were still laughing and talking about the movie. Taara looked disgusted, but laughed at them.
"Jarod, I swear, you're just like a kid Sarah's age!" Jarod helped them with their luggage and offered to split a cab with them, since they were going to the the same place. Taara agreed. The cab ride was quite short. Taara pointed out different sights to the kids. When they got to Senator Williams house, Jarod tactfully excuses himself, seeing that Taara didn't know if she should invite him to meet her brother or what.
"Well, I have to go and find a place to stay in while I'm here. See you around?"
"You bet." said Taara enthusiastically "Take care, okay?"
"You too. " He bent down to talk to Sarah "You be good for your mommy, okay." she nodded "I'll see you later. ‘Bye" he left, walking down the street. Taara looked after him, smiling. "There goes one great guy..." she thought.
× × ×
Jarod was eating Kinder Surprises and Pez. He e-mailed Sydney.
Please send me everything you know about Rose. I think that her talent has matured. I know she is out to get the Center. How is it that she was discharged and she still remembered everything? Could it be that her gift protected her from being confused by another Deceiver like herself, like my gift protects me?
Jarod
He sent it and chowed on Pez and Kinder's. He got a map and started marking little X's on it. Then he phoned Senator William.
"Senator Williams please. It's Jarod Mission."
"One moment." said a perky voice. When the Senator answered, he introduced himself.
"Hello, my name is Jarod Mission. I would like to help look for Rose. I knew her before she came to live with you. I've also worked on the police force, so I'm qualified."
"Ah, Jarod. Taara said you wanted to help. So you know sign language so you can talk to her when she is found then?" He seemed glad for help, especially from someone who already knew her.
"You mean, she's deaf?!" he must have sounded a little to shocked, for the senator was instantly suspicious.
"You mean, you didn't know? No, she's not deaf. Wait a minute, I thought you knew her." Jarod tried to explain, but his brain was working ferociously, trying to sort things out.
"No, I mean, yes, yes I know her, but can she talk?" he asks anxiously. He has to know...
"No, she has been deeply traumatized. Do you know sign language, though?" he repeated.
"Yes, I do, but this is quite a shock. It also explains something to me. Did she ever tell you about where she was before she came to you?" maybe those were the 'precautions' the Center took.
"No, she didn't like to talk about it." the Senator said. That fits, thought Jarod.
"Did... did she tell you about her gift?" he said.
"Gift? No I don't think she did." the Senator said carefully.
"Never mind then." said Jarod "Do you think that I could question your staff? I want to get a feel for her path? Oh, and did she have a place that she liked to go or a passion for a certain place?"
"Of course you can question my staff." he declared emphatically. "She loved the woods. She always wanted to picnic there."
"Thank you. One last thing, do you have a way I could get in touch with Taara?" asked Jarod
"She is staying here at my house. Just call up the normal phone number and ask for Taara Williams. Oh and Jarod," he said
"Yes?" he acknowledged
"Thank you." the Senator said warmly
"You're welcome. Good bye." Jarod said
"Bye." the Senator echoed. Jarod sat at his desk in his apartment. He was tipped the chair back as he pressed redial.
"Taara Williams please." he said when the perky voice answered again.
"One moment please." she said. Taara herself answered.
"Hello?"
"Taara?" he said, although he already knew it was her, "It's Jarod. Listen, I was wondering if you would like to go on a picnic in the woods. I think I know where we might find Rose. Yes, bring Sarah. Children are very perceptive. Today at noon. Rosewood park. I will bring the food.
× × ×
"Jarod, how much farther?" said Sarah, whiny and out of breath.
"Not much." he responded.
"What are you looking for?" asked Taara.
"That." He had stopped in the clearing while the others caught up. Sarah was puffing for breath when she caught up.
"What Jarod?" she asked.
"Don't you see it?" he said, surprised.
"What am I looking for?" she said, as any child would.
"The tree house that is in the top branches!" Taara looked at him as if he was insane.
"Jarod," she said, her voice very concerned, "I think you are seeing things. There's nothing there."
"It is her gift..." he trailed off. "Taara, wait here with the kids." he climbed up the tree. Suddenly, he was standing in mid air. Taara screamed and covered her eyes.
"Cool!" Sarah exclaimed. Taara grabbed her arm and held her back from trying to climb up to Jarod. Taara, in a scared and shaking voice, said
"Jarod, you get down from there right now! Jarod, I'm warning you!"
"Okay, hold onto your hats!" he slid down the trunk.
"That is not funny Jarod! What's going on here?" her eyes were wide and she looked shaken.
"Sarah, why don't you try to find the ladder up the tree house okay? It should be in that bush over there." He pointed, then he spoke to Taara in a half whisper. "Taara, I need to know if I can trust you." Taara nodded, and Jarod took a deep breath before saying "This is going to be really hard to believe, but Rose is special She can confuse people's minds. It's like a spiders web, branching out to blur anything from peoples minds. The after affect is like you have been drugged. I have a gift too. I can become anyone I want to be. Rose must be close, or she couldn't hold up the web. I can see through the web. She can see us." Taara gasped and looked around fratiaclly "Don't worry, she's not dangerous. But I have to find her. Why don't you take the kids back to your brother's house, okay? I know her. She might trust me."
Taara nodded. "Sarah, time to go." she called to Sarah, who whined but came. They walked back down the hill.
"Rose? I know you're there. It's me, Jarod. Remember me? I was at the Center. I know you can hear me. I know you can't talk. Please come out. I can see you. I can see through your web. Rose?" Rose came out of the brush. She was invisible but the bushes parted and she slowly came into view, shimmering until she was what Jarod saw. She was wearing blue jeans and a white shirt with hiking boots. She had long brown hair and blue eyes. She was about 15 or 16 years old.
"Jarod?" she signed.
"Yep." he answered, obviously pleased with himself.
"And you can see me?" she questioned with her hands.
"Yes, but don't worry, no one else can." Rose started to run away, but Jarod chased her. He caught her and held onto her shoulders. "Un uh!" he said, "You're coming with me. You have some explaining to do young lady." He walked her back to his car.
× × ×
Jarod and Rose were sitting with McDonald's food between them.
"Okay, why did you run away?" he asked her.
"The Center." She signed, as if that explained everything, but then she carried on. "They tried to wipe my memory. They, they had me doing mind webs on everyone. I was sick of it. They tried to have me put a web on myself. They tried to make me forget the Center. I tried it. I woke up feeling awful. I realized what I was doing was wrong. I pretended my gift was gone. They..." she broke down crying before she can finish, her hands flew to her face. She was shaking "...I was so scared. They... Oh my God, Jarod," the tears were streaming down her face, her breath coming in gulps as she remembered "they didn't believe me. Jarod, they left me for dead at the edge of the road for dead." Being a Pretender, he could 'feel' her pain. His face was concerned.
"Rose, I know how you feel. I was there too, remember? The Center is hunting me. They have come to catch me many times. If you try to attack the Center and fail, you could end up dead, or like me, running away," his face showed the fear he felt. "Believe me Rose, it isn't fun. But you have an advantage. You can disappear. I can't." Rose answered him back with a big grin on her face, her tears had stopped for now.
"Yes you can. I pretended that I had lost my talent. Instead, it had matured and I can now mask other things, like the tree house. I can mask you!" she was very proud of herself for deceiving the Center. Jarod gently brought her back to earth.
"Rose, you need to go home. I can't keep you here, I promised I would get you home safely. I'm sorry."
"Jarod, you don't understand! The only reason that Senator Williams noticed I was gone was that the help told him. He thinks I'm okay the way I am. He doesn't understand that I want a family. Someone to love me. My real parents are dead. The Center forced me to watch them die. Senator Williams only adopted me to make himself look better, for political reasons. I ran away to start my life over. Only thing is, now everyone is looking for me and I can't go anywhere. Will you help me? I can help you hide from the Center." Her cajoling manner was too much for him. He sighed a deep sigh.
"I guess you could stay here for a while. I know how you feel about family. I am still looking for mine. I don't know, I like to help innocent people. I manage to solve the root of their problems., in your case, Senator Williams. I don't think that he has really committed a crime. He only wanted what he thought was best."
"Jarod, you don't have to save the world. I just want a place to stay for a little while." she smiled at him slyly "No-one will know I'm here."
"You don't have to mask yourself all the time. No one will come here. If they do, then you can wipe their memories. Oh, and Rose," he added as she got up from the table, "Taara, Senator Williams sister knows. Don't worry, she can be trusted."
"Jarod," she caught his eye and smiled, "thank you."
"No problem." he smiled back
Jarod's computer said, "You have new mail" there is a message from Sydney.
Jarod we need to talk. Sydney
Jarod dialed the number and Sydney answered.
"It's Sydney."
"You said we needed to talk." he said.
"Yes Jarod, you asked for information about Rose. It seems she was discharged from the Center after they took "Necessary precautions" to keep her from talking. It doesn't say what these are. That's all I know. I'm sorry."
"That's okay, I found her. I already knew that. I broke into the Center files again. It seems that the 'Necessary precautions' were to try to web her memory. When they failed, they traumatized her and left her on the side of the road for dead."
"Jarod, we both know how the Center is." Sydney reminded him.
"Yes well, they made a mistake this time. Now we are teamed up. Now we are unstoppable." he warned Sydney.
"Jarod, I have to warn *you*. Now that I know where you are, I must tell the Center. I have no choice. Be careful." Sydney pressed.
"As if you really care Sydney." he retorted, and hung up.
× × ×
"Well Brigette, I think we have Jarod this time." said Mr. Lyle, dressed in an expensive looking gray suit as he sat at his desk, his brown hair slicked back as usual. "According to Sydney, he's helping in the search for a girl, Rose, that once stayed in the Center. You remember the files. The unfortunate incident in which the sweepers believed that they had lost her. Very unfortunate. Anyhow, he's in Washington D.C."
"Let us hope that she and Jarod haven't teamed up. They would be unstoppable." said Brigette, in her British accent, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears as she perched on Mr. Lyle's desk. She had slipped back into the innocent act that had fooled Miss Parker, until Brigette had tried to kill her father. She was dressed in a one piece suit that was only a bunch of pastel colored scarves sewn together, which set off her blonde hair perfectly.
"Brigette, Brigette, Brigette," he said sarcastically, "how many times must I tell you, the key to finding Jarod is that we must believe that we will catch him. Your are starting to act like Parker."
"Unlike Parker, I won't fail you." she spoke with obvious dislike for Miss Parker
"What about me?" Said Miss Parker, stepping into the room suddenly. Brigette shot Mr. Lyle a look that said "speak of the devil," before putting on her sugary smile and voice to answer "We were just commenting on your Jarod hunting skills."
"Why do I get the feeling it wasn't a compliment." Miss Parker said in her sarcastic way, knowing that her words were all too true. The number of times that she had come close to catching him without actually succeeding was phenomenal.
"Actually, I was just saying that Brigette might take some lessons from you, wasn't I Brigette?" he faked. He was such a jerk! How could *he* be my brother? thought Miss Parker.
"Liar." she practically spat at him.
"Are you prepared to leave for Washington D.C. Miss Parker?" Brigette said.
"You know *Briggy*, last time you cut me out of the loop, Jarod told me. I don't suggest you do it again." Miss Parker said, with the same mocking tone as before.
"Is that a threat, Parker?" she said, unruffled.
"Consider it a warning." she smirked. After all, Brigette had already sworn to kill *her*.
"What did he say about me, Miss Parker?" she asked.
"I don't believe he mentioned *you*." she retorted.
"And I believe he did, Brigette," said Mr. Lyle, cutting in on the female cat fight about to begin again, "I believe his exact words were Blonde, 110 pounds, killer legs'."
Miss Parker looked at him in disbelief, and her jaw dropped. She snapped it shut and said, in utter disbelief "You bugged the phone." her voice was full of incredulation and spite.
"Actually, there's no bug, we just have ears, everywhere. Remember that, Parker," Mr. Lyle said menacingly, "we know everything about you. We even know what your real name is. We know everything. Everything."
Her real name! she thought. If that got out... but now for the snappy retort
"And yet you still can't catch Jarod." She turned on her heel and left.
Mr. Lyle sighed gravely. "You know, Brigette, Parker is correct. We still can't catch Jarod." he said
"Ah, ah, ah, Mr. Lyle, we must keep a positive attitude if we are to catch him." she repeated, the perfect little parrot.
× × ×
Out of the night came screams of anguish. A feminine voice called out. "No, no, I don't want to die. No, please, please, please... Mr. Rains, no, Mr. Rains! MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!" Jarod came into to Rose's room, where the noise was coming from.
"It's okay, it's okay Rose, Rose," he gave her a soothing hug and woke her from her dream "It's me, Jarod, not Mr. Rains, no one's going to hurt you. It's okay."
"Jarod, Jarod, oh-my-god Jarod," she signed, sobbing "they- he, Jarod, he was going to kill me. Jarod, I was so scared."
"Shhh, Rose, it's okay now, don't worry, go back to sleep now, okay? Okay? Good. Shhh..." he said gently as she closed her eyes again.
× × ×
The effects of the night before's rude awakening didn't affect Jarod. He was cooking pancakes and scrambled eggs. Coffee was brewing. He turned his head as Rose entered, still in her night gown and yawning, sleepy eyed and hair a mess.
"Jarod, do I smell coffee?" she signed.
"You bet! Would you like scrambled eggs, pancakes or both? Make yourself at home. Just, uh move the Kinder Egg Toys to the side." he gestured to the pile of toys on the table. She moved them awkwardly to the side and sat down.
"Jarod, about last night... how did you know that I was having a bad dream?" she had a puzzled look on her face. Jarod put down two plates, cutlery and two place mats, almost simultaneously.
"Oh, that, that's an easy one, you were screaming. I think you said "'No, no, I don't want to die. Mr. Rains, No! Mommy!' Or something like that. It's kind of hard to understand hysterical dreams." Rose gave him "The Look".
"Jarod, I can't speak."
"Yes you can." he said, licking a bit of syrup nonchalantly off his finger. You just think you can't. Like a Kinder Egg?"
"No, thank you." she said, momentarily distracted, but she got right back on track. "Jarod, I haven't spoken a word since before I left the Center. They traumatized me until I couldn't speak, remember?" Jarod commenced in eating a Kinder Egg as he answered her.
"Nope, they didn't. You can talk, you were just traumatized, thus, you weren't able to speak."
"You mean..." she stopped, mid sign.
"It may take sometime," he said with his eyes twinkling, "but I think you can speak again." Rose jumped up and ran over to hug Jarod.
"Thank you Jarod!" she signed when she had let go, "Thank you!" she ran off to her room.
× × ×
Miss Parker stormed into the office she shared with Broots and Sydney.
"Broots, sweep the room for bugs. Sydney, you check the phone, I bet my life there's one in here."
"Miss Parker, that's not a very good thing to say in the Center. One bets one's life every day they work here." Miss Parker didn't even bother smirking as she usually would.. She was absorbed in searching every square inch of the computer and the desk it sat on. .
"Just get to work." she snapped
"What's the big problem Miss Parker?" said Broots, his bald head reflecting the fluorescent lighting. "This is the Center were talking about. Everyone is being watched by someone. It's a fact of life."
"They know about Jarod. They know we have been talking to him." she said.
"Ah ha! Found it." exclaimed Sydney.
"Where?" She snatched it out of his hand. Speaking right into it, she said
"This, is for every time you insulted me behind my back." She dropped it on the floor and grounded it with her heel. "Keep searching." she commanded to Sydney and Broots "That can't be the only bug around here." The phone rang.
"Sydney." he answered.
"Sydney, this is Mr. Parker. Can you tell Miss Parker I'm on the phone?"
"Miss Parker? It's your father." he whispered, with a look at Broots. Whatever did he want?
"Hi daddy." she said, as sweet as blackberries in June. "Yes, yes, I understand, Washington D.C.? I'll tell them." She hung up. "Looks like we will be going to be taking a trip to visit the President, Sydney."
"I gathered." he said dryly.
"It looks like someone named Jarod Oscar, fitting Jarod's description, was sighted selling hot dogs."
× × ×
Jarod walked through the door of the Quest Hair and Beauty Salon. Marie, a tall woman with long crimpy brown hair was standing at the front desk.
"Can I help you sir?" she said
"Yes, I'm Jarod Mission, the new employee." he said, looking around with interest.
"Oh, sorry, Jarod, hi, My name is Marie. Welcome to your first day at Quest. The boss mentioned that your resume was quite impressive. She said you'd worked with some big hair companies. You're the first person who has wanted to work here since the big scandal. We haven't had as many customers but it still has been hard to cope."
"The accident with the Superstar?" he said. It was more of a question than a statement, even though he had all the articles cut and pasted into a red notebook in his coat pocket.
"Yeah, anyhow, your first client is one of our old clients. She is a bit" she coughed politely "picky. She's been preened by every artist we have here." she sighed "Maybe you can make her happy."
"Oh, I see," he said, in his serious-but-teasing voice, "the rookie test."
"You bet!" she smiled.
"I'll give it my best shot." he smiled back.
"Her name is Mrs. Scott. She's in chair 4, on the right. You will find every-thing you need in the drawers to the right of you. Good luck." she said, indicating everything with a nod.
"Thanks, I have a feeling I'll need it." He walked over to the customer
"Hello, Ms. Scott, my name's Jarod. I'll be doing your hair today. What are you looking for?" He sized Ms. Scott up. A petite woman with big eyes and ginger hair, now what would look good? he thought..
"The Courtney Cox meets business woman look." she replied.
"Courtney Cox?" he said blankly.
"You know, 'Scream', 'Scream 2'?" she said. Jarod shook his head, he didn't understand
"'Ace Ventura, Pet Detective'?" she carried on.
"Her? Okay, I can do that." now he knew what she was talking about, "What do you mean by 'Meets business woman'?'" he asked
"Like her but more conservative." she explained "Like, as if she was going to a big business meeting."
"Okay, do you want jet black or to keep your natural color." he could sort of see what would look best, and was leading her towards that.
"What do you think?" she said.
Oh-oh, this could be awkward, he thought.
"On you, a drop dead blonde would look good. Maybe with a bit of a wave..."
"You just go to work. I'll trust you." Jarod gave her the hairdo and makeup. She came out looking great! She was very pleased.
"I like it." she, admiring it in the mirror. "Not much like Courtney Cox, but very good. It's the Courtney Cox look, but waved a bit, making it shorter." As she left, Marie came up to him.
"Wow, for once, she really liked her hair *and* her make up. Congrat’s Jarod, you're in."
"In where?" he said, puzzled.
"You know, into the company, in with the "in" crowd." she tried to explain.
"I see." he said, although he really didn't.
× × ×
"Okay, Rose, I am going to hypnotize you now. I figure your talent is like hypnotism, so if I hypnotize you, it should work." he tried to sound sure of him- self, but his explanation didn't even make sense to himself. "Okay, so just relax, just listen to the sound of my voice...you are getting very tired, very relaxed, you are slowly falling under my control." She relaxed and talked about what happened in the Center that had scared her so much. Jarod's hopes brightened were brightened by this. It proved that she really *could* speak. when she was finished, Jarod spoke. "You will wake up when I snap my fingers and you will be able to speak." He snapped his fingers and she opened her eyes, startled. But she still couldn't speak.
"Jarod, I don't think it worked. I don't think I can talk. I don't think I ever will again." she started crying.
"It's okay, shhhh," he gave her a hug. "cheer up, I just wish I knew how they'd done it. If you could only remember... well, that's enough for today. We will try again tomorrow. Don't worry, you'll talk again. Listen, I'm going to call Sydney, he should have found me by now."
"Can I have a Kinder Egg?" she asked, blinking away tears. Sometimes, he thought, she appeared so young but sometimes she acted wise beyond her years.
"Sure." he dialed the number "Here, pass me one. Sydney, it's Jarod."
"Jarod! Where are you?" he said. He was no happy camper. Jarod heard Miss Parker in the background.
"Jarod? Give me that!" she had wrestled the phone away from Sydney.
"Jarod! Where the hell are you?"
"I'd tell you that, Miss Parker but come on now, that *would* be a little stupid. The big question is, where are you?" My, but didn't he love to tease her.
"Washington D.C., Mr. Oscar." she snapped back.
"Who?" he said with sarcastic innocence.
"Don't play your games with me Jarod, you're selling hot dogs here. How are sales?" she could mock as well as, if not better than he could.
"Oh oh, tsk tsk tsk, Miss Parker, it seems you've been misled. You see, I'm not in old D.C. anymore."
"He's not here." she said to Sydney. Then to Jarod she said, "Then where the hell are you?"
"Be a good girl and give the phone back to Sydney, okay?" he said, because he knew that made her blood boil.
"He wants to talk to you." She thrust the phone back to Sydney.
"Nice guess Sydney, but you're off. I'm not there. I was there, but you missed me by a few days. Try, 3469 Oakcrest. Gotta go." he hung up.
"Jarod, ..." Sydney trailed off. Why did he always do that?
"What?" asked Miss Parker as she concentrated on the road and trying to drive.
"We missed him by a few days. Give me the map." he said.
"Got a lead?" she guessed
"Possibly. Go left here."
× × ×
Sydney and Miss Parker got out of the car. They stopped in front of a small, group of housing units. They went up to the door and knocked on the main office. A young, pregnant woman answered.
"Hello! I'm Debera Fisht, caretaker of the Strado Housing Units. Can I help you?" she asked.
"Have you seen this man?" said Miss Parker as she pulled out a picture of Jarod.
"That's Jarod, he stayed here about a month. He left a few days ago." she clarified.
"Did he leave anything behind?" asked Sydney
"Wait, are you," she ruffled through a pile of papers and turned to Miss Parker "Miss Parker?"
"Yes, yes I am." she said.
"This has your name on it. He left it on the chesterfield. He left very suddenly." she explained.
"Well, thank you. You have been very helpful." said Sydney as they turned back to the car. Sydney opened the package. It contained a printout of what looked like random numbers and letters.
"What is it?" she asked as Sydney flipped through the pages.
"I don't know. Jarod seems to have given you sheets and sheets of random numbers." he said.
"But you said that when Jarod is concerned, nothing is random." she retorted.
"True... but still!" he said,
"Here." she tossed her phone at him, "Call Broots." Broots answered.
"Broots, it's Sydney." he identified, "We have some information Jarod has given us."
"What kind of info?" he asked.
"Sheets and sheets of numbers." Sydney answered.
"Numbers?" Broots computer mind was working already working.
"Yes, numbers. They seem random. I don't know." Sydney really didn't know that much about computers.
"Can you read them off?" he asked
"Broots, that would take *hours*! There are pages and pages here." Sydney had absolutely no idea what Jarod was thinking.
"Okay, um, bring them back to the Center and I'll see what I can make of them. Oh, and don't get them out of order." Broots hung up.
"What's he saying." asked Miss Parker.
"He says he needs to take a look at them. We need to go back to the Center." he said.
"Does he think he knows what Jarod's game is this time?" she asked, obviously sick of it all.
"I believe he has an idea." said Sydney.
× × ×
"...and if we curled your hair and lightened your makeup, you would look entirely younger!" Jarod finished.
"Thank you Jarod! I'll think about that for next time." she was obviously happy with what Jarod had done.
"Oh, you're welcome Mrs. Scatoes. Come back soon." he said.
"I sure will!" she picked up her purse and went to the front to pay.
"My goodness Jarod, we haven't had this many customers since... I don't know when!" she looked at Jarod with awe and respect.
"Listen, I was wondering if you would like to have lunch with me? I have a few questions." he said it so politely how could she refuse?
"Sure, did you have some place in mind?" she asked.
"Since I'm new here, I thought maybe you could show me someplace other than Mc Donald’s and Subway." he knew that would make her laugh. It did.
"Of course, I know a little restaurant just around the corner that serves great fish and chips." she headed out the door.
"Sounds, fishy!" he said as they walked down the street.
"Ha ha ha, that's funny! You should be a comedian." or a model, she thought privately.
"I was, once in a Comedy Club in New York. The crowd loved me. It was fun, but too many tomatoes." he joked
"They threw tomatoes at you?" she was shocked.
"No, I bought 10 bushels of tomatoes to make Spaghetti sauce. Needless to say, my skin started turning a little red." he found it easy to make her laugh.
"Why would you by 10 bushels of tomatoes. That's and awful lot." she thought he was joking.
"That's nothing. I once grew a 100 pound zucchini. That's a lot of zucchini bread." actually, that was true, but she didn't have to know that.
"You're crazy, you know that?" she laughed,
"Uh, thanks!" was it a compliment?
"Here we are. The President's Fish and Chips Palace." she said proudly.
"President's?" he said, looking at the sign.
"Legend has it that the owner was supposed to be Abe Lincoln, before he became President." she explained.
"Really, how interesting." They went inside.
"Marie, hi! Long time no see! Who's this?" said the man behind the counter
"Frier, this is Jarod Mission," she introduced, "he works at the Salon. He does the best beauty consulting in town. He wanted to know a good place to eat, so I brought him here." The smell in the restaurant was very good.
"Well, thank you Marie. Your usual?" he asked.
"You bet." she nodded.
"What'll you have Jarod?" he asked.
"Well, just normal fish and chips, I guess." he hadn't really had this kind of food very often.
"Coming right up." he said. Jarod and Marie went over to a table and sat down.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" she looked at him intently.
"Actually, it's about the Superstar accident."
"Oh, that." said Marie flatly.
"I don't mean to pry, but what happened?" He was implementing his usual tactics for finding stuff out, make friends, go out for food, then ask questions
"Well, Tina, she was the stylist," she explained "was doing a big job for a Superstar. Somehow, the mix in the hair dye got too strong and it burned a big bald patch in her hair. She sued the company and we had to fire Tina. Too bad, she was really good at her job. Loved it. She had a little girl, Rene, and she had a hard time trying to support her already. I felt bad, but we had to."
Jarod could see why she didn't want to talk about it. "Is that what you think happened?" he asked carefully.
"As far as I know, yes, I mean, who else could have done it?" she shrugged.
"Could you give me Tina's address? I'd like to help clear her name. Oh, and a list of all the people who had appointments that day." He was sure it was someone else's fault, not Tina's.
"Sure, do you have something to write with." He checked his pockets. He found a pen in his wallet. Marie wrote it down on a napkin. Then the food was ready.
"Food's ready." Jarod stood up.
"I'll get it." He walked over and got it. When they are done eating, Jarod ordered more.
"Hey, Frier, could you have two of those ready, say 5:00?"
"Sure, they'll be waiting."
× × ×
Jarod sat at his computer, typing, eating Kinder Eggs, mixing up chemicals, eating Pez and mixing chemicals.
× × ×
Miss Parker walked into the room and slammed the door, startling Broots who was pouring over the papers on the desk.
"So Brootsie, what's it mean?" she asked.
"Um, uh, I'm not quite sure, I mean, I think I know, but this code is very complex. I think." he stuttered, as he always did when Miss Parker upset him.
"You think?" she said, "Oh my God, Sydney, Broots thinks! Just cut to the chase. *Do* you know what Jarod's song and dance is this time?" she lit a cigarette.
"Not yet." he said nervously "I should know within the next few days."
"I have and idea." Sydney said, hoping to distract the ever aggressive Miss Parker.
"Shoot." said Broots. Miss Parker's eye brows shot up as she exhaled her smoke.
"Shoot?" she imitated sarcastically.
"Yeah, you know," he said, looking from Miss Parker, then to Sydney for support and then back to Miss Parker, "I was trying to be cool, you know, 'shoot'."
"Do us all a favor Broots," she snubbed her cigarette "don't."
"All right Miss Parker, no need to get aggressive about it." he said, and went back to the papers.
"Broots," said Sydney, rubbing his chin thought fully, "what would happen if you entered it all into a graphics program."
"Graphics program. Sydney, that just might work. The numbers. There, those numbers are from 1 to 256. 256 colors! And the other numbers, oh I see now! Jarod's a genius!" he was quickly assembling the equipment he would need.
"You think?" Miss Parker said, but he wasn't even listening.
"Just give me a few hours. If I OCR it into the computer, it could save time and error. I think it might work." he plugged in the scanner.
"What are you waiting for?" she said, suddenly more interested and business like. After all, the package *was* addressed to her. Broots booted up the software and the scanner. He started scanning and importing the data into the graphics program. An image formed, page by page. It is half Angelo and half Mr. Lyle. The caption at the bottom says "Which one is your brother? Igor knows the secret!".
"More of Jarod's games." said Sydney rhetorically.
"I don't think this is a game," said Broots "I think he's trying to tell us something."
"Oh, give the man a brand new car!" Miss Parker said, exasperated. The phone rang. Broots hit the speaker phone button.
"Yes?" he said.
"Broots. Is Sydney there?" asked Jarod.
"I'm here Jarod." he verified.
"And Miss Parker?"
"Good guess, Wonder Boy." she snapped.
"So, Miss Parker, figured it out yet?" he tormented.
"No, but I don't suppose you'll tell me." she said, sweetening he voice slightly.
"No, but the secret is out there, Miss Parker. The Truth is Out There." he answered quite seriously.
"X-Files?" queried Sydney.
"Debera loved it." he explained "She enjoyed Mulder. I for one, liked the Sci-fi factor."
"And don't forget about that Gillian Anderson." Miss Parker chided him.
"Point taken." he said.
"Was there more to this mystery than just a picture?" asked Broots.
"Too puzzling, isn't it Broots?" Jarod said sardonically "Yes and no. It's up to you three now. You have to find out more. You have the data access codes, Broots. Happy hunting." He hung up and left the three of them baffled.
"I don't have the access codes." said an absolutely flabbergasted Broots.
"Two puzzles, he said there are two puzzles." remarked Sydney.
"That means that the access codes are in the information we have. We just have to figure it out." said Miss Parker
× × ×
"Rose, I'm home." called Jarod as he entered the door.
Rose bounded into the hallway, signing at an amazing speed.
"Jarod, Jarod, I want to try to speak again."
"Whoa! Hold on just let me get my coat off." he laughed.
"I'll be in the living room and relaxed." she signed as she tried to be a little less excited.
"Okay." she signed, her eyes closed. Jarod walked over and sat across from her.
"Just relax, Rose. Just relax. Listen to my voice." she went into a trance. "You can speak. You are Rose. You can speak. It's all just a block put by Mr. Raines. See the block dissolve. It's going away. It's gone. You can speak. When you awaken, you will be able to speak. Now wake up."
"Jarod?" she said tentatively.
"Yes?" he said, his face lit with a huge, happy smile.
"I can talk! I can! Thank you Jarod!" she jumped up and gave him a big hug
"Oh my God, thank you Jarod!!!!!!" She was crying with joy. Jarod was very happy for her.
"Let's eat." he said "I brought home fish and chips."
× × ×
At dinner Jarod said, "You know Rose, your story reminds me of a fairy tale. You know, the Little Mermaid."
"Are you the Prince?" she teased.
"Maybe," he teased back "but you're Ariel."
"I don't look like her." she retorted. It felt so good to be able to talk again!
"We can fix that. You know, if you want to start a new life, maybe you should. Maybe we should cut your hair and dye it, just until you can get out of the State." he said as he cut his fish and dipped it in ketchup.
"Can you do that?" she asked, thrilled.
"Listen, you come by the Salon tomorrow, we'll get you fixed up." he said
"Thank you Jarod. You saved my life, relatively, I don't know how I can ever repay you!" She was so happy!
"You don't have to. I said it was my quest to help people in need." he shrugged modestly.
"Well, your pretty darn good at it." she smiled at him
"Thanks. But now I have another quest to attend to." He dialed the phone.
"Hello. Marie, it's Jarod? Do you think you could persuade the two Superstars that we talked about to come to the Salon, say 2 PM tomorrow? Book appointments for them both. Great. See you tomorrow. Oh, could you schedule and appointment for Ariel Mere for me tomorrow, first thing? Thanks."
× × ×
"Find any thing Broots?" Miss Parker asked
"A little." he answered
"We have proof that your bother is most likely Mr. Lyle." Sydney told her
"Great!" she said sarcastically "I have a psychotic killer/ maniac for a brother! Where did you get the codes?"
"That," Broots said in awe "well that's a work of art. See Jarod had them hidden as the line borders. I tell you, that mans a genius."
"How else did he get out of this hell hole." she snarled.
"We should contact Jarod. He wanted to know about this." He picked up the phone, but Miss Parker stopped him.
"Not yet." she said scrupulously, "He wants answers about himself, not anything else. Why don't we give him that."
"And how exactly do you propose to do that." he asked.
"We have the codes, why don't we go into Mr. Raines' private files?" she remarked pointedly.
"She has a point." said Broots, reluctantly.
"Do it." said Sydney.
× × ×
Jarod trimmed and tinted Rose's hair, and put a little makeup on her. When she was all done, she had red hair with blue eyes. She loked quite nice and very like Ariel.
"There you go, completely transformed." he said, obviously please.
"Thank you Jarod. I'll go home now, see you there." she said.
"Bye." he said. Marie came in.
"Jarod, this is Tina, the one with the daughter and Rachael, the Superstar that got the bald spot. Jenn, she's you suspect is seated in the place you mentioned." She indicated the two woman with a finger "Tina, Rachael, this is Jarod." Jarod nodded at them.
"If you would come with me, I think I can get your money back." he said
"Marie said you could." said Tina in a British accent, "That would be so great." Jarod went over too the Superstar, the evil one, named Jenn. He bleached her long black hair a bright white.
"What did you do to my hair?" she squawked "Change it back right now!"
"No, I don't think I can do that," he said "I spent a long time mixing up a chemical formula to do that, besides this is a little pay-back for what you did to Rachael and Tina and her daughter, Rene."
"What the hell are you on about?" she said
"You put extra dye in Rachael's hair dye to ruin her career, just so you could make more money. But in the process, you forced a single mother out of her job with a little girl to pay for. Didn't you?" he said, his voice raising with each accusation.
"No!? What are you talking about?" she spat.
"So you like what I did to your hair? You like it white? I can leave it that way, if you like, until it grows back in, or maybe I could expose this, make you lose your job?" he shot back.
"You can't do that? You have no proof!" she exclaimed.
"You see, I do, I have the finger prints from the bottle of hair dye." he smiled.
"What? That's not possible? I wore gloves..." she trailed off as she realized her mistake.
"So you did do it." he said, now the hard part was over.
"Yes! I did, now will you please fix my hair?" she was almost crying.
"Wash it once or twice, it's not permanent. Tina, Rachael, did you hear that?" he turned to the two woman who had been listening the whole time.
"You bet!" said Tina.
"Yes, and I should have known." said Rachael "Lucky for me bald spots caught on as a fad."
× × ×
When Jarod came back from work, there was a note from Rose:
Dear Jarod,
I have to go. I'm sorry, but I need to go and start my life again. Thank you for giving me my voice back, and the chance to start over. Jarod smiled. I will remember you...
Rose
There was a CD cover sitting there titled "Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff" he went over and turned on the CD player. As he stood, staring out the window at the scene below, the song brought many images and memories to his mind, as if it was a movie. Tears welled up in his eyes.
The song said:
"I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
Remember the good times that we had.
We let them slip away from us when things got bad.
Clearly I first saw you, smiling in the sun.
When I feel your warmth upon me, I want to be the one. "
He could see how she must have seen him, standing in the forest clearing, the sun shining down on his in a shaft of light that had sneaked through the trees.
"I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
I‘ m so tired I can't sleep.
Standing edge of something much too deep.
It's funny, how I feel so much but cannot say a word.
We are screaming inside oh but we can't be heard."
He saw her look down into the deep water below and then she dived in, unable to speak, and screaming inside.
"I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
So afraid to love you, and more afraid to lose.
Clinging to a past that doesn't let past let me choose.
Once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night.
You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life."
An image from his distant past, almost lost but it came flickering back, a single rose on a doily, just sitting there as the light brightened on it.
"And I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
I will remember you. Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories.
Weep not for the memories."
Then he saw it as it might have been, if she had stayed, them playing on the swings, laughing and having fun. Then it faded to black...
THE END
