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he'd expected to.
Nevertheless, he was a long way yet from defeat. Punching up last night's
newssheet, he turned to the employment section. Most of the jobs being offered
were level-ten laborer types, but there was a fair sprinkling of the more
professional sort that he was looking for. Settling himself comfortably in
front of the plate, he picked up the pad and stylus always kept by the phone
and began to make notes.
His final list of prospects covered nearly two pages, and he spent most of the
rest of the afternoon making phone calls. It was a sobering and frustrating
experience; and in the end he found himself with only two interviews, both for
the following morning.
By then it was nearly dinner time. Stuffing the pages of notes into a pocket,
he headed for the kitchen to offer his mother a hand with the cooking.
Irena smiled at him as he entered. "Any luck with the job hunt?" she asked.
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"A little," he told her. She had arrived home some hours earlier and had
already heard a capsule summary of his morning with the road crew. "I've got
two interviews tomorrow Svetlanov
Electronics and Outworld Mining. And I'm lucky to get even that many."
She patted his arm. "You'll find something. Don't worry." A sound outside made
her glance out the window. "Your father and Jame are home. Oh, and there's
someone with them."
Jonny looked out. A second car had pulled to the curb behind Pearce and Jame.
As he watched, a tall, somewhat paunchy man got out and joined the other two
in walking toward the house. "He looks familiar, Momer, but I can't place
him."
"That's Teague Stillman, the mayor," she identified him, sounding surprised.
"I wonder why he's here." Whipping off her apron, she dried her hands and
hurried into the living room. Jonny followed
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Cobra more slowly, unconsciously taking up a back-up position across the
living room from the front door.
The door opened just as Irena reached it. "Hi, Honey," Pearce greeted his wife
as the three men entered. "Teague stopped by the shop just as we were closing
up and I invited him to come over for a few minutes."
"How nice," Irena said in her best hostess voice. "It's been a long time since
we've seen you, Teague.
How is Sharene?"
"She's fine, Irena," Stillman said, "although she says she doesn't see me
enough these days, either.
Actually, I just stopped by to see if Jonny was home from work yet."
"Yes, I am," Jonny said, coming forward. "Congratulations on winning your
election last year, Mr.
Stillman. I'm afraid I didn't make it to the polls."
Stillman laughed and reached out his hand to grasp Jonny's briefly. He seemed
relaxed and friendly... and yet, right around the eyes, Jonny could see a
touch of the caution that he'd seen in the road workers. "I'd have sent you an
absentee ballot if I'd known exactly where you were," the mayor joked.
"Welcome home, Jonny."
"Thank you, sir."
"Shall we sit down?" Irena suggested.
They moved into the living room proper, Stillman and the Moreau parents
exchanging small talk all the while. Jame had yet to say a word, Jonny noted,
and the younger boy took a seat in a corner, away from the others.
"The reason I wanted to talk to you, Jonny," Stillman said when they were all
settled, "was that the city council and I would like to have a sort of
'welcome home' ceremony for you in the park next week. Nothing too
spectacular, really; just a short parade through town, followed by a couple of
speeches you don't have to make one if you don't want to and then some
fireworks and perhaps a torchlight procession. What do you think?"
Jonny hesitated, but there was no way to say this diplomatically. "Thanks, but
I really don't want you to do that."
Pearce's proud smile vanished. "What do you mean, Jonny? Why not?"
"Because I don't want to get up in front of a whole bunch of people and get
cheered at. It's embarrassing and well, it's embarrassing. I don't want any
fuss made over me."
"Jonny, the town wants to honor you for what you did," Stillman said
soothingly, as if afraid Jonny was becoming angry.
That thought was irritating. "The greatest honor it could give me would be to
stop treating me like a freak," he retorted.
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Cobra
"Son " Pearce began warningly.
"Dader, if Jonny doesn't want any official hoopla, it seems to me the subject
is closed," Jame spoke up unexpectedly from his corner. "Unless you all plan
to chain him to the speakers' platform."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Then Stillman shifted in his
seat. "Well, if Jonny doesn't want this, there's no reason to discuss it
further." He stood up, the others quickly following suit. "I really ought to
get home now."
"Give Sharene our best," Irena said.
"I will," Stillman nodded. "We'll have to try and get together soon. Good-bye,
all; and once more, welcome home, Jonny."
"I'll walk you to your car," Pearce said, clearly angry but trying to hide it.
The two men left. Irena looked questioningly at Jonny, but all she said before
disappearing back into the kitchen was, "You boys wash up and call Gwen from
her room; dinner will be ready soon."
"You okay?" Jame asked softly when his mother had gone.
"Yeah. Thanks for backing me up." Jonny shook his head. "They don't
understand."
"I'm not sure I do, either. Is it because of what I said about people being
afraid of you?"
"That has nothing to do with it. The people of Adirondack were afraid of us,
too, some of them. But even so " Jonny sighed. "Look. Horizon is all the way
across the Dominion from where the war was fought. You weren't within fifty
light-years of a Troft even at their deepest penetration. How can
I accept the praise of people who have no idea what they're cheering for? It'd
just be going through the motions." He turned his head to stare out the
window. "Adirondack held a big victory celebration after the Trofts finally
pulled out. There was nothing of duty or obligation about it when the people
cheered, you could tell they knew why they were doing so. And they also knew
who they were there to honor. Not those of us who were on the stage, but those
who weren't. Instead of a torchlight procession, they sang a requiem." He
turned back to face Jame. "How could I watch Cedar Lake's fireworks after
that?"
Jame touched his brother's arm and nodded silently. "I'll go call Gwen," he
said a moment later.
Pearce came back into the house. He said nothing, but flashed Jonny a
disappointed look before disappearing into the kitchen. Sighing, Jonny went to
wash his hands.
Dinner was very quiet that evening.
The interviews the next morning were complete washouts, with the two
prospective employers
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Cobra clearly seeing him just out of politeness. Gritting his teeth, Jonny
returned home and called up the newssheet once again. He lowered his sights
somewhat this time, and his new list came out to be three and a half pages
long. Doggedly, he began making the calls.
By the time Jame came to bring him to dinner he had exhausted all the numbers
on the list. "Not even any interviews this time," he told Jame disgustedly as
they walked into the dining room where the others were waiting. "News really
does travel in this town, doesn't it?"
"Come on, Jonny, there has to be someone around who doesn't care that you're
an ex-Cobra," Jame said.
"Perhaps you should lower your standards a bit," Pearce suggested. "Working as
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a laborer wouldn't hurt you any."
"Or maybe you could be a patroller," Gwen spoke up. "That would be neat." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]