Hedge Cutters

96.

Her motivation is being tested with the margin for error - of any kind - at less than zero. This is a demonstration of her deepest, her most sacred and truest understanding of the curriculum. The subject being that of meaning. It is basic morality 101; You have two choices on every question, with the first one being are you a good person or nasty one? Are you more interested in being bitter or getting better? Is there such a thing as right and wrong? Is peace, happiness and prosperity of higher value than material possessions and the accumulation of cash? Watching as an impartial witness, the choice she faces, and we will know in a matter of moments the grade earns in real time, is the classic one of emotion, or what they call in this glitzy town, the love card. Will her former love of anarchy and her former lover, now waiting in a thousand dollar a day suite, overcome her recent ‘enlightenment’? Will she hold on eighteen, or bust in the emotional rush of hitting a three?

The note was a room number. The room number has a security password, the password a key. 

One door opens as another slams shut.

Using our prearranged contact at the executive level of hotel management to secure the room next door to the one currently being occupied by a business group known as MBI, Inc. where a ten-second Google search turns no heads, Drysdale and I scramble to set up. 

Computers open, parabolic microphones taped to walls, thermo-dynamic heat sensors calibrated. 

On the other side of the well-insulated walls four people stand talking. Violet and a security thug are doing a shakedown pat as Cy and Mr Big observe. Once completed, Cyrus moves to embrace her, adding a “Who did your hair?” comment to a clumsy bear-hug.

Vi cordially nods hello to Mr Big and responds with “Needed an alias while on the lamb, best I could do in a cheap motel room and a pair of hedge cutters.” They all laugh at her bravado.

Mr Big finally joins the conversation, inviting the two to join him in the living room and asking Mr. Muscles to grab a pitcher of tea and a platter of egg-salad sandwiches. 

The three make their way to the plush entertainment area and settle in. Cyrus has yet to remove his leer as he observes Violet gracefully and confidently position herself in the center of a sunken circular couch. Mr Big is to her right and Cyrus, seating himself as the runt of the litter, to her left. 

As if on cue the tea arrives along with a silver platter of finger sandwiches, all sans crust. Mr. Muscles pours three glasses of the icy beverage, places the pitcher on the table and looks to Mr Big for any additional instructions. None provided, he turns to leave and closes a privacy door on his exit, leaving the three on the couch now toasting to their good fortune. 

Toast completed he turns to Vi and says, “So tell us what happened.”