Jack Kursed (10 page)

Tiffany handed Jack her
camera. He smiled when he glanced at the last picture taken. She
was obviously moving when she took the shot. Everything was blurred
and smeared. It certainly looked like an alley, but he only saw a
mass of blue. There was something that might have been a person,
but it was too hard to tell.

"This might be the most worthless
picture I've even seen," he said, handing the camera
back.

She pouted and shoved the camera in
her pack.

"It was a monster."

"Of course it was. Where
are your parents?"

"My mom's in heaven. My dad left. I'm
running away from my foster home."

"Brilliant move. Look, stick with me.
I'll take you somewhere safe."

"Do you know where the bus station
is?"

"Forget the bus station.
You don't have any money."

Jack looked down at the
child as she walked by his side. He wasn't a people person, and
children were especially near the bottom of his list. But it was
hard not to smile at Tiffany. The kid was definitely amusing. She
could barely keep her pack on her shoulders, but kept up with his
stride. Her eyes darted from side to side, probably looking for her
monster. She hesitated as they neared a few alleys, and Jack had to
stop and coax the girl into moving again.

"Relax, kid," he said as
they approached another alley. "There's nothing to be scared of.
You saw me beat up those guys?"

Tiffany laughed. "Yeah. That was
cool."

"Well, I'd do the same thing to any
monster. Come on, let's go. I don't have all night."

She moved in front of the
alley and held out her hand. Jack winced and refused to take it. He
was capable of many things. Holding a child's hand wasn't one of
them.

They walked a few more
blocks in silence until they arrived at the police station. Tiffany
stiffened when she recognized the building and took a step back.
Jack caught her by the arm.

"Where do you think you're
going?"

"I don't want to go in
there."

"There's nothing but cops
in there. And maybe a murderer or rapist, but they're locked up.
You'll be safe, and they can call your foster parents."

"I don't want to go to back to Miss
Simmons."

"Well, where else are you gonna go?
Look, kid-"

"My name
isn't
kid
," she
said, putting her hands on her hips. "It's
Tiffany."

Jack's lip almost curled
into a smile. She brushed her long hair out of her face again and
looked up at him with her blue eyes. Her jaw stuck out, her cheeks
turning red. Most children annoyed him. She had a strength, a
defiance, that was almost adorable. She had an attitude.

Just like him.

"Okay, Tiffany. Off we go, before I
change my mind, and just walk home."

Tiffany scowled and folded
her arms across her chest, but she followed Jack across the street
into the police station. The lobby was empty, due to the late hour.
A bored-looking woman sat behind a counter, examining her
fingernails. She perked up when Jack and Tiffany
approached.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah. I found this kid...Tiffany, on
the street."

Tiffany stared at the
receptionist and grabbed the edge of the desk.

"I saw a monster," she
said.

Jack gave Tiffany a playful punch in
the shoulder.

"Well, good luck," he said, and turned
to walk away.

"Sir!" the receptionist shouted. "You
can't just leave."

"I can't? Am I under
arrest?"

"No, but you have to fill
out a report. Name, address, that sort of thing."

"Let me see if I understand. I do a
good deed, and my reward is paperwork?"

The woman blushed, but
still pushed a form across the counter. Jack shook his head and
took the pen from her. The receptionist smiled at Tiffany and
directed her to sit in a chair in the lobby, telling her an officer
would be with her soon.

Jack finished the form,
pushed it across the desk, and walked across the lobby. He gave
Tiffany one more wave. The little child waved back, hugging her
pack to her chest and swinging her legs. She took random pictures
with her camera.

He had the door open and
one foot outside when he stopped. He wasn't sure why. Turning his
head, he stared at Tiffany. Something about the scene looked wrong,
a girl sitting in a police station all by herself.

"You're just gonna make her sit there?
You don't have a TV room or something? Maybe some Legos?" he
called.

The receptionist flashed him an angry
glare.

"I said someone would be
with her shortly."

Jack reentered the lobby and sat next
to Tiffany. She looked up at him and smiled. He laughed when he
noticed she had a tooth missing.

"You said you were
leaving."

"Eh, well. Truth is...I got nothing
better to do. I get bored sometimes."

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I don't sleep."

Tiffany giggled. "Everybody
sleeps."

"Not me."

"Really? That would be so cool. You
could run around, do whatever you want, and not get
tired."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah. It's so
cool."

"If I couldn’t sleep, I
would fight crime, like a comic book. I would run around and beat
people up, like you did. No monsters would bother me."

"I have to admit,
the
beating people up
part is cool."

She scooted off the chair. "Watch how
high I can kick."

He shook his head as she
demonstrated her impressive kicking skills, nearly falling several
times in the process.

Ten minutes passed, and
not a single police officer showed up. A detective arrived through
the front door with a nice shirt and tie, but he simply flirted
with the receptionist before disappearing into the station. Jack
wasn’t sure how this was supposed to work, but was getting
impatient. He rose to his feet.

"We’ll be at the diner
across the street. Tell Officer Friendly when he decides to finish
his doughnut."

Jack motioned for Tiffany and they
crossed the lobby. The receptionist stood at her desk and
shouted.

"Sir! Please. Uh, come
back. You can’t leave yet-"

He paid her no mind as
they left the station. They crossed the street and headed toward
the mostly-deserted diner.

"Are you gonna get in trouble?"
Tiffany asked.

"Nope."

"Am I? That lady seemed
mad."

"You ran away from home,
Tiffany. I think you’re already in trouble."

The girl hung her head low.

There were only three
other customers in the diner, so they were allowed to seat
themselves. Jack found a booth in the rear corner. The back was
where he always tried to go. He wanted to keep his eye on
everything.

He wouldn’t die from not
eating, but he loved food, and his stomach was
grumbling.

"I could go for some pancakes," he
said. "You hungry?"

Tiffany shrugged, not bothering to
open the menu in front of her.

"I don’t have any
money."

"I didn’t ask if you had
any money. I asked if you were hungry."

She smiled and nodded
shyly.

"Okay, then," he said.
"Pick what you want."

The only waitress in the place took
their orders. Jack ordered pancakes, eggs, and sausage. He laughed
when Tiffany ordered the exact same thing.

Tiffany was quiet at first
as they ate, which Jack enjoyed. Then she opened up, and wouldn’t
stop talking. She talked about the latest Harry Potter movie she
saw, a coloring book she was working on, how much she hated her
foster-sister Carrie.

At first, Jack was annoyed
at her chatter, but gradually found himself laughing at the girl’s
enthusiasm. She was in mid-sentence when a plain-clothes policeman
stood over Tiffany and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hello, Tiffany," he said.
"It’s been a while."

Tiffany looked over her
shoulder and frowned before hanging her head.

"Hi, Officer Thomas."

Jack drank some orange juice before
speaking. "You two know each other?"

"Oh yeah," Thomas said. "I
think it’s been about six months now. Tiffany runs away all the
time. She’s got quite an imagination on her, don’t you?"

"No I don’t."

Officer Thomas scooted in the booth
next to Tiffany. He declined an order from the waitress, but gave
her a long, appreciative look as she walked away.

"Let me guess," he said,
looking back to Tiffany. "Miss Simmons is abusing you
again?"

"She’s just mean," she
said. "Tonight she gave discipline to Sara and took away her
bedroom. Then I saw a monster in the alley."

"Of course you did,
Tiffany. Listen, you need to stop running away. You’re really lucky
you have Miss Simmons. Some children don’t have anyone."

Tiffany said nothing. She took another
bite of her pancakes.

"Officer Derek Thomas,"
Thomas said, extending his hand over the table to Jack. "You’re
Jack Kursed?"

"I don’t shake
hands. And it’s
Kur-said.
"

"Ah. You know, you really
shouldn’t have left the station."

"Wish I could say I cared.
But you left a child in your lobby. No food, nothing to drink, no
reassurance. I figured I’d do your job for you."

"I was...in the bathroom."

"Good for you."

"Officer Thomas," Tiffany
said. "Some guys were picking on me. Mister Jack beat them all
up."

Jack nearly choked on his
toast.

"Tiffany, now, that’s just
not true," he said, looking at Thomas. "Officer, I would never do
such a thing. I hate violence."

Thomas waved his hand
dismissively.

"Like I said, she’s got an
imagination. Anyway, I called Miss Simmons. She’s quite
upset."

"Tiffany, is Miss Simmons pretty?"
Jack asked.

"She’s the ugliest woman
in the world."

He laughed. Thomas gave
Tiffany a disapproving look.

"Hey, now, that’s just not
nice. Miss Simmons takes care of you."

Jack looked up as a woman
in her fifties walked in the diner. She had an angry scowl on her
face. After searching the diner for a moment she spotted the back
of Tiffany’s head. Then her expression changed. The scowl went away
and a look of mock concern crossed her face.

"Oh, Tiffany!"

He watched the young girl
as Miss Simmons approached. Her entire body froze, her forkful of
eggs hovering in mid-air. Her hands trembled. She didn’t move her
head, but shifted her eyes to the aisle to look for Miss
Simmons.

The girl was terrified.

"Officer Thomas," Miss
Simmons said. "Is she okay? Tiffany, what happened? I’ve been so
worried, searching everywhere for you."

Jack burst out laughing.
Miss Simmons shot him an angry glare.

"May I ask what is so
funny?"

"Just your performance.
I’m sorry, but don’t be surprised if the Academy passes over you
this year."

Her jaw dropped. Her
outrage mixed with her attempt at concern for Tiffany, making her
face look strange. Tiffany was right. Miss Simmons could easily
pass for the ugliest woman in the world.

"How dare you!" she said.

Jack looked at Thomas,
wondering why he was silent. The policeman was once again staring
at the waitress's ass as she leaned over the counter to talk to a
cook.

"Tiffany, let's go. We're
leaving."

Jack's eyes met with Tiffany's as she
set down her fork. He had been looking into people's eyes for two
centuries. He knew fear when he saw it.

"Yes, Miss
Simmons."

"Oh!" Thomas said, finally turning his
head. "Andrea. This is Jack. He's the one who found Tiffany roaming
the streets."

"I wasn't roaming the streets,"
Tiffany said quietly.

"We've got some good stuff this time.
Monsters, thugs on the street."

"She's been watching too
many movies," Andrea Simmons said, not taking an eye off Jack. "I
guess I should thank you, even if your manners are
horrible."

"Fuck you. How's that for
manners?"

Tiffany tried to stifle a
laugh, but was unsuccessful. She quickly drank a sip of orange
juice. Miss Simmons shot her foster-child an icy glance. She took a
step forward, rage spreading across her face. Jack had no doubt her
foster-children had seen that look many times.