Ascension Part IV: The Face Off

 

Myra turned back and faced the soldier. 

 The soldier did not move either.

“Sweetie, this is really scaring me. Would you come back inside?” Wyatt continued.

Myra recognized Wyatt’s act and refused to acknowledge it. The soldier to the left of her opponent spoke, “Sir. Sir? We’ve been called back to base.”

Her opponent turned away from her, “The area hasn’t been swept completely.” He countered.

“We are to load up what we have and return to base. There’s been a change in plans.”

Myra watched as the soldier’s jaw tensed. He turned to face her as he lowered his weapon. “It looks like we’re done here. For now.” The soldier turned to Wyatt. “We’ll be doing regular sweeps of beaches and outlying areas. It would be best if anyone on premises stayed within its gates.

Wyatt nodded. “We’ll be sure to do that. Thank you.”

The soldier looked at Myra, “Ma’am.”

“Good-bye.” Myra stood watching as they boarded the helicopter and disappeared from sight.

Wyatt’s phone began vibrating with a string of messages. “They called the studios. Meeting in two.”

Two faces were on screen waiting when Wyatt flipped on the living room display. No one said hello or asked if they were alright before the questions started. “Not following rules. Arguing with military personnel, refusing to comply with orders? What the hell is going on there?”

Myra looked at Wyatt. “Did I break my contract?”

“Technically, no.”

“The bitch argued with a commanding officer of the United States military! Damn addle brained bimbo!”

“One that happened to be standing on my beach.” Myra countered. She found herself in her second confrontation of the day. Or was it the third?

“While he was protecting you!”

“That’s funny because what I saw was at least a dozen soldiers surrounding a wounded man while holding semi-automatic weapons!”

“A half dozen.” Wyatt said.

Myra looked at Wyatt.

“It was only a half dozen.” He repeated.

“That is still six to one. He was unarmed, wounded, and there were no bulges under his clothes indicating he had anything hidden on his person.”

“They were doing their jobs!” The hothead continued.

“It was overkill.” She countered.

“Bill.” Another one of the suits said, “Let me try.”

Bill, the hothead nodded.

“You are safely quarantined at home with every comfort imaginable, one of the only actors still working during this mess and making millions of dollars for every broadcast. What else can you possibly want?”

“I’m not sure we’ve met sir. What is your name?” Myra asked.

“Mike. I’m Mike Bradley.”

“Nice to meet you Mike. She said looking at him. “The first thing you need to know about me is I didn’t do this for the money. I was told there was a public health crisis, one that spanned the globe, the studios and the U.S. government decided the world would need something to focus on during this whole mess. Something that might give everyone a sense of normalcy. A bit of hope. I didn’t like all these restrictions and rules but I trust Wyatt. I decided to trust him a little bit more. I signed on because I believed I was helping people.

“Of course Myra.” Mike agreed. “That’s always been the goal. Helping others.”

All three, even the hothead, nodded solemnly.

“We can’t have you obstructing military personnel.” Bill shouted.

“They were trespassing.” Myra pointed out.

“The military personnel you encountered...” Mike said.

Wyatt’s phone, sitting on the coffee table in front of her began beeping, all of Mike’s comments faded into the background as she spied the news headlines popping up.

“We all want to help citizens around the globe Myra.”

She scooped up the phone and read the hottest one before Wyatt could stop her. “That’s good to hear because your biggest box office draw has just been picked up at a sex house in Amsterdam. It seems participating in orgies during a global health crisis is not only illegal but also creates a major health risk to the public. He’s been arrested.” Myra holds up Wyatt’s phone. “I know I’m just an addle brained bimbo but I’m thinking this might be a golden opportunity for you to help your fellow man.”

Bill turned red from the neck up but said nothing.

“Looking at Wyatt’s phone is breaking the rules Myra. Two million will be deducted from Thursday’s wages.” Mike said calmly. He turned to Wyatt. “Wyatt, keep your phone put away.”

The screen went blank.

Wyatt raised the remote, turning off the monitor. “What is going on with you?” He asked.

Myra looked at Wyatt. She did not utter a single word.

“No response? You have been following the terms of your contract to the letter for months and now all of the sudden you go Dirty Harry on me?”

She sighed. "Yes, I have been following the terms of my contract all of these months, I haven’t been happy with this for quite some time. I thought a caring, sensitive person like you would have noticed by now. Also, what happened today could hardly be construed as going Dirty Harry. Dirty Harry had guns. I have not fired a single shot.”

He sat down. “It may not have been a Dirty Harry moment for the rest of the word but for you that was some major ass kicking.”

“It was unusual for me.” Myra agreed. “Wyatt, this isn’t working for me, being in the dark when so much is happening out there. It’s not working for me, at all.”

Wyatt looked into Myra’s eyes. “How long have I been your assistant?”

“Seven years.”

“How long have we been besties?”

“Six years, eight months and thirty days.”

“I know everything. I know everything that’s been going on this entire time, trust me when I tell you this. You don’t want to know what’s happening.”

Ascension Part III: Unexpected Visitors

 

It looked like today was not going to be that day. By the time the alarm on Myra’s phone went off an hour later she had seen nothing of interest. Nothing of disinterest either. No delivery trucks, no mailman. She looked at her phone to check the date. It was not a Sunday. It was Tuesday but there was no mail. That had to be an important detail but until Myra had more information she was not sure what it meant. She left the balcony and her beloved telescope resting against the outside wall of the house. She returned inside undetected.

As she stood in the hallway outside her office she listened for signs of activity from the living room. All was quiet. It appeared Wyatt was going to be occupied a bit longer.

She went to her room and tidied herself up. Returning to her office, she sat down to begin writing the letter she had mentioned to Wyatt earlier.

Myra had managed the words:

Dear Sara,

Hello. How have you been doing? It’s been ages since your last letter

when her phone beeped with a text notification.

Memo: Changes to program schedule.

Changes to the program schedule are pending. A meeting is requested today at 4 pm with Wyatt regarding this matter. Click here to accept.

Myra clicked on “Accept” and returned to her letter without giving any of it much thought until her phone beeped a second time.

Congratulations My Sweet Toilet Repair 101 has been replaced. We’re going back into the kitchen for Thursday’s broadcast. Tell you more at 4. Smooches. Wy.

Myra continued to struggle through her letter, not sharing much about her own life, as stipulated in her contract, she focused on inquiring about how Sara was faring and how Sara’s children were. Myra’s questions focusing on the specifics of their lives at home. She asked nothing pertaining to their lives in the outside world. It was becoming difficult to find new ways to recycle the same tired questions. Eventually she gave up and contemplated a nap. She opted to do some cleaning instead, starting with the abandoned mess from breakfast. After the kitchen was in order Myra cleaned the floors and tackled the bathrooms.

Her options might be limited but they had not disappeared entirely. If things did not pick up in Hollywood after the pandemic perhaps she’d simplify things. She’d spent a lot of time during the last few months dreaming about selling her properties. All of them. She’d find a modest home in Europe or New Zealand? No. Not New Zealand it was too far removed from the rest of the world. Wyatt would never go with her. Canada? Canada might be an option.

A modest home, a dependable car, work that she loved, and a tidy savings to keep everything going looked very appealing at the moment. She might even have time for a pet. She’s always enjoyed spending time with her Aunt Mimi’s cat, Boudreaux, a gray and brown striped Tom that was not allowed inside. He hated everyone. Everyone except Myra, Aunt Mimi, eventually he even warmed up to Sara. He had become a dear companion after they lost Aunt Mimi. She didn’t know what she would have done without him when Mom and Dad began fighting all the time. Then they divorced. The divorce was the worst. She was fairly sure there were law schools that referred to the Collins divorce in their curriculum. It was one for the record books. Boudreaux had always been there for her and Sara on the worst days.

By three pm things had grown quiet. There was a pandemic and most of her neighbors had opted to wait it out in their European or tropical vacation hideaways making things quiet to begin with.

This was a different kind of quiet. It reminded Myra of the change in atmosphere before a big thunderstorm or the tension she sensed when coming home from school after Mom and Dad had one of their fights. She remembered the sick feeling she would get while walking through the house slowly, not knowing if she would find busted windows, broken knick knacks and someone no longer living in the house or just a disheveled living room, both parents in their separate corners doing their own thing and working very hard to pretend that nothing was wrong.

Myra stopped dusting. Turning, she walked across the living room and through the open glass doors to her patio not stopping until she reached the gate to her estate’s grounds. She looked at the sky, the beach, and studied the ocean. She saw something moving. A figure was stumbling across the beach. It appeared from just beyond the pool house and across the sand heading south. He or she was having trouble moving quickly.

That was when she heard the helicopter. Myra watched as it stopped further up the beach. It hovered low, allowing time for several soldiers to drop easily from its cabin to the sand below. They drew their weapons and moved quickly towards the struggling figure.

Was it a he or a she? Myra looked more closely. He. The figure was a man. When he spotted the soldiers he turned back in the other direction only to find his way blocked by a second group of soldiers. They walked forward slowly, weapons drawn.

Myra watched as the soldiers closed in on the wounded man until a face appeared in front of her.

“Ma’am. Ma’am. You need to go inside.”

Myra looked at the rest of the man blocking her vision. His helmet, the camo fatigues, the gun he was holding. Two identical soldiers stood with him, one on each side. “What?” she asked.

“Ma’am this is government business. You need to go inside.”

At that moment Myra felt tired. Tired of her contract, of being monitored, tired of being made to feel like an incapable child in her own home; mostly she was tired of being told what to do. She managed to say, “Government business that is taking place on my private property,” before Wyatt was standing at her side.

“These men are here to protect us.” Wyatt said cheerfully. “Let’s go in the house.”

“If he’s here to protect us then why is he pointing a semi-automatic weapon at me?” she asked without pulling her eyes away from the soldier’s.

“I’m sure he’ll lower it when we go into the house.”

“I’ll go into the house after he lowers it.”

Myra heard a strange sound in her ear and looked at Wyatt, his face was pale, his green eyes wide.

“Please Myra.” Wyatt whispered. “Just, come inside the house.”