Chapter 50: Crime and Righteousness.

Taking what few dollars she had left, Rachel somehow makes it to the hospital cafeteria and orders a small sandwich with a soda to eat as she dries off. Though there is a twenty minute time limit where one could eat, it is not imposed.

A tall thin but muscular grey wolf in a lab coat walks up to the second chair of Rachel’s Table. “Excuse me, is this chair taken?”, he asks.

She looks up at him for a moment, seeing that he was carrying his lunch tray and the cafeteria was mostly full. If there was an empty table, she could not see it from her vantage point. “No, its not taken.”, she finally says to him.

He sits down after putting his tray and in Pad on the table. She tries to ignore him as she eats her tiny meal. He tries to make conversation.

“What is a nice girl like you doing here?”, the wolf in the lab coat asks.

She glances up at him from looking down to pick up her sandwich. “It’s raining hard outside.”, she tells him.

“Its really raging outside from what I hear. Some say that it might be a tornado. This building should be strong enough to deal with it. It was made to withstand most natural disasters.”, the wolf in the lab coat explains.

“I’ll be going home when its over.”, Rachel tells him.

“If it’s a tornado, you may not have a home.” he tells her.

“Then I will have to see, wont I!”, Rachel holds back from yelling at him.

“Whoa. Calm down. I was just saying. This would be the best place to be until everything gets sorted out.”, the wolf in the lab coat tries to calm her down.

“I bet you would want me to come to your office and examine me.”, Rachel tells him.

“If you’re not feeling well I could check you out if you like. But I would prefer if there was a community emergency that you would stay behind to help.”, he tells her in return.

“What are you, a doctor, nurse, custodial staff?”, Rachel asks.

“A doctor.”, the wolf in the lab coats says, holding out his clipped on ID card to her. “Completed my residency here in pediatric and adolescent medicine.”

“Whoopdie doo.”, Rachel responds, ignoring the name on it ID Card: Desmond Ignus Lupine.

“It’s a dream come true. What would you like to be when you grow up?”, he says and then asks.

“You’re not someone I am supposed to talk too.”, Rachel says.

“I’m a doctor, you can talk to me.”, Dr. Lupine says.

“You’re not my doctor.”, Rachel replies.

“Oh. Who would your doctor be?”, he asks.

“Dr. Leary.”, Rachel answers.

“Hmm... There are a couple of Dr. Learys here. You know which one?”, he says and then asks.

“She’s a squirrel like me. Not a wolf like you.”, Rachel explains it as bluntly as possible.

“I see.”, he says, taking his iPad to his lap and fingers the screen. “I see.”, he repeats himself and continues, “Dr. Aiesha Leary. Interesting, ‘on loan from New York’s General Hospital and Hospital of Special Surgery.’  I wonder why.”

“Because she is a squirrel doctors and I need her services in squirrel medicine.”, Rachel explains before asking, “Where you got that information from?”

“I got it from my medical iPad.”, he holds the device to her, showing Dr. Leary’s Biographical file. He then takes it back for a moment, scrolling through the screen’s information. He continues, “Says here she is a Pteromyini Sciuridae Specialist. But you’re a Sciurus Carolinensis.”

“I’m half flying squirrel.”, Rachel immediately throws in.

“You don’t look it. You look like grey squirrel to me.”, Dr. Lupine says.

“Well I’m half flying squirrel. The half that does not fly.”, Rachel tells him.

“Ha Ha! You made a funny.”, Dr. Lupine says.

“I don’t think its funny.”, Rachel says and continues to complain, “I have cousins that can fly and my older brother can fly, but I cant. You think its fair?”

“You can also get pregnant. Some think that’s not fair either.”, Dr. Lupine tries to continue the conversation.

“I can get raped. That’s not fair.”, Rachel throws at him.

“Men can get raped. It happens in prisons all the time.”, Dr. Lupine tells him.

“Men can get sodomized, which is a difference from rape. You don’t have a vagina. If you did, you would know.”, Rachel throws at him.

“Well, I don’t have a vagina. But being forced to comply to sex is something both men and women have as a hidden fear, second to being eaten alive.”, Dr. Lupine tries to explains.

“Being raped is not a hidden fear for females. Ask one of us and they will say the same thing, in the back of our minds rape is a possibility that we live with everyday. But you would not understand. You’re a male, and a predator at that.”, Rachel tells him.

“A predator?”, Dr. Lupine asks.

“You’re a wolf, a predator, top of the food chain in evolutionary terms. For millions of years your kind ate my kind occasionally when bigger game was not brought down. Me, I’m a squirrel, nuts and berries is all I ate millions of years ago. Always on alert for predators that might pounce on me and eat me. Had as many babies as possible to make sure my genes lasted for the next succeeding generations. But that was millions of years ago, before the Civilization Gene kicked in and we evolved to what we are now.”, Rachel explains with a lesson in natural history,

“Well, the only thing I hunted was for a good Thai restaurant. Not that many in Pouncefield. I only found one in the mall food court and they are not the best.”, Dr. Lupine says.

“Thai food. Great.”, Rachel throw in sarcasm.

“I was trying to make my point that I am not a predator.”, Dr. Lupine explains.

“You personally may not, but what about others? Rape is a crime, and it is a crime made by males upon females. The prisons are filled with rapists.”, Rachel tells.

“You sound like someone...*”, Dr. Lupine started to say but was interrupted. Someone at the far end of the cafeteria by the windows yells out “Ooh! Look! A Rainbow!” Most of who were there run to the windows to look and see. As Dr. Lupine gets up and look at the direction of the crowd, Rachel takes her sandwich and soda and disappears with the flow of the crowd, making her way to the exit doors. In under a minute she is walking out of the hospital and heads to the bus stop.

At the beach the girls look at each other and then around their area for their missing friend. They get up one at a time and start heading off in different directions to look for her. Wandaline heads out to the edge where the water meets the sand and look out to the crystal blue waves . No signs of her can be found out there. Five minutes later she is joined by Grace and then Rachel R.

“She’s nowhere to be found.”, Grace says.

“I could not find her.”, Rachel R.

“Its my fault and now I’m no longer allowed to be with you guys.”, Wandaline says.

“What are you talking about?”, they both look at her.

“I used a spell on her to turn her back into a virgin but she had me change her back and then said because of that, I am no longer allowed to be with Fernando or the rest of the group.”, Wandaline tries to keep from breaking down.

“Its not going to happen.”, Grace tells her.

“We’ll talk to Fernando about it.”, Rachel R. says.

“But that will alert Fernando of what Jorge did to her.”, Wandaline argues.

“The hell with Jorge. What he did he should be killed for.”, Rachel R. throws in.

“He should know so Jorge can be punished.”, Grace adds.

“But, where is she?”, Rachel R. asks.

“We need to call the police or something.”, Grace answers.

“You call the police. I’m taking Tonya home.”, Mary says from behind as she approaches them.

“You cant be serious.”, Rachel R. tells her.

“Tonya and I are former gang members and we’re black. That’s two strikes against us.”, Mary tells them.

“You cant be serious.”, Rachel R. repeats herself.

“You guys are going to end up on the news, we’ll end up in handcuffs.”, Mary says before turning away and walks away.

“This Aint New York, You Know!”, Rachel R. yells at her. Mary flips her middle finger at her as she walks away.

“That fucking bitch.”, Rachel R. says to herself but loud enough to be heard.

“Don’t worry about her. We’ll make sure that she will have nothing to do with Fernando for a long time.”, Grace tells her.

“He has to be made aware of it, and it has to be a medical excuse so that its more believable like Rachel planned on doing.”, Rachel R. says.

“Yeah, but where is she?”, Wandaline asks.

“Don’t know. We will meet back here in ten minutes.”, Grace says as she starts to walk away to look for their missing friend.

“Yea...”, Rachel R. says she walks away.

Wandaline is left standing there alone as the search continues for a bit more time. Mary convinces Juanita to get dressed and leave with her. The three remaining gather after several minutes had passed and head back to their camp.

As their put on their clothes over their bikinis, they did not noticed anything amiss. It was when they were putting away their towels that they noticed that something was out of place.

“Where’s Rachel’s towel and things?”, Wandaline asks.

They all look at the spot where Rachel had laid her towel, finding a blank space instead. Her clothes, duffle bag and beach towel – all missing.

“I don’t know.”, both Grace and Rachel R. say. “Was it there during the storm?”, Rachel R. adds.

“I don’t remember.”, Wandaline answers.

“Did she had a reason to leave?”, Grace asks.

“If she left its because she is angry with me.”, Wandaline answers.

“No shit Sherlock.”, Rachel R. tells her.

“You think we should not call the police?”, Grace asks.

“Evidence seems to point that way, that she somehow left on her own...”, Rachel R. says.

End of Chapter 50