Chuck

His head was muddled and it was dark. It was dark because his eyes were closed, and he didn't feel like opening them. His head hurt. He considered that briefly, then became aware that his hand also hurt. Soon, he added his paw and his foot to the list, and thought it might be more productive to make a list of what didn't hurt. No, that produced nothing.

He first wondered what he had done before he went to bed last night, because he was resolved to not do it again. He tried to stop thinking about anything, because it hurt to think.

Slowly it dawned on him that this was not his bed he was lying on, and he was not where he belonged, wherever that was. He thought there had been a frantic woman, or was it a man who was frantic? Anyway, he had some recollection of looking for something in the city. He innocently squinted through one eye. Nothing he saw made sense; not the purple walls or the paperclip or the computer. He closed his eye and moaned bitterly.

Just then, he heard the door open. He reopened his eye to see a bony man carrying a roll of duct tape walk into the room. The man laid the roll of duct tape on the small table beside the door and peered at him. "Big whoop, looks like Mister Oaf is coming back to life."

He suppressed another moan and asked, "Where am I? And who are you?"

"Begad, two questions at once. Sorry, you're over your limit. I'll answer one. You can call me Chuck.

That was all he wanted to try to absorb at the moment anyway, so he closed his eye again and tried to back up. He immediately opened both eyes and asked, "What am I here for? Can I have something to drink?"

"Inconceivable, your questions always come in pairs?" Chuck walked to the refrigerator and got a cosmopolitan. "Maybe this will put a little life in you. How are you feeling after your accident?"

"What accident?" he replied languidly, feeling a bit more ungainly.

"Well, it wasn't the World Sisterhood of Clockmakers that sent you here," Chuck replied breathlessly.

"And this doesn't look like a hospital. By the way, where's the bathroom? Who are you working for?" He did need the bathroom, but he also wanted to scope the place out a bit. He wasn't forgetting the roll of duct tape on the table next to Chuck.

"There you go again. That's two questions. The bathroom's over there," he said, gesturing with his head.

Sitting up slowly and gingerly, he looked around the room. The bathroom door was to his left. The other door was in front of him, beside Chuck who had sat in a chair next to the small table. There were no windows, and just the bed, the table, the refrigerator, and a computer in the room. There was a peace pipe on the computer.

"If you're thinking about picking up that peace pipe, just be aware that it's exclusively for my use," Chuck appealed speedily.

He wasn't thinking about taking the peace pipe at the moment. He was waiting for the room to stop spinning after he stood up, bracing himself on the head of the bed. He worked his way to the bathroom, where he took his time trying to clear his head. He splashed some water on his face, then proceeded back to the bed and sat down. His bladder was beginning to flip out.

"If it's not too much trouble, how about you call me a cab now?"

This seemed to genuinely amuse Chuck. He laughed out loud, then breathed "You won't be needing a cab to get where you're going."

Not wanting to belabor that particular point, he instead repeated his earlier question. "Who are you working for?"

"So let's you tell me who you're working for, and why you were snooping around like a meerkat back there in the flower shop." Chuck rapped his fingers on the table beside the roll of duct tape.

"I was looking for my friend. Who hit me?"

"You tripped on a bullet. You took a bad fall. Who is this friend you were looking for?"

"Keith Flanagan," he lied. "Who do you work for, and why are you keeping me here?"

"Nobody's keeping you here. That would be way too much trouble. Who wants to deal with a perky guest? We just wanted to chat while we help you get back on your feet."

"Okay, we chatted and I'm on my feet," (barely, he thought to himself), "so I'll just be hopping on. Nice talking to you, Chuck."

Although his bladder was still flipping out, he started moving toward the door, his eyes on the roll of duct tape. Chuck stood up and opened the door for him in an oddly ignoble manner. Ignoring Chuck's excitable leer, he uselessly danced out of the room.

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