Free Watching Yute by Joseph Picard Page B

a black eye.
Getting in the news is nothing, that just makes them tighten the
collar a little more.”
    The guy next to him kind of shrugged,
and focused on his beer. This wasn’t getting him anywhere. He
turned to the bartender and settled up. This was another dry well.
What the heck was he expecting? He pocketed his change and went to
the washroom.
    The drinks he’d been downing in various
bars were catching up to him. He had taken some protective measures
though. Nothing fancy. He would have modified his ‘insurance’ to
act against the alcohol, but that seemed like pushing his
luck.
    He took the old fashioned precautions
against the alcohol. A solid dinner, a handful of pretzels when he
had the chance, not to mention a mouthful of olive oil beforehand.
He wasn’t sure that would do anything, or if it was an urban myth.
He had been glad that the oil didn’t make him throw up on the spot
and took it as a good omen. After relieving the liquid bulk of his
drinking, he left the washroom and headed out.
    Two fellows stood in his path. They
were Aguei. “Hey guys,” Kirison said, “If you want my wallet, you
should have got me on my way in. It’s pretty empty now.”
    The smaller of the two men tilted his
head. “Hey, norther. You worked for the feds?”
    Jackpot. It was on.

    ~~~~~
    :::C /11
    ~~~~~

    Cassidy cleared the helipad back at the
Yute temple base. Another light dusting of sand swept across her,
but lighter than the first time. It probably was just helicopter
backwash after all. Her box of rejection felt a little lighter now,
and the biting self-loathing she was developing at the central base
was mellowing into a softer sorrow.
    She got back to the barrack to find
three of the others asleep there. She put the box down on her bunk
and sat next to it. The flap rested open enough that the letter
could peek up at Cassidy, who eyed it back with a mix of fear,
dread, and resentment. Cassidy just watched it sit there for a bit,
expressionless. From behind a cloud of fatigue, she felt slightly
braver than earlier.
    “ Fine,” she thought to
herself; to the letter, “let’s get this over with.” She slowly put
her hand on the letter and pulled it forward. She opened it, and
unfolded it with steady, measured movements. Hand written. Brandy
had the most beautiful handwriting. The light was bad, but not so
bad that Cassidy wanted to risk waking anyone by doing anything
about it. “Okay, okay, stop making excuses, and read the damned
thing.” She sighed.

    Cass-
    Where do I start? I met someone.
There’s nothing going on, but I found myself wishing there was. It
made me realize that I had felt like I had been single for a long
time now. I thought for a while that it was just the long distance
thing. That’s a big part of it, I’m sure. But it seems like you
haven’t done anything to keep things going.
    To be honest, in the last month, I had
a theory that you’d already dumped me, and were just avoiding
telling me. That would be really cruel. But I know you a little
better than that. I think I can just chalk it up to you being….
Lazy? No. I don’t know. I’m just going to give you the benefit of
the doubt and say you fell out of love with me, and didn’t know
what to do about it. It took me a while to realize I’d fallen out
of love with you, so maybe you didn’t know. Whatever.
    You may have noticed I blocked your
calls. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but I was really ready for a clean
break. I wish I could think of something more appropriate to say
than ‘have a nice life’, but honestly, nothing else comes to mind.
The good times were good, and the bad times… just kinda snuck in
while we weren’t looking. While you weren’t calling.
    have a nice life
    -Brandy

    Well. That was that, wasn’t it? Cassidy
was split about it. Brandy hadn’t called her a bitch or anything.
Might that have made it easier? She was just so polite about it.
Cassidy pulled out her terminal, ready to dial again. If by