“Today, I witnessed another reason why public transportation in this city has to change on all levels. It’s not just the appalling lack of connections throughout the city, the abysmal condition of the trains and buses, and the constant delays due to poor planning and a shortage of staff. It’s the staff itself as well. What we have on our hands is a solid crisis that needs our focus if we ever want to achieve at least a semblance of solid public transportation.
As you all know, I take one day a week to do an arbitrary round through the city based on the needs of people from different demographics to get a clear picture as to who is affected by our public transportation system.”
“Wow, she seems dedicated.” George whistled.
“Seems so.” Andi shrugged. Since George had come into his life, transportation was no longer a problem for him. Blessed be the deity who had arranged this for him.
“This day’s route started in Hillcrest, from there I went to Hampton Heights, then to the Northside and from there to Westview. It’s a long route, and as expected, it took me several hours to reach my individual destinations. For all the statistics complete with tracking, click on this link.” Without thinking, Andi clicked, and a page with a map of Spartanburg in which the blogger’s route was highlighted in red came into view.
“Oh, I see why Shireen wanted us to read this.”
“Huh?” George had his eyes firmly on the road.
“Her final destination was Paradise Home for the Elderly. And she took the bus.”
“Oh, when was that?”
Andi quickly checked the date of the blog. “A week before Isabelle Hopper died.”
“Read on. I want to know how this ends.” George set the blinker to change lanes. They were nearing the hotel.
“The worst part, however, was the bus ride to the nursing home at the end of my route. A passenger wanted to enter the bus a few stops before Paradise Home, but the bus driver wouldn’t let them on because they’d forgotten their ticket. Now several of the regular passengers spoke up for that passenger, saying they had a monthly ticket and reminded the bus driver that she knew them, but the woman was adamant and didn’t let the passenger in, explaining she could get in trouble for transporting people without a valid ticket. The passenger was in tears, saying they just wanted to visit a relative at the nursing home. Before things got too heated, I paid for the ticket. This situation highlights the multilayered problems Spartanburg has regarding public transportation. At first glance—” Andi looked up. “I think we can skip the rest. Do you want to bet that the bus driver was Isabelle Hopper?”
“I don’t take sure bets.” George was now on the road to the hotel. “Shireen wouldn’t have sent us the link if she hadn’t verified the identity of the bus driver. We should contact the blogger. Perhaps she’ll remember something from that day or about Isabelle that can help us.”
Andi started typing. “Good idea.” After he sent the blogger an email via her contact asking if she would be willing to answer some questions about the incident she had described in her blog, he looked at George. “What are we going to do now?”
George parked the Escalade in the parking lot next to the hotel. He smiled. “We’re going to get rid of the bags under your eyes. You look as if you’re going to keel over any minute.”
CHAPTER 21
TRANQUILITY, WHERE ART THOU?
George didn’t waste any time. He ushered Andi into their room and toward the bathroom. “Get naked and take a hot shower. I’ll prepare everything for a little meditation. Then we’re going to order room service and cuddle the stress out of you.”
Andi started undressing. “You’re so good to me.” His tone was just this side of sarcastic, which cemented how exhausted he had to be. If there had been more life in his lover, Andi would have been a lot more outspoken.
“I know. Now get your pasty, scrawny ass into the shower.”
“I’m not that thin. You feed me well.” Andi looked down at his body.
“You’re thinner than me. Ergo, I can call you scrawny.” George didn’t like it. Even though Andi was gaining weight at a glacial pace, seeing him completely naked reminded George how far they still had to go if he wanted his lover on a healthy level.
“You’re buff. And a fitness rat.”
“Do you mean gym rat? Because that I’m definitely not. I just enjoy being fit. Plus, one could argue that’s a staple for our job.”
“Fitness rat, gym rat. It’s all the same. You train, and I don’t. Still, my solving statistics are better than yours.” Grumbling, Andi went into the bathroom and started the shower.
George grinned at the last part. Andi was waking up. Once the water started, George looked around the hotel room. With two beds and one sofa, not to mention the small desk with a chair, it didn’t offer much space, certainly not enough for their usual set-up, facing each other on yoga mats on the ground. Well, they would make do with the bed they’d been sleeping in. The other one had the flip chart sheets and pens on it, all in a haphazard jumble. He arranged the pillows on both beds against the headboard to accommodate him leaning against them. They would combine meditation and snuggling.
To prove that great minds indeed think alike, Andi came out of the shower with his hair still damp, a towel around his hips, and a few stray droplets running down his chest, and immediately sat down on the bed. “Great idea,” was all he said while patting the mattress. George grinned, got rid of his own T-shirt and trousers before he scooted up on the bed, getting comfortable so he could hold Andi’s weight when his lover leaned against him. As soon as George opened his thighs, Andi was there, his body a warm and familiar weight against George’s front. He put his chin on Andi’s head and his arms around him, looking to create as many points of contact as possible. This was the easiest form of meditation for them because when their bodies were practically plastered together with little to no cloth between them, syncing wasn’t even a conscious effort anymore.
Because he could feel Andi’s breathing pattern through their upper-body contact, in addition to hearing it, falling into the same rhythm was just natural. He closed his eyes, letting his lover take over. Andi’s fingers made featherlight stroking motions on his thighs, adding another layer to the symphony that was them uniting on so many levels. On and on it went, breathing and stroking and feeling, until George wasn’t sure where he ended, and Andi began. Then his partner started to talk, taking him into his world, showing him all the wonders and horrors he couldn’t quite articulate, trying to translate as best as he could.
“Eggs, I’m so full of them, need a place to lay them, the mattress bears down on me, so many parts of me, I’m there, laying eggs and hatching and shedding my old skin and eating away on all those delicious skin cells, life is good, I’m thriving, all of me, no, caught in the web, I’m trying to break free, I can sense the prey, so close, fighting, destroying my threads, quick, sinking my fangs into the fly, venom pumping through my teeth, death, empty, there’s nothing, only for a moment, though, there’s always something else waiting in the wings, no death is ever significant because life always takes over immediately, it’s never quiet, never still, always moving and flying and burrowing and eating and killing and being born and it never ever ends and I don’t know if that’s solace or hell, anyway, I can’t escape, never, I am them and they are forever, waiting everywhere, the breeze under my wings, lifting me up, the sun is so warm, perfect, my blood is pumping faster through my wings, it’s this huge thing in the sky, I don’t really know what ‘sky’ is, endless, need to find a mate, the eggs, deep down, in the earth, shelter, safe, I wanna stay there, the sky is too vast, you’re there with me, you’re my earth, my anchor, I feel grounded, don’t stop breathing, can’t stand to lose you, so vibrant, so alive, you can’t be part of the circle, you can’t…”
Andi was trailing off, making guttural sounds at the back of his throat, reminding George of the clicking of mandibles and the scratching of chitin, or how he thought those things should sound if only his hearing were better, he would never know, not really, he was only a guest, the house was Andi’s, but he let him come in and George was grateful.
