Bone Shattering: NaNoWriMo Day 4

While Bonny’s day may have started badly but gotten better, Celia’s day just seemed to be bad the whole day. Celia awoke and forgot that she was sleeping on an air mattress and not on a bed. She tired to sit up on the side and her legs made a loud thud against the floor.

“Owwwww!” Celia cried. She managed to sit on the side of the air mattress and check her feet and her ankles. Holding her ankles and her feet, she managed to rub them so they were not so sore. She looked around the empty apartment looking at the leaves. She figured that she’d pick the leaves up off of the floor before getting ready today. Celia gathering the leaves into a small pile and placed them under her pillow on the air mattress. That woud work for now.

So, after that, Celia readied herself for the new day. A hot shower would feel good and Celia felt that it was probably needed. The bathroom felt like home to Celia. She did not know why, but many bathrooms felt like home. Perhaps it was just the way that they were arranged that she liked. Perhaps there were suppressed memories of good things happening in the bathroom. She was just glad that she thought her day would be better.

Celia got out of the shower and quickly dressed. Even though she did not take a long time getting ready for the day, by the time she got out of the shower, she was running late. She needed to be at the police station early. Celia decided that she would not wait for the slow elevator. She grabbed her purse and dashed out the apartment door. She ran down the hallway to the stairway. The stairs were carpeted in the same red as the hallway. Going down the two flights of steps did not take that long.

Celia stopped at the front to ask if she could borrow the phone. The office manager seemed annoyed by this question. Holding the phone’s receiver up in the air, Bertha grunted, “Why?”

“I need a cab. I really need to get to work. You can even call one for me.”

Bertha snorted, but then she called the ZZ Cab Company. “A cab will be here shortly. You do not have to worry.”

“Thank you, thank you!” Celia rushed out the front doors and waited for the cab. Not five minutes had passed and the cab was waiting for her.

“Where to, little miss?”

“I need to go to the police . . . wait, I need breakfast. Okay, first, to the nearest fast food restaurant that serves breakfast, from there, I’ll tell you where I need to go.”

The cab driver took Celia to a McDonald’s.

“This is great. Just order me any of the meals with a black coffee. I have the money right here.” The cab driver nodded.

After they got Celia’s food, then Celia continued. Okay, I need to get to the police station. The cab driver turned and stared at her at first, confused. “First day of work,” said Celia. He nodded and drove to the police station the quickest way possible.

Celia could hardly believe the $10 fare, but she figured that it must be normal with the inflation of gas prices. Celia hurried out of the cab and into the police station. Thankfully not much activity was happening at the station.

Celia, out of breath, panted and wiped her hair from her eyes. She glanced around the station. Things looked like a police station. There were files on one desk. There was an area for finger printing on the walls. Posters about laws and standard legal procedures covered the walls. Then there were some candy machines near the front doors. There was also one of those bottled water dispensers. Celia walked over to it and got herself a small cold cup of water. She had eaten all of her breakfast in the cab and now she needed the hydration.

A tall, portly man dressed in a police uniform approached Celia. “Ma’am, you look lost. May I help you.”

Startled, Celia jumped, “Oh! Hi!” and she reached her right hand out toward the man. He took it and gave it a firm squeeze and a shake as she continued, “I’m Celia Ward, the new police detective.”

The large man did not flinch or make a sound. He looked Celia up and down. Then he took a step backward and looked her up and down again. He seemed to be either amazed or impressed. Celia was unsure of how he felt. Then he spoke, “It’s nice to meet you Ms. Ward. I’m Chief of Police, Benji Benzo.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Benzo,” Celia said, restraining her laughter.

“Yeah, it’s okay. That is not the only reason we have some problems. The name does lack a sound of decent respect. Ann, could you come in here?”

A tall, lanky blonde woman walked into the same area of the station where Celia and Benji stood.

“Ann, this is Celia Ward, our new police detective.”

Ann and Celia shook hands as Ann introduced herself, “Pleased to meet you. I’m Ann Narky.”

Once Ann and Celia quit shaking hands, Celia buried her eyes in her hands trying to hide the amount of laughter bubbling up inside.

“Go ahead and laugh, Celia, we’ve got a great sense of humor here. We know that our names do not help much, but they do provide hours of fun for us.” Ann was warm and welcoming. She showed Celia to her desk.

“You’ll see that there are some old files here on the desk. You will be glad to know that you came at a time that no detective cases are open. However, there are plenty of past cases that you can study if you so wish. Centerville can be quiet for a long time or it can be full of crime. Sometimes there are so many mysteries and sometimes there is only one that takes just one minute to solve. It can be a tricky place.”

Celia smiled at Ann, “This place has already been a bit tricky for me. I will be lucky if I get to sleep in a bed tonight.” Ann cocked her head in confusion at Celia and Celia continued explaining. “The moving truck did not get here today. I am waiting for the movers. They have all of my furniture. I have an air mattress and some blankets and a pillow. “

Now Ann understood Celia’s situation. Ann wished she could help, but she did not have room in her tiny apartment for a guest, either. Ann had always lived alone and never planned on getting married or being in a serious relationship. It was not what she wanted so she only had to care for herself. Life was much easier that way, Ann figured.

Celia flipped through the files. There were some really simple ones like a lost cat that was found up a tree after it was reported. Then there was a mystery about who had covered the interstate overpasses in graffiti marking them, “D-Town Boyz.” This case took months to solve as there was never any evidence left at the scene. There were some more serious cases, too, like who had murdered the former school librarian and the motive. She was found alone in the school library, lifeless, on the floor falling from a ladder after putting books up on the library shelves.

While Celia read the different files, more police officers walked in and out of the station. Celia was so glad that the place seemed busy. It was a great contrast to her apartment. Lunchtime soon arrived and Celia found Ann standing at her desk.

“Do you want to go get lunch? There’s this great little wrap place across the street from the station. We can walk there.”

Celia nodded and grabbed her purse. Ann and Celia walked out of the building together. They got to the curb and there was tons of traffic. It had rained while they were in the building and the street gutters were full of water. Ann and Celia backed away as a car sped through the water, but it was too late for Celia. She was covered in muddy water. As the traffic calmed, Ann and Celia walked across the street. The wrap place was open, but it was very busy.

Ann seemed disappointed. “I had hoped I could get to know you a bit better, but it looks like the place is too busy. We will just be able to get lunch and then should head back to the station. It is okay if we eat there.”

Celia nodded and looked disappointed as well. When the two ladies finally reached the server Ann ordered a Veggie Combo and Celia ordered a cheese wrap. They had to get them to go and they each ordered a Diet Coke. They silently walked out of the shop, across the street which was surprisingly not busy, and back to the station.

Celia sat at her desk and opened her wrap. The cheese was a mess and fell all over her already muddy clothes. A young officer began to laugh, but Ann was nearby and silenced her. “It will be okay to laugh later, but Celia is new and today we need to be more careful of her feelings. It seems like she has had a very bad day.” The young officer nodded and went back to work.

Celia continued reading files and going over the type of detective work that had been done. Some of the stuff was very impressive. Other things were confusing. Celia did wonder why it mattered what type of pillow was on somebody’s bed when the case was about a missing dog, but the dog was found, so she did not bother to ask about the strange question.

Celia was ready to go home by the evening. She did not care that she had not had any dinner. She just wanted to head to her apartment. She called the ZZ Cab Company and got the cab.

After another $10, Celia was back at her apartment. Bertha grunted as Celia came in the front door, “Note for you.”

Bertha held out a yellow stick up note. Celia looked at it and read, “Sorry, we will not be able to make it today. We should arrive tomorrow. A Plus Professional Movers.”

Celia sighed and trudged up two flights of steps to the third floor. Walking up the stairs would at least give her time to think.

She entered her apartment, laid down on the air mattress, and stayed there until she fell asleep for the whole night.

(Word count: 7174/50,000)