Liz is pacing in the the nearly empty cafeteria, cell phone pressed tightly to her ear. It rings and rings as she paces. Back and forth in front of the windows she peers out at the fall foliage without really seeing it. Why doesn’t someone answer?
She waves at Jake coming in through the entrance, snapping the phone closed when he joins her.
“Anything?” she asks anxiously.
Shaking his head, Jake says, “No, nobody’s seen her.”
“The car show was her idea.”
“I agree it’s not like her, but beating up Boris isn’t either.”
“Beating up Boris? What are you talking about?” Liz can see Jake’s not kidding, but still. “You’re saying Natasha beat up Boris?”
“Apparently she knocked him down in the oval, in full sight of pretty much the whole school. But that was at lunch and nobody’s seen her since.”
“I don’t get it. I can’t even imagine them having a disagreement, let alone a physical fight.”
“Nobody heard what it was about, it was just the two of them. But everybody saw her deck him. Still, it’s hard to know where she went after. Most people think she took the path to the parking lot, not the residence.”
“That makes sense ’cause she was supposed to catch the bus with me. And nobody answers at the Res. But it doesn’t explain why she didn’t come to the show.”
“Keeping a low profile? Maybe she went to the mall.”
“Then why doesn’t she answer her phone?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to anybody. Did you try texting her?”
“She’s not answering texts either.” Liz flips open her phone again, and redials. This time the phone at the Res is picked up. “Hi who’s this?” Liz asks hopefully.
“Elsie. Is that you Liz?”
“Yeah, look, is Natasha there?”
“No, she’s not. Do you want to talk to Boris?”
Liz can hear Boris, saying in the background, “I don’t want to.”
Liz rolls her eyes. Uh oh. Boris and Elsie alone in the Res, not answering the phone. That’s bad. Uh oh.
Then Elsie says, “But it isn’t Natasha.”
Then Boris is on the line. “Yo.”
Although she knows the answer, Liz has to ask, “Boris, is Natasha there?”
“No. I don’t know where she is but she sure isn’t here.”
“Could you just check her room please?”
“You know what, I really don’t care where she is.”
“Bo, I’m worried.” Liz flashes on Maggie saying “I was worried about you.” There’s a clunk as the receiver drops.
“Boris! Boris don’t.”
Elsie is on the line again. “Sorry. He bailed and went back to his room. Is there something I can do to help?”
“Could you just check Natasha’s room, see if she’s there? Nobody has seen her.”
“I’m sure she’s not, but I’ll check.” Elsie gently lays the phone down beside its receiver.” Liz covers the mouthpiece and tells Jake, “Elsie’s gone to look.”
“That’s good.” Jake nods. “Boris didn’t want to talk?”
“Nope.” Liz resumes pacing. “Jerk.”
“Jerk? Why is he a jerk?”
“He doesn’t care about Natasha.”
“Liz, some on. She punched him out in front of the whole school. He’s probably mad at her.”
“But she could be …”
“She humiliated him in front of the whole world. She hit him.” Jake explains.
“Oh, come on he’s a big guy. She couldn’t hurt him.”
“What do you mean? Of course she could hurt him.” Jake shakes his head. “You think a person’s size has anything to do with whether they feel pain?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Even if Boris was impervious to physical pain, which I doubt, then there’s the psychic pain of being humiliated in public. She knocked him down, Liz. Legally it’s ‘assault and battery’.”
“Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”
“You don’t think it’s a big deal?”
“Well no, not really.”
Jake shakes his head in disgust. “Would it be a big deal if Boris hit Natasha?”
“Well, sure.”
“So why is this any different?”
“Because she’s tiny. Because he’s big. Because …”
“You’re saying it’s okay to hit someone bigger than you?”
“I never, I mean, well I didn’t say that. Exactly. I guess I never really thought about it.” she says.
Jake looks up at Liz. “You’re bigger than I am. Does that make it okay for me to punch you?”
“No, of course not.”
“So it’s not all right for small guys to hit big girls, but it’s okay for small girls to hit big guys.”
“When you put it like that … Well… I don’t know.”
“I do know. Gender does not give anybody the right to hurt anybody. The only justification for violence is self defense.”
“I guess you’re right, Jake, it’s just that, well you just don’t think about stuff like that.”
“Maybe you don’t. But women aren’t the only people who have violence done to them you know.”
“Violence against women was condoned for a long time.”
“And that was wrong. Just like violence against men is wrong. Or violence against children. There’s always something, maybe skin color, sexual orientation or simple geekiness that gets the shit kicked out of you. But it doesn’t really matter whether the excuse is gender or religion. It’s still just an excuse for people who want to kick the shit out of you. It’s violence that’s the problem.”
Liz holds up a finger to indicate Elsie’s back on the phone. “No sign, huh? If she shows, can you ask her to call me? I’m gonna look for her. Sure I’ll let you know when I find her. Thanks, Elsie.”
She hangs up and stows it again, this time pulling on her jacket. “Elsie says she’s not there. She’ll tell the house mother and the residence security guard to keep a look out.”
“So now what?”
“I’m gonna find her,” shaking her head, “I just don’t understand what happened.”
“Hang on a minute.” She looks over and sees he’s pulling a fleece sweater out of his bag. “I’ll help.” As they cross the lobby, Liz detours to the security desk, where a gaunt older man in a baggy security uniform is writing in a log book.
“Hey Vlad. I’m looking for my friend Natasha.”
Jake is surprised to see the slightly sinister looking man, the one that reminds him of Underworld’s Victor, take one look at Liz and undergo a transformation worthy of any good horror flick. Vlad’s usually stern countenance is replaced by a smile of happy recognition. “Hello, Miss Liz,” he rumbles in a deep thickly accented voice, “This is little red haired girl you work late at night with?”
“Yes. She’s missed classes and no one has seen her.”
“I’m sorry I have not seen her either. It is not long enough for official search but I can ask other guards to watch out for her.” He unclips the Blackberry from his waist and sets it on the counter.
“Do you have a picture?” He gestures to her phone.
Liz beams. “Great idea!” She scrolls through the images then sends a face shot of Natasha to Vladimir’s Blackberry. Then reaches over and gives him a peck on the cheek, and says, “Thanks so much, Vlad.”
The guard looks like he’s about to implode with pleasure, but he masters himself and holds up a finger, “Just remember this is very unofficial Miss Liz”.
Liz nods. “I understand. We’re gonna go check the paths.” Vlad eyes Jake, clearly wondering how much help the boy will be, worried he will be no help at all if there is trouble.
“Maybe I should accompany you also.” he mutters.
“No, I don’t want you to get into trouble Vlad. Just spreading the word will help a lot.”
“Hey look,” says Jake, “There’s Quentin. He was gonna come to the computer club meeting but I’ll bet he’ll help look for her.” Jake and Liz wave at Vlad and hurry after Quentin who is just stepping though the main doors into the waning light. Following him out, Liz sees he’s heading toward the married student residence complex. Liz yells, “Hey Q! Wait up,” and Quentin, turns and waits for them to catch up with him.
Quentin tells Jake, “Sorry, can’t make the meeting tonight.”
“This is different,” says Liz, “Have you seen Natasha, Q?”
“She’s probably laying low.” he smiles. “I know I would.”
“But Nobody’s seen her all afternoon. I’m worried about her. We were going to The Auto Show together, but she never showed. Jake and I are going to search for her. Can you help?”
“You think she’s out here somewhere?” asks Quentin?
“I don’t know Q. She didn’t go home, or make any classes, so I’m worried. Maybe she’s off campus, but she might be out there. And you know how stubborn she is. She might think freezing her butt off is better than having to face Bo.”
“I guess we could just walk the paths, see if she’s running around out here.” Quentin agrees. “Have you tried calling her?”
Liz nods miserably. “All afternoon. Ever since she stood me up. I’ve left messages, but her phone’s off.” Liz brushes at her eyes. “Oh Q, where is she?” Liz starts to sniffle.
Ethan joins the trio, smiling rapturously at Liz until he sees how upset she is. Opting for neutrality Ethan says, “Hey, guys, what’s happening?” He’s a little disconcerted no one answers him.
Quentin says, “Don’t worry, when me and Tammy fight, first thing I do is turn off my phone. The last thing you wanna do in a fight is talk on the phone. Fighting has to be in person.”
Ethan asks, “What’s wrong?”
Liz says, “Natasha’s missing.” Then she bursts into tears.
Ethan tentatively steps toward her and pulls her into a hug. “It’ll be okay, Liz”. He awkwardly pats her back.
“She was here at lunch, so she’s only been gone a couple of hours right? Let’s just find her, then, okay?” Ethan asks, “Uh… would she have a camera with her?”
“Oh yeah. She always has the little Nikon ’cause it fits in her pocket.” Liz wipes her eyes on her sleeve. “Coming to The Auto Show she’d have at least one of her digital SLRS.” She rubs her eyes.
“So maybe she’s just out there taking pictures.”
“Maybe. But the light’s almost gone. She should be back by now if she was on a shoot. It’s just I’ve got a bad feeling.”
Her face is all blotchy and wet, her nose is puffy, and Ethan’s breath catches as he thinks how gorgeous she is. Not sure what his role is, he digs in his pocket and offers Liz a handful of paper napkins accumulated from fast food restaurants over the life of the pea coat.
Liz accepts the napkins gratefully, using the offering to mop her face. “OK, I’m OK. Lets go look. It is broad day light after all, I’m probably being silly.”
As they start off across the oval, Ethan’s arm comfortably around her waist, Liz looks brighter.
“Maybe we ought to split up. Cover more ground,” Jake suggests. “Q and I can head for the Res, you guys take the path to the parking lot.”
Ethan adds, “Good idea. And we’ll cruise over to check the bus stop too. If she’s not running around in the bush taking pictures, maybe she’s just hiding out in the shelter.”
