The
dang contract was ten sheets of paper, printed front and back. In pretty small
font. I estimated it was maybe eight point, comparing it to the font we used at
the newspaper. She offered us both pens, and I half-expected to find out the
ink was red.
I
never found out what color the ink was.
Cerb
came tearing into the building, frisking and wriggling and leaping up to put
his front paws first on Pete's chest, then the arms of my chair. He pushed on
my chair -- which was a pretty good trick, considering he pushed from the right
side, but my chair started rolling backwards.
"Shoo!
Get out! Where did that mangy thing come from?" Kerri's voice cracked as
she stumbled out of her chair and reached for a phone book sitting on the
shelving behind her desk. She heaved it at Cerb with pinpoint accuracy.
He
dodged and the phone book bounced off my knee with a hard thwack-crack.
I swore for a second that crack was my femur breaking. My whole leg went numb,
or at least more numb than usual.
Kerri
twitched the contract away, to the side extension of her desk, before racing
after Cerb, who fled the building.
"Was
that weird?" Pete whispered.
I
just rolled my eyes at him. I couldn't say anything that I wanted to, because Kerri
came back to her desk. She moved awfully fast, smoothly and silently, despite
those high spike-heeled shoes on her feet.
"Sorry about that. I guess we're going to have to keep the door closed from now on, to stop mongrels wandering in." She shrugged and let out a giggle that sounded like wind chimes.
A giggle did not belong in that office, any more than her warm voice belonged with the rest of the impressions I was gathering up about her. Like she was wearing a mask, or maybe even someone was dubbing another person's voice over hers.
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