Dreams and Flashbacks
Chapter 5
By Ermintrude
See part 1 for disclaimers
Lee spent his Saturday in New York first shopping for some new suits. He looked at styles and fabrics and made some tentative choices. His measurements were taken and he agreed to return the next day to make the final choices and arrange for payment and delivery. He went to a baseball game in the afternoon, and had a pretty good time—even if the Yankees lost. But maybe that made the day even better.
Saturday night Lee was in a fine hotel in New York after a great dinner and an evening on the town. He had gone to a few of the hot spots—danced and drank and socialized like in the old days—but it wasn’t the same. The women were cheap, painted and shallow. They only wanted one thing. And he didn’t find any of them particularly attractive or arousing. That worried him more than a bit—but he shrugged it off as just a one-time thing. Everyone had an off-night now and them.
He’d gotten back to his room late, and he smelled of cigarettes and expensive whiskey. He took the bottle of scotch he’d bought earlier, opened it and poured himself a generous measure. The liquor warmed his throat as it went down. ‘Nothing like a fine single-malt,’ he thought in appreciation of Scotland and all it had produced over the centuries.
He sat in the plush chair and stared out the window at the city. ‘New York isn’t like any other city on the planet. There’s always something going on—the city that never sleeps—and you can get anything from anywhere in the world here—all you have to know is where to look. And I know a whole lot more about where to look than most people.’
He spent some time reminiscing about his adventures in Gotham over his career. They were many and varied. ‘I wonder how Amanda would like the city? She said she’d been here for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade—but I wonder if she’s ever experienced any of New York’s night life?’ He thought of his wasted evening. ‘If Amanda had been with me, it would have been different.’ He imagined himself dancing with Amanda at a disco—they’d move to the hot sensual beat and their bodies would rub against each other to the slower tunes…
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
18-year-old Lee had finally graduated High School and was about to go out into the world. His uncle had just been promoted to lieutenant colonel, and was busy organizing his new command. He didn’t have a lot of time for his nephew. Lee had chosen a college on the East Coast with a good athletic program. He liked sports—and even though he didn’t have a scholarship—he planned to be on the football team. His uncle the colonel had explained how his schooling and room and board would be paid for out of the trust his parents had left him—but he was responsible for his own spending money and extras.
Lee didn’t care—he was finally free! Free and on his own. Except he discovered that he didn’t control the trust—his uncle did—so he was still under the man’s thumb. So Lee was still chained to his uncle—he wasn’t free—he railed and fought against the chains that shackled him to the colonel—but nothing he could do would break them.
Then Amanda was there—just out of reach—he wanted to go to her—he wanted to be with her—he loved her so much—and she was just out of reach. He looked back to try to appeal to the colonel—except the colonel now looked like Dr. Smyth—and he wouldn’t let Lee go. Lee wanted to be with Amanda—and Dr. Smyth wouldn’t let him.
The cruel, heartless director of the Agency puffed away on his cigarette and spoke. “It’s her or me, boy. One or the other—you can’t have both—Amanda or your career—do you like being the Scarecrow?—you can be Scarecrow with me—or Lee with Amanda—you can’t have both. You have to choose, boy. Amanda or Scarecrow. One or the other. And you’d better make the right choice.” Dr. Smyth leered at Lee. “Get a brain, Scarecrow—you’re worthless without your job. You can’t do anything else. You’d be a failure if it wasn’t for me and this Agency.”
Then Amanda intervened—she moved to stand between Lee and Dr. Smyth. She waved the smoke out of her eyes, and crushed his cigarette out. She stood to face the director of the Agency, hands on her hips and spoke in her ‘mom’ voice. “No sir, he can too have both. I’m Scarecrow’s partner—everyone says so—Mr. Melrose put us together—and we are a team—we watch each others’ backs. And Lee is my friend—I’m his friend—his best friend—I know him better than anyone else—I know him better than his mother. I can be Scarecrow’s partner and Lee’s friend—I can be both—we can do both—we can be partners and lovers. Billy wants that—look at how much he keeps pushing us to work together—he keeps sending us in as a married couple—that isn’t coincidence.” She shook her finger in Smyth’s astonished face. “We can do it—we can have it all—we want it all—we want to be together all the time—at work and at home—we love each other—we have to be together—always and forever—we will be together—always and forever.”
She turned to Lee, and took his hands in her own. “I love you, Lee. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone else. You love me, too. I know it.”
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
Lee awoke in the chair, the remainder of his drink spilled onto the carpet. ‘That was an intense one.’ He took a deep breath. ‘All right—I admit it—I love Amanda—I’m in love with my partner. But I can’t do anything about it—we’d be reassigned—at the very least. Amanda isn’t an agent—Smyth would probably just fire her—to get her out of the way.’
He took a shower and got ready for bed. But sleep didn’t come for a long time. ‘These damn dreams and flashbacks are making me crazy. I guess that stupid drug did have some long-term psychological effects on me. But I can handle it. I’m still doing the job—we haven’t gotten killed—so things are OK.’ He recited baseball statistics until he finally slept.
Sunday morning he woke late. He felt out-of-sorts, not so much physically but somewhat off-balance. Like something was out-of-place in his mind. ‘With all these damn dreams I guess it will just take a bit of time to get back to normal. But I am OK—I’m still doing the job, and I have an amazing partner to keep me on track.’ He smiled warmly at the thought of Amanda—and suddenly he felt a lot better. After he had showered and dressed, and drunk his morning coffee—he called Amanda. ‘Just to make sure she’s OK.’ He rationalized to himself.
“Hello?”
“Hey Amanda—how’s your weekend going?”
“Pretty good—mother and I are doing the spring cleaning. The boys are with Joe so we can get a lot more done without them underfoot. Of course they still have to do their share—they have to clean their rooms and we’ve saved the garage for them.”
“I hope you’re saving some time for yourself.” He pictured her in her cleaning clothes—an old sweatshirt and her hair tied back. Even dressed for hard work she was beautiful…
“Oh yeah—tonight I’m gonna take a long hot bubble bath. Mother got a new book she said I’d enjoy.”
“Another one of her potboiler romances?” Lee loved teasing her.
“I guess so. So why did you call—do you need me to come into the office?”
“No—I’m up in New York—I felt like getting out of town for the weekend. I just was thinking of you and wanted to make sure everything was OK.”
She was silent for a few moments. “That’s sweet, Lee. I’m fine. How are things in New York?”
Now it was his turn to be silent while he thought. “It’s OK, but I think I’d have more fun if you were here with me. Have you ever done the New York nightlife?”
“No—we went to the Thanksgiving Day Parade once—but I’ve never spent any real time in the city. I bet you know all the hot places, huh?” She sounded teasing.
“I know a few places. Maybe we can see the city together sometime. I think you’d like some of the more elegant places.”
“I’d like to have you show them to me.” She said softly. “Oh—I have to get back to the cleaning—mother is calling me out to help beat the rugs…”
“Yeah—gotta beat those rugs. See you tomorrow morning at the office.”
“See you tomorrow, Lee. Thanks for calling.”
Lee spent the day shopping. He made his final choices for four new suits and arranged for them to be sent when they were finished. He picked up half-a-dozen shirts and some ties and socks, and some new blue boxers. He went to another store and got two pair of new shoes—the job was so tough on his wardrobe. He walked around window shopping and he saw a sweater in the window of a women’s store. It was white and form-fitting with a v-neck and made of angora and silk. Inside he saw it on the rack and ran his fingers over the fuzzy, soft material. He imagined the sweater on Amanda—and then his fingers running over her slim form while wearing the sweater—and then his hands helping her out of the sweater. He looked through the selection—and found one in her size. He immediately decided he had to get one for her.
He brought the sweater to the counter and had the woman remove the tags and wrap it as a gift. ‘I’ll leave the box on her desk.’ The woman offered him a small card, and he signed it ‘Your secret admirer.’ ‘That way she can’t refuse it—she won’t know who it came from. But she will—she’ll recognize my handwriting.’ He smiled. She’d protest—but she’d take it in the end. He just hoped she’d wear it soon.
Back home, he put his purchases away and placed the box for Amanda on the table next to his door. ‘Can’t forget that in the morning.’ He watched a movie and went to bed early, so he could get to the office before his partner. He loved surprising her.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.