From: magsrose@comcast.net   
      
   by MagsRose   
   See chapter 1 for header   
      
   Chapter 4   
      
   The buzzer rang at the front door of the warehouse. Byers went to   
   answer the door. Langly was deep into some game he had downloaded the   
   previous day and pointedly ignoring what was going on. Byers checked   
   the monitor. Frohike stood at the bottom of the stairs talking to   
   someone who had her back to the camera.   
      
   He had called earlier and told them that he might not make it in   
   because he needed to take Emma to the doctor. This set Langly off   
   again. How were they ever going to get the paper out if Frohike was   
   never there? Byers took a closer look at the monitor. Frohike was   
   pointing at the camera and the other person turned and looked right   
   into it.   
      
   "See the camera is right there," Frohike pointed it out to Emma as he   
   explained some of the security at the warehouse. Emma looked up at the   
   camera. She was tempted to wave but didn't. Frohike rang the buzzer   
   again and once again Emma cringed. If it sounded that loud out here   
   what must it sound like inside.   
      
   "Are you going to get that or what?" Langly glanced up from his   
   computer. The light from the monitor reflected off his glasses. Byers   
   still hadn't opened the door.   
      
   "It's Frohike," Byers explained.   
      
   "Yeah, so, let him in. That buzzer breaks my concentration."   
      
   "He's got Emma with him."   
      
   "Great," thought Langly, "just great." He was getting tired of hearing   
   about her. Emma this. Emma that. Emma is so smart. Emma can dance.   
   Emma, Emma, Emma. Time to talk about something else for a while.   
      
   "So open the door already!" Might as well get this over with. She   
   didn't appear to be going away. He got up and went behind one of the   
   big sets of metal shelves. Where was that mask: the one that Frohike   
   had worn to trick Morris Fletcher?   
      
   The door finally opened. A bearded man in a suit stood on the other   
   side. He smiled broadly at Emma. She smiled back. Emma went in first   
   with Frohike close behind. With the door shut and locked behind them   
   Frohike made the introductions. "John Byers, I would like you to meet   
   my daughter Emma MacKenzie. Emma this is Byers."   
      
   Emma held out her hand. Byers shook it, a little amused to be greeted   
   in such a grown up way by an eleven year old. "I'm pleased to meet   
   you, Mr. Byers."   
      
   "Oh, please, I've heard so much about you, I feel like we already know   
   each other. Call me John or call me Byers."   
      
   "Well, okay, I'll try." Emma had been taught that it was not polite to   
   call an adult by his/her first name and there were very few who   
   encouraged her to do otherwise. Patty and Paul were the two   
   exceptions. Now `John' was the third. There was also Jimmy but she   
   wasn't sure whether to put him in the adult category or not.   
      
   She heard a strange, muffled noise come from behind one of several   
   sets of shelves that took up most of this section of the room. She   
   looked in the direction of the noise and saw something gray with big,   
   black shiny eyes duck from view behind some boxes. This frightened her   
   and she moved closer to her father putting her hand in his for   
   reassurance.   
      
   Byers and Frohike were discussing the fact that Jimmy was going to be   
   gone for the day but that Langly was around somewhere. When Emma   
   touched him, he looked at her and then in the direction she was   
   staring. He saw Langly behind the shelves with that old, alien mask   
   on. "Langly, knock it off! You're scaring her." Frohike sounded mad.   
      
   Langly took off the mask. Emma watched as a tall man with long, blond   
   hair put on his glasses and came around the shelves. She didn't notice   
   that he still had one hand behind his back. Emma stepped up and   
   offered her hand for the second time. "My name is Emma." Langly stuck   
   out his hidden hand in return. On it was one of the weird fingered   
   gloves that went with the mask. She hesitated and he pulled his hand back.   
      
   "Too slow!" Langly exclaimed.   
      
   "Just ignore him," Frohike advised Emma. He would've had some choicer   
   words for Langly but he had learned very quickly to censor himself   
   when Emma was around.   
      
   "Knock it off, Langly," Byers admonished him when Frohike had taken   
   Emma to show her around the work area. "No one's asking you to be her   
   friend, but you don't have to be an absolute asshole either." These   
   were unusually strong words from Byers.   
      
   Langly was surprised at first but then when he thought about it he   
   decided he had taken it a little too far. It wasn't the kid's fault   
   that her mother had died or Frohike's fault that the woman had tricked   
   him into getting her pregnant. He watched father and daughter as they   
   came back toward them. She didn't seem too bad for a little kid. She   
   wasn't all sticky or snotty or anything. He supposed he could put up   
   with her being around some if she didn't talk too much or mess with   
   his stuff.   
      
   Byers and Frohike got to work. Frohike had some pictures he needed to   
   develop and Byers was working on an article about the meatpacking   
   industry. Langly had done a great deal of research for Byers and was   
   just waiting for the others to finish up their parts. Frohike still   
   hadn't written his column. Langly didn't think Frohike had a prayer of   
   getting everything done in time.   
      
   Langly looked around for the kid. She was sitting on the red couch   
   reading what had to be a textbook. The light over there was awful. She   
   would probably get a headache sitting in that dark corner. He got up   
   and found the old floor lamp that had been replaced by something   
   better upstairs. He checked the bulb. It looked good. He brought it   
   over and plugged it in. Emma watched him without saying anything until   
   he turned it on. "Thanks, that's much better." He didn't reply as he   
   walked back to his game on the computer.   
      
   Emma tried to go back to reading her homework but she'd never found   
   history all that interesting. It didn't take much to distract her from   
   it. She propped the book up on her knees and pretended to continue   
   studying.   
      
   What she was really doing was watching Langly. She knew that most of   
   the problems her father was having at work were with this man. She had   
   heard the two of them arguing on the phone and had heard her dad   
   talking about him with one of his other coworkers. He seemed like a   
   nice enough man. He had brought her a light when he thought she needed   
   it. Emma tried to think of a way that she could make friends with   
   Langly. Her mother had told her that the best way to get to know   
   people was to get them to discuss something they were passionate about.   
      
   It was obvious that computers were Langly's passion. Even if her   
   father had not talked about what a whiz Langly was on the computer and   
   how lucky they were to have him working with them, she would have   
   guessed it from watching him for only a few minutes. He had shut down   
   the game, moved to a different computer, one with a flat-screen   
   monitor and was now working on something she couldn't see. She   
   continued to watch him fascinated by the motion of his fingers over   
   the keys.   
      
   She was amazed by how fast he could type. He never even looked down at   
   them. It was almost hypnotic. She stood up to get closer so that she   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)