Part 7

On late Sunday morning Jake went out to finish setting up the things he had purchased the day before in his new office rooms. Daria took it easy as well and was reading the Sunday paper at the kitchen table while Quinn was lazing in front of the TV watching some cartoons. Finally, Quinn became awake enough to realize that she was not really in the target age bracket. She shut down the TV, had a shower upstairs and retreated to her room.

A little before noon, Daria decided to conclude her inspection of the cabling without her father and make a visit to the attic. Locating and extending the fold-down ladder at the end of the hallway in front of her room, she began to venture to unknown territories.

*****

A switch on top of the fold down ladder illuminated the crawlspace through a dim light bulb hanging by its cable from the top rafter. Little light came through the small windows that hadn’t been cleaned in centuries. Daria smelled the dust on the bulb burn, as it was exposed to heat for the first time after a very long while. Without her flashlight, Daria would just have been able to make out the rafters and avoid hitting her head, but searching for defective cabling would have been out of question.
«Darn. Let’s hope my eyesight is good enough for unlimited night driving.»

The crawlspace was cramped and dusty, but did not contain any dead rats or similar unpleasant surprises. Any movements had to be done in a crouched position. There was indeed a wall with a four by three foot door splitting the level into about halves. Daria immediately went over to open the door and inspect the other side.

The half over the master bedroom was as unexciting as the other, so Daria closed the door and had a look at the cables running loose on the attic floor. The problem with the phone line to her room was located fast. The walls to her room had been strengthened with additional beams, likely when the padding had been put in place. The phone line had simply been cut off, once its old path had became obstructed, since the new occupant of the room had not been even allowed to have a phone.

Fixing the phone line would require little more than some ten feet of new cable and reconnecting the socket to the existing line to the splitter. The cable TV line was uninterrupted, though. After all, the shut-in’s TV was still mounted in the corner of Daria’s room. So that problem was caused by something else in a different place.

“Daria?” came her sister’s voice from the open trap door, interrupting Daria’s musings. She walked over, looked down and found her sister standing at the bottom of the ladder.

“There’re no rats up there, are there? There were noises...” Quinn asked meekly once she spotted her sister.

“No, just me. Looking to fix my phone and cable.”

“You’re sure?”

“Haven’t seen any rats or rat droppings. So I’m pretty sure.”
Daria shrugged and Quinn sighed. “What a relief.”

Daria descended the ladder and watched her sister return to her room.
«Sometimes you’re so childish.»

In her room she removed the phone socket and cut off the cable. Cutting off another two inches would give her a template to shop after.

*****

Quinn found her father, who had returned in the meantime, at the kitchen counter when she went down to pick up some ice water from the fridge. Several magazines were spread out open and she spotted even the well-worn Ikea catalogue that had been used to shop for small stuff.

Her father was engrossed in whatever he was doing and hardly acknowledged Quinn’s presence, so she addressed him once she had filled her glass of water.
“Dad, what are you looking at?”

“Hello princess. Ah, just some pictures.”

Walking over, Quinn noticed that all the magazines were on interior design, or furniture catalogues.
“But Dad, we already bought all the furniture the new house needed. And we all agreed on not shopping at Ikea. Even Daria did.”

“That’s right, princess, but this is for work. One of Daddy’s first contracts is setting up an office. I’m just browsing for ideas.”

Jake flipped a page in one magazine, stared at the office setting depicted, looked around, picked up another magazine, and frantically searched for something in it. After he found the page he had in mind, he compared the two.
“I knew it. The same furniture, but a third cheaper.”

Quinn looked around her father at the two pictures.
“And I can tell you why. They got a cheap interior designer and a crappy photographer as well. The lamp’s colors soooo clash with the picture on the wall. And the lighting looks crappy - just like in a real office.”

“Still the furniture is a third cheaper, and that’s what I’m buying.”
Pointing at the figures, Jake turned towards his younger daughter, who spoke up again.

«Maybe I can give you some hints...»
“If they just didn’t use neon lights all over. Yuk. Or at least use some drapes to add some color to the indirect light, the whole setting wouldn’t come out so...so sterile.”

“I guess you’re right, but it’s money talking, princess. Wait some years, and you’ll understand that as well.”

«I understand money quite well; I’m not five anymore, dad.»
“But it’d take only a little money to fix those things, and it’d really add to the office’s appeal. Something dark violet maybe.”

Jake put his hand on Quinn’s shoulder.
“Look, Quinn, there are a lot more influences that one needs to factor in here, and it takes a lot of experience to know what the customers will find appealing in the end. Finding those out is what Daddy has learned, and it’s hard work. Some gut feeling is a good start, but you always need to find reasons why it’s a good idea to begin with. But don’t bother with that right now, learning that is something you’ll do when you grow up.”

«Did you listen a tiny bit to what I said? ‘Grow up’. How much more?! The doctors say I’m about seventeen, body wise!»
“Yes daddy.”

Her ice water now nearly at room temperature, Quinn returned to her room. She didn’t hear him mutter to himself “Enjoy your youth; it’s much much too short.”

*****

Once Daria noticed that her father was back, she told him about her findings concerning the phone lines. He was more than happy that one of the problems was more or less solved.

Later that afternoon, Daria and her father set out again to get some phone cable. Daria was happy to get some more driving done, and convinced her father to stop at the local army surplus store to get herself a proper winter jacket. Being able to shop men’s size once had its advantage. The Norwegian dawn jacket in dark-green-gray-white speckled snow camo set her Montana cabin fund back just a little, but its warmth would more than make make up for the money during the next years. That was real bang per buck.

Her father told her about the improvements to the office he had made in the morning. Some furniture beyond a desk and some chairs, some prints, and some accessories had changed its look from an interrogation room to a place where one could enjoy working. In a month, the creative chaos her father preferred would taken over, and the place would look really lived in.

*****

Quinn was taking a break from reading and was staring at the canopy of her bed while listening to some music from her radio when the phone rang. Not expecting any calls, Quinn ignored it. But, as it rang the fourth time, Quinn knew that her mother was either too busy to pick it up or already on a call on her cell phone, so she finally picked it up herself.

“Morgendorffer residence.”

“Ah, ahm, could I speak to Quinn, please?” a female voice asked. It had a familiar ring to it, yet Quinn could not place it, hence she was careful.

“Maybe. Who’s this?” Quinn said, a little more brusque than intended.

“I’m Stacy, umm, Stacy Rowe, one of Quinn’s classmates and I know my call isn’t expected but I’d like to talk to her and I really really mean no harm. Oh, I’m sorry, I must have called at an inconvenient time you must be eating and a family meal on Sunday is an incredibly important time not to be interrupted so I’m really sorry to have done so and I will call back again but maybe you could tell Quinn that I called so she can call me back, but then she likely does not have my phone number and I don’t want you to get a pen and paper right now so maybe you...” Stacy spouted like a tommy gun until Quinn’s
“Stacy! Breathe!”
interrupted her for good. Quinn wished she had recognized her voice a little earlier.

“*Eeeep*!”

“It’s me, Quinn, Stacy.”

Quinn heard her take several deep breaths, and their slowing rhythm told her that Stacy was slowly calming down. Quinn was pleasantly surprised by the call, but something felt wrong.

“Hi Quinn.”

“Nice talking to you Stacy. How did you get our number? I haven’t given it to you.”

“I looked it up. There aren’t many ‘Morgendorffers’inLawndale. I hope you don’t mind.” was the meek answer.

“Stacy, we moved here a week ago. We’re not in the directory.”

“On the computer. Online. There you are already, as is your dad’s business.”

“Oh, yes, there’s that.” Computers were not among Quinn’s everyday tools. Stacy did not pick up the conversation, so Quinn went on.
“So, why are you calling?”

“I just wanted to talk to you. You’re busy?”

“No. I’m catching up on the reading list. And happy for any excuse to take a break.”

“Yeah, you’ve moved in from cross-state. So what are you’re reading? I really liked...”

Tying up the phone line for hours was a reflex for (almost) every teenage girl and Quinn was more than happy to succumb to that temptation.

*****

“Dad, I’ll take care of the phone line immediately. That way I’ll at least be able to connect my old modem.” Daria said as they arrived back home from the short shopping trip.

“Sure, kiddo. Need my help?”

«Kiddo my ass.»
“Not for the phone line, dad, but we’ll have to do something about the TV line as well. Like call an expert.”

“Well, ok. But let me have a look at it.”

“OK, I’ll call you.”

After collecting the tools and some luster terminals from the garage, her flashlight and the spool of new cable from her room, Daria climbed into the crawlspace again. She called for her father down the trap door.

“DAD!”

“On my way!” said Jake and soon after he ascended the fold-down ladder to the attic – and promptly hit his head on one of the low rafters.

“Gah! My head! Dammit! This place is cramped.”

“Tell me about it, dad.”

Since Daria was about an inch taller than he was, he didn’t have to. Once he got his bearings back, he took a quick look at the unknown territory.

“You know what’s behind that door?”

“Same as here. Beside dust bunnies and dead flies: nothing.”

“Seems dry up here. We can use this as storage space.”

“Yes. But things likely get baked up here during the summer months. Look over here, dad.”

Using her flashlight to point at the appropriate places, Daria told her father about her findings.

“They installed additional 2-by-4s to reinforce the room’s walls, likely when they converted it into the padded cell. See those loose ends of cable? That’s the phone line, it wasn’t long enough to go around the new beams, so the just cut it. No idea about the TV, though.”

Jake got the flashlight from Daria and carefully moved towards her room inspecting all visible cables and pipes.

“Looks like the antenna cable was reinstalled when the room was remodelled. Nothing visibly wrong with that.”

“Told you I didn’t see a thing. That needs to be looked at again.”

“I’ll see what we can do, Daria. Let’s fix that phone line!”

“Hm, dad, it’s too cramped up here to do that together without constantly blocking each other. And somebody needs to pull the cable to my room, so why don’t you go down there.”

Daria looked at her father who pondered her words.
“Pull the cable?”

“It needs to go through the wall’s hollow, dad. I just fix the new cable to the old and you pull the old cable out of the wall in my room. Et voila, we’re done.”

“Oh, yes. Sure!” said Jake as he went down to Daria’s room.

*****

The whole process didn’t take much time. Together, they put the new cable quickly into place, and Daria connected the cable to the socket in her room. Before connecting the cables, Daria made sure everybody knew that the phone could act up and no calls were currently being made.

“I’ll use my cell phone” was her mother’s answer, and Daria went to notify her sister next.

*****

Quinn was still on the phone when somebody knocked at her door.
“...and it’s just facade? That’s ridiculous. Hold a moment, someone wants to see me.”
Quinn covered the receiver and invited her guest with a brief “Yes” without getting up from her bed.

Her sister entered, took in the scene, and pointed at the telephone.
“I’m fixing my line, and that’s gonna interrupt your call.”

Quinn made pleading eyes at Daria, so her sister would not make her interrupt the phone call immediately.
“Just a moment. Please.”

Daria nodded at her indicating that she gave her some more time, but a gesture told Quinn to hurry up. Once Daria had left her room, Quinn resumed the conversation.
“Stacy, that was my sister, I’m going to have to end the call soon.”

“Oh. Your sister.” Stacy’s voice sounded unhappy.

“Yes, she’s fiddling with the broken phone line to her room.”

“She’s gone, now?”

«What was that about?»
“Yeah, she’s gone downstairs and waiting for us to finish. But I guess it’s just the ‘good byes’ that are left. We meet at school tomorrow, anyway.”

“Hmmm, at school. We share Home Ec. right before lunch.”

“One of the few classes where talking is acceptable. At least during the practical parts.”
«And one of the few classes that neither Sandi nor Tiffany shares with us.»

“We’ll talk there, Quinn. Bye then!”

Quinn knew it was now - or not for a long time. “Stacy, hold a sec. I...”
Quinn’s voice suddenly lacked her usual self-assuredness.

“Hmm?”

“Stacy, I’m really glad you’ve called me. I ... it’s not like I have that many people to talk to. Right now, after the move. If you’d give me your number...”
Quinn walked over to her desk where her note book was laying.

“Sure, Quinn. Got pen and paper?”

“Right here.”
Quinn was relieved. Things were on the way back to normal.

*****

Daria hadn’t finished the soda she had retrieved from the fridge when Quinn came downstairs and told her that she had cleared the phone.

“Thanks. I’ll try to make this quick.”

Daria immediately went to the attic and connected the cables with the luster terminals. Once she didn’t pay enough attention and shortened two wires, causing all phones in the house to emit an irritated ring, but beside that there were no ill side effects. All phones were working afterwards, and her own phone finally produced the dial tone. With the receiver at her ear listening to the dial tone, Daria noted that something was still missing:
Someone to make a call to.

*****

“Daria, are you done cleaning the peas?” Jake asked while stirring the large stewpot that sat on the cooker. Daria, who was busy peeling potatoes looked shortly over her shoulder at her father.

“No Dad, I haven’t even started.”

“Damnit, Daria, we need to add them now to the stew so everything is cooked at the same time.”

“No Dad, the potatoes need to go in first, they take longer to cook.”

Done with the peeling, Daria started to chop the potatoes to bite size.

“I’m doing the cooking today and you’re just helping. It’s my recipe, and that says the peas need to go in now!”

Jake left the cooker and focussed his attention solely on his daughter.

“You may be cooking, it may be your recipe, and sticking to it will turn the peas in a lovely gooey mess without the tiniest amount of remaining bite.”
«Dad, the basics!»

“My recipe says they need to go in now.”

Daria put the knife down and looked again at her father, who had his arms akimbo and glared at her.
“I’d really like to see that!”

“You can’t because I have it memorized! A decent cook doesn’t need a written recipe. Reading instructions breaks your concentration. It will take a while for you to understand that.”

«My memorized recipe says so. Sure.»
Daria turned around and folded her arms.
“A decent cook knows that potatoes take longer than peas and deduce that the recipe is wrong.”

Jake took a half-step towards Daria.
“Are you saying that I’m not a decent cook?!”

Daria saw her father’s temper rising, and tried hard to stick to the facts. «What’s your bloody problem?»
“Ha, no, I’m just saying you’re bad at memorizing recipes.”

Jake had not even listened to her answer and raised his voice well above domestic level.
“NO ONE SAYS I’M A BAD COOK!”

Daria felt her own temper rising. Her willpower would not hold much longer. She matched her level to her father’s to keep the chance to get through to him.
“NO ONE IS SAYING THAT. You just SUCK at following instructions.”

“I DONT NEED ANY BLOODY INSTRUCTIONS!”
Jake was well past the point of no return into his rant.

“OF COURSE NOT. YOU CAN PERFECTLY MESS ANY FOOD UP ON YOUR OWN!”

“I DO NOT SERVE ANY INEDIBLE FOOD TO ANY CHILD OF MINE, NOT LIKE THAT LOUSY CORPORAL ELLENBOGEN HAD THEM SERVE US AT MY MILITARY SCHOOL.”

“RIGHT, HE DID IT ON PURPOSE. YOU JUST SCREW EVERYTHING UP.”

“THE SOUP WAS FAR TOO SALTY BUT WE HAD TO EAT IT ANYWAY BECAUSE WE WOULDN’T GET THE MAIN COURSE OTHERWISE.”

Daria took a half-step of her own towards her father; their faces were now merely inches apart.
“YOU WOULD COOK REALLY WELL IF YOU’D JUST STICK TO THE FRIGGIN’ RECIPES INSTEAD OF EXPERIMENTING.”

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE PAIN OF GOING TO BED HUNGRY? NO, BECAUSE I MAKE SURE THERE IS EDIBLE FOOD AROUND FOR ALL OF YOU.”

“YOUR EXPERIMENTS RENDER SO MANY GROCERIES INEDIBLE, THE AMOUNT COULDMAKE A REAL IMPACT ON MALNUTRITION AT GLOBAL LEVEL!”

*****

Quinn heard her father’s and sister’s voices from downstairs. They were at it again.
«It has been a while. And the time was about right.»

Quinn went into the living room and found her mother sitting in the love seat in front of her numerous files. However, she wasn’t working, but looking in at the partially opened door leading to the kitchen. Through that door Daria’s and Jake’s voices didn’t drift, but washed into the room.
“They are at it once again?”

“Hear for yourself.”
Helen made a gesture towards the kitchen, frustration clearly in her voice. These rants made her always uncomfortable. She had tried many times to calm Daria and Jake down, but her efforts had usually made things worse - she had been sucked into the matter. And while Daria and Jake did take no real offence during these proceedings, Helen did. And Daria had some prime choice nasty comments for everything if she wasn’t keeping her tongue in check. The result had been that Helen was angry beyond belief at both of them while they were already best friends again.

Trying even the simplest physical gesture was out of question for Helen. Being the smallest – and lightest – member of the family she felt always helpless when Jake and Daria celebrated their Morgendorffer traits.

“THERE’S A REASON THAT THE RECIPES HAVE TO BE FOLLOWED EXACTLY AS WRITTEN. THOSE BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN AND TRIED BY EXPERTS!”

“BE THANKFUL, MY FATHER NEVER LET ME HELP IN THE KITCHEN. ‘COOKING IS FOR GIRLS’. HA, OLD MAN, YOU FAIL! ALL BIG CHEFS ARE MALE!”

“AND YOU THINK BEING A GIRL IS A BAD THING? TRY BEING ME!”

“Mom, what are they going on about? Cooking?”
Quinn asked her mother to divert her, sensing her discomfort. Their voices were loud enough to understand every single word - out in the backyard with all doors closed. Helen just nodded.

Quinn hoped that the new house had enough space around it that the neighbours wouldn’t notice. Or at least ignore it and not call the police, as had happened twice back in Highland. That was the worst outcome of their shout-outs. Otherwise, they would stop eventually, wonder what they had been yelling about, shrug, and go on with whatever they had been doing before, not caring what effects the fallout of their ranting had on the people around them. For example scaring her mother.
“I guess they’ll be done any minute.”

“I really hope.”

“I’ll have a look. Maybe I can calm them a little.”

Helen looked at her daughter, wondering why she simply wouldn’t stay clear of a ranting Daria. Or Daria and Jake ranting at each other. Jake on his own was easily distracted, but with the two of them at it, the best option was to wait until they calmed down on their own.
«But there’s no way to concentrate on the files with this ruckus in the background.»

*****

Quinn entered the kitchen and saw her sister and her father standing inches apart, their faces red, shouting at each other. Just shouting, there was no communication involved in the process.

“...ALL YOUR CARING WON’T GIVE YOU ACLUE IF YOU DON’T USE YOUR BRAIN!”

“...BUT NO, I HAD TO DO IT HIS WAY!”

Quinn walked towards the fridge with the intention to get herself a soda, and purposely chose a path that would require Daria and her father to step aside to let her pass. But she didn’t make it that far.

“WHO CARES ABOUT... what’s that smell, dad?”

“DO NOT TRY TO DISTRA...yeah, that smells really funny...GAH! THE STEW!”

Jake immediately returned to the stewpot that still sat on the cooker. Not being stirred during their rant, it had started to burn. He was quick enough to stop himself from stirring the stew now.
“Daria, get another pot!”

Jake’s command was unnecessary, as Daria was already busy looking for another pot big enough to hold the stew; at least, the uncontaminated remains.

Quinn tried not to smirk too much while she got herself the soda.
“You think you’ll be able to save it, or should I order something?”

Daria and Jake were busy transferring the top portion of the stew into the second pot. Daria sampled a little.
“No, I think this’ll be ok for dinner; stop Dad, we won’t get a complete second meal out of it anyway.”
There was a slight hint of burned taste, but it was faint and about half of the ingredients were still to be added.

Quinn looked at her sister. Her, she did believe. Her father’s definition of ‘edible’ was too different from her own, though. She returned to the living room, and behind her Daria and Jake busied themselves with the dinner. She sat across from her mother, who still hadn’t returned to her files.

“They’re done. Saved by the stew.”

This was good news for Helen, and her face spoke volumes. She sniffed and noticed the faint burnt odor that emerged from the kitchen.
“And saved from the stew?”

“No, they could salvage enough for dinner. I already offered to order out.”

Helen nodded, and had a look at the table full of the files.
“I wish they wouldn’t do that.”

“Me neither, but it’s just what they do. And as long as they limit it to the house...”

Quinn took another sip from her soda giving her mother some time to think about her argument.

“There’s that.”

“And it doesn’t happen out of the blue by a loooong way.”

“There’s that as well. And luckily Jake rants far less often on his own since they started doing that.”

“Must be a group activity.” Quinn shrugged.

*****

Jane looked at the two sketches of ‘Darius’ and ‘Daria’ she had drawn at the beginning of the week, and was finally able to appreciate the humor of the whole situation.
«I bet some higher entities are pointing their fingers, tentacles, or whatever at me and laughing themselves silly.»

Trent had not dared to wake her up before nine o’clock, but that was just because ‘daring’ required being awake. Jane had gotten up around eleven, caffeinated herself, and used the pleasant autumn weather for a breakfast run. Getting a drink from the fridge showed her that there was still food left from Monday’s trip to Food Lord. Trent had somehow managed to keep the band away from the kitchen. After her shower, Jane treated herself to a nice brunch consisting of pop-tarts, cup ramen, and some peanuts.

Now Jane, after she had grudgingly brought her homework to the ‘can-barely-get-away-with-it’ level, browsed through her work-in-progress art and had come across the sketches. She really had to get Daria to model for her, and after some days had passed (and two PE classes that had left nothing to imagination) Jane was sure she would be able to paint her without going insane. Daria’s body was unusual, she’d be an unusual model, and Jane loved her art unusual.

Daria’s sister would be a more suitable model if Jane wanted the classical model qualities. However, Jane was not sure if she had what it takes to pose for a painted picture. Photography was likely more suited to capture her, but that wasn’t Jane’s medium. And somehow Jane had the hunch that the girl was already on her way to become a professional model. Her walk and posture did not seem natural, but rather schooled and honed.

The difference between the girls still puzzled Jane as much as their adult appearance did. Daria was chunky as her sister was dainty. There was no doubt about the outcome if sibling rivalry ever got physical between those two. Jane was even less than Daria’s sister, in size and weight. She shuddered at the possible things a malevolent Daria could do to her without breaking a sweat.
«Note to self: Never piss her off and run across her in a dark alleyway afterwards.»

*****

“Hi Jodie.”

“Ah, hi Mack, sweet that you’re calling. How do you do?”

“Thanks, I’m ok, but how do you do? How’d that formal dinner with your dad go?”

“It was very nice, the food was really good, the party pleasant and I met some really influential people.”

“Jodie...” Mack answered in a voice that made clear that he did not believe a single word.

“Alright, alright! The food had pompous names to make sure none complained about its taste, mom made me wear that itchy, uncomfortable dress, and I was forced to smile at a bunch of stuck-up snobs wasting four goddamn hours of my friggin’ life!”

“Sooo...”

“It sucked BIG time and I hated every minute.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Hmm, but I could do nothing to save you from the ordeal. Sometimes I feel so useless.”

“Mack, there was nothing you could do. Do you believe “Sorry, I can’t, date with my boyfriend” would stand before dad?”

“I wish I could. I’d like to spend more time with you.”

“Yes, me too. Spending time with you doing nothing sounds like heaven.”

“At least we can talk this way.”

“Yes, but not too long; I have still homework to finish and a student council meeting to prepare.”

“Damn. Jodie, you should really try to quit some of those activities.”

Her anger was audible in Jodie’s voice.

“Mack, you should really try to slap some sense into Kev... I’m sorry Mack. I know you mean well, but...”

“... your parents won’t get off your back. I know as well.”

Prolonged silence filled the line, as each of the conversation’s participants recalled the arguments they had exchanged again and again on that matter without reaching a solution.

“So, I won’t keep you from your work any longer. You need to be able to get some sleep tonight.”

““You can sleep all you want once you’re dead.” Thanks for understanding, Mack.”

“’night Jodie. Love you.”

“Good night Mack, and love you, too. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Putting the handset down, Jodie sat down at her desk, but instead of immediately starting her home work she wasted valuable time staring at the wall in front of her.

*****

On the other end of the line, Mack mirrored her actions as anger and frustration battled to be the dominant emotion.
«If she keeps going on like that, she’ll have her midlife crisis before she hits twenty.»

Thinking about his team mates, who likely were at some party getting hammered and making out with some cheerleaders right now, frustration got the upper hand.
«My girlfriend has not even time to talk to me.»

*****

The weekend ended slowly and Daria did a quick update on her journals.

She got herself a top-notch new jacket for the winter. There was another blow-up between her father and her over dinner. Completely pointless, as usual. But she was stressed from the week before and hadn’t had it in her to stop herself. Luckily, there was no harm done. As usual. But it felt just right.
«Damn, I’m a freak.»

In the snoop-bait she resumed the protection money story, getting a jacket with kevlar lining gave it a nice touch. Not that she would have minded if her new jacket had really bullet-proof interior lining.

Once finished, she ‘hid’ it again in its usual spot, readied herself for the night, and went to bed with the resolution to let the next week not get to her like the previous had.